Assessing Second Language Spoken Coherence

The current study trialed several methods of operationalizing perceived coherence in second language (L2) speech. Data were collected from 15 listeners who rated 49 recorded monologues for coherence. First, participants wrote self-reports justifying their ratings of three monologues. These self-reports were thematically analysed to identify salient points. Next, quantitative analysis was conducted on the listeners’ ratings of 46 monologues. Correlations were drawn between averaged coherence scores and 12 proficiency measures for fluency, cohesion, and lexicogrammatical performance. Significant correlations were found between perceived coherence and several fluency measures. Finally, correlations were drawn between listeners’ coherence ratings and their ratings of three sub-constructs (cohesion, topical unity, situational coherence/register). Although all three sub-constructs correlated overall with coherence ratings, there was a large variance between individual raters. Overall, these findings underline the multidimensionality of perceived coherence and the difficulty finding consensus on what features are most salient to its presence. This paper concludes with some recommendations for future research.