Oral Fluency Characteristics of Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learners Across Different Educational Stages

Oral fluency is critical to oral proficiency, as it reflects both linguistic competence and communicative confidence, which are essential for effective interaction and successful language use. However, its characteristics across different educational stages remain underexplored. Drawing on the Spoken Corpus of Chinese Learners of English and guided by Kormos’ ( 2014 ) Bilingual Speech Production Model, this cross-sectional study investigated oral fluency characteristics of Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language learners ( N = 152) at three educational stages: Grade 7 (n = 52), Grade 10 (n = 52), and first-year English majors (n = 48). Speech samples were annotated using Praat software (Version 6.1.48) and analyzed with analysis of covariance and Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons in SPSS (Version 26). Semi-structured interviews (n = 30) were further analyzed using NVivo (Version 13) to explore factors influencing fluency characteristics. Results indicated overall improvement in terms of oral proficiency across educational stages, although the characteristics varied across dimensions: speed fluency exhibited a slow-to-rapid progression, reflecting increases in speech rate, articulation rate, and mean length of runs; breakdown fluency showed a consistent decline in mean length of pauses and pause rate; and repair fluency presented mixed patterns, including a U-shaped trend in false start rate, a steadily increasing self-repair rate, and a gradual decline in repetition rate. Additionally, interview data identified three key factors influencing fluency characteristics, which were learning experience, emotional factors, and perception of oral fluency. Based on these findings, the study proposed pedagogical implications for enhancing oral fluency instruction.