Globish (An English-Indonesian journal for English, Education and Culture)

Vol. 10, No.1, January 2021,

P-ISSN: 2301-9913, E-ISSN: 2597-9132
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31000/globish.v7i2

ANALYSIS STUDENT’S SPEAKING FLUENCY IN SPEAKING

CLASS PERFORMANCE

1Aditya Permana, 2Arjulayana 3M Abduh Almanar

English Education Study Program of Teacher Training and Education
University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang,
E-mail: adityapermana840@gmail.com, arjulayana@umt.ac.id, abduh.almanar33@gmail.com

Abstract

Speaking skill becomes one of the most fundamental skills in this era; however English learners need to
develop their capability to show their language skill through speaking practice. This research aims to
investigate students speaking fluency level toward speaking practice. The qualitative descriptive method
is used to describe data analysis. The sample of this research is single sample, English language program
students at semester 5. The video record towards speaking practice and professional feedback are
became the data collection technique. The video records duration is about 10 minutes and during that
presentation, researcher tried to analysis based on the vocabulary used, voice, and speech fluency. The
result of the research showed that student’s speaking fluency level is still low and it needed to treat and
drill more, could be through watching a YouTube or practice among English learners.

Keywords: Speaking, Speaking Fluency, Academic Practice

INTRODUCTION

English Speaking is a compulsory course in any university in Indonesia offering English

program as a major. Those universities may have different classes and focus on the speaking
courses, but they share the same idea that speaking courses are necessary for the students. It is
because in daily interaction most activities are accomplished through speaking. Besides,
speaking skill shows one’s English proficiency in a more tangible way. Furthermore, good
speaking skill establishes good first impression to the listeners and interlocutors at any
speaking demanded situation of non-native speakers.

Good speaking fluency makes one’s English proficiency much better and sounds slicker,
more natural, and more impressive for the listeners. It also provides more effective
communication due to the absence of speaking disturbances. Koponen in Luoma (2004:88) says
that fluency is about the flow, smoothness, the rate of speech, the length of utterances, the
connectedness of ideas, the absence of excessive pausing, and the absence of disturbing
hesitation markers. In addition, Stockdale (2009:1) states that fluency occurs when somebody
speaks a foreign language like a native speaker with the least number of silent pauses, filled
pauses (ooo and emm), self-corrections, false starts, and hesitations. Similarly, Lennon in
Cucchiarini, Strik, and Boves (2002:263) defines that fluency is the speaker’s ability to produce
speech at the same tempo with the native speakers without the problems of silent pauses,
hesitations, filled pauses, self-corrections, repetitions, and false starts. The researcher believes
this definition of fluency is addressed to non-native language learners. So, a very good first
language or second language learner can speak like the native speakers of the language they are
learning.

Speaking that is important from learning a second language, the student must increase
the skill and communicative competence of the student because the student can express
themself and learn how to use language very well. With speaking we can express ideas and

Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
spontaneous and free thinking. Many people in our country can speak, but they cannot speak
very well. The students must learn a second language with interaction with each other.

According to Harmer (2007:284) states speaking is the ability to speak fluently and
presupposes not only knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process
information and language ‘on the spot’.

According to Nunan (in Kayi, 2006:1) defines speaking as the use of language quickly
and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency. Speaking is the process of
building and sharing meaning the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.

Based on Competence Based Curriculum speaking is one of the four basic competences
that the students should gain well. It has an important role in communication. Speaking can be
found in spoken cycle especially in Joint Construction of Text Stage (Departemen Pendidikan
Nasional, 2004). According to Bailey (2000:25) speaking is a process of interaction where
speakers intend to build meaning through producing, receiving, and processing information.

In terms of disfluency, ComShipley, and McAfee (2004:357) categories two kinds of

disfluency that can be the indicator to decide the fluency levels; they are fluency disorder and
typical disfluency. Fluency disorder is a kind of disfluency category that is mainly related to the
weakness or problem of a speaker's physical condition related to speech production. The
second category of disfluency is typical disfluency. It is a kind of disfluency which is not related
to somebody’s physical condition. As a matter of fact, it is related to somebody’s weakness in the
mastery of a foreign language. The example of this is the disfluency found in English as foreign
language learner who does not have any physical problem related to speech production. This
type of disfluency can be caused by several problems which come from the students themselves
in learning. Nation and Newton (2009:154-155) say that there are four problems to be
identified. The first problem is the difficult task which is commonly caused by lack of practice,
this makes them keep doing what they think as difficult tasks. Secondly, it is not meaning-focus
tasks, this kind of task may lead them to lack of self-confidence or anxiety and nervousness.
Thirdly, there is lack of target or time pressure in doing the speaking practice. The fourth
problem is lack of planning and preparation in every practice, this affects the learners’
readiness. Lastly, doing non-repeated tasks is also the problem to be considered.

This problem is often found in a lot of students in Indonesia, especially in the English
Language and Education Department University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang (UMT) 4B1 class,
when we try to be a good speaker in Academic Speaking courses. The students are trained to
speak in front of the class using English with different topics given by the lecturer and it’s done
in every meeting week in week out. The researcher found that the students in the class are still
less able to speak English with the criteria of speaking fluency. It is proven by research
conducted in English Language and Education Department of University of Muhammadiyah
Tangerang 4B1 class. A study conducted by Fernanda Nurul Auliyah (2020) showed that the
respondents still couldn’t understand the material that she presented in front of the class.
Therefore, the researcher goes to analyse Fernanda Nurul Auliyah’s speaking fluency in a video
that she presented in Academic Speaking Class.

Definition of Speaking and Types of Speaking

There are many definitions of speaking according to experts. Harmer (2007:284) states
speaking is the ability to speak fluently and presupposes not only knowledge of language
features, but also the ability to process information and language ‘on the spot’ while Quianthy
(1990:7) defines speaking as the process of transmitting ideas and information orally in variety
of situations.

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Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
 Nunan (in Brown, 2001:250) writes that generally there are two types of spoken language,
are: 1) Monologue ; Brown states that monologue is the speaking where one speaker uses
spoken language for any length of time, such as in speeches, lectures, readings, news broadcasts,
and the like, then the listener have to process the information without interruption and the
speech will go on whether or not the listeners comprehends what the speaker means. 2)
Dialogue; It is different with monologue; Nunan says that dialogue is the speaking that involves
two or more speakers. The interruption may happen in the speech when the interlocutor does
not comprehend what the speaker said.

Like Nunan, according to Harmer (2007:343) finally, we might make a difference between
speaking that is planned (such as lecture or wedding speech) and speaking that is unplanned,
such as a conversation that takes place spontaneously.

Defining Speaking fluency

Richard (2009:14) mentioned a brave definition about fluency, “natural language use
occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and
ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence”. The
definition of fluency has the Latin origin meaning as “flow”. It can be the same as other
languages define fluency as flow or fluidity as stated by Kopponen and Riggenbach (2000, in
Jamatlou, F.:2011). And nowadays, the definition of fluency itself closer to the simple definition
of the term in applied linguistics also seems to share at least one feature resembling “fluidity”.

The more present study about fluency adopting Lennon’s (Jamatlou:2011: p.11) that is
fluency might be rapid, smooth, accurate, lucid, and efficient translation of thought or
communicative intention into language under the temporal constraints of online processing.

It means that the conclusion of being fluent in speaking can be defined as the natural ability
to speak spontaneously as quickly, smoothly, accurately, lucid, efficient and comprehensively
with few numbers of errors that may distract the listener from the speaker’s massage under the
temporal constraints of online processing.

Components Speaking Fluency

There are four components of fluency data needed to be analysed to measure the fluency
level of the speaker from the typical disfluency perspective. The accumulation of these four
components was then used to indicate to which level of fluency the speakers belong. This
method is adopted from Stockdale (2009:26-27).

