Chapter 6: Balance Your Learning - Get Fluent PDF

# Chapter 06: Balance your learning - get fluent at using what you know So far, in following the principle that there should be a balance of learning opportunities, we looked at learning through input (listening and reading) in Chapter 3, we looked at learning through output (speaking and writing)...

# Chapter 06: Balance your learning - get fluent at using what you know So far, in following the principle that there should be a balance of learning opportunities, we looked at learning through input (listening and reading) in Chapter 3, we looked at learning through output (speaking and writing) in Chapter 4, and in Chapter 5 we looked at deliberate learning. In this chapter, we look at the fourth strand - fluency development. ## Fluency Development Fluency involves making the best use of what you already know. At every stage of language proficiency right from the very beginning lessons, you need to be fluent in using what you have already learnt. For example, when you learn the numbers, you should be able to recognise them quickly in a spoken form, so that when you go into a shop to buy something, you can understand the price. There are several popular ideas about fluency. When we say that someone is fluent in the language, we mean that they know a lot of the language and know it well. That is not the kind of fluency that we are talking about here. Another meaning of fluency is that someone is able to choose exactly the right word or phrase at the right time to suit the occasion. That also is not the kind of fluency that we are talking about here. In this chapter, when we use the word fluency, we simply mean the speed at which you can produce and understand the language. This is a very simple idea of fluency, but it is a very important language learning goal. ## How to become fluent? Fluency activities have four important characteristics: 1. They involve easy familiar material that contains no unknown vocabulary or unknown grammatical features. 2. They include some pressure to go at a faster speed. 3. They involve a large quantity of practice. 4. They involve a focus on receiving or communicating messages. ## Fluency Across the Four Skills Let us now look at a range of activities for developing fluency across the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. ### Developing Listening Fluency Listening fluency can be developed with the help of a digital recorder with a variable speed control or a playback program with speed control such as the Windows Flash player. A useful way to begin is to get a recording of a text which is also available in written form. The text should not be too long, around 200 or 300 words. The first step is to study the written text carefully to make sure that it is completely understandable. Then, listen to the text while looking at the written version, setting the digital playback to a slow speed. Then over several days, increase the speed of the playback so that eventually you are listening to the text at a close to normal speed. **Why is Repeated Important?** Repeated listening (without increasing the speed) can also be done with short films or movies with subtitles. Repetition is an important factor in fluency development because repeated material becomes easier, and repetition provides quantity of practice. **Activity 6.1:** Repeated listening Get someone to record the numbers from one to ten in the foreign language in a random order, for example, 6, 3, 8, 1, 7, 10, 2, 9, 4, 5, 3, 10, 3, 6. Each number should occur several times in a different place in the order so that you have plenty of opportunity to hear the same number again and again without knowing that it is coming. Write the numbers in order from 1 to 10 on a piece of paper, and as you listen to the recording point to the number that you hear. When you can do it easily at a slow speed, increase the speed and do it again. Keep doing this until you can easily recognize the numbers in their spoken form. It is best if you spread of the practice across several days rather than have one concentrated session of listening to the numbers. This activity makes use of repetition and increasing speed, and quickly develops fluency in comprehending numbers. You can also use it for days of the week, months of the year, greetings names of food and many other things. ### Developing Speaking Fluency In order to develop fluency in speaking, it is useful to produce the same spoken material again and again. The 4/3/2 activity is well suited to this. **Activity 6.2:** 4/3/2 In the 4/3/2 activity, you speak on a very easy topic to a listener for 4 minutes. The listener does not interrupt or ask questions but simply listens carefully. Then you speak on exactly the same topic again to a different listener, but this time you have only 3 minutes to complete the same talk. Once again, the listener does not interrupt the speaking but just listens. Finally, you speak on exactly the same topic again to a new listener, with only 2 minutes to complete the talk. The 4/3/2 activity contains the four requirements for fluency development - easy material (the topic is very familiar to you), pressure to go faster (because of the reducing time), quantity of practice (4+3+2 minutes), and a focus on communication (three different listeners). In the early stages of proficiency, instead of 4/3/2 you might find it easier to do 3/2/1/½. The decreasing time in the activity most affects fluency, and the repetition has a greater effect on improving accuracy and complexity. If you are learning a language on your own, then you may not have the opportunity to do the 4/3/2 activity with different listeners. However you can do repeated speaking on your own without an audience. ### Developing Reading Fluency Reading fluency involves being able to read silently with good comprehension at a