Proficiency, Fluency, and Mastery

Fluency

Of the three terms, fluency is perhaps somewhat less problematic. Most people agree that fluency refers to a person's ability to use language in a fluid and coherent way. It includes the ability to manipulate a range of linguistic resources: vocabulary, grammatical structures, productive skills (speaking and writing), and receptive skills (listening and reading). A second-language (L2) learner with a high degree of fluency, therefore, would be able to use the language to clearly articulate his or her meaning without undue hesitation or backtracking. Researchers have argued that for L2 speakers, there is a correlation between fluency, accuracy, and complexity, such that the more attention an L2 user puts on fluency, the more grammatical errors and sentences with less complexity he or she will make. The inverse relation applies as well: The more attention put on, say, grammatical accuracy, the slower and more hesitantly L2 learners proceed as they divert their attention from the meaning they want to express and instead focus more on how to form their utterances correctly.

Proficiency and Mastery

Language proficiency encompasses all three aspects of fluency, accuracy, and complexity, as well as several other features related to language use. Mastery is essentially a synonym for proficiency; however, the latter term is generally preferred because it better connotes a range of expertise. Language users, especially those learning a second language, have a range of [Page 674]different proficiency levels, and even an individual L2 learner may be more proficient in one skill area or in certain situations than in others.

It is important to distinguish proficiency from other similar but distinct concepts, such as achievement and competence. A language proficiency test, for example, is distinct from an achievement test, since it is meant to be indicative of what sorts of things the language user can do with and in that language. Sometimes the know-how and ability to do something, especially when it is expressed as a curricular objective, is called a competency. Typically, these are worded as “by the end of the course (or unit, etc.), the student will be able to …” By stating competencies, such as writing a short narrative or giving a brief oral report, the expectations associated with different levels of language proficiency are made more concrete. Hence, competency, a term borrowed into education from business, should not be confused with the term competence in the strictly linguistic sense, which is a central concept of Chomskyan linguistics referring to a native speaker's intuitions about what constitutes well-formed sentences.

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