Everyone is on a language journey. You’re involved with some form of communication every day, whether you’re speaking, listening, reading, or writing. If you’re multilingual or studying a world language, then you have even more paths on your language journey.
As you grow in your first language and other world languages, you’ll want to become more fluent. You may also understand the term “language proficiency” and wish you were more proficient. Proficiency and fluency in a language are two distinct concepts you need to differentiate between as you continue your language-learning experience.
What Is Fluency?
Fluency is the flow of one’s speech. It stems from the Latin word “fluere,” which means “to flow.” With that context in mind, you can begin to understand what language fluency is in relation to how words sound as they leave your mouth.
Someone fluent in a language can easily string words together into coherent thoughts. The words will form a followable rhythm without sporadic starts and stops. In other words, the language flows from the speaker with relative ease — they don’t stumble on their words when trying to form a logical phrase or sentence.
Keep in mind that fluency isn’t a state you can suddenly achieve. There’s a range of fluency, so someone can be highly fluent, hardly fluent, or somewhere in between at any given time in their experience with a language.
What Is Proficiency?
Proficiency refers to one’s ability to use language in a spontaneous, unrehearsed context at a given time. In other words, language proficiency describes your level of precision when using and understanding language.
Like fluency, proficiency has a wide range of levels one can possess. Someone with high proficiency will have a strong command of a language, knowing which words to use at which times and the most effective way to convey a thought, even the most complex or abstract ones. Someone with lower proficiency can communicate only simple statements or messages and may struggle to find the right words to say, having to pause several times to think about how to share their thoughts.
The Difference Between Fluency and Proficiency
Now that you have a better understanding of the terms, you can see the nuances between the definitions of language fluency and language proficiency. To summarize, the major difference when comparing fluency and proficiency is that fluency deals with the smoothness of one’s speech, while proficiency pertains to the ability to communicate accurately.
Both proficiency and fluency take time and effort to improve, and someone can possess any level of fluency or proficiency regardless of their skill in the other category.
Can a Person Be Fluent but Not Proficient?
Yes, someone can have a high level of fluency while lacking proficiency when communicating in a given language. This can even occur in one’s first language.
Consider a young child making conversation. They may have a lot to say — and say it well — but they use a limited vocabulary. Perhaps they use the same words to describe different things or make grammatical mistakes. In this case, the child would be quite fluent but have a low proficiency level.
The same can be true of someone communicating in a second language. They may be able to talk comfortably and fluently about the weather with the wait staff at a local restaurant. Then, once more abstract topics like philosophy or politics come up, a limited ability to understand and use more advanced words or concepts could inhibit their flow.
Can a Person Be Proficient but Not Fluent?
A person can indeed have a high level of proficiency and a low level of fluency at the same time. An example of this would be someone who possesses a high writing proficiency in a language with excellent knowledge of grammar and an extensive vocabulary but has difficulty speaking fluidly in a conversation. This person would likely be able to write an incredible essay in a college class but would struggle to give a speech or talk one-on-one with the professor.
Someone studying a second language may also advance in their proficiency while having low fluency. For example, a student learning Spanish may prove their proficiency on their written exams, but the same student may struggle on the speaking portion of the test.
How to Improve Fluency and Proficiency
You can improve your fluency and proficiency in any language you know or are studying.
To improve oral language fluency, you should spend more time engaging in speaking and listening exercises. These will help you better process the language as it’s communicated to you and come up with fluid, confident responses. You can increase your fluency in reading, as well. Reading fluency is the ability to read smoothly with comprehension without having to stop and sound out words.
Here are some exercises you can try:
- Read out loud to increase oral reading fluency.
- Speak while writing.
- Talk to yourself during various activities.
- Speak in tongue twisters.
- Listen to spoken word on TV, radio, or in podcasts and repeat out loud what you hear.
The best way to improve your proficiency is through reading and writing exercises. Reading will help expose you to a broader vocabulary, while writing will help your brain make new connections between words and articulate thoughts in a more advanced manner.
Here are some activities to help improve your proficiency:
- Write in a diary or journal and speak your entries out loud.
- Watch movies and shows with subtitles.
- Watch interviews to hear how people speak conversationally.
- Read magazines and newspapers.
- Practice memorization, repeating what you memorize out loud.
How to Measure Proficiency
Language proficiency is the ability to use language in real-world contexts to complete actual tasks across a variety of settings and topics. With an objective framework used to measure your proficiency, you can have a better idea of your skill level in a specific world language at a given time. Employers and educational institutions often look for ways to measure the proficiency of candidates. You’ll need to measure your proficiency in an objective way they can validate and verify if you want entry into an institution or acceptance into a program.
Language Testing International® is the sole provider of ACTFL language proficiency tests. Individuals and organizations look to us to provide the ACTFL proficiency tests they need to measure language skills across the mediums of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. You can choose the proficiency scale used to score the test for results you can understand and use to prove your proficiency to the correct parties.
The Importance of Gaining Proficiency
Gaining proficiency is important because proficient world language users are in high demand. In fact, the demand for bilingual workers increased by over 50% between 2010 and 2015. Research shows that bilingual and multilingual workers can earn 5% to 20% more per hour than their monolingual colleagues. In short, it pays to gain proficiency in world languages.
Bilingual workers may find more job opportunities than people who are only proficient in one language. This gives anyone who knows more than one language a competitive edge throughout the hiring process. They will have the communication skills needed to get past language barriers and achieve successful interactions.
Test Your Proficiency With Language Testing International
Are you ready to prove your world language proficiency? Language Testing International can help individuals achieve their certifications and provide tests for organizations to measure the proficiency of their employees or potential employees. Organizations can contact us today to take the next step toward testing your proficiency. Individuals can schedule a test online.
