Salient Linguistic Features of EFL Learner Spoken Corpus Elicited by a Computerized Speaking Test

Abstract

This study attempted to identify the linguistic features (utterance, vocabulary, and syntactic) of English that are recognized as salient elements by native speakers. The oral responses of 60 EFL postsecondary learners comprised of six levels collected from a standardized computer-based speaking test were first transcribed to build a spoken corpus and were then analyzed for utterance, vocabulary, and syntactic features. In addition, scores of holistic and analytic scoring methods were compared. The findings were as follows: (1) Most of the indices of utterance, vocabulary, and syntactic structure demonstrated a significant difference between upper and lower proficiency groups. (2) The majority of indices had significant correlations with speaking proficiency, and the highest correlations with vocabulary indices. (3) The indices of all three categories accounted significantly for the variance of the speaking ability. (4) A very high correlation was found between holistic and analytic scoring methods. Based on the results that indicated which linguistic factors are considered significant by native speakers, meaningful implications could be drawn for effective methods of teaching speaking in the EFL environment focusing on vocabulary and willingness to communicate. Finally, the issue of comparability between holistic or analytic scoring methods was discussed.