When international students come to an English class, such as ASE 3, their motivation and objectives may differ, but they almost always share one common sentiment: The inadequacy of their spoken English in terms of fluency. ‘I speak fast’, ‘I can’t distinguish between /r/ and /l/’, ‘Sometimes I don’t know which syllable or word I should put primary stress on’, ‘My intonation is like my native language’--observations all too common, coming from the students themselves. 

            What you will about to read and learn are basic issues and topics on fluency that will help you get started on your journey towards a more fluent spoken English. 

       What is fluency? When we speak of fluency, we refer to oral (spoken) language performance or proficiency, which is characterized by ease and smoothness of speech. Ease and smoothness of speech is more complicated than it sounds, however, and may include some basic elements, such as: thought groups and pauses, lexical (word) and phrasal stress, and pitch and intonation.
 

THOUGHT GROUPS AND PAUSES

• A meaningful unit/phrase of three to five words
• Signals the appropriate pauses you need to make in your speech
• Unnecessary pauses, like after every word or two, could result in a staccato (choppy) sound in your speech and may also give you the impression that you're speaking fast

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LEXICAL AND PHRASAL STRESS AND RHYTHM

• The prominence in either pitch or tone placed on an appropriate syllable--in case of lexical (word) stress--and on the last content word in a thought group, in case of phrasal stress
• May be primary or secondary
• Grammar or function words are never given primary stress unless the speaker desires that they be particularly emphasized
• Rhythm is another important element in fluency which results from the correct placement of lexical and phrasal stress. It's the 'beat' that we hear in a language.

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Pitch and Intonation

• Pitch is the highness or lowness of the sound that you produce in saying a word
• Simply put, intonation is the rising or falling of the pitch in one's voice to convey meaning.
• Content words get a higher pitch than grammar words
• Two common intonation patterns in English: rising and falling
• Rising intonation is commonly used in some forms of questions (e.g. yes/no) and when making a series of enumeration; falling intonation is most commonly used to end an utterance.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Pronunciation and Enunciation

• Pronunciation refers to the production or articulation of the word
• Enunciation is the articulation of the individual vowel and consonant sounds that a word contains
• In order to be understood clearly, you need to enunciate all the necessary vowel and consonant sounds in a word. You need to maximize the use of all your articulators: lips, teeth, tongue, jaw.
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Sound Reduction and Linking

• American English is replete with sounds--vowels and consonants--that have been reduced and linked--meaning, native speakers do not pronounce every sound of every word as it is spelled or written.
• Sound reduction and linking is important to a smoother sound in speech.
• This takes time to master, especially when applied to listening comprehension. A trained ear is necessary to be able to tell which sounds have been reduced or linked, and still be able to understand an untterance as if the sounds are still there.
• Some commonly reduced sounds in English:
• the unstressed vowels schwa and [I], as in committee-vowel in 1st syllable is reduced to schwa
• [t] between vowels sounds like a [d], as in water [waDer]
• Some commonly linked sounds in English:
• articles: grade a student> grade[schwa] student
• pronouns: tell her> tell'er
• conjunctions: and/or> Ed 'n Gloria
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