Presentation A Mobile App for L2 Fluency Development more

Assessing second language (L2) spoken fluency remains a challenge for instructors, despite its importance in language learning and proficiency (Brown, 2006; Fulcher, 2003; Kang et al., 2019). Spoken fluency, defined as the "smoothness and effortlessness of speech" (Chambers, 1997), is a key indicator of L2 proficiency and a central focus in L2 oral assessments (Ogawa, 2022; Peltonen, 2024). To address this, we developed a mobile app to track and enhance spoken fluency, grounded in theories of speech production (Levelt, 1993) and skill development (DeKeyser, 2007). The app also integrates gamification elements such as progress checkers, which might increase learner engagement in out-of-class activities (See Huang et al., 2018). This workshop reviews research on spoken fluency development, explores assessment methods, and presents findings from our study on the app’s syllable-counting ability. The study involved 84 first-year undergraduate students from a private university in Tokyo, Japan. Participants recorded one-minute monologues, and data was analyzed using Bland-Altman analysis to determine which speech-to-text method—pitch analysis, Apple’s speech-to-text, or WhisperX’s speech-to-text—best matched human syllable counts.