This document provides an overview of the first week of an oral communication course. It introduces the course goals of learning about students and reflecting on beliefs about speaking. The agenda includes introducing the syllabus, discussing issues of fluency, and assigning homework to complete a personal survey and record a speaking sample. Fluency is discussed as having cognitive, utterance, and perceived aspects, and as relating to the readiness of mental preparation, knowledge of content and delivery, and automaticity.

1. Course Introduction
(Week 1)
ORAL I V
(HE281)
Prof. Dr. Ron Martinez
drronmartinez@gmail.com

2. Goals for the week
• Learn a bit about you (the class)
• Reflect on and question current beliefs about
the speaking skill
• Give you speaking opportunities, in part for
me to become better familiarized with your
current speaking ability

3. Today’s agenda
• Introduction / Course overview
• Introduction to course website
• Discussion of issues around “fluency”
• Your homework

4. About me
• My interest in the speaking skill?

5. About this course (details on
“ementa”)
• What is the ultimate objective of the course?
• What will I learn?
• How will I learn? (What is the approach?)
• How will I know I know I’ve learned?
• How will I be assessed?
• How will I be able to apply what I learn (in
“the real world”)?

6. Our class website
• Website: www.drronmartinez.com
• Class calendar – daily schedule, overview of
the semester
• Slides and other resources

7. About you
• Who are you?
• An ice breaker...

8. Are you fluent?
1. Take poll on website.
DISCUSS IN THREES:
1. How did you decide on your answer?
2. Did you feel your answer was more complex
than provided for by the voting format? In
what way?

9. HOMEWORK FOR
WED. AUG. 5

10. Homework (also on website calendar)
• TODAY: Complete personal survey on
www.drronmartinez.com (“Oral IV: About
YOU”) – takes about 10 minutes.
• Watch “Friends” clip on website, answer
questions. Bring notes to class on Wednesday.
• Record yourself speaking for 2 minutes. Topic
idea: Your “bio” and your interests. Send file
to drronmartinez@gmail.com. (Please do this
by Monday next week.)

11. SIT NEXT TO
SOMEONE NEW
TODAY!

12. Today’s agenda
• Go over questionnaire results, discuss possible
implications for the syllabus of this class;
• Critical discussion of what “fluency” means;
• Explore what may cause fluency problems,
and what the implications are for teaching and
learning.
• Talk about next week.

17. “I want to sound like a native speaker.”

18. Ranked Activities Preferences
Rank Activity Weighted
average
1 Reading about linguistics and other language-related
themes
3.85
2 Vocabulary development 3.77
3 (tie) Correction of pronunciation/grammar 3.54
4 Casual conversation 3.08
5 Group discussion 3.00
6 Pair work 2.92
7 Grammar exercises 2.85
8 Formal debate 2.77
9 Speaking tasks that imitate those in high-stakes tests
(e.g. TOEFL, IELTS, etc.)
2.54
10 (tie) Presentations – individual/group 2.31

19. So... question:
• Shall we make this an ongoing theme of the
course?

20. (Optional) What other activities
would you like to do in this class?

21. (Optional) What other suggestion
would you like to make for the class?

22. Rank the likelihood of the following
happening sometime in the future
Rank Activity Weighted
average
1 Get a master's degree. 4.23
2 (tie) Teach English to adults. / Get a doctorate. 4.08
3 Do research in the area of language and/or language
education.
4.00
4 Teach oral skills in English. 3.85
5 Attend professional conferences. 3.54
6 Speak at a professional conference. 3.23
7 Teach English to children. 2.77

23. What do they mean? Are you fluent in
Portuguese?

24. “Friends” clip
• Would you say that Chandler is "fluent" in the
scene? Why (not)?
• What insights into spoken fluency does this
clip provide?

