Does the Reuse of Constructions Promote Fluency Development in Task Repetition? A Usage-Based Perspective

In this task-repetition intervention study, L2 learners’ reuse of linguistic constructions was analyzed to investigate to what extent recurring reliance on specific constructions during the same task repetition predicts fluency development. English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners performed oral narrative tasks three times per day under two task repetition schedules: blocked (Day 1: Prompt A-A-A, Day 2: B-B-B, Day 3: C-C-C) versus interleaved (Day 1: Prompt A-B-C, Day 2: A-B-C, Day 3: A-B-C). From a usage-based perspective, their reuse of constructions across the same prompt was examined at both concrete (lexical unigram [e.g., “bicycle”] and trigram [e.g., “behind the bicycle”]) and abstract (parts of speech trigram [e.g., “preposition determiner noun”]) level. Subsequent analyses revealed that blocked practice led to higher reuse of both concrete and abstract constructions than interleaved practice. Reuse frequency was correlated with during-training and pretest–posttest fluency changes. Particularly, greater reuse of lexical and abstract trigrams during interleaved practice led to improvements in speed and breakdown fluency (i.e., shorter mean syllable duration and fewer mid-clause pauses) after the intervention, albeit with higher effort (indicated by longer mid-clause and clause-final pauses). Taken together, these findings indicate that manipulating task-repetition schedule may systematically induce reuse of linguistic constructions, which may promote proceduralization (entrenchment) of constructional knowledge at both concrete and abstract levels.