Second language learner speech production

This paper reports on a study which investigated temporal variables in fore ign language learner speech and native speech. The findings are discussed f rom a cognitive processing perspective. The subjects were 30 intermediated/ advanced level adult students of French as a foreign language and 20 native speakers of French. Short extracts of recorded interviews were transcribed and quantitative measures of pause and hesitation phenomena, repairs and e rrors were calculated. The speech production model of Levelt (1989) provide s a framework for understanding the source of these phenomena and the signi ficant differences between natives and learners in planning and encoding sp eech. Capacity limitations of working memory, related in particular to fore ign language learners' non-automatic processing mode, resulted in non-fluen t speech performance, compared with native speakers.