Listening & Speaking Fluency Flashcards

Which ELSA score category specifically reflects how clearly a speaker's individual sounds are produced?

Answer: Pronunciation

The pronunciation score evaluates the accuracy of individual phoneme production, independent of pace or rhythm.

A learner's ELSA feedback says: 'Your /θ/ sounds like /d/.' Which word pair would expose this specific error?

Answer: 'then' vs. 'den'

The /θ/ vs. /d/ confusion is clearly demonstrated in 'then' vs. 'den,' where only that one consonant differs.

In a speaking fluency assessment, what is 'articulation rate'?

Answer: The number of syllables produced per second, excluding pauses

Articulation rate measures pure speaking speed during actual speech, stripping out pause time to reflect motor fluency.

Which of the following listening strategies is most effective when you miss a word in a fast conversation?

Answer: Use context from surrounding words and sentence meaning to infer what was said

Skilled listeners use contextual inference to fill lexical gaps without disrupting comprehension or the conversation flow.

What does ELSA's 'intonation' feedback typically assess?

Answer: Whether pitch rises and falls appropriately for question types, emphasis, and sentence endings

Intonation feedback evaluates pitch contours — whether the speaker's melody appropriately signals questions, statements, and emphasis.

When listening for 'gist,' a learner should focus on:

Answer: The overall topic or general meaning of the passage

Listening for gist means extracting the main idea without getting stuck on individual words or details.

On ELSA, a learner is told their speech has 'flat intonation.' What should they practice?

Answer: Varying pitch to naturally stress important words and signal question vs. statement

Flat intonation means pitch stays monotone; learners should practice pitch variation to make speech more natural and expressive.