25. 3 types of fluency (Segalowitz, 2010)
Cognitive
Fluency
Perceived
Fluency
Utterance
Fluency

26. • “Cognitive fluency refers to the efficiency of the
speaker’s underlying processes responsible for
fluency-relevant features of utterances…”
(Segalowitz, 2010, p. 50)
• “Utterance fluency refers to the oral features of
utterances that reflect the operation of
underlying cognitive processes…” (ibid.)
• “Perceived fluency is the fluency that is ascribed
by a listener to a speaker, based on impressions
drawn from hearing speech samples produced by
the speaker” (Segalowitz, 2010, p. 49)

27. COGNITIVE
FLUENCY
UTTERANCE
FLUENCY
PERCEIVED
FLUENCY

28. Levelt’s model of speech production
• Conceptualization
• Formulation
• Articulation
• Self-monitoring
• - Levelt, W.J.M. (1989) Speaking: From
Intention to Articulation
Part of cognitive fluency

29. Tarzan (by Gary Larson)

35. Where did the fluency breakdown
occur?
• Conceptualization
• Formulation
• Articulation
• Self-monitoring
• - Levelt, W.J.M. (1989) Speaking: From
Intention to Articulation

36. FORMULATION ARTICULATION
Cognitive
Fluency
Utterance
Fluency
Perceived
Fluency

37. What causes fluency breakdowns?
• Reflect on both the ‘Friends’ clip and the
‘Tarzan’ comic strip: What inferences about
causes of ‘dysfluencies’ in speech can be
drawn?
• (Hint: Think about the opposite –
situations/occasions in which you are usually
quite fluent.)

38. Do you agree?
Chambers, F. (1997). What do we mean by fluency? System, 25(4), pp. 535-544.

39. • Main Entry: flu·ent
Pronunciation: 'flü-ent
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin fluent-, fluens, present participle of fluere
1 a : capable of flowing : FLUID b : capable of moving with
ease and grace <the fluent body of a dancer>
2 a : ready or facile in speech <fluent in Spanish> b :
effortlessly smooth and rapid : POLISHED <a fluent
performance>
- flu·ent·ly adverb

40. • Main Entry: flu·ent
Pronunciation: 'flü-&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin fluent-, fluens, present participle of fluere
1 a : capable of flowing : FLUID b : capable of moving with
ease and grace <the fluent body of a dancer>
2 a : ready or facile in speech <fluent in Spanish> b :
effortlessly smooth and rapid : POLISHED <a fluent
performance>
- flu·ent·ly adverb

41. • Main Entry: ready
Pronunciation: 're-dE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): read·i·er; -est
1 a : prepared mentally or physically for some
experience or action b : prepared for
immediate use <dinner is ready>
2 : immediately available <had ready cash>

42. Fluency = ‘Readiness’
• Main Entry: ready
Pronunciation: 're-dE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): read·i·er; -est
1 a : prepared mentally or physically for some
experience or action b : prepared for
immediate use <dinner is ready>
2 : immediately available <had ready cash>
Any deficiency in any of these elements
may cause dysfluencies.

43. Your turn!
• Remember that this can also be a vocabulary-
building exercise. Don’t be afraid to ‘stretch’!

44. Summary for Week 1
• It is important to define what ‘fluency’ in spoken
language means.
• Fluency is not related to ‘native’-ness.
• Fluency is (minimally) broken down into cognitive
fluency, utterance fluency, and perceived fluency.
Each of these, in turn, may be influenced by a great
number of variables.
• Fluency can be thought of as ‘readiness’, on different
levels: mentally/emotionally prepared, knowing what
to say and how to say it (‘prepared’ utterances), and
having what to say ‘at the ready’ (i.e. automaticity).

45. HOMEWORK FOR
MONDAY (AUG. 10)

46. Weekend Homework
1. Read Radajurai (2007) article on
‘intelligibility’ (online), answer questions
about the article (online), and bring your
answers to class on Monday.
2. Watch Jackie Chan clip (online), answer
questions (online), and bring notes to class.