Proposing a Theoretical and State-of-the-Art Didactic Model to Balance Oral Communication Fluency and Accuracy in English as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The profile of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education programs in Chile requires graduates to communicate effectively and master phonetic-phonological, lexical, morpho-syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of the English language. Graduates should possess an advanced level of oral proficiency which entails an adequate balance of fluency and accuracy in oral communication. Attaining a correct balance between oral fluency and accuracy from the start of EFL pre-service teacher training programs is currently a goal of Chilean Universities. The objective of this article is to analyze EFL oral communication development and propose a theory-based didactic model to address and overcome EFL teacher constraints in Chile (first year EFL pre-service teachers) regarding fluency and accuracy in oral communication development. The proposed didactic model is based on a theoretical revision of constructs in Second Language Teaching literature. The proposed model contributes to the developing research that can support the progress of fluency and accuracy in EFL pre-service teacher oral communication, which is limited by second/foreign language teaching theories, methodologies and approaches which require further study.