2nd International Conference on Social Science and Technology Education (ICSSTE 2016)

A Case Study about Accuracy and Fluency in Teaching Chinese as a Second

Language
LI Mengke
The University of Hong Kong

Abstract— This case study aims to address changing the attitude toward forms when doing
how to promote accuracy in the main stream communicative activities is of necessity.
of focusing on fluency. During the period of This case study aims to discover and summarize
data collecting, face to face interviewing is some effective teaching strategies about how to
used to get some ideas about the relationship pay more attention to accuracy when making the
between accuracy and fluency when students fluency training in the teaching Chinese as a
learning Chinese from Chinese teachers in second language class. As for collecting the
one Hong Kong International School. data, face to face interviewing and observing in
Observing in the real classes is also used to the real classes will be used to analyze the ideas
collect the teaching strategies when they put about the conception of accuracy and fluency of
their ideas into practice. After sorting the some Chinese teachers in one Hong Kong
relative data, the average result is that International School and the ways they put their
around half of the teaching activities are ideas into practice to develop the students.
about accuracy, while there are more Literature Review
fluency-oriented activities in the higher level
classes. As for the teaching methods, focusing Definition of the Key Terms
on form is the most popular, but focusing on Accuracy: Vocabulary, grammar and
forms is also not ignored. When correcting pronunciation are regarded as the three
the errors, correcting directly, indirectly important elements of accuracy ( Gower,
correcting such as repeat the error and Phillips & Walter, 2005). If the way a speaker to
interaction modification are utilized a lot in use one language is not the same as that of a
the classes. native speaker, including all of the three
elements, he will be treated as lacking of
Key words: accuracy, fluency, speaking, accuracy. In another word, that is error. (Ellis,
TCSL 2008).
Fluency: Fluency is a concept, which is related
Introduction to a learner’s general language proficiency
(Chambers, 1997). And there are three key ways
In the area of second language acquisition, it is a to judge a speaker’s fluency, which are the
time of focus on meaning (fluency) instruction. speed, the breakdown and the repair (Tavakoli
Many scholars believe that the obtainment of & Skehan, 2005). If a person can transfer the
accuracy can naturally get during the period of information smoothly and the listeners can get
comprehensible input just like the first language the point, regardless of the grammar rules he
acquisition (Krashen, 1985). But many scholars uses is right or not, he will be regarded as a
argue that accuracy should not be abandoned in fluent speaker (Hunter, 2011).
this main trend. Because through a large number Relationship
of data, it is obviously that there are still many In the history of second language acquisition,
grammar errors even though the students get the the relationship between accuracy and fluency
high level of fluency (Lzumi, 1999). So has changed several times. About 100 years ago,
Doughty and Williams (1998) consider that learning a foreign language almost meant

© 2016. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 761

learning grammar and structures, which was is a kind of instruction that teaching grammar,
about accuracy. To some degree, learning rules and functions in a communicative
grammar perfectly was regarded as the end of background. This instruction has been
learning a foreign language. (Alexander, 2006) evidenced to be helpful for the improving of the
As the development of educational researches, accuracy of the second language grammar
communicative approach begins to paly a main (Doughty & Williams, 1998). Ellis (2003)
role in sound language acquisition. Some argues that there three different ways to design a
scholars, Corder (1967) and Krashen (1985) for focused task. They are Structured based task,
example, through comparing the way first Comprehension task and Consciousness-raising
language acquisition by young children, point task.
that comprehensible input is also sufficient Smith (1981) points that consciousness raising
enough for the second language or foreign is a way that lecturers let learners raise
language learners. The immersion program in consciousness to the forms of the target
Canada is a good example of this hypothesis. language by changing the way to input to
Students get a variety of comprehensible input. promote the accuracy of the second language.
And the result of this kind of education is According to the researches, generally there
obvious, which is that the students can speak the exists two ways to make the learners’
target language very fluently at the end of the consciousness rise. One is deductive approach,
program. Whereas, with the procession of the where learners are taught the rules and
studies, much evidence is found that it is not regularities by the lecture directly (Sheen, 1992).
sufficient enough for a second language learner, The other one is inductive approach, where
because most of the students in the immersion learners are told to find the accurate forms by
class show the different level of weakness in the themselves (Bourke, 1996). However, there is
accuracy of grammar and the using of no significant evidence to judge which kind of
vocabulary (Harley,1993). approach that learners show more preference
At this period, a debate about the relationship (Mohamed, 2004). JIN Honggang (2005)points
between accuracy and fluency become lively that typographic enhancement, intonation
again. Long and Robinson (1998) consider that enhancement and the choice of emphasis
it is not enough for learners to learn the target enhancement are the three ways to enhance
language only focus on meaning, because the input.
lack of accuracy will result in fossilization, Swain (1985) proposed the Output Hypothesis
which the errors of grammar will be revised (1985) and argues that not only the
difficultly (Brown, 2000). So more and more comprehensible input is needed in the process of
researchers call on paying more attention to second language acquisition, but also the
accuracy. Nowadays, the most acceptable comprehensible output. Then she has extended
concept is putting some special activities to let her hypothesis to three main functions of the
the second language learners transfer the output (1993, 1995). They are testing,
attention to accuracy when doing the metalinguistics and noticing/ triggering or
communicative practice (Doughty and Williams, consciousness-raising. During the procession of
1998). In other words, trying to find a way to making production of the target language,
make the two dimensions balance (LIU Songhao, learners can discover the divide between the
2005). sentences that they desire to say and the
Hypothesis sentences that they finally say, which can spark
Focus on form is a kind of learner-centered them to notice where they are weak in, which
instruction (Ellis, 2008), which is based on the part they need to improve.
Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1983). This form

