Balancing accuracy and fluency Thu Tran suggests ways of getting clear outcomes from oral communication classes. luency, accuracy, appropriacy and ‘complexity are topics teachers may associate when talking about students Students have ‘oral communication, to use the target language smoothly, ccomectly and appropriately in various social and cultural contexts. In some cases, students may also have to omonstrate that they are able to use Tanguage that is relatively complex as found in the language of educated 46 speakers of the target language. Among, the aforementioned constructs, fluency and accuracy seem to be more popular with most classroom teachers. The reason is probably because they are primary goals for students who learn to speak another language. Although both ‘uency and accuracy are important individual students may choose to ‘emphasise one overthe other. As a result, some students painstakingly wo.tmodernenglishteacher.com produce errorfree language that impedes natural, fluent and smooth -ommunication, Others, on the other hand, use English confidently and seemingly fluently, but their Tanguage is noticeably problematic interms of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, Assisting students in attaining accuracy and fluency in using a second language is an ongoing and important goal for language teachers. Volume 23m sueAlthough teachers would like their ‘students to achieve accuracy and fluency, the challenge is selecting specific and appropriate ac or materials to lead their students to successfully achieve them, Itis usually the teacher's discretion to decide when to focus on fluency and accuracy. Depending on each teacher's preference and focus, either fuency or accuracy may be excessively targeted without the teacher's and students’ awareness. The aim of this article is to provide readers with some practical activites to balance fluency ‘and aceuraey activities in each oral ‘communication class session, Fluency activities Fluency activities are those that allow students to use the language to convey their ideas as quickly or smoothly as possible. In fluency activities, students are usually expected to communicate information to another, other students, or the whole class in a manner that js similar to what can be found in a simultaneous reabife situation without much practice in advance For example, at the beginning of a class, the teacher ean ask each student to share with another student, other students in a group or the whole class what they have watched, seen ar heard that they have found interesting in the last few days, Each student ‘can speak as much as a minute or as leas two or three sentences. What is important is that students have to ‘communicate a complete message that is understandable to others using the target language. In the real ‘world, correct language use may not always be the primary criteria, but the ability to communicate effectively, is. Therefore, any activity that helps students to push themselves to use the language to make others comprehend ‘what they wish to say can be considered fluency-oriented, Another example is when the teacher provides stucents with a current event ‘as broadcast in the news, controversial issues or opportunities to offer solutions to existing world problems, Students are asked to present thelr Volume 28 misuet perspectives about the event and suppor the reasons for what they say. The topic is unlikely to be predicted, and students have to use the language they have to communicate their ideas about the issue. As long as the language use is natural Ce not so many long pauses, too much hesitation or repetition) and the ideas conveyed are easily understood, the leamer’s speech can be considered fluent. To help students to increase speaking fluency is to enable them to-use the language they know to communicate their thoughts and ideas ina fluid manner without too much pausing or repeating, “Native language speakers make mistakes when they speak rapidly and under pressure, so expecting language learners to produce error-free language is unrealistic.” Information exchange is an opportunity for students to engage in meaningful and purposeful conversation that could develop their speaking fluency. Each pair of students can be provided with, information about an event, atopic or aastory, One student has information the other student does not. Their goal is to communicate orally without looking at each other's piece of paper to complete the task. A similar activity isto give each pair of students two tures that have a few differences, ‘The teacher tells students that there are five, ten or any specific number ‘of differences in the pictures. Each student has to describe their picture to the other so that they can find out the worn modernenglishteacher.com SPEAKING differences. Students are not allowed to look at each others pictures, so they are forced to use their oral communication ability to find out the differences. Another related activity is to break a story into four, five or more written sections. Ina group of four, five or more, students take turns reading the segment ofthe story they have aloud to the group. The group has 10 discuss to come to an agreement about hhow to logically order the individual segments of the story to make the story reasonable. Sometimes, an order that is different from the original story may be agreed on in a group. The group has to provide an argument to shove that the order they have decided on is possible and reasonable. A Tun way for students to practise uency speaking activities isto teach others something they are good at or tell them a story. Students are assigned to work in pais or groups. Bach student has to teach another orthe others something he or she knows well. They may decide to tell a story that others in the group do not know. At the end of the activity, each student has to report, to the whole class something they have leamed ora story they have heard. An alternative activity is to give each pair of students two stories. Each student is asked to read the story and retell the story tothe other student in three minutes the first time, The second time each student has to tell the story again ‘in two minutes. Whal is essential is that students have to include all details of the story in each telling. The details to be included when telling the story the second time must be the same as the firs. The main ideas or details of the story can be provided to students tohelp them to communicate the story mote effectively. The expected lfference between the two rounds of ‘storytelling is the speaking speed. To convey the same amount of information Jess time, stucents are forced to speak ‘more quickly and less hesitantly Students can also be given a situation in which they have to work together to decide on what essential things they will need to bring if they were to live deep in the forest for an extended aTamount of time. For each item that students were planning to bring with them, they need to provide a compelling reason for bringing it on such an impartant expedition. Another variation 'stoallocate each pair of students an imaginary amount of money. The pair hhas‘0 reach a consensus regarding how they would spend the money. The morey cannot be spent unless the pair is toally in agreement about how the morey isto be used. Role play is also a good activity for students to use their imagination and have meaningful conversations while improving speaking fluency. For nstance, the teacher can assign each pair of students a situation and the students have to play the role of each person in the conversation. Some situations may be: a customer Who wants to retum a computer he just 2ought and a sales associate, a driver who ran a red light and a police officer who stopped her, a student ‘who wants to submit an assignment late and a professor. After watching a video, reading or listening to a passage, students can discuss in pairs or in small groups to 48 tell the other(s) what they have leamed from what they have just watched, read or listened to. The teacher can delegate ‘certain student in each group 10 ensure that each group member has a tur to speak and offer their opinion The teacher may also specify a certain amount of time each student can speak at most to make certain that each group member has an opportunity ta speak. Accuracy activities Using a new language without errors is almost an impossible goal for any language leamer. Native language speakers make mistakes when they speak rapidly and under pressure, so expecting language learners to produce errorfree language is unrealistic, However, with ample and clearly signalled practice, learners can speak the language more accurately or correctly. One way to increase language accuracy is via preparation, repetition and feedback. Ifeamers prepare fora presentation in advance, they are usually able to deliver the presentation better and make fewer language mistakes while speaking. It students read about the topic of their presentation, develop the presentation ‘www.modernenglishteacher.com and practise the presentation mul tUmes prior to giving the presentation, they are mote likely to speak more confidently, clearly and correctly. To ald studemts in accuracy development, teachers can review students prepared presentation materials such as PowerPoint slides or the written version of their speech to tell them areas that may need correction before the students practise the presentation at home. After the prepared materials have been reviewed, teachers may require students to record their presentation three or more times before sending the version they are mast happy with to the teacher for feedback. The teacher can sit down withthe studentto help him or her improve the accuraey aspect of the presentation, which may involve pronunciation of key words or phrases, subject and verb agreement, verb tenses and prepositions. After receiving feedback from the teacher, students ‘can continue with further practice to enhance the quality of their presentatior In terms of language use correctness. Students’ level of language proficiency determines the kind of accuracy speaking activities hat are beneficial for thom. For beginning leamers, sa Volume 28m sue tpractising short conversations that ‘were writen for them is an easy way to help them to become confident with using the language, Students can read the conversations carefully to ty to memorise the conversation before taking tums to practise the conversation, Speaking activities that focus exclusively (on a particular grammar structure are also useful for learners to use the structure comectly, Providing students, with question-answer frames can help them to be able to use language ina more controlled, confident and accurate manner, Some example wh: and yes/no question and answer frames are 8s follows. What is your? My. is Whereis your...? My... is Do you ..?¥s, to. / No,! don't 1 Can you ..?¥5,1ean. / No.l cant Have you ever... ?¥es,! have. I die that Research regarding vocabulary learning has suggested that if lexical item is encountered ten times or more in context, significant learning may take place (Webb, 2007), Question answer frames are an extended molume 28m issue part of lexical development, so if each question and answer frame is practised a lot and frequently enough, students may be able to use them correctly and more easily. The power of practice isthe essence of both uency and accuracy development activities. The more students practise, the more they ean speak with NNuidity and fluency. Language use automaticity is enhanced by constant practice and higher frequency of use. When a sentence frame has been used often enough, students ean use It faster and with less chance of error. The more correct question and answer frames students practise, the ‘mote likely itis for them to speak correctly. In addition to question and answer frames, beginning students can also increase the grammaticality of their speech using sentence frames, Teachers are well aware that vocabulary isthe single most challenging learning obstacle for learners at any level of language proficiency. Students use language incorrectly partly because of thelr Jack of an ample verbal repertoire Helping students to build a rich and large vocabulary or sentence frames can enable them to speak another ww.modermenglishteacher.com SPEAKING language with better accuracy. The number of sentence frames available is large, but students and teachers can start with the sentence frames they more often in the classroom. Examples are given below Thank you for Jam wondering if thine ean see wity Ihave a problem with my Fean't decide beaween .. and I would tite to Lam sorry Iam late because The main idea of the reading passage 's probably ‘The speaker seems fo Tis story reminds me of. We have difculty with What you said sounds Another way to resolve the issue could be we read the text more closely, we ‘mary be able to see that Although the author suggested that not all readers may 49‘SPEAKING 1m Wile the speaker is correct in saying ‘thot... not all isteners agree with because 1 Ater reading the ..again, | believe thet Depending on the classroom discourse, teachers can identiy sentence frames that ae often used and assist students in learning to use them more correctly. Accurate reporting is an activity that can enable beginning students to use sentence frames grammatically. The teacher can ask the class to stand by the wall around the room. The teacher whispers a complete sentence (one of the target sentence frames) to the student next to him or her. The student then whispers the same sentence to the student next to him or her. Students take lus whispering the sentence until it reaches the last person. Each stuclent has to write the sentence on a small piece of paper as soon as they heart, fold the paper and passit io the teacher, The last person has to loudly say the sentence they heard to the whole class. The teacher can then have each student in the class read aloud the sentence writen on ‘each piece of paper to see which sentence is accurate and which one isnor, Grammatical correction can be provided to make sentences correct. Accuracy in this activity can be both content accuracy and language correctness Listering and reading along isan activity students ean do at home. ManxThings.org has two sections called (a) Listen and read along and (b) Daily listen and repeat that is updated every day. In Listem and read along, students listen to a short news repot or story that is read clearly. Each, sentence is repeated twice for students to read along. The words in the sentences appear on the screen to help students repeat the sentences easily Thissection may be more appropriate for intermediate and advanced students who wish to develop both Auency and accuracy. Dally listen ‘and repeat is designed for daily practice. Ithas 366 pages, and each page has 50 sentences for students to listen to and repeat after what 50 they hear and read, Each sentence is repeated three times. This section ‘may be suitable for beginner or low Intermediate students who want to be able to increase fluency and accuracy attheir own comfort level at home It may not be possible to effectively address all possible sources of language accuracy problems. One source of language inaccuracy may stem from the students’ native language, Vietnamese students, for example, may erroneously use the verb to remember and ‘to miss’ decause both words have generally the same Vietnamese translation inhé’. Instead of asking ‘Do you miss your family” a student may ask ‘Do ‘you remember your family?” Another Source of incorrect language use can come fromn the target language itself, In English, for instance, there are many words that may look quite similar at first sight such as affect and effect. A language learner may say "What we cat effects what we think’ instead of saying, ‘What we eat affects what ‘we think. Idiomatic expressions in English can also be another source of inaccurate language use. For example, ‘a student may say ‘Early childhood education isthe comer rock of the person's developmental growth’ Listeners may easily understand what is communicated, but idiomatically ‘speaking, the use of ‘corner rock’ may stand out and make native English speakers chuckle. Some students rely on language nules they know to create words that may seem correct, but the word created may have a different connotation. In an evening English class that was made up of students from different walks of life, each student stood up and introduced themselves in the first class meeting, After male student introduced himself asa freshman in college, a female student stood up and confidently introduced herself as a ‘freshwoman’. Even. though ‘freshwoman’ is not wrong, its typically not used, For lexically related items, teachers may observe ‘common problems with word use and develop mini-lessons to help students identity the subtle differences prior to worw.modernenglishteacher.com attempting to use them in their speech. (One simple way isto show students ietionary entries for each of the two potentially confusing words and ask them to identify the differences in form. Guch as spelling and pronunciation), ‘meaning or use. Another possible way is to use examples in a corpus such as hitps://lextutor.ca/eonc/eng/ of hitps://www.wordandphrase info! (lor American English), The abundant examples of target words in context can be an effective way for students to draw a conclusion for themselves about the form, meaning and use of the words they may not have fully earned to use correctly, Fluency activities require less teacher Intervention and more student interaction, engagement and effort to communicate, Accuracy activities require more teacher guidance and support. When students make more recordings, do teachers have to listen to all the recordings? Itis not possible for teachers to listen to all students! recordings. It is possible for teachers to listen selectively, however, to direct students to focus on improving the terrors that interfere with fluency, so their speech is better understood. Reference ‘Webb S (2007) The efect of repetition on vocabulary knowledge, Applied Linguistics 28 (1) 40-05, lad ‘Thu Tran isthe Program Manager ‘of the Intensive English Program at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA. He received a BA in English Linguistics and Literature from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viefiam, fn Mi in TESOL from the University of. Canberra, Australia, and a doctorate in TESOL trom Alliant International University, San Diego, CA. His special Interests include second language vocabulary acguisition and instruction, ‘assessment, teaoher taining, and ‘utrculum ahd materials development. wolume 28 missed