Key concepts in ELTTricia Hedge

Fluency

The term fluency has acquired two rather differentmeanings in ELT. The first is similar to a typicaldictionary entry. For example, 'fluent' is defined byChambers Concise Dictionary as 'able to speak andwrite a particular language competently and withease.' In this meaning it is normally restricted tolanguage production, and in ELT it is normallyreserved for speech. It is the ability to link units ofspeech together with facility and without strain orinappropriate slowness or undue hesitation. Faerch,Haastrup, and Phillipson (1984) include fluency as acomponent of communicative competence, anddefine it as 'the speaker's ability to make use ofwhatever linguistic and pragmatic competence theyhave.' They distinguish three types of fluency:

• semantic fluency, i.e. linking together propositionsand speech acts (also known as coherence);

• lexical-syntactic fluency, i.e. linking togethersyntactic constituents and words;

• articulatory fluency, i.e. linking together speechsegments.

Non-fluency in an English language learner isdiscernible in frequent pauses, repetitions, and self-corrections, as in this extract from the speech of anelementary learner:

I enjoy . . . er . . . enjoyed . . . e r . . . makingthis . . . er . . . homework . . . on pronunciation . . .pronunciation . . . but . . . urn . . . you know . . . Ihave . . . there are lots of mistakes . . . so . . . yousee . . . it helps . . . it is helping me to . . . imp . . .(coughs) . . . make better . . . my English . . .

This learner is beginning to compensate for this non-fluency by using the fillers 'you know', 'you see', inthe pauses while he deals with his linguisticuncertainty. It is noticeable, too, that he uses thecommunication strategy of paraphrase when he failsto produce 'improve' and says 'make better' insteadto increase his fluency.

This first meaning of fluency relates to competence inthe learner. Course books in the seventies oftencontained fluency drills aimed at increasing thelearner's ability to link syntactic segments with ease.For example, the teacher would set up a chain drilland provide each student with a different prompt inturn which they would have to insert in the correctposition syntactically, as in:

Ss: I went to the theatre last night.T: (my aunt's house)S: I went to my aunt's house last nightT: (visited)S: I visited my aunt's house last night.T: (yesterday). . . etc

More recently teachers have debated whether it ispossible to teach gambits, such as fillers, tocompensate for fluency.

A second meaning of fluency has developed inrelation to the goals of ELT and the nature ofclassroom activity. Brumfit (1984) argues from adefinition of fluency as 'natural language use' anddefines the aim of fluency activity in the classroom asto 'develop a pattern of language interaction withinthe classroom which is as close as possible to thatused by competent performers in the mother tonguein normal life.' He lists a set of criteria necessary forachieving fluency activity. These have beensimultaneously developed and expanded by a numberof other writers and can be summarized as follows:

• the language should be a means to an end, i.e. thefocus should be on the meaning and not on theform. Other writers have made similar distinctionse.g. message/medium (Krashen), meaning-focused/form-focused (Ellis)

• the content should be determined by the learnerwho is speaking or writing

• there must be a negotiation of meaning betweenthe speakers, i.e. the learners must be involved ininterpreting a meaning from what they hear and

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constructing what to say, not reliant on the teacheror textbook to provide the language

• the normal processes of listening, reading,speaking, etc. will be in play, e.g. improvising andparaphrasing in speech

• teacher intervention to correct should be minimalas this distracts from the message.

In Brumfit's view, fluency activities will give studentsthe opportunity to produce and understand items oflanguage which they learn in form-focused work oraccuracy work. It is significant that his definition offluency covers all of the language skills. Hissuggestions for creating natural language use in theclassroom include creative writing, class libraries,and project work.

Much ELT material (e.g. Klippel, 1984) has taken upthe concept of fluency activities, and presents taskswhich conform to the criteria above. An examplewould be students reading a handout with fiveproposals for how to spend a weekend, and agreeingon the weekend they would enjoy spending together.More recently the criteria for task design have beendeveloped in relation to specific skills, e.g. Bygate,1987, on speaking) and the debate on fluency in theclassroom has extended to the roles of teachers andlearners and the appropriate management ofclassroom learning.

