Accuracy and Fluency

A classroom activity may aim either at accuracy or fluency, a distinction first made by Brumfit (1984). An accuracy-oriented activity such as pattern drills is usually used in the teaching of a new target item; A fluency-oriented activity such as extensive reading and information gap aims to develop the students' spontaneous communications skills in using what they have already learned. The following table summarizes the differences between the two types of activities. Be aware that it is not always possible or appropriate to classify classroom activities using this dichotomy and the differences summarized below may not always apply. An activity may be largely accuracy-oriented but also has some features of a fluency activity at the same time. "It is now very clear that fluency and accuracy are both important goals to pursue in CLT." (Brown, 2001, p. 268) Accuracy Activities Purpose: the primary purpose is to help students achieve accurate perception and production of a target item which can be a sound, a word, or a sentence structure. Material: the texts are usually composed of separate ("discrete") items: sentences or words; texts may be used in any mode (skill), regardless of how they are used in real life (dialogues may be written, written texts used for listening); the target items are usually practiced out of context or situation; Activities: students' attention is focused on a particular target item; their output is usually predictable; their performance is assessed on how few language mistakes are made; students' errors are corrected; tasks do not usually simulate real-life situations. Fluency Activities Purpose: the primary purpose is to help students practice language in listening, speaking, reading, and/or writing activities to so develop fluency in using the language in spontaneous communication. Material: the texts are usually whole pieces of discourses: conversation, stories, etc.; texts are usually used as they would be in real life: dialogues are spoken, articles and written stories are read; an effort is made to use authentic material from real life.

Activities: students' attention is focused on communicating information and expressing ideas; their output may not always be predictable; their performance is assessed on how well ideas are expressed or understood; students' errors are not corrected unless it interferes with communication; tasks often simulate reallife situations.
Based in part on Ur (1996)

www.auburn.edu/~nunnath/engl6240/accuracy.html

Communicative Competency: Accuracy vs. Fluency

Many teachers have difficulty defining where accuracy should be stressed over fluency and vice versa. In the case studies we see that our teacher friends want to correct their students so that they will be using the language correctly, but they also do not want to discourage students from trying by over-correcting. In Marguerite's case for example, she is unsure about which aspect of language is more important or desired by her students at the specific level she is teaching: fluency or accuracy? In this section we will discuss Communicative Competency and how understanding the learners communication needs is an important aspect for facilitating learning.

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What is Communicative Competency?

Communicative competency is the correlation between fluency and accuracy and refers to the ability of a speaker to communicate effectively in the language; this ability is based on more than just grammatical knowledge and the concept is derived from the general desire of language learners to be able to communicate proficiently, not to use the language exactly. To be able to communicate in the TL fluently means that the speaker is comfortable using the language and can be reasonably understood by other speakers of the TL. This does not necessarily mean that the speaker is free of errors in their communication, but that the errors they make do not obstruct the message. Accuracy refers to the correctness of the language being produced by the speaker. Just because a speaker focuses on accuracy does not mean they will be capable of producing effective communication.

Striking a balance between encouraging accuracy and fluency in the SL/FL classroom can be a challenge. Watch the video and discuss what this language teacher is stressing- is it accuracy or fluency? Do you think that her approach is successful for creating an effective communicator? Does teaching accuracy and fluency depend on the goals of the student?

www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%252... What is fluency? The ability to read a text quickly, accurately, and with proper expression (National Reading Panel, 2000) Fluent reading . . . has to sound like the language you are reading sounds like talking the speed of language- not speed readers (Shanahan, 2005) Automaticity-rapid and accurate word recognition-leads to fluency. Fluency- the ability to read smoothly and easily at a good pace with good phrasing and expression-develops over time as students word recognition skills improve. Students lacking fluency read slowly, a word at a time, often pausing between words or phrases; they make frequent mistakes, ignore punctuation marks, and read in a monotone. Fluent readers know the words automatically, and therefore move easily from word to word, spending their cognitive energy on constructing meaning. (Beers, 2003) Fluency is reading with appropriate accuracy and rate, but also with good and meaningful phrasing and expression (Rasinski, Padak, McKeon, Wilfong, Friedauer, Heim, 2005). There are three components to fluency: 1. accuracy 2. automaticity 3. prosody Accuracy involves reading words correctly. Students who have excessive miscues when they read do not read with accuracy. Those who read with automaticity recognize words automatically, without having to decode or process them. Proficiency in accuracy and automaticity leads to an increased reading rate, but speed alone does not encompass fluency in its entirety. A third factor of fluency is prosody. Prosodic reading includes the use of intonation, phrasing, and expression while reading. When reading orally, prosody provides a clue to the readers comprehension of text. So, a fluent reader reads with accuracy, automaticity, and prosody.

(Allington, 2006; Hudson, Lane & Pullen, 2005; National Reading Panel, 2000; Rasinski, et al., 2005; Rasinski, 2006) Although absolute reading rates do not increase substantially after about sixth grade (Tindal, Hasbrouck, & Jones, 2005), students must continue to increase the range of words they can recognize at a single glance (sight words) in order to continue to meet grade-level expectations for reading fluency (Torgesen & Hudson, 2006). Normally, students continue to increase their store of sight words as they expand their range of reading after elementary school, but if they dont maintain relatively high levels of reading practice, they can fall behind. Each year, students must add large numbers of words to their sight vocabulary in order to maintain their ability to read grade-level text fluently, because the range of unusual, or infrequent, words in grade-level text increases annually. (Torgesen & Hudson 2007) www.nefec.org/learn/teacher/secondary/fluency/research/whatIs.htm