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In conclusion, there are many theories, effective teaching methods for improving the
hypothesizes and discussions about accuracy accuracy of spoken Chinese.
and fluency. Actually, there are not many theses In this case study, a chart was used in class
about the relationship between accuracy and observations, and the actual teaching activities
fluency or how to balance the two dimensions in were recorded accurately. The whole class
teaching spoken Chinese as a second language. observations were lasted about 2 months and a
So this case study is aiming for testing if half. Each teacher was observed at least 9 times,
Chinese as a second language teacher agree the including different levels of students, and each
current theories or not, and what their specific time was last 40 minutes.
teaching strategies when learners meet some Procedures
trouble about accuracy, and trying to find some The whole case study was last for four months.
more valuable experience typically for teaching Four Chinese teachers were invited in this pilot
Chinese as a second language. test process. It began with the pilot test of the
interview. Based on the interviews, class
Method
observations were hold to discover how the
Participants teachers put their ideas into teaching practice.
Participants are 4 Chinese Mandarin teachers The interview questions will be pilot tested for
from one International School in Hong Kong the validity and appropriateness, and the class
and all of them have more than 10-year teaching observation chart will be pilot tested for its
experience. Moreover, the students in this validity and applicability.
international school are vary ages from 12 to 18 Data analysis.
years old and in quite different levels, so it will The Interview data is collected as following.
be not that difficult to find teachers’ different All of the four teachers prefer fluency to
and common aspects about the views and accuracy when make oral practice, and consider
teaching strategies for the different ages and that developing the ability of communicating is
levels about the two dimensions of accuracy and the most important, but they still argue that
fluency. accuracy cannot be ignored. Only teacher C
holds the opinion that accuracy should only be
Research instruments taken into consideration when making input,
Two data sources will be adopted. They are while others agree that it should be paid
face-to-face interview and classroom attention to in both input and output practice.
observations. However, when they are interviewed about
Interview. making writing practice, even though there are
The purpose of the interview is to explore some different specific strategies, all of them
teachers’ understanding, notions, attitudes transfer their attention form fluency to accuracy.
towards accuracy and fluency in spoken Chinese Teacher A describes that being more strict in
teaching. Each teacher will be interviewed grammar when doing writing assignment is
individually in Chinese Mandarin for at least 20 because writing down the right forms for
minutes. students can raise their awareness of the errors
Class observations. more effective than just telling them. While
The class observations were processed after the Teacher B and Teacher D consider that doing
interview. There are two main purposes of the like this because they want students get better
class observations. First, test if the teachers put grades in the exams.
their ideas which were pointed in the interview
into the real teaching condition. Second, find the

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 The class observations data is collected as following.
Chart 1 Introduction of the data background
Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C Teacher D

Y7 Y8 Y10 Y12 Y8 Y9 Y12 Y9 Y12 Y7 Y8 Y10 Y11

Level E A E I E E A A A E E I I
The
knowledge
300 2500 700 1200 800 700 2600 2300 2700 700 800 1200 1300
of Chinese
characters
Observation
3 2 2 2 2 4 3 3 6 2 2 2 3
times

E stands for Elementary; I stands for the other one is about teachers’ methods of
Intermediate; A stands for Advanced correcting errors.
The date of the class observations is present by
two charts. One is about teaching strategies and

Chart 2 the statistical result of teaching strategies

Using times

Teaching strategies Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C Teacher D

Y Y Y Y Y Y
Y7 Y8 Y8 Y9 Y9 Y7 Y8
10 12 12 12 10 11
Directly grammar
12 2 7 11 9 21 5 7 16 11 12 10 14
teaching
Conversation
making
26 27 19 29 18 33 32 30 61 25 23 28 35
(Fluency-oriented
activities)
Conversatio
n making
(Accuracy- 2 5 3 7 5 12 13 7 4 7 6 9 10
Pushe
oriented
d
activities)
output
Sentences
making
(Accuracy- 9 4 7 5 6 9 2 8 19 9 8 8 15
oriented
activities)
The percentage of
47 29 47 44 53 56 38 42 39 52 53 49 53
accuracy-oriented
% % % % % % % % % % % % %
activities

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 Chart 3 the statistical result of feedback when correcting the errors
Using times
Method of Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C Teacher D Total
correcting
Y7 Y8 Y10 Y12 Y8 Y9 Y12 Y9 Y12 Y7 Y8 Y10 Y11

Directly correct 15 3 11 10 9 21 8 12 20 10 9 11 16 165

Repeat the error 7 4 7 5 3 9 10 8 19 5 4 5 6 92

Interaction
6 7 6 8 6 15 8 9 15 7 6 8 11 112
modification
Peer helper 9 5 6 6 3 11 9 4 13 5 4 7 9 91

From the chart 1, it can be seen that there are six approximately 46% in all the teaching activities,
elementary classes, three intermediate classes which nearly occupied half. Moreover, almost
and four advanced classes being observed. Form the advanced classes got more fluency-oriented
the chart 2, Teacher A and Teacher C focused activities than elementary and intermediate ones,
on fluency a little bit more than the other two whose percentages were clearly under the
teachers, while Teacher B and Teacher D average number.
preferred developing accuracy more. Generally, In the chart 3, according to the total times, it
combining with what the teacher said in the was obvious that all the teachers’ favorite way
interviews, it can be discovered that even to correct students’ errors was directly
through all of the teachers said that fluency correcting, which took a percentage of 36%, and
plays a more important role in teaching Chinese the next was Interaction modification (24%).
as a second language, they still paid much Repeat the error and peer helper occupied
attention to accuracy when teaching. The around 20% respectively. The details were
accuracy-oriented activities, including directly described in the bar chart.
grammar teaching, took a percentage of

Chart 4 the total numbers of the correcting methods

20%

36% Directly correct

Repeat the error
Interaction modification
24% Peer helper

20%

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 Results almost teachers hope their students get good
According to all of the data, what Teacher A grades in the exams, so they must pay more
and Teacher B said and what they did in the real attention to accuracy. Although there are some
conflicts between what they said and what they
classes generally matched. But as for Teacher C,
even though she argues that developing the did, it is not wrong to point out the errors for the
ability of communicating is the most important students. However, the literature also statements
and some errors should be ignored, she still pays that grammar is just a system to support people
much attention to correct students’ grammar communicating (Alexander, 2006). So are all
errors. And teacher D, who advocates that just these teaching strategies and error-corrections
understanding by listeners is enough, even effective for improving the ability of
communicating?
corrects students’ errors more frequently than
other teachers. That is to say, according to the Focus on forms, Focus on Form, Focus on
behaviors of the four teachers, when the meaning
teachers face that students make errors, it is According to the results of the class
unavoidable to correct them sometimes. What is observations, directly grammar teaching, which
more, most of the four teachers prefer directly can be regarded as both input and focusing on
grammar teaching to teach students using the forms instruction, is still very popular. Thus,
target language correctly. And following the students can learn the language rules and forms
distribution of teaching strategies, the teaching directly and improve the accuracy of Chinese
structure consisting of around half accuracy speaking. However, because focusing on forms
training and half fluency training is always for instruction is a teacher-centered activity, so
students may feel tired and bored in the class.
the elementary and intermediate students. Then
the higher level of Chinese the students have, Besides focusing on forms, there are many
the more fluency training they will get. teaching strategies being related to focusing on
There are many methods for teachers to correct form according to the results, such as
students’ language errors. But directly conversation making and sentences making. In
correcting is still very popular. Moreover, it can these ways, leaners can pay attention to
be seen that directly correcting is utilized more accuracy in the communicative condition, so
learners can improve the ability of accuracy and
in the lower level classes more than the higher
level classes, while indirectly correcting is more communicating at the same time. Meanwhile,
used in the higher level classes. this is not only a good way to teach grammar,
but also teach vocabulary (Doughty & Williams,
Discussion 1998). While, nearly half of the teaching
This case study investigated two main questions. activities are focusing on meaning, which means
One was testing if what the participant said training learners’ language ability by
matched with what they really did in the real communicating and ignoring the unsuitable
class. The other one was discussing some forms they use (Long & Robinson, 1998). To
effective methods for teaching Chinese as a some degree, focusing on forms and focusing on
second language. form can be regarded as accuracy-oriented and
It is surprised that only half of the participants focusing on meaning can be regarded as
generally put their teaching ideas into practice. fluency-oriented. Combining with both of the
This result indicated that accuracy is still very two kinds of activities in teaching is a good way
significant in many teachers mind, even though to improve both accuracy and fluency.
they know they should pay more attention to Distribution
fluency training. This phenomenon maybe What is the best percentage to distribute the
depends on the teaching environment. Because different teaching activities? From the results

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we can see that accuracy-oriented activities and and fluency is relatively paid more attention in
fluency-oriented activities occupy higher level classes. By this kind of distribution,
approximately half respectively in the leaners can get enough fluency training, and get
elementary and intermediate classes, while proper opportunities to improve the accuracy of
students in the advanced classes get more the target language as well. But in terms of what
fluency training. Generally speaking, if it is the the most ideal distribution is, the data is
first time for a learner to touch a foreign insufficient in this case study. Secondly, after
language, focusing on accuracy first is better, comparing and discussing, focusing on form is a
because the learner even does not have the idea very reasonable way to combine accuracy
of fluency (Brumfit, 1984). That is to say, it is training and fluency training. Because
reasonable to pay more fluency as the level developing accuracy in a communicative way is
increasing. And if the percentage of accuracy more interested and meaningful. While even
training is the best to occupy half or not, there though focusing on forms is not recommended,
will be more tests being put in the future. it still should not be abandoned. The reason is
Correction that learners can gain the accuracy of target
According to many researches, corrective language directly. Focusing on meaning is apart
feedback is benefit to the development of form the above two and plays an important role
accuracy and fluency (Sato & Lyster, 2012). to promote the ability of fluency, which is to
From the results, all the teachers give students achieve the main aim to learn a language.
correction feedback, while directly correcting is Thirdly, although correcting directly takes the
the most popular one in the four main ways, highest percentage in the main four correcting
which is a deductive approach to raise learners’ methods, while the rest of the three almost
consciousness. And different ways of correcting belong to indirectly correcting. In other words,
are used in different levels. Direct correction indirectly correcting is more popular. Moreover,
can let learners know where the errors are very according to the previous literatures, indirectly
clearly, so it is more suitable for the beginners. correcting has more advantages than directly
Repeating the error and interaction modification correcting. Because learners could not only
are the two ways to raise learners’ correct the errors, but also raise more
consciousness of the errors. It needs more skills consciousness by indirectly correcting. But
for the lecturer to handle these ways of using what kinds of ways to correct should take
correcting than correcting directly, but should students’ level into consideration. For beginners,
be get more recommendation, because learners directly correcting is better, but for the higher
can not only correct the errors, but also make level students, using indirectly correcting to
the comparison between the regulations raise their consciousness should get more
(Doughty & Varela, 1998). recommendation. In other words, if the lecture
Conclusions wants to get the best results of correcting, he
should know the level of his students very well.
Overall, there is much information found in this However, this case study is too simple.
case study. Firstly, in the main stream of paying Interviewing, observing in the classes and
attention to fluency, accuracy is still lively in combine the results with the previous theories is
the real classes. In the interviewed teachers’ not convictive enough, and if the teaching
perspectives, most of them believe accuracy strategies and correcting ways are ideal or not
should be paid attention to when teaching quite lacks of data. So I plan to do an
Chinese. Even though there some conflicts experimental research to test the results in this
between what they thought and what then really case study and find some more valuable
did, it is not obstructive to show that nearly half information.
of the teaching activities are accuracy-oriented,

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