focus on formcause a breakdown in normal speech (e.g. as with aphasiaor stuttering),
the resulting speech may be referred to as dysfluent, or as an example of
dysfluency.
In second and foreign language teaching, fluency describes a level of
proficiency in communication, which includes:
a the ability to produce written and/or spoken language with ease
b the ability to speak with a good but not necessarily perfect command of
intonation, vocabulary, and grammar
c the ability to communicate ideas effectively
d the ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension
difficulties or a breakdown of communication.
It is sometimes contrasted with accuracy, which refers to the ability to pro-
duce grammatically correct sentences but may not include the ability to
speak or write fluently.fluent reader n
a person who reads without effort, with few hesitations, and with a good
level of comprehension.
focus n
an element or phrase that contains new information can be put “into focus”
in various ways. For example, to signal that Johnis the new information in
the sentence I saw John at the market, one can use emphatic or contrastive
stress(I saw JOHN at the market) or a cleft sentence(It was John who
I saw at the market).
see also functional sentence perspective, grounding
focused interview n
an interview that explores a particular aspect of an event or situation,
particularly with a group of individuals who have had similar experience
of the event. For example, in language programme evaluation a focused
interview may be held with teachers to find out how well students are
reacting to a new set of teaching materials.
See also depth interview, guided interview
focus on form n
in general terms, any focusing of attention on the formal linguistic charac-
teristics of language, as opposed to a pure focus on meaning in com-
munication. In a more technical sense, focus on form has been defined as
a brief allocation of attention to linguistic form as the need for this arises
incidentally, in the context of communication. This may be contrasted with
a focus on forms(plural), referring to the kind of focus on one form (or rule)