1. Speech Rate (SR)

In speech rate, the pruned syllables and all disfluencies are excluded in the
measurement. To calculate speech rate the number of all syllables is divided by the total time
required to produce the speech sample in seconds. Then the result is multiplied by 60 to find
syllables per minute. To give the standard of normal speaking rate in syllables, the Tennessee
Department of Education Fluency Resource Packet (2009:24) sets 162–230 is the number of
syllables adolescent or adult normally could produce per minute.

2. Pause Rate (PR)

The total number of pauses and filled pauses such as uhm, err, emm including
corrections and repetitions are divided by the total amount of time expressed in seconds and
then multiplied by 100.

3. Disfluent Syllable (DS)

45
Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
 Disfluent syllables are calculated by subtracting the number of pruned syllables from
the number of total syllables in the sample. Pruned syllables include fillers, errors, and
repetitions. The result is the number of disfluent syllables which is then divided by 230 as the
highest normal number of syllables per minute and multiplied by the total time in seconds.

Table 1

Fluency Scale Ordinate Corporation in Jong and Hulstijn (2009)

Level Description

0 DISFLUENT. Candidate speech is very slow and seems laboured and very poor, with
many discernible phrase groupings and with multiple hesitations, pauses, false starts
and/or major phonological simplifications. In an utterance, most words are isolated and
there are many long pauses.

1 LIMITED Fluency. Candidate speech is slow and has irregular phrasing or sentence
rhythm. Poor phrasing, staccato or syllabic timing, multiple hesitations, many
repetitions, or false starts render the spoken performance notably uneven or
discontinuous. Long utterances have several long pauses.

2 INTERMEDIATE Fluency. Candidate speech may be uneven or somewhat staccato.

Utterance (if >= 6 words) has at least one smooth 3- word run, and there are several
hesitations, repetitions, or false starts. Speech may have several long pauses, but not
unlimited.

3 GOOD Fluency. Candidate speech has acceptable speed but may be somewhat uneven.
Long utterances may exhibit some hesitations; but most words are spoken in continuous
phrases. There are several repetitions or false starts per utterance. Speech has not too
many long pauses and does not sound staccato.

4 ADVANCED Fluency. Candidate utterance has acceptable rhythm, with appropriate

phrasing and word emphasis. Utterances have no more than five hesitations, repetitions,
or false starts. There are only one to five significantly non-native phonological
hesitations.

5 NATIVE-LIKE Fluency. Candidate utterance exhibits smooth native- like rhythm and
phrasing, with no more than one hesitation, repetitions, false start, or non-native
phonological simplification. The overall speech sounds natural.

4. Mean Length of Runs (MLR)

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Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
 Mean length of run between pauses measures the average number of syllables produced
in runs of speech between pauses and other disfluencies to give an idea how much is said
without interruption. Mean length of runs is calculated by subtracting the total number of
syllables by the times of pauses above 0.3 seconds and other disfluencies then divided by the
normal amount of syllables per minute for the set time of speech sample which is 2 minutes.

Strategy to Successful Speaking Activity

Ur (1996: 120), “Classroom activities that develop learners‟ ability to express themselves
through speech would therefore seem an important component of a language course.” Ur (1996:
p.120) also provides some characteristics of successful speaking activity:

1. Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period allotted to the activity in fact
occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with
teacher talk or pauses.

2. Participation is even. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative

participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributors are evenly distributed.

3. Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic
and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a
task objective.

4. Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in utterances that are

relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable of language accuracy.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher used one student in University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang from
English Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty 4th semester 4B1 class named
Fernanda Nurul Auliyah as a sample of the research. Fernanda Nurul Auliyah is a student at
University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang, also a tutor in PEC (Practical Education Center), one
of the best English tutoring places in Tangerang also in Indonesia. When this research is
supported, researchers are sure that the model is presentable in significant aspects of learning
English standards such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

