i In terms of temporal variables and comprehension, the outstanding question (in the sense of being prominent as well as unsettled) is still that of the relationship between speech rate (SR) and listening comprehension. The overall nature of the relationship is however clear-after a certain level, comprehension declines as SR increases-and recent studies (Conrad, 1989; Griffiths, 1990a) have begun to supply details of the relationship. It now remains to indicate for specific groups, on specific texts (a) how much, and at what rates, comprehension decreases as SR rises; (b) if there is a lower SR limit at which reduced comprehension is also observed. The experiment described here is, therefore, one of a series of investigations which aim to provide more detailed information on the relationship beween SR and comprehension. The purpose is to indicate specific SRs or a range of rates which facilitate comprehension and to indicate rates at which comprehension is likely to decline rapidly. A previous study, upon which the present investigation is modelled (Griffiths, 1990a), has indicated that rates of speech faster than 200 words per minute (wpm) /3.8 syllables per second (sps) impair comprehension for lower intermediate learners. However, recent descriptive studies (Griffiths, 1990b; Higgins & Griffiths, 1990; Tauroza & Allison, 1990) have shown that the language learner is likely to meet a far greater spread of rates than the 1.93-3.8 sps rates investigated in that earlier study. A new set of recordings of different materials was consequently prepared for the investigation described here. These were recorded at rates of approximately 5 sps, 3.75 sps, and 2.5 sps. (Tauroza & Allison, 1990, report average SR as 230-280 spm, i.e., 3.8-4.7 sps).
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A 1992 study studied this question.