Speech Rate as and Indicator of Fluency in the Russian of Finnish Learners.

Abstract

This study focuses on the speech rate development of 12 Finnish university students of Russian during their 3.5-month-study abroad experience. Speech and articulation rates are measured in phonetic words per second and syllables per second in the Russian read-aloud speech of the subjects. This is done at three recordings: prior to, during and following their stay in Russia. The results are compared to their read-aloud Finnish speech. The students are also compared depending on the residence (host-family vs. dormitories) in Russia. The study shows that speech and articulation rates correlate with the evaluated fluency of the speech samples. It was found that speech rate is a better indicator of fluency than articulation rate in non-native read-aloud speech. The results also show that articulation rate in mother tongue (Finnish) and foreign language (Russian) correlate with each other more than speech rate.