Fluency and English Language Learners

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Fluency and English Language Learners

Fluency is a tricky area when it comes to ELL reading instruction. For

native English speakers, fluency and reading comprehension often share a strong

correlation because fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same

time.

This is not always the case for ELLs, however. Many ELLs can be

deceptively fast and accurate in their reading because they are good readers in

their primary language and have strong decoding skills. Yet they may demonstrate

little understanding of the text, and hearing the text out loud may not necessarily

provide a step towards comprehension as it is likely to do for native speakers.

Learn more about ways to effectively assess ELLs' reading accuracy and rate in

Assessing Fluency.

Fluency: Challenges and Strategies

What: The ability to

read a text accurately

and quickly.

Why it matters: Fluency is important because it provides

a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

Challenges for ELLs

Inaccurate indicator

of ELLs'

comprehension

It is not unusual for an ELL student to read a passage

beautifully and then not be able answer more than a couple

of comprehension questions correctly. Decoding skills

(sounding out words) and comprehending the text are two

different skills.

Limited benefit from

hearing texts read

aloud

Native speakers who are not strong decoders can often

comprehend text that is read to them better than text that

they read themselves. That's because when someone else is

doing the reading, they can focus on meaning without

having to struggle to get the words off the page.

With ELLs, however, comprehension problems tend to be

associated with limited vocabulary and limited

background knowledge. Thus, listening to text read by

someone else won't enhance comprehension.

Strategies for ELLs

Balance fluency and

comprehension

For ELLs, try not to provide instruction in fluency that

focuses primarily on developing students' reading rates at

the expense of reading with expression, meaning, and

comprehension.

Students may read fast, but with insufficient

comprehension. Fluency without comprehension will

require instructional intervention in vocabulary and

comprehension skills.

Give students a

chance to practice

In order to improve fluency in English, provide

independent level texts that students can practice again

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reading out loud

and again, or read a short passage and then have the

student immediately read it back to you.

Have the student practice reading a passage with a certain

emotion or to emphasize expression, intonation, andinflection based on punctuation.

Allow students to

practice reading

along with taped text

This is an excellent way for them to learn appropriate

pronunciation and phrasing.

Ideas to Develop Fluent Speech in ESL

Learners

Activities for Language Learners to Promote

Fluent Verbal Skills

In order to widen the capabilities of new language learners, students need

to practice so that they can conform to and perform in a multiplicity of life

settings.

Enjoyable Practice Produces Non-stressed Learning

This article gives suggestions for students to practice at home, in their own

time, in order to keep up their English practice even if school is out, or the

learners have returned to their own countries and want to keep their English skills

at the level they have already achieved.

Reading Aloud: Students should read aloud, not only for the skill of fluent

loud reading, but in order to keep their tongue and English speech flexible and

smooth. Reading silently does not help speech, even though it is an excellent

method of learning new vocabulary and maintaining or improving English

language. Reading aloud is a means of speaking out.

Singing Aloud with English Songs: Singing aloud does the same action asreading aloud; it keeps the tongue flexible. However, more than that, keeping a

tempo or having to keep up with the words of the singer develops fluency and

pronunciation. Any kind of song is suitable, depending on what the listener

prefers, but Rock and Pop songs offer a definite beat that helps students develop

the ability to adjust their speed from fast to slow.

Singing or talking in the Shower: Being alone and singing a song, with no one to

correct or react is an excellent means of trying out new words of songs or

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sentences the learner knows. Although it is sometimes awkward to talk to oneself,

hearing ones own voice encourages speech and helps practice new words that are

difficult to pronounce.

English Speech Improvement Activities for Groups

or Single Learners

Speaking with Movie Subtitles: While watching a movie, students can readthe subtitles together with the actors. This method implies trying to copy the style

of the actor, stopping and starting the movie with the remote control to practice

and repeat words, idioms and conversations. This is fun to do with a partner or a

group of other learners, each of them taking a part of one of the characters. Using

the subtitles, each of the actors reads at the same time that the screen actor istalking.

