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
Why it matters: Fluency is important because it provides
read a text accurately
a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.
and quickly.
Challenges for ELLs
It is not unusual for an ELL student to read a passage
Inaccurate indicator beautifully and then not be able answer more than a couple
of ELLs' of comprehension questions correctly. Decoding skills
comprehension (sounding out words) and comprehending the text are two
different skills.
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
Limited benefit from
having to struggle to get the words off the page.
hearing texts read
aloud
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
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.
Balance fluency 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 In order to improve fluency in English, provide
chance to practice independent level texts that students can practice again
 and again, or read a short passage and then have the
student immediately read it back to you.
reading out loud
Have the student practice reading a passage with a certain
emotion or to emphasize expression, intonation, and
inflection based on punctuation.
Allow students to
This is an excellent way for them to learn appropriate
practice reading
pronunciation and phrasing.
along with taped text

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 as
reading 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
sentences the learner knows. Although it is sometimes awkward to talk to oneself,
hearing one’s 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 read
the 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 is
talking.

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, for
homework, 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.
 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 is
vital. 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 the
word 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 the
hill at 60. (idiom)

C) The thief made with valuable personal possessions and a great

deal 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'
Pronunciation Practice Through Dialog Scripts

Role-Play Scripts are an Excellent Challenge for

ESL 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 and

Communication

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), or
abstract 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: