English Fluency in...Ten Days?? Seriously??!

日本語バージョンはこちらをクリック

Some people today are claiming that they can make their students speak English fluently in just a matter of 10 days. You can be fluent in English in 10 days? This is baloney. 

First, what is fluency? Fluency means having a high level of language proficiency. This is how Wikipedia defines fluency: "Fluency is a speech language pathology term that means the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are joined together when speaking quickly." A very exact definition, indeed. Proficiency involves competence and a high level of skills.  This involves how smooth a speaker is with the flow  of the sounds, syllables, words and phrases when speaking quickly.  

Are there native English speakers who are not fluent in English? Of course there are, and this is shocking to you now, right? Native English speakers with narrow vocabularies, limited discourse strategies and have inaccurate usage of words are strictly considered inarticulate and jerky speakers.  Fluency is one's ability to be understood by both native and non-native speakers.

Fluency in English encompasses reading, which means the ability to easily read and understand texts written in English.  English fluency involves writing, which is the ability to formulate written texts in the language. English fluency involves comprehension, which is the ability to follow and understand speech in the language. English fluency involves the ability to produce speech in the language and be understood by its speakers.  English fluency involves reading comprehension, which checks the level of understanding of text or messages.  Is it possible to learn all of these in 10 days? It's NOT.

A student may be able to memorize an English book in 10 days, but based on the facts stated above, you never call this fluency.  Moreover, language and culture are closely related. Language is a verbal expression of one's culture. Our thinking is influenced by the language we use.  This means that being fluent in a language is not just the ability to ask or answer questions such as, "How are you?", "Where are you going?", etc. Fluency involves the ability to convey one's ideas to a listener or listeners without difficulty.  

Here at ACERS, we deal with the most common misconceptions about learning a language in general and about learning English in particular. Unfortunately, some students were and are being  made to believe that they can be fluent in English by memorizing expressions from a book. This is a no-no. Enroll at  ACERS and experience the difference. 

Thank you for clicking "like" !



にほんブログ村