What is fluency? Excerpt from research:

"..The last significant function of output is to create greater automaticity, which is one pedagogical goal in SLA. Little effort is required to execute an automatic process( involved when the learner carries out the task without awareness or attention) as it has become routinized and automatized just as the steps involved in walking towards a bike, getting out the key, unlocking it, pushing it, getting on it and riding it, requiring little thought and less time. Mclaughlin (1987:134) claimed that automatization involves “a learned response that has been built up through the consistent mapping of the same input to the same pattern of activation over many trials.” Here this notion is extended to output, meaning that consistent and successful mapping or practice of grammar to output results in automatic processing (Loschky & Bley-Vroman, 1993).

In many researchers’ opinion, automaticity benefits learning. Firstly, as automatic processing consumes fewer attentional resources than does controlled processing (involved when conscious effort and attention is required to perform a task), the more automatic performance becomes the more attentional resources left over for other purposes. For example, if one can handle the phonology and syntax of a second language automatically, then more attention can be paid to processing semantic, pragmatic, and sociolinguistic levels of communication. Secondly, when a mechanism becomes automatic it will process information very quickly and accurately. Thirdly, there are strong reasons for associating automaticity with important aspects of fluency (Skehan, 1998; Hulstijn, 1997,etc). Then what is fluency?The last significant function of output is to create greater automaticity, which is one pedagogical goal in SLA.

Little effort is required to execute an automatic process( involved when the learner carries out the task without awareness or attention) as it has become routinized and automatized just as the steps involved in walking towards a bike, getting out the key, unlocking it, pushing it, getting on it and riding it, requiring little thought and less time. Mclaughlin (1987:134) claimed that automatization involves “a learned response that has been built up through the consistent mapping of the same input to the same pattern of activation over many trials.” Here this notion is extended to output, meaning that consistent and successful mapping or practice of grammar to output results in automatic processing (Loschky & Bley-Vroman, 1993).
In many researchers’ opinion, automaticity benefits learning. Firstly, as automatic processing consumes fewer attentional resources than does controlled processing (involved when conscious effort and attention is required to perform a task), the more automatic performance becomes the more attentional resources left over for other purposes. For example, if one can handle the phonology and syntax of a second language automatically, then more attention can be paid to processing semantic, pragmatic, and sociolinguistic levels of communication. Secondly, when a mechanism becomes automatic it will process information very quickly and accurately. Thirdly, there are strong reasons for associating automaticity with important aspects of fluency (Skehan, 1998; Hulstijn, 1997,etc). Then what is fluency?.."

Universal Grammar Introduction

Teachers as Coaches..

The Role of a Teacher

"He suggests that the right level of input is attained automatically when interlocutors succeed in making themselves understood in communication (Krashen, 1985:2). In his view, the Input Hypothesis is central to all of acquisition, i.e. L2 acquisition depends on comprehensible input. In the classroom, then, the teacher’s main role is to ensure that learners receive comprehensible input by providing them with listening and reading materials. However, a great many researches later challenge his hypothesis by supplying abundant evidence indicating that though necessary, comprehensible input alone is insufficient for L2 acquisition (Swain 1981,1991; Harley & Hart, 1997; Harley & Swain, 1984, etc.). They argue that processing of comprehension is different from processing of production. And the ability to understand meaning conveyed by sentences differs from the ability to use linguistic system to express meaning (Swain, 1985, 1988; Sharwood Smith, 1986; Crookes, 1991). When input is negotiated and learners produce output in interaction, they selectively “take in” portions of comprehensible input and choose correct linguistic form to express themselves. This process makes it possible for the learners to internalize what they have learnt and experienced.
Corder’s distinction between input and intake should be mentioned here. He defines input as what is available to the learner, whereas intake refers to what is actually internalized by the learner (Corder, 1967).This distinction is justified by huge amount of evidence in foreign language learning practice. It is convincingly argued that L2 acquisition will not occur even if with input at the right quantity and quality but without being internalized by the learners and becoming part of their interlanguage system.
On the whole, input is absolutely necessary and there is no theory or approach to SLA that does not recognize the importance of input. In Schwartz’s view (1993), the input feeds or nurtures an innate system to aid its growth. But input alone cannot facilitate second language learning. It will not function to the full in SLA until it gets involved in interaction."

Something I found

I'm not certain of the academic value, but I thought this was interesting..

Words as "pictures"

I was looking at my previous blog posts and I was disappointed at how
they all seem a little "impersonal"...For this post,
I'd like to attempt to rely on my own ideas on teaching..sans cut-and paste..

Not long ago I was working an individual who seemed to have a sub-benchmark level 3 understanding of the English language. He was discouraged that his friends, in the same program, were excelling at a faster rate than he was. Compounding this, I sensed he felt that this was effecting his confidence.

When I was younger, I was sometimes plagued by a feeling of low self-esteem with regard to various academic endeavors.. I tended to set artificial limits on what I was capable of learning. Moving beyond these barriers was, I feel, an important part of my growth as an individual..

My instinct, working with this student, was to go beyond the lesson at-hand and attempt to instill some confidence because this seemed to be the dominant limiting factor in his learning.

As we proceeded though his exercises, I took every opportunity I could to genuinely encourage him and complimented any progress made (even if small). When not able to pronounce a given word, I asked that he repeat the proper pronunciation after me, then returning to the text.
Once he was able to properly say a given word, whenever this word was encountered again, in his reading, I reminded him that he already "knew" how to say it. This "method" definitively seemed to raise his spirits, and improve his progress.

When we see the word "apple"...do we read it? letter-by-letter? I think once a person "knows" a word, the thought of it seems virtually connected to the idea of it--and its pronunciation. When I see the word "apple" it seems an actual apple is triggered in my thoughts. I certainly don't "read" the individual letters phonetically because I "know" it..

The idea of seeing a word "as a picture"...resonated strongly with me as a teaching "tool"..

I suppose one could characterize this as just that--another "tool" in a teacher's "bag of tricks", yet I genuinely feel it was more significant, in that the idea dawned from the fact I "cared" about this individuals state-of-mind..

In the past I have known the "low" feeling of thinking I am not capable and have this effect my own learning progress. Utilizing empathy and breaking these "negative" beliefs, I therefor conclude, is a central role of any good teacher..