Further readingBrumfit, C. 1984. Communicative Methodology inLanguage Teaching: The Roles of Fluency andAccuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Bygate, M. 1987. Speaking. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.Faerch, C, K. Haastrup, and R. Phillipson. 1984.Learner language and language learning. Clevedon:Multilingual Matters 14.Klippel, F. 1984. Keep Talking: CommunicativeFluency Activities for Language Teaching.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Project WorkA project is an extended task which usually integrateslanguage skills work through a number of activities.These activities combine in working towards anagreed goal and may include planning, the gatheringof information through reading, listening,interviewing, etc., discussion of the information,problem solving, oral or written reporting, anddisplay.

Brumfit (1984) gives an example in which advancedadult students elect to work in groups to produce aradio programme about their own country. A range oftopics, for example, ethnic groups, religion,

education, are assigned to the groups, who researchtheir topic and write and rehearse a script. Hutchinson(1991) suggests a project on 'Animals in Danger' forsecondary school pupils, in which they useknowledge from Science and Geography to researchthreatened species, write an article, and make aposter. Fried-Booth (1987) gives a more teacher-directed example suitable for junior learners at anelementary level, in which they are asked to collectfood labels or wrappings from tins, cartons, packets,etc. for a period of a week. These are used to create awall display with a map of the world illustrated withthe labels, which are attached to the relevant countriesof origin and export with coloured threads and pins.The map is then used for oral practice and controlledwriting.

Project work has been part of educational thinkingand practice on experiential learning for the greaterpart of this century (Dewey, Kilpatrick, Illich, Frey)and has influenced the teaching methodology ofcurriculum subjects at the school level. More recentlysince the mid-seventies, as ELT has espousedprinciples of learner-centred teaching, learnerautonomy, the negotiated syllabus, collaborativelearning, and learning through tasks, Englishlanguage educators have explored and exploited thetradition of project work, and it is now part of theEnglish language curriculum in many contexts.

Legutke and Thomas (1991) use data from casestudies of project work in the UK, USA and Germanyto suggest three types of project: encounter projectsenable students to make contact with native speakers,for example, American, or British visitors to theircountry. Text projects encourage students to useEnglish language texts, either a range of them toresearch a topic or one text more intensively, forexample, a play to read, discuss, dramatize, andrehearse. Class correspondence projects involveletters, audiocassettes, photographs, etc. asexchanges between school pupils in differentcountries.

Projects usually involve a number of features:• the study and use of authentic English language

materials• an emphasis on student group-centred experience

and de-emphasis of teacher-directed work• the encouragement of student responsibility for

planning, carrying out, and presenting the task• a sequence of activities over a period of time, e.g.

planning, fieldwork, preparation of information,presentation

• the use of a range of skills• activity outside the classroom in the students' own

time.

Project-based learning has been promoted withinELT for a number of reasons. Learners' use of

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language as they negotiate plans, analyse and discussinformation and ideas is determined by genuinecommunicative needs. At the school level, projectwork encourages imagination and creativity, self-discipline and responsibility, collaboration, researchand study skills, and cross-curricular work throughexploitation of knowledge gained in other subjects.

Successful use of project work will clearly beaffected by such factors as availability of time, accessto authentic materials, receptiveness of learners, thepossibilities for learner training, and theadministrative flexibility of institutional timetabling.

Received May 1993

Further ReadingBrumfit, C. 1984. Communicative Methodology in

Language Teaching. The Roles of Fluency andAccuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Fried-Booth, D. L. 1987. Project Work. Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Hutchinson, T. 1991. Introduction to Project Work.Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Legutke, M. and H. Thomas. 1991. Process andExperience in the Language Classroom. Harlow:Longman.

The authorTricia Hedge is the Editor of this journal.

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