speed of around 250 words per minute. Reading fluency develops through reading lots of easy familiar material. In English, there are speed reading courses which contain texts that are written within very controlled vocabulary levels (1,000 words, 2,000 words) and which do not contain difficult grammatical constructions (see Sonia Millett's web site) (see Activity 6.4). These texts are all of the same length and are accompanied by comprehension questions. When you read each one you keep a record of your reading time, and record the time and comprehension score on graphs. You do twenty pieces of reading like this, completing about two or three each week. By doing such a course, you can increase your reading speed by at least 50%, and you may even double your reading speed. Speed reading courses like these do not result in super-fast reading, but they result in reading speeds which are close to those of native speakers, at around 250 words per minute. Another way to increase reading speed is to read very easy material. If the language you are learning has graded readers (unfortunately not many languages beside English do), then you can read texts which are written at a very easy level with strict vocabulary control. If easy written material is not available, then reading speed can be increased by doing repeated reading. **Activity 6.3:** Repeated reading Repeated reading involves reading the same material at least three times, each time trying to increase the speed at which it is read. Repeated reading can be done while reading aloud, or while reading silently. It is a good idea to keep a record of the time taken for each reading. If repeated reading is done while reading aloud, then a reasonable goal is a reading speed of around 150 words per minute. If repeated reading is done while reading silently, then a reasonable goal is a reading speed of around 250 words per minute. When doing repeated reading it is important that the material being read is understood. Reading fluency must involve comprehension. **Activity 6.4:** Speed reading A speed reading course typically involves a set of twenty passages of equal difficulty, each followed by a set of multiple-choice comprehension questions based on the passage. The reading passages are written within a controlled vocabulary so that you will not meet any unfamiliar vocabulary. You choose a passage, note the time or start a timer, and quietly read the passage trying to maintain a reasonable speed. When you reach the end of the passage, note the time you have taken to read it and then turn the passage over to answer the comprehension questions. When answering the questions, do not look back at the passage. Then get the answer key and score the answers to the questions. The time to read the passage is converted to words per minute using a table and this speed is entered on your speed graph. Your comprehension score is entered onto your comprehension graph. All of this takes only a few minutes. Then a couple of days later read a different text measuring speed and comprehension, until eventually all twenty texts have been read. Speed reading courses like this will help you increase your reading speed by 50% and maybe even double your reading speed. The aim is to reach speeds at around 250 words per minute with comprehension scores of around 7 or 8 out of 10. ### Developing Writing Fluency Writing fluency is particularly important if you have to take written exams in the language you are learning. There are two useful techniques that you can use to develop writing fluency-10 minute writing, and repeated writing. **Activity 6.5:** 10 minute writing In 10 minute writing, you choose an easy topic to write about that you are interested in. You should use a digital timing app and write for exactly 10 minutes. Try to write as much as you can in the time. At the end of exactly 10 minutes, count the number of words that you have written and enter that number on a graph. Do 10 minute writing two or three times a week. Because this is a fluency development activity, do not worry about any mistakes that you make but simply concentrate on writing more. This is an easy activity to do without a teacher. As with other fluency development activities, you should not worry too much about errors as doing so could slow down your writing. **Activity 6.6:** Repeated writing Repeated writing is particularly useful if you have to sit tests where you know the kind of question you will have to answer and you are able to prepare answers for the test. It is also useful for written tasks that you need to do very often. Repeated writing involves doing a piece of writing, getting it checked and corrected, looking at it carefully, putting it away and then writing it again from memory. When you have completed the piece of writing, you can check your writing with the original (see Activity 5.2: Delayed copying for a similar activity). The same piece of writing should be repeated at least two or three times, so that the final production can be done fluently. One way to develop fluency at a very low level of proficiency is to memorize useful phrases and sentences (see Activity 4.1: Memorized sentences and dialogues). This memorization ensures that what is produced is accurate, and through practice it can be produced fluently. The most useful sentences and phrases to memorize are those in the survival vocabulary. However, it is important to consider why you are learning the language and the opportunities that you have to use it, and find and memorize useful sentences and phrases related to this use. At every stage of language proficiency, you should be able to use what you have learnt in a fluent way. We have now covered the four strands of a course which is number 2 in our list of basic principles. In the next chapter we look at principle 3 – apply conditions that help learning.