Learners: Activity 3
Compare accuracy, fluency and complexity
Look at these 1-minute segments of each learner’s interview as both learners speak about their previous language-learning experience.
Compare the learners’ language in terms of its fluency and intelligibility, accuracy, and complexity in those segments.
Relate your findings to their personality and background, if possible.
Please type your comparison findings in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
Raúl seems to have no problem with listening. He has clear, intelligible pronunciation, and doesn't make any grammatical errors. His fluency is quite strong, with very few hestitations or pauses. He also seems comfortable speaking in past time, and uses the subjunctive mood. When it comes to complexity though, he mostly responds in short phrases, and uses mostly simple sentences without much lexical complexity. This fits with his linguistic and academic background, as he has never had to perform any high-level academic tasks in Spanish (like giving a presentation, speech, or teaching), yet speaks it as his first language.
Henry's pronunciation is fairly intelligible, and he seems to also have strong listening skills. He has sufficient vocabulary to respond to the questions asked, but is clearly less fluent than Raúl, making many hesitations, false starts, and long pauses. Henry also makes many simple sentences, but also some complex ones, and overall responds more in complete sentences, giving us a better picture of his linguistic skills. Henry does make several grammatical errors, especially when speaking in the past time, though still does so in a way that successfully communicates his meaning and doesn't disrupt the conversation. This also fits with Henry's profile as a foreign language learner of Spanish who has had much less interaction with native speakers than Raúl has, but prefers taking risks with language.
