The Debate of Accuracy Vs. Fluency in ESL Learning

In the area of second language acquisition in ESL, there are many issues teachers and students are not aware of in their daily routine of teaching and learning. This article will discuss the importance of striving for communicative competence when teaching a second language. Now, more than ever, the trend for ESL learning is focusing more on being understand in English rather than focusing on saying the right form correctly.

the pedagogical implications for language learning today aim generally for fluency and less for accuracy. The research complied according to Ellis concerning teachers' questions for example. are along the general lines that teachers ask more closed/display questions. (questions that test the learner by eliciting already known information).

Using questions as a means to stimulate classroom interaction has serious implications for a child's intrinsic motivation. A child who is more geared towards a more open-referential approach regarding teacher questions will be somewhat turned off when the language objective is one form and accuracy and not on meaningful communication. By asking students more open and referential questions in the second language classroom, the learner becomes aware that the language used in the classroom should reflect real life discourse. This is not to say that teachers should not ask open and closed questions; rather, the general trends are for communicative efficiency and fluency. Information seeking questions should therefore, be encouraged because they allow genuine expression of thoughts, ideas, opinions as well as interpretations. Open questions build on the students' knowledge of the second language by giving the learner an opportunity to construct sentences from pure thought and emotion instead of simply answering a one word sentence.

Achieving communicative competence cannot be ignored without referring to the use of error treatment in the classroom. When making errors, teachers generally corrects local errors due to the focus of the activity which is meant for accuracy related purposes. In terms of pedagogical implications, by correcting a learner's errors solely on form, a second language learner will be therefore, more inhibited to expressing himself or herself. Error correction therefore, should be pursued in proportion to the goals and objectives of the classroom. There should be a balanced between correcting an activity for meaning where the focus in on global errors and correcting an activity for accuracy where the focus is on local errors. The more concentration that is put on global errors, the stronger the teacher's aim and attempt in bringing communicative efficiency and fluency in the classroom.

Teacher talk as part of classroom discourse is the final factor for achieving communicative competence. According to Ellis, teacher talk takes up 66% of classroom time. (Ellis 582) Ellis states, "...The research indicates that teachers modify their speech when addressing L2 learners in the classroom in a number of ways and also that they are sensitive to their learners' general proficiency level. Many of there modifications are the same as those found in foreigner talk, but some seem to reflect the special characteristics of classroom settings - in particular the need to maintain orderly communication" (Ellis 583). In this respect, teacher talk is built on teacher dominated discourse where the teacher controls communication. However, the pedagogical implications are such that students do not have a chance to express themselves enough on the whole and do not have enough time for input. Therefore, it is important to teach a second language in a way that allows for less teacher dominated discourse and more pair and group work where the input of the L2 learners in English for example, is balanced between the teacher and the students.

To sum up, the pedagogical implication behind the three factors this article focuses on - namely teacher talk, error treatment and teachers' questions are all centered around a crucial notion in language learning - communicative efficiency. That is, let the children express themselves in English because too much emphasis has been on the teacher and form and accuracy over meaning and less on student expression and fluency in the second language classroom. Activities should be carefully considered and planned by the second language teacher in order to bring out communicative efficiency and fluency in the classroom.

Works Cited

Ellis, Rod. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford UP, 1994.