Linguistic correlates of coherence in L2 narrative speech: a mixed-methods approach

Abstract Despite growing recognition of coherence as a key indicator of functional adequacy and discourse competence in second language (L2) speaking, empirical research has rarely examined its linguistic underpinnings in spontaneous L2 speech. To address this gap, this mixed-methods study identified linguistic correlates of speech coherence in personal story generation monologues produced by seventy Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Mixed-effects modelling revealed that schematic structure and text elaboration significantly predicted expert-rated coherence with a moderate effect size. In contrast, cohesive devices, including connectives, lexical cohesion, and anaphora, were not significant predictors. Stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews with raters supported these findings, further revealing a nonlinear relationship between cohesion and coherence, as well as the emergent influences of pronunciation and utterance fluency on coherence judgments. The study proposes an empirically grounded model of coherence in personal story generation speaking tasks, highlighting schematic structure and elaboration as key to listener perceptions of coherence. It empirically supports cognitive and functional discourse processing theories, offering pedagogical insights for enhancing L2 learners’ coherence and discourse competence.