NUR IZZATI AQILLAH BT ROSLAN

TESL 2

English is an international language which people from all over the world learn in
order to communicate with each other. Accuracy and fluency are two factors which can
determine the success of English language students in the future. Essentially accuracy is the
ability to produce correct sentences using correct grammar and vocabulary. On the other
hand, fluency is the ability to produce language easily and smoothly.

Accuracy is relative. A very young child isnt capable of the same level of accuracy as
an adult. The child will make mistakes and misuse vocabulary. (Antunez, B., 2002).
Teachers who concentrate on accuracy help their students to produce grammatically correct
written and spoken English, ideally aiming towards the accuracy of a native speaker of
similar age and background. The emphasis in the classroom will be on grammar
presentations and exercises, reading comprehension and suchlike.

A fluent speaker, on the other hand, may well make grammatical errors but will speak
or write efficiently - without pauses. They will be able to converse freely and talk with native-
speakers about many different subjects. According to Blevins, W., (2001), fluency generally
increases as learners progress and become more comfortable using the language.
Language teachers who concentrate on fluency help their students to express themselves in
English. They pay more attention to meaning and context and are less concerned with
grammatical errors. Typical fluency activities are role playing and more communicative
activities where English is used as a medium of communication rather than an end in itself.

Taken as a given that students needs should always dictate what you teach them,
the question of whether it is more important to work on accuracy or fluency in the language
classroom remains. Many teachers believe that fluency is a goal worth striving towards only
with students who are at a fairly advanced level. Other teachers, strong in the belief that the
learning of a language is about communication, feel that fluency should be the main goal in
their teaching and that it should be practiced right from the start.

More traditional teachers tend to give accuracy greater importance; more liberal teachers
tend towards fluency. Often a rigid educational system where tests and exams are the focus,
will have students as well as their traditional teachers believe that language accuracy is what
matters most, and giving the correct answers often becomes an obsession. Students who
have been taught this way can complete any grammar gap-fill you care to give them, but will
struggle to order a coffee in a real English speaking situation.

On the other hand, a more communicative approach will produce students who can
converse at length on almost any subject but could well make horrendous spelling and
NUR IZZATI AQILLAH BT ROSLAN
TESL 2

grammatical mistakes in their writing. In the end, however, it really boils down to the the
needs of the student.

As far as teaching methodologies are concerned, very broadly speaking the

communicative approach is the one that favours fluency the most, while the audio-lingual
and grammar-translation approaches favour accuracy. (Tompkins, G.E., 2002). Typically,
at beginner level when the students dont have enough language to worry about fluency,
teachers tend to focus on accuracy. This carries on through to pre-intermediate when
fluency activities like discussions and debates are introduced. Later, when the students are
reasonably independent language users, a mix of accuracy and fluency is used, with the
focus shifting to fluency as students advance.

Excelling in tests represents but a small part of language competence and a lot of
students needs relate to performing in situations that are non-exam focused. However,
English competence exams do drive a lot of the ELT industry and contribute to perpetuating
the supremacy of accuracy over fluency. For example, our current public examination are
very much focused on accuracy. Benchmark testing on the other hand is a great example of
tests that are not accuracy based, though a higher degree of accuracy obviously
accompanies a higher level of fluency.

One important point to bear in mind, however, is that too much bias one way or
another is not good. Accuracy without fluency is not useful in the same way that fluency
without accuracy is also not useful. A good mixture biased towards the needs of the
student is the ideal way to go. As conclusion, both accuracy and fluency plays important
rules.
NUR IZZATI AQILLAH BT ROSLAN
TESL 2

References

Antunez, B. (2002). Implementing Reading First with English language learners. Directions
in Language and Education, 15, 1-12.

Blevins, W. (2001). Building fluency: lessons and strategies for reading success. New York:
Scholastic Professional Books.

Tompkins, G.E. (2002). Language Arts: Content and teaching strategies (5th ed). Columbus:
Merrill Prentice Hall.