In Search of Fluency: What is it and How Can we Teach It?

This paper is an exploration of the phenomenon of second language speech fluency and how it may be facilitated through instruction. An overview and synthesis of research on fluency in second language speech is presented in order to help in defining the construct and determining what elements of speech proficiency are most relevant to fluency. The empirical research is discussed in light of psycholinguistic knowledge about mental processes underlying second language production, and a model of fluent speech production is posited which centres on automatic processing and the importance of automatic retrieval of a repertoire of formulaic language units in spontaneous speech. This model serves as a starting point for a pedagogy of fluency which combines elements of automatization and formulaic competence. An example of a workshop is described in which learners were guided through a series of classroom tasks designed to promote automatization of formulaic language units and fluency.