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P.O. Box 908
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K8N 5B6
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The
Concept of Fluency as an Educational Skills Performance Measure (Page
1)
 Copyright
of
Michael Maloney, M.A.
Teach Your Children Well Inc.
P.O.Box 908 Belleville, Ontario, Canada K8N 5B6
michael.maloney2@sympatico.ca
www.teachyourchildrenwell.ca
What
is fluency?
Most people think of fluency in a somewhat limited way. Fluency is usually
related to language, specifically as a measure of how well one speaks
a language other than their mother tongue. Few people consider that all
behavior has levels and degrees of fluency. Fluency is a very useful measure
because it is easily observable and most people agree as to a certain
level of performance that would constitute fluency. A person who speaks
a second language haltingly with numerous errors of tense and word agreement
is easily judged not to be fluent. A person who speaks his/her mother
tongue in that fashion is seen to have language delay or speech disorders.
People who speak a second language but are unfamiliar with idioms and
slang may be considered "almost fluent." There is general unmeasured
agreement about what constitutes fluency.
Some
Other Accepted Examples
That measure does become more specific when applied to certain other behaviors.
Keyboarding is considered fluent at several different levels: thirty words
per minute correctly for a beginner, fifty words correctly per minute
for an intermediate and eighty words per minute for an advanced learner.
Executive secretaries and court reporters, the exemplars of keyboarders,
may be well over the 100 word per minute mark.
Rate over time measures are also common in competitive sports as a way
of keeping track of how each athlete is performing. Anyone watching the
2002 Olympic bobsled, luge. skiing or speedskating events heard many references
to how fast competitors were going and where that pace would place them
in the rankings. The commentators could even extrapolate to predict on
the spot whether or not a personal best record, Olympic record or world
record might be broken.
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