Speed Reading for Fluency: Find a reading passage of choice. Read

through at a regular pace. Read again and time the reading. Read yet again even

faster and time the reader. This exercise trains the tongue to move faster than

normal, and flexes the tongue to help improve pronunciation.

Dialog Reading Aloud: Students practice reading dialogs aloud, alone.They can act out both parts. This task encourages the student to read the parts of

the players in the dialog in different characters, using differences in voice, pace,

or even accent.

Encourage Students to keep up their Language Speaking

These given exercises offer ideas in which students can work on their own yet

achieve improvement in their speaking. Only speaking aloud improves speaking

ability. Persuade students to work on their own if they cannot find someone to talk

to in the new language. Practicing different methods enhances conversation skills

for a variety of situations.

The tasks are worthwhile and fun. They can be used, of course, in a lesson, forhomework, with a large group, in pairs, or for a single student. The ideas are very

interactive whether large groups of students work together or lone learners work

on their own to improve their language skills.

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Improve English fluency with chunks!

What are chunks and how can they help improve my fluency in English?

Knowing the meaning of a word is useful, but knowing how to use it in context isvital. Words aren't used in isolation and will often form part of an expression or

fixed set of words. Being able to call on these 'chunks' of vocabulary will help you

to improve English fluency skills.

Take the word 'thing' for example. We know 'thing' means a nameless object, such

as in the expression: 'a thing for peeling potatoes'. However, you will also find theword used in 'ready made' phrases. Listen to these examples:

'the thing is', 'all sorts of things' and 'there's no such thing' are three very common

chunks well worth remembering.

What kind of chunks should I look out for?

Chunks appear in all sorts of ways: as collocations and idioms, in set phrases such

as 'I was wondering if' and 'all the best' and what teachers call 'discourse markers'like 'as I was saying' or 'as far as I know'. Let's look at each of these in more

detail.

1) Collocations and idioms

Chunks include common collocational phrases, idioms and phrasal verbs. For

example, which prepositions are missing from the sentences below?

A) Driving the influence of alcohol is a serious offence.(collocational phrase)

B) You're not old and you really should not think that you're thehill at 60. (idiom)

C) The thief made with valuable personal possessions and a greatdeal of money. (phrasal verb)

Well done!The correct answers are 'under the influence', 'over the hill' and 'to

make off with'.Your answer has been saved.

2) Common polite expressions

Chunks like 'See you later' or 'Take a seat' are often used in everyday

communication and learning them can help you improve English fluency. Which

of the following do you regularly use?

'All the best''See you soon'

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Pronunciation Practice Through Dialog Scripts

Role-Play Scripts are an Excellent Challenge forESL Students

Pronunciation practice is essential for English as a Second Language (ESL)

students. Language workshops that concentrate on separate, discrete sounds are

important. However, once the student has managed to produce clear English

sounds, texts which embrace those complicated new utterances and not a

sequence of disconnected words on a pronunciation list need to be practiced for

fluency and improvement.

Dialog Practice Develops Meaningful Word Fluency andCommunication

Dialog pair work is indispensable as a method of improving fluency, turn-taking,

voice inflection and useful, meaningful language. Any kind of script will serve the

same cause, but working specifically with dialogs gives students the opportunity

to work with a partner and not a larger group in which some learners may be

intimidated.

Texts can be found on the Internet, produced by the teacher, or written by the

students themselves as a classroom exercise. Different kinds of dialogs can be

undertaken, such as grammar role-plays (those with a specific grammar focus), orabstract dialogs(those with unwritten action between the lines). The example

below is specifically developed for a pronunciation lesson and is constructed

solely as a means to include sounds, or groups of sounds, that the teacher wants

the students to focus on, and repeat.

Dialog Script Sample for Pronunciation

This role-play dialog scenario includes the sounds f and v in many of the

words. Many language learners experience problems with these sounds. Asian

language students, Spanish speaking learners and Arabic first language speakers,

all have problems correctly producing and pronouncing this voiced and voiceless

sound pair v and f respectively.

Dialog Script Using F and V sounds: