Making fluency research accessible to second language teachers: The impact of a training intervention

Parvaneh Tavakoli

doi:10.1177/1362168820951213

Abstract

The study reported in this article was aimed at investigating whether making the findings of second language fluency research accessible to language teachers has an impact on their self-reported understanding of the concept of oral fluency, confidence in promoting it, and classroom practice in short and medium term. The data come from 106 initial and 32 delayed questionnaires, eliciting both qualitative and quantitative data, from second language teachers in England after attending a one-day research-informed and practice-oriented training workshop. The results indicate a positive impact of the intervention on teachers’ understanding of fluency, confidence in helping their learners, and self-reported practice in short term, with the impact being reported 10–12 weeks after the intervention. The findings imply that adopting a narrow perspective to defining and conceptualizing fluency is linked with a more in-depth understanding of fluency and enhanced confidence and ability for using fluency-focused classroom activities.

Highlights

The importance of oral fluency is nothing new to the field of second language (L2) teaching, learning and assessment as being fluent is commonly considered a key characteristic of a proficient L2 speaker and one of the main constructs in the assessment of L2 proficiency
The results suggest that the Professional development (PD) training was successful, at least to a great extent, in having a positive impact on teacher understanding of fluency, their familiarity with research, confidence in helping students, and self-reported practice
The overarching aim of this project was to examine whether, and to what extent, it was possible to make second language fluency research accessible to teachers with an aim of improving their understanding of oral fluency, and their confidence and practice in promoting it. It aimed at providing the participants with a narrow perspective to fluency, and to enable them to plan and design fluency-focused activities that are reported to be effective in classroom teaching (Hunter, 2017; Tavakoli & Hunter, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

The importance of oral fluency is nothing new to the field of second language (L2) teaching, learning and assessment as being fluent is commonly considered a key characteristic of a proficient L2 speaker and one of the main constructs in the assessment of L2 proficiency. Against the backdrop of this significance, the interest in researching L2 fluency has considerably grown over the past decades with various studies examining its different aspects including the complex and multifaceted nature of fluency (Kormos, 2006; Segalowitz, 2010), its relationship with learner individual differences (Ahmadian, 2012; Saito, 2019), its association with listeners’ perceptions (Préfontaine & Kormos, 2016), and its development over time and practice (Tavakoli, 2018; Tavakoli, Campbell, & McCormack, 2016) This body of research has successfully helped the field of L2 teaching and learning to develop a better understanding of fluency, a more analytic approach to analysing and measuring it, and a set of important implications for classroom practice. Second it aims to understand whether the intervention can have an impact on teachers’ understanding of fluency and their self-reported practice in short and medium terms

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion