This document provides a summary of a presentation on spoken fluency given by Gerard McLoughlin on February 17th, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. The presentation discussed examining accuracy and fluency in speaking, including analyzing dialogues and natural conversations to identify features such as pausing, repetition, and negotiation between speakers. It also looked at how fluency can be developed through activities like role plays, daily conversations about common topics, and matching sentence halves. References used in the presentation are listed at the end.

1. 2nd UAB & TESOL-SPAIN
Regional event
Speaking: Accuracy to Fluency
Gerard McLoughlin
Barcelona, February 17th , 2012

3. Spokenfluencyrevisited
Michael McCarthy Universityof Nottingham, UK
• <CANDIDATE 01>Erwhen do youhavebreakfast?
• <CANDIDATE 02> I have my breakfaster at erseveno’clock.
• <CANDIDATE 01>Where do youhavebreakfast?
• <CANDIDATE 02>Er in my kitchen in my house
• <CANDIDATE 01> In whatroom?
• <CANDIDATE 02> In thekitchen.
• <CANDIDATE 01>And do youhavecoffeeor tea forbreakfast?
• <CANDIDATE 02>Er tea.
• <CANDIDATE 01>Erwhat do youeat?
• <CANDIDATE 02> I eattoastand a cupof tea.
• <CANDIDATE 01> How manydayser how many times a day do youhaveit?
• <CANDIDATE 02>Ertwo times. [4 seconds pause]
• <CANDIDATE 02>Sorry I don’tunderstandyou. Repeatthesentenceplease
• . <CANDIDATE 01> How many times a day do youhavebreakfast?
• <CANDIDATE 02>One time a dayofcourse!

4. • <Examiner>Firstofallwe’dliketo know a littlebitaboutyou. Ermwhere
do youbothlive?
• <Candidate 01> I live in (place name) in SouthKoreayes.
• <Candidate 02>And I live in (place name). It’s in
Switzerlandandit’snear Zurich.
• <Examiner> (Candidatename) how long
haveyoubeenstudyingEnglish?
• <Candidate 01>Wellactually I studyEnglishmm in junior
highschoolandhighschoolforsixyearsaroundforsixyears.
• <Examiner>Differentclasses. Good.
NowI’dlikeyoutoaskeachothersomethingaboutthingsyouparticularlyl
ikeabout living in this country andentertainmentandleisurefacilities
in thisarea. [interveningtext]
• <Candidate 02>Erm I liketogoermtosee a movie
• <Candidate 01>Mm
• <Candidate 02>I see a lotofthemsinceI’vebeenhereand I liketogoto
pubs and +
• <Candidate 01>Ah
• <Candidate 02>+togetherwithfriendsand -
• <Candidate 01>-Yeah me tooactually

5. Disappearing dialogues
A: Did youhave a good weekend?
B: Yeah, I did, thanks. Itwasreallynice.
A: Whatdidyou do?
B: Well, I wenttovisit a friend in London.
A: Ohyes? Did youhave a good time?
B: Yes, itwasgreat. Wehad a reallygood time.
WewentdancingonSaturday night.
© Framework, Jones &Goldstein, Richmond 2005

6. memorise
A: Hi, GoodMorning.
B: Oh, Hello. How are you? WhathappenedtoyoulastFriday?
A: Yes, sorry I couldn’t come toclass. I wasill.
B: That’s OK. Are youfeelingbetternow?
A: Yes, muchbetterthanks. Can yougive me
thepapersfromlastweek?
B: Yes, ofcourse. Hereyou are.
A: Great. Thanks. I’lllook at themtonight.
B: OK. No problem.
© Innovations, Dellar&Walkley, Heinle 2005

7. Readand Listen
D: Oh, and I saw John a coupleofdays ago.
M: Ohyes! How was he?
D: Verywell. Did you know he’sgot a newgirlfriend?
M: No, I didn’t. Butyou know yourbrother, he nevertells me
anything. Haveyoumet her?
D: Yes, shewastherewhen I wenttohishouse.
M: andwhat’sshelike?
D: She’sreallynice. She’sveryinteresting, sheworks in
anartgalleryandshelikespainting.
© Innovations, Dellar& Walker, Heinle 2005

9. 1 del arte de curar, claro está. Del suyo respectivo, otro tanto podrían d
2 del Atlántico pero también del Pacífico. Está claro para los expertos, las academias
3 como para los que no lo son, y está claro que "puede" servir para todas
4 ocurre hoy en la España de las autonomías? - Sí, claro, y la Academia no puede
5 el punto de partida es rigurosamente claro, y Lázaro se remonta al Diálogo de la
6 el dueño le contestó que bien claro estaba lo que allí decía: "Capancalá".
7 "Para los católicos está claro que sólo hay un "HeiligerVater" (el Papa), per
8 En castellano no puede estar más claro que ese ambiguo "su" de "todo el mundo"
9 la palabra que lo nombra tomó el color del claro brillante y se formó con
10 sólamente queremos dejar claro que estos contrastes entonativos tienen en la l
http://corpus.rae.es/creanet.html

10. Corpus data: Chunks
Two Three Four Five six
You know I don’t know You know what You know what Do you know
I I mean what I mean
I mean A lotof Know what I At theendofthe At
mean theendoftheda
y
I think I mean I I don’t know Do you know Andalltherestof
what what I it
In the I don’tthink Theendofthe Theendoftheda Andallthatsorto
y fthing
Itwas Do youthink At theendof Do youwant I don’t know
me to whatitis

11. Chunks&Fluency
// he’s SHY//you know whati MEAN
//theysellJEWellery//and THAT sortofthing//
//the ROOM was//a BIT of a//MESS actually
© From corpus toclassroom, Language use andlanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP 2007

12. D: Oh, and I SAW JOHN a COUpleof DAYS ago.
M: Oh YES! How was HE?
D: Very WELL. Did you KNOW he’sgot a NEW GIRLfriend?
M: NO, I Didn’t. butyou KNOW yourBROther, he NEvertells ME
ANYthing. haveyou MET her?
D: YES, shewas THERE when I WENT tohis HOUSE.
M: andWHAT’Sshe LIKE?
D: She’s REALLY NICE. She’sveryINteresting, she WORKS in an
ART GALleryandshelikesPAINting.

13. Confluence
• Listenership
• Minimal response: Mm, Yeah, Lovely
• Clusters: Yeahmm, Right Fine
• Negation: Absolutelynot, Definitelynot
• Convergence: Closing/changingtopic
© From corpus toclassroom, Language use andlanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP 2007

14. Pre-closingandclosingroutines
S2: Theylookverygood
S1: Thanksforthat
S2: Theylookverygood
S1: Great
S2: Yes
S1: Fabulous
S2: Allright
S1: Okthanksforthat
S2: Okay, Cesca
S1: Cheers
S2: Bye

15. Opening&Closing
Conversation&dailychat
In a bar/café
At a bus stop
In a waitingroom

16. Place Openingphrase Closingphrase
In a bar/café Isthisseat free? Sorry,I’vegottogo
At a bus stop Isthisthe stop forthe 27? That’s my bus
In a waitingroom Beenwaiting long? Nice meeting you

17. Decisionmaking
• Suggestion =>
• Agree => modification/negotiation =>
Agree/Disagree etc =>Summary
• Disagree => negotiation/new suggestion =>
Agree/Disagree etc => Summary

18. Class data
Pre: ‘you can going to walking’
Post: ‘we could go walking’,
Pre: ‘the car is difficult’ and ‘drink… and see the
artists’,
Post: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t really like it, because I
live next to the Borne, but we could go to your
house’; ‘that’s a great idea, and we could
make a picnic’;

19. Function Exponent
Makingsuggestions Could wegotothebeach?
Whydon’twegotothebeach?
(I think) Wecouldgotothebeach.
Agreeing That’s a great idea!
Disagreeing I’mnotsure (aboutthat)
Negotiating: afteragreeing ..andwecould/mightgoswimmingtoo
afterdisagreeing Perhaps/Maybewecould/shouldgoto…
Summarising So, we’reallagreedto….
So. We’regoingto….

20. Daily chats
• Restaurant
• Film
• Football
• Weekend…..

21. Matchingsentencehalves
The last time I • went out for a meal
The restaurant was • fairly basic but clean
You should really
• go there when you want to
impress visitors

22. The last time I •…………
The restaurant was •…………
You should really •…………

24. How?
• Memorisation
• Chunking
• Noticing

25. Bibliography
Framework, Jones &Goldstein, Richmond
Innovations, Dellar&Walkley, Heinle
Spokenfluencyrevistited, McCarthy, EnglishProfile Journal
2010
From corpus toclassroomLanguage use
andLanguageteaching, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Carter, CUP
Johnny
Deppinterviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEa
TOSRMifU
HofeshScheckterinterview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_320PSjNok

26. THANK YOU!!!
Gerard McLoughlin
gerardmcl@gmail.com