The instrument that researcher used to accumulate the information at this point is a
video presentation that happened in Academic Speaking class and some thought. The first
model is a video from Fernanda who is doing a decent performance in front of the class and the
other students being an audience. The material is about “The Reality of Indonesian Health” that
is presented in a PowerPoint slide. She also presented the material for 19:16 minutes with a
good brainstorming in the opening session. This video is taken by her classmate for the
instrument of this research. The researcher could easily identify her strength and weakness of
speaking fluency that she used in the Academic Speaking class from the help of this video.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

From the data analysis, the answers to the research questions were identified clearly. The first
question was to find out the speaking fluency level while the second question was to figure out
the factors which caused the students’ disfluency. The term fluency which is defined as the
ability to use the language quickly and confidently without too much hesitation or too many
unnatural pauses to cause barriers in communication (Bailey, 2003; Byrne, 1986).

Fluency Levels

47
Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
 It was found that the answer of the first research question seemed to be beyond the
preliminary study result which said that Fernanda Nurul Auliyah had good enough speaking
fluency with rank 85/100. As a matter of fact, this can be good because the material that
Fernanda presented is acceptable for the audience or the other students in the class.

Disfluency Levels

It was found that the answer of the second research question seemed to need an
improvement because the problem faced dealing with fluency was when the learners speak to
the others; the students tried to make the auditors understand what they wanted to say. The
researcher found that the students tended to hesitate and fragmentary while speaking because
they have problems in retrieving the lexical items, encoding the grammatical form of their
message, and correcting their own output. This condition made the students speak hesitantly
and fragmented, as mean that the frequency of pause filler such as “well”, “mm”, “eee” and also
the production of dysfluency such as repetition, repair, restarts, and also prolongation will
fluently fulfilled their talks.

The other aspect that affected the student’s fluency in speaking was the habit of using
Indonesian terms when they could not find appropriate English words (happened in minutes
16:04 of the video). This phenomenon is defined as pause fillers that usually occurred when
they tried to express complex ideas. According to Bright (1992) fillers also defined as “vocal
hiccups”. Those vocal hiccup were words that exist in the utterances but do not result in any
changes in the content. Along with that, Bonano (2009) defined fillers as “verbal bridge”. They
are include: um, ah, and words such as like, so, and ok,which are used as a bridge to say what
the next one. So, the researcher gave Fernanda Nurul Auliyah score 70/100 for the disfluency
she had during the presentation. Based on the findings of the analysis on the fluency level and
the disfluency factors, it shows that Fernanda Nurul Auliyah’s speaking fluency is on level 3
(Table 1) which means “good fluency” but it also seen that she need an improvement and should
have been better on the next occasion.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The researcher knew very well that the student seemed to have a good basic ability of
learning English, especially in speaking and that the student was doing it well in Academic
Speaking class. The researcher thought the student still needs an improvement in speaking
fluency before she becomes a good speaker in the next occasion she presents. The body
movements are also good enough to catch all the audience, with the brainstorming before
starting the material which makes the situation fresh again and ready to catch the material that
was given by Fernanda Nurul Auliyah.

From the research that found that the student still needs to improve her speaking
fluency and need to be guided by someone who really understands about this. The researcher
recommended the use of YouTube for more exercise, because there are a lot of learning videos
that can improve speaking fluency.

REFERENCES

Bailey, K. M. (2003). Developing Learners‟ Academic Writing Skills in Higher Education: A Study
for Educational Reform. Language and Education.

--------------- (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking. Singapore: Mc Graw Hill.

Bhat, S., H. J. and R. Sproat. (2010). Automatic Fluency Assessment by Signal-Level Measurement
of Spontaneous Speech. Illinois: University of Illinois.

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Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020
Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York:
Pearson Education.

Jamatlou, F. 2011. Revisiting the Temporal Measures of L2 Oral Fluency: A Case of Iranian EFL
Learners: University of Groningen available at http://irs.ub.rug.nl/dbi/4ed5f51f45523

Jong, N. de. and J. Hulstijn. (2009). Relating Ratings of Fuency to Temporal and Lexical Aspects
of Speech. Amsterdam: Utrecht Institute of Linguistics.

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and J. Newton. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York:
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Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Received September 15, 2020; Revised September 29, 2020; Accepted October 10, 2020