Fluency and correction

Fluency is the ability to speak with one’s attention on the information being communicated, not the structure of the sentences being used to communicate.

This fluency is important because it frees up the speaker’s attention for other things, such as deciding what they want to say (content), and how to say it in the most effective way (rhetoric). Without fluency, the speaker is forced to pause speech to remember vocabulary and formulate sentences, which puts them at a disadvantage. Other members of a conversation might not give the speaker time to think about what they want to say, and might be distracted by the speaker’s mistakes, rather than the content of their speech.

Because fluency is a skill based on the building blocks of grammar and vocabulary, it must be gained through practice. Therefore the simple act of speaking improves fluency, but more targeted speaking tasks (tasks that practice certain forms until the speaker memorizes them) can work faster. The teacher should find out what specific language the student needs to use, so that the speaking tasks can be targeted effectively.

When free-speaking, the student usually chooses the content of their speech (what I did during the weekend, my favorite book). The teacher might decide the broad subject of the speech, but in most cases, the student picks specific content. Sometimes, in order to allow students to ignore content and focus on form, the student might be asked to summarize information they read or heard, or to speak based on material they previously wrote.

The form is more directly controlled by the teacher. Intermediate and above students especially, need to be pushed to use more advanced forms, rather than the simple forms the student is comfortable with. The teacher can ask the student to paraphrase using the target form (He is ugly, but friendly. Now use ‘although.), or ask questions that will elicit the form (I am scared of spiders. What are you scared of?).

When I listen to students speaking, I listen for mistakes or awkward phrases, or places where I can suggest more specific vocabulary. I focus especially on mistakes in the grammar that we are studying, grammar we have studied previously, or mistakes so egregious that they obscure meaning.