English Language Fluency of the Students in an Appropriate Manner - Essay Example

Improving English Language Fluency Language fluency is must for a person to succeed in professional life. Shields and Price (2000) “Fluency is associated with significantly higher mean hourly occupational wages”. Many people find it difficult to improve fluency in English language. In this paper, some strategies will be discussed which can be used to improve students’ fluency and word study. Teachers can use these strategies after evaluating the fluency level of their students using task-based approach. Using task-based approach, teachers assign different tasks to the students for evaluation, such as, answering the questions after listening to small audio clips and, speaking some sentences on some topic, and making students communicate with other students and discuss different issues. Let us discuss some of the most effective strategies that can be used by the teachers to enhance students’ fluency. Classroom Activities Some of the most effective ways, which can be used to improve fluency of the whole group, include telling students how to make correct use of verbs and improving students’ vocabulary and pronunciation. Eight weeks are enough for the teachers to make their students proficient in the use of verbs and vocabulary. Using this two-month strategy, teachers first educate students how to use different tenses, verbs, and phrases in writing and speaking. After that, teachers improve vocabulary and pronunciation of the students. In the end, teachers assess students’ learning by taking tests. 1. Use of Verbs, Collocations, and idioms The duration of first part of the strategy is one month. The first two weeks are reserved for improving use of verbs, phrases, discourse markers, and tenses whereas third week is reserved for educating students how to make use of idioms and phrases in sentences. Last week is spared for evaluation in which teachers give writing exercises to the students to check their level of understanding. Teachers also check speaking fluency by giving oral and written exercises to the students. This part of the strategy is a very productive step towards improving students’ knowledge regarding use of verbs and collocations. It makes students learn how to make correct use of words. Teachers can use this strategy to improve the word study and speaking fluency of the whole classroom. Although foreign people can read and write English correctly but when it comes to speaking, things become difficult for such speakers because they cannot integrate correct forms of verbs in their sentences. Word identification, understanding, and integration are the three major steps in improving language fluency. A student should be able to identify the words, understand their meanings, and use those words to develop sentences. The purpose of making students aware of correct use of verbs and tenses is to help them generate correct sentences quickly. 2. Improving Students’ Vocabulary and Pronunciation Once the teachers make students perfect in the use of correct verbs and tenses, they start improving students’ vocabulary and pronunciation. Improving students’ vocabulary and pronunciation is the second part of the strategy, which also comprises of one month. In the first one and a half weeks, teachers ask students to read English newspapers and consult dictionary for improving their vocabulary. In the second one and a half weeks, teachers shift their focus towards improving pronunciation of the students. To accomplish his tasks, teachers encourage their students to watch English news channels, movies, and talk shows to know correct pronunciations of the words. In the last week of the strategy, teachers take comprehensive tests of the students to assess students’ vocabulary and pronunciation. The tests include tasks, such as, making students speak different words and asking them to write some sentences on different topics. Many of the foreign English speakers are not familiar with the words used in English language. They cannot communicate properly what comes in their minds because they have a very short vocabulary. Strong vocabulary and ability to pronounce the words correctly are essential for a person to speak English language fluently. Therefore, to fulfill this necessity of the students, teachers make students familiar with different words and their meanings. Use of dictionary, newspapers, audio and video communications plays a very effective role in improving students’ vocabulary and pronunciation. Small Group Activities Some of the most effective ways, which can be used to improve the fluency of small groups, include reading paragraphs and group discussions. Six weeks are enough for the teachers to make their students proficient in reading paragraphs and participating in discussions. Using this six-week strategy, teachers first educate students how to read paragraphs, which contain complex words having difficult pronunciations. After that, teachers improve speaking skills of the students by making them participate in discussions. In the end, teachers evaluate students’ learning by taking tests that contain translation and reading tests along with small group discussions. 1. Reading Paragraphs The duration of first part of the strategy is three weeks. In the first week, teachers improve vocabulary of the students to get them know the meanings of different words. In the second week, teachers improve reading skills of the students by making them read small paragraphs. In the last week, teachers assess the reading skills of the students based on vocabulary tests in which students have to speak on different topics using correct vocabulary and pronunciation. 2. Group Discussions Group discussions are meant to increase students’ confidence and speaking and communication skills. In this part of the strategy, teachers improve speaking skills of the students by showing them communication clips on different topics and situations. After that, teachers ask students to participate in discussions in order to increase their confidence and to make them state their concerns and viewpoints fluently and confidently. Teachers assess students’ fluency based on the structure of the sentences that they speak and on the use of appropriate vocabulary and correct pronunciation. Individual Activities Some of the most effective ways, which can be used to improve the fluency of the students at individual level, include one to one conversations and speeches. Four weeks are enough for the teachers to make their students fluent in speaking, writing, and reading English language. Using this four-week strategy, teachers first educate students about basic grammar rules and make face-to-face conversations with every student individually in order to build up the confidence of the students and make them familiar with English conversations. After that, teachers improve speaking skills of the students by making them deliver speeches on different topics. 1. Face-To-Face Conversations Face-to face conversations in private settings play a very valuable role in improving a student’s fluency in English. Hyland (2004) states, “The private domain may be a valuable setting for out-of-class language learning, since it is both less threatening to identity and is also easier for the student to control”. Such conversations with the teachers not only build up confidence of a student by speaking English in public but also enhance sentence generating ability of a student. Such students, who are weak in English, can really improve their level of fluency by engaging in one-to-one conversations with such people who are proficient in the use of English language. 2. Speech Delivery Speech delivery is also a very good way for the individuals to improve their English language fluency. This activity is very helpful for the individuals to make appropriate use of vocabulary to deliver a good speech. Speech-pause relationships are very important for English language fluency (Lennon, 1990). In classroom settings, teachers should ask each student individually to deliver speech on any specific topic. While a student delivers speech, the teacher should listen attentively to the student to ensure perfection in terms of sentence structure, pronunciation, and use of verbs and vocabulary. These were some of the ways, which teachers can use to improve fluency of the students in an appropriate manner. References Hyland, F. (2004). Learning Autonomously: Contextualising Out-of-Class English Language Learning. Multilingual Matters Ltd., 13(3), 180-202. Shields, M, & Price, S. (2000). The English language fluency and occupational success of ethnic minority immigrant men living in English metropolitan areas. Journal of Population Economics, 55(1), 137-160. Lennon, p. (1990). Investigating Fluency in EFL: A Quantitative Approach. Language Learning, 40(3), 387-417. Read More