Question 2

Define the terms ‘accuracy’ and ‘fluency’. Discuss the relationship between accuracy
and fluency in the Communicative Language Teaching approach.

It is clear now that a Communicative Language Teaching’s classroom activity may aim either
at accuracy or fluency, a distinction first made by Brumfit (1984). The concept ‘fluency’ is
often used with regard to high language proficiency. This concept is used to assess skills in a
foreign or second language, not in mother tongue. Crystal in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
Language describes the term fluency as “smooth, rapid, effortless use of language.” Apart
from that, according to Brumfit 1984, fluency is “to be regarded as natural language use” that
is spoken easily and without many pauses. It should be highlighted that grammatical
correctness is not necessarily the main feature of fluent language use. This can be justified
from the following quote.
“Fluency refers to the ability to produce rapid, flowing, natural speech, but not
necessarily grammatically correct speech. This is often contrasted with accuracy.”
(ESL Glossary)
Fluency in language use can be developed by designing classroom activities that provide
learners with the opportunity to “negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct
misunderstandings, and work to avoid communication breakdowns” ( Richard, 2001).
The following is an example of fluency activity that can be used in teaching a second
language.

Sample of fluency task

The teacher and a student act out a dialog in which a customer makes a complaint
regarding an object she has purchased at a department store. The promoter asks the
details of the problem and promises to replace the item with a functioning one.
Students are divided into several groups and by using their own words, they are
asked to recreate the dialog. They have to preserve the meaning of the dialog and
later act out their new dialogs in front of the class.

The primary purpose of fluency activities is to help students practice language in listening,
speaking, reading as well as writing. While practicing these language skills, learners are
expected to be able to enhance fluency in using the language in spontaneous communication.
During the fluency activities, learners should use the language they know in order to get the
meaning across as effectively as possible. The materials used in these activities are normally
whole pieces of discourses for examples conversations and stories. Texts are usually used as
they would be in real life: dialogues are spoken, articles and written stories are read and an
effort is made to use authentic materials from real life. The examples of authentic materials
would be articles from magazines, newspapers, advertisements and brochures. By using these
activities and materials, students’ attention is focused on communicating information and
expressing ideas. Their output may not always be predictable and their performance will be
assessed on how well ideas are expressed and understood. Students’ errors are not corrected
unless it interferes with communication. Teacher should give feedback regarding the activities
by discussing whether or not the activities performed reach their objectives. Fluency activities
are crucial in a way that they allow students to express their ideas as well to communicate in a
meaningful and enjoyable context.

In the meantime, accuracy activities are focused on correct use of vocabulary and grammar.
The concept ‘accuracy’ gives its attention to language only and correction is one of its main
features. The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines
accuracy as “the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences but may not include the
ability to speak or write fluently.”

The primary purpose of accuracy activities is to help students achieve accurate perception and
production of a target item which can be a sound, a word, or a sentence structure. The
materials or the texts used are usually composed of separate items. The target items are
usually practiced out of context or situation. For the activities, students’ attention is focused
on a particular target item. Their output is usually predictable and their performance is
assessed on how few language mistakes are made. Students’ errors are corrected and tasks
given during these activities do not usually simulate real-life situations. The following is an
example of accuracy activity that can be used in teaching a second language.
Sample of Accuracy Task

Students are asked to practice dialogs which contain of falling and rising intonation.
The class is divided into two groups in which the first group practices the dialog and
the second group plays the role of monitor. The monitor group is asked to check
whether or not others are using the correct intonation pattern and correct the errors
whenever necessary. The students now have to exchange their roles between those
reading the dialog and those monitoring. The teacher facilitates the activity by
correcting the language whenever necessary.

The time allocated for learners during accuracy should be taken into consideration. This is
because, as second language learners, it is quite impossible for them to produce perfect
language form in a short period of time. According to Willis 1996, “ whenever learners are
involved in communication they are concerned with accuracy in that they are making the best
use of their language system to meet the communicative demands place upon it. In
spontaneous communication learners have little time to reflect on the language they produce.
If, however, they are given time to prepare what they have to produce then there will be a
concern for formal accuracy within a communicative context.”

Despite the advantages of accuracy activities in a second language teaching, it is indeed very
important for the teachers to use face threatening act in correcting the language for “ overuse
of accuracy monitoring can cripple language development, making the students lose
confidence through the teacher’s over correction” ( Bengoa )
On the other hand, if too much emphasized is put on fluency activities, problem will arise
where students are fluent but fossilized. Due to their success at being communicative
competent, these students never seem to develop more sophisticated language. Accuracy is
definitely important because it helps students to communicate better and they need a high
level of accuracy to pass exams. Nevertheless, fluency activities are important in a way that
they allow students to express their ideas and provide a meaningful and enjoyable context.
Thus, it can be seen that accuracy and fluency are not opposites but complementary. Both are
equally important to pursue in creating communicative activities.
 “It is now very clear that fluency and accuracy are both important goals to
pursue in Communicative Language Teaching.”
( Brown, 2001)

In designing classroom activities, “teachers must balance issues of fluency and accuracy
depending on the specific needs of learners and resources of time and materials for
instruction” ( Ebsworth, )

It is strongly recommended for the teachers to use a balance of fluency and accuracy
activities. What the teachers can do is to create accuracy activities to support fluency activities
and vice versa. For instance, judging on the students’ performance on fluency task, teacher
could design and assign accuracy task to the students. This task will deal with grammatical
and pronunciation problems that the students might have faced (based on teacher’s
observation) during the previous fluency activity. Otherwise, the teacher could design
accuracy activity after teaching a new grammatical item. When students are more comfortable
and confident with the grammar item, they can move to fluency-focused activity. These will
provide meaningful opportunities for students to develop both their fluency and accuracy.

All in all, it is clear now that any attempt to design a lesson plan to teach communicative
second language classroom must yield a balance of attention to both fluency and accuracy
activities. In addition to that, these activities must help students to use learning strategies that
will accelerate their acquisition process. The dynamics of classrooms should also be changed.
Instead of dominating the classroom, teachers are advised to divide students into small-group.
Pair and group activities give learners greater chance to use the target language and to develop
both fluency and accuracy.