Automaticity is fluent use without extra effort or attention, drawing on memorised procedures. Memorised chunks alone give a fast but limited repertoire; learners need to customise them in activities that are communicative yet formulaic and repetitive.
Gatbonton & Segalowitz’s (1988) five criteria
Activities should be genuinely communicative, psychologically authentic, focused, formulaic and inherently repetitive.
Activities that fit
- Class photo: learners arrange the group with partly filled frames (X, stand behind Y); ~10 minutes before the end for urgency.
- 4/3/2: same talk to three partners in 4, 3, 2 minutes.
- Guessing games; Find someone who…; grids with Can you…?
- Teacher upgrades phrasing at the point of need, mid-task.
Sources
Gatbonton & Segalowitz (1988) TESOL Quarterly 22/3; Segalowitz (2003) in Doughty & Long (eds); Segalowitz (2010) Cognitive Bases of Second Language Fluency; Dörnyei (2009).
Counterargument
Luiz Otávio Barros: learners take the minimum-effort route; unless the target items are essential to the task, they won’t use them. Hence pre- or post-task language focus.
Connections
Fluency rests on memorised word-groups · Repetition without boredom - vary one task parameter at a time · Speaking develops from input and retrieval, not speaking practice alone