Transcript Accuracy and Fluency: Giving each its place

Accuracy
and
Fluency:
Giving
each its
place
JoAnn Miller, Editorial Macmillan
[email protected]
www.efltasks.net
Fluency
 The ability to produce written and / or spoken
language with ease
 Speak with a good but not necessarily perfect
command of intonation, vocabulary and
grammar
 Communicate ideas effectively
 Produce continuous speech without causing
comprehension difficulties or a breakdown in
communication
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Accuracy
 Ability to produce grammatically
correct sentences
 May not include the ability to speak or
write fluently.
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Self-Assessment
 The amount of emphasis you put on
accuracy or fluency depends on your
students
 Tourism?
 Translation?
Four skills
 Reading
•
Intensive vs. Extensive
•
Intensive vs. Extensive
•
Process vs. Free
•
Planned vs. Spontaneous
 Listening
 Writing
 Speaking
Reading: Extensive
 Reading for overall understanding
 Longer piece of text
 Worry less about individual words and
sentences
 Get caught up in flow of ideas
Jim Scrivener, Learning Teaching. Heinemann, 1994, p. 152-3.
Reading: Intensive
Short sections or sentences
 When we need to understand information in
detail
Listening
Intensive vs. Extensive like in reading
 Intensive listening:
• Instructions
 Extensive listening:
• A movie
• A conversation
Process Writing
 Teacher doesn’t just assign a writing topic
and receive the finished product for
correction with no intervention in the
writing process itself.
 The process is as (or more) important
than the product
 Students plan, write, rewrite, edit
individually and in groups with teacher
supervision
Stanley, G. “Approaches to process writing”. Teaching English. British Council,
BBC. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/write/process_write.shtml
Freewriting
 Not just for brainstorming
 Practice for decreasing students’
inhibitions about writing
 Allow them to increase written fluency
 Reassure students continually that
whatever they write is OK
 BUT must keep writing..write as much
as possible
Gretchen Jude (1999). Freewriting for fun and fluency.
http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/99/jul/sh_jude.html
Now you try it….
Theme: The best class I ever had
Rules:
• Don’t erase
• Don’t stop writing
Speaking
 Fluency: “concerns the learner’s
capacity to produce language in real
time without undue pausing or
hesitation.”
 Accuracy: “how well language is
produced in relation to the rule system
of the target language.”
Peter Skehan, “Second language acquisition research and task-based instruction”, Challenge
and Change in Language Teaching, J. Willis and D. Willis, ed. Heinemann, 1996. P. 22.
Task-based methods
 Recommend fluency activities first
 Then follow up with accuracy activities
Accuracy in Tasks
Whenever learners are involved in
communication they are concerned with
accuracy…
In spontaneous communication -- little time
to reflect on the language they produce.
If given time to prepare, there will be more
accuracy
Dave Willis, “Accuracy, fluency and conformity” Challenge and Change in
Language Teaching, J. Willis and D. Willis, ed. Heinemann, 1996. P. 50.
Fluency in Tasks
need opportunities to process language
for communicative purposes as
receivers and producers.
should be unfettered by the perceived
need to conform to teacher
expectations in terms of the
production of specific language
forms.
Dave Willis, “Accuracy, fluency and conformity” Challenge and Change in
Language Teaching, J. Willis and D. Willis, ed. Heinemann, 1996. P. 50
The Task Cycle: Task (Fluency)
Pairs or groups.
• use any language they have to express
themselves and say what they want to say.
T walks around and monitors
• helps Ss formulate what they want to say,
but doesn’t correct errors in form
Emphasis on spontaneous, exploratory
talk and confidence building in small
group.
• Success helps Ss’ motivation.
The Task Cycle: Planning / Reporting
(Accuracy)
Planning
• Ss draft and rehearse what they want to say
or write.
• T helps advising Ss.
• Emphasis on clarity, organization and accuracy
Reporting:
• T asks some pairs to report briefly to whole
class so everyone can compare findings--or
begin a survey
• T chairs, comments on content, rephrases but
gives no public correction
Now you do it…
In pairs, tell your partner about
your worst teaching experience
Now, write your experience
Change partners and
tell the story again
How
did it change?
So, what to do in class…
Reading:
• Encourage students to do free reading of
longer passages (fluency) as well as in class
exercises (usually accuracy)
Listening
• Encourage students to watch movies and
listen to songs in English (fluency) as well
as class practices (accuracy)
Writing
• Include freewriting (fluency) daily or
weekly for a few minutes
Speaking
• Follow a task cycle
Thank you very much….
JoAnn Miller
[email protected]
Handout available at: www.efltasks.net