The development of speaking fluency: The 4/3/2 technique for the EFL learners in China

Abstract

EFL teaching is gradually changed from a traditional grammar-based model to a communicative language teaching approach in China. So, there is a variety of methodologies to help the Chinese EFL learners to practice their speaking skills. Lack of speaking fluency practice, sometimes, is not sufficient to maintain a communicative task in EFL class. This paper examines previous studies and researches in fluency development: to point out the importance of speaking fluency; to outline a 4/3/2 method adapting in the EFL class; to implement retrieval strategy to cultivate a long-term practice and to prove the fluency improvements in class will be beneficial in real-life conversation.

Analyzing the Factors Influencing Students’ Fluency in English Speaking Skills: A Case in Bina Nusantara University

“…Previous research found that lecturers should frequently provide fluency activities for successful language learning, especially when English is regarded as a foreign language [5]. The importance of speaking fluency in establishing communication in the EFL classroom was also emphasized in the finding of a research result [6]. This research found that fluency also brought advantages in improving the quality of speaking in a real-life context.…”

Pedagogical Efficacy of Experience-Based Learning (EBL) Strategies for Improving the Speaking Fluency of Upper-intermediate Male and Female Iranian EFL Students

“…For instance, speech rate is regarded as in important predictor of speech fluency and is defined as the average number of syllables articulated per minute (Ejzenberg, 2000;Namaziandost, Abdi Saray, & Rahimi Esfahani, 2018). It is interesting to know that there are a lot of other definitions for speaking fluency (Yingjie, 2014). According to Hartmann and Stork (1976), fluent speaker is a speaker who is capable of using the appropriate structures of a language at standard speed, which means natural speaking while the focus is on the delivery meaning rather than the form or structure of a language.…”

“…This continues until the learner is happy with the recording. This technique can involve planning and encourages repetition of the setting of a quality-based goal (Yingjie, 2014). Boud and Walker (1992) provided a way of conceptualizing experience-based learning which considers the personal foundation of experience of learners, their intent and their interaction with a learning milieu.…”

“…In Iranian context, learning English is almost regarded as grammatical competence and the knowledge of vocabularies (Ghonsooly & Hoseinpour, 2009;Namaziandost, Abdi Saray, & Rahimi Esfahani, 2018). However, the traditional grammar-based learning model is now steadily replaced by the communicative language teaching approach to language learning, there is a need to work on students speaking fluency as well as accuracy (Yingjie, 2014). In EFL learning course in Ian, there are a lot of learners who attain knowledge in this field but they cannot speak fluently.…”

Fillers, Repairs and Repetitions in the Conversations of Saudi English Speakers: Conversational Device or Disfluency Markers

“…Likewise, another resent study of developing speaking fluency by EFL Chinese university learners was also conducted. Through a three-month case study of oral fluency developments for eleven participants, Yang (2013) found that developing speech fluency can be "a trainable skill" in terms of enhancing the speed rate of speaking, reducing hesitations disfluency (p. 68). Similarly, in their study of fluency in the speech of second language learners, Kormos and Dénes (2004) mainly attempted to investigate what variables can predict the perception of fluency other than the traditional measures as "accuracy and lexical diversity."…”