HOW TO MAINTAIN FLUENT IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

As speaking is a way of communicating and expressing thoughts, ideas, needs, and feelings in a language, the significance of this skill is not deniable. However, students normally find it challenging to express themselves due to different reasons. The main problem that stops them from speaking is a lack of knowledge or even overusing a word. For instance, they might not be able to find a proper word or expression and consequently, they will encounter obstacles continuing talking to maintain fluency which is the first characteristic of speaking. Competence strategies are strategies that could be used in order to fill the gaps in speaking which happen as a result of not knowing a word to maintain fluency. Since speaking happens in real-time and there is no time for preparing and drafting like writing, students normally find it difficult. Fluency as a sub-skill in speaking is about being able to talk without pauses and long hesitation. To be fluent students need language knowledge and discourse knowledge such as grammar and lexis, to be able to organize their thoughts and communication strategies to avoid hesitation. Goh and Burns (2012, p.168) argue that “communication Strategies, involve developing cognitive strategies to compensate for limitations in language knowledge (e.g., circumlocution, paraphrasing, gestures, word coinage, approximation, avoidance), metacognitive strategies (e.g., planning in advance what to say, thinking consciously about how you say something), and interaction strategies (e.g. asking for clarification/ repetition, reformulating, rephrasing, and checking comprehension).