A Balanced Approach to Fluency and Accuracy in the Foreign Language Classroom

The new wave of communicative language teaching focuses more on fluency, which is a great improvement from the past, but my teaching experience and research have taught me that there is a place for activities that focus on fluency and activities that focus on accuracy in the foreign language classroom.

From time to time I like to have students engage in activities and games that focus on language forms, even if the focus is not as communicative as I may want.  I have found that this is an important step in building the skills that students need to communicate.  Some of these activities include Dice Games, Card Games,  Spinner Games, Verb Form Games, and Powerpoint Games.

Here is my rational

Fluency is the natural use of language that occurs when a speaker takes part in meaningful interaction that maintains communication despite inaccuracy, and requires negotiation of meaning and addresses misunderstandings.

Accuracy, on the other hand, focuses on correct use of language and structures.

Traditional teaching methods have focused more attention on accuracy of language at the expense of fluency. In the communicative language classroom instruction should provide a balanced approach that gives students opportunities to build fluency, while at the same time tending to the accuracy of their language, so that incorrect (inaccurate) language forms are not fossilized