Distinguishing fluency and accuracy activities

Distinguishing fluency and accuracy activities

Accuracy and Fluency

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

Accuracy

• Ability to produce grammatically correct sentences
• May not include the ability to speak or write fluently

Paul Nation (2003) suggests that the following conditions be provided for effective fluency activities:

All language items involved are already familiar to students
The focus is on communication (not form) in real time
Supports are in place for students to outperform their normal proficiency

Accuracy Activities

• help students achieve accurate perception and production of a target item which can be a sound, a word, or a sentence structure

Fluency Activities

• help students practice language in listening, speaking, reading, and/or writing activities to so develop fluency in using the language in spontaneous communication