Test results revealed a significant increase in speaking ability, with more significant increases in speaking and listening for participants who reported preparing more intensely for the test.
A significant increase in speaking scores was observed with a medium-sized effect.
It is well established, for example, that an increase in speaking rate correlates with a decrease in pauses and a decrease in prosodic boundary marking (cf. [1],[1]).
There is evidence that this initiative contributes to a reduction in total tracheostomy time and an increase in speaking valve use for patients leading to improved quality of life [1].
The speech experiment shows that the acceptability for the same amount of absolute change decreased with an increase in speaking rate, i.e., the listeners more sensitively responded to the same absolute duration change when the speaking rate was fast than when it was slow.
To investigate whether the increase in speaking scores was more likely to occur for participants at a lower initial speaking proficiency (i.e., speaking score on Test 1), mean scores for those whose initial score was between 3.0 and 5.5 (n = 103), and those whose score was between 6.0 and 8.5 (n = 60) were compared using an independent t-test.
The gradual reduction in variability is accompanied by an increase in speaking rate [6], [15], [18] and the eventual achievement of more adult-like acoustic and kinematic parameter values (e.g., mean vowel formant frequencies and movement amplitudes; [6], [15], [19], [20], [21]).
The use of computers has increased in speaking assessments; however, there are concerns about how the absence of an interlocutor affects performance on speaking tests.
"Every single learner who completed the programme reported increased confidence in speaking English".
Eight of the students interviewed (half of the total number) mentioned an increase in efficacy speaking English, and three students explicitly stated that their English speaking ability had increased over the course of the semester or academic year.
