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- Fluency and cohesion

Fluency and cohesion

Fluency refers to the speed, smoothness and flow of your language. Cohesion refers to how well your ideas are organised and linked into a passage of speech. If a passage of speech is both fluent and cohesive it is easier for the listener to understand.
During the exam the examiner will listen for:

fluency
(a) speed, smoothness and flow of your language as you speak
(b) number of pauses, repetitions, hesitations you use as you speak, and how these interfere with the flow and speed of delivery of your ideas, and
cohesion
(a) how you organise your ideas into a logical, sequenced flow of English-language discourse
(b) how you link your ideas using a variety of linking words, connectives and substitutions.

How can I improve fluency and cohesion?

As they say, practice makes perfect! To improve your fluency you should practise speaking in English as often as possible.
To improve cohesion:

Use pronouns. When you are describing an event, telling a story, or speaking over a longer period, avoid repeating the subject or object of a sentence too many times-replace the repeated words with different pronouns such as he, she, it, they, our, their, theirs, ourselves and so on.
Use time indicators. If you are telling a story involving a sequence of time, use words that clearly show the time sequences, such as at first, then, next, after that, meanwhile, suddenly, eventually, in the end and so on.
If you are listing ideas, use words such as firstly, secondly, thirdly, next and finally.
Use conjunctions and connectors to show similarity and contrast, cause and effect, in a passage, including such words as because, due to, so, as a result, although, despite, in addition, also and not only ... but also.

Cohesion: Awareness activities

Try the following four exercises to practise improving cohesion.
If you are telling a story involving a sequence of time, or a story with a list of ideas, linking words can improve the fluency and cohesion. Use such words as next, after that, before, after, already and finally to organise ideas into a time. sequence.

Cohesion Activity 1: Fluency and cohension

Read the two short excerpts below taken from an IELTS Speaking test. The speaker is not a native speaker of English and doesn't score highly on fluency and cohesion.

If you can, read the two excerpts aloud and listen to the English. In your opinion, is each excerpt fluent and well organised? Why, or why not?
Excerpt 1 'A place I visited recently which was very relaxing was I visited the outdoor cinema. I like cinema. Cinema is fun. Cinema is relaxing. Cinema is interesting. I went to the outdoor cinema with my friend. My friend likes cinema. The cinema was not far away from my home. My home is closer to the cinema than my friend's home, so my friend came to my home before we went to the outdoor cinema.'
Excerpt 2 'When I was seventeen I had driving lessons. The driving instructor was middle-aged, that driving instructor was friendly; patient that driving instructor and calm. He was a good driving instructor. l could follow easily what the driving instructor wanted me to do. I practised driving with that driving instructor for 12 weeks. During 12 weeks I learned many new skills. I became more confident at driving my car. I could park my car myself easily. I could drive that car in traffic easily. I got my licence after 12 weeks. During my driving test I was very nervous. I was nervous because I thought I would fail. I didn't fail. I passed that driving test.'

The speaker above does not organise the ideas well, and repeats words often. This speaker would receive a lower score for fluency and cohesion.

In these two excerpts, ideas are not well organised and words are repeated often. How could you improve these two excerpts?
Read the two excerpts again. Replace the repeated sections with pronouns (he, she, it, him, they and so on) or subordinate clauses (beginning with words like which, that, who and so on) or conjunctions (and, so, but, because and so on), or use any other ways of linking the ideas more fluently.
After you have reworded the story, read it aloud again. The fluency and cohesion are improved, and in the IELTS exam the fluency score with the linking words would rate higher.
Speaking, Excerpt 1

'A place I visited recently which was very relaxing was the outdoor cinema. I like cinema. It is fun, relaxing and interesting. I went there with my friend, who also likes cinema. The cinema was not far away from my home, and closer than to my friend's home, so she came to mine before we went.'
Speaking, Excerpt 2

'When I was seventeen I had driving lessons. The driving instructor was middle-aged, friendly, patient and calm. He was a good driving instructor, because I could easily follow what he wanted me to do. I practised driving for 12 weeks. During that time I learned many new skills, including becoming more confident when driving. I could park and drive in traffic easily. I got my licence after 12 weeks. During my driving test I was very nervous because I thought I would fail. I didn't, however. I passed it!'

Cohesion Activity 2: Linking and sequencing

• Add these Linking words to the IELTS speaking exam excerpt below. Note how improved the story becomes with the added words. Choose from these words: later, then, already, firstly, while, as, next, during, after, as, until, previously.

I guess the most important day of my life was the day I got married. Our wedding was a traditional one, so , at around 11 am in the morning my bridesmaids met at my mother's home to help me to dress and to give advice. As is tradition, my husband-to-be and all other men were banned from seeing me before the wedding, so I was getting ready, my husband played football with his friends to help him relax. at around 4pm my father arrived to pick me up in the wedding car, drove us to the church. That was very exciting.
my father walked me down the church aisle. I saw everyone-all my family and friends Looking and smiling , after the ceremony we went to a nearby park and had wedding photos taken. we returned to meet all the guests at the local hall, which had been decorated beautifully with pink and yellow flowers, and began the wedding feast. the meal there were speeches, some were very funny, the speeches the band started and we danced midnight. It was a great day.

Use such words as firstly, secondly and thirdly to list ideas.

Cohesion Activity 3: Linking and sequencing

• Read another excerpt from the IELTS speaking exam below. The speaker is listing ideas, but doesn't include linking words. Add suitable words to make it clearer.

There are a few, very important things to remember when you are going for a job interview , ensure that you are in plenty of time and are not too late make sure you take along your CV and original documents relating to your education and work experience make sure you are dressed neatly and appropriately for the workplace smile and answer all questions openly and politely.

• Read the text again with the added words. The fluency and cohesion are clearer and would score a higher result. For the IELTS exam it's a good idea to make your speech stronger by using these listing words.
• The linking words below look similar, but have different meanings and are used in different contexts. Find out the difference in meaning between:

at first/firstly and at last/lastly
at the beginning/in the beginning/at the end/in the end

Use conjunctions and connectors to show similarity and contrast, cause and effect in a passage.

Cohesion Activity 4.: Conjunctions and connectors

• Add suitable linking ideas to the Speaking test excerpt below. Choose from these words: so, due to, however, consequently, as a result, even if, because, moreover, in addition to this.

There are many reasons why the CBD of my city is considered by most people to be dull and lifeless. One reason is that there are very few houses or apartments built in the city centre, only offices and shops most people live outside the city in suburbs. Residents commute into the city each morning to work; , past working hours they leave the city to return to the suburbs for the evenings nobody is around the city in the evenings. , the inner city lacks shopping and entertainment in the city centre. People don't stay after work to eat dinner or have a drink; they go home . , there were more bars and restaurants, there is still not enough night-time public transport. There are few trains and buses, and taxis often hesitate to travel far out of the city. Many fully equipped suburban shopping centres exist outside the city centre. the fact that there is a lot of parking and everything you need at the local shopping centres, most people spend weekends out of the city at their local shopping centres. of the lifelessness of the inner city, a lot of my friends favour the idea of moving to live in a larger city they say it's more exciting.

• Read the new version aloud. It sounds more fluent, and coherent, doesn't it?

Final note: Fluency and coherence

To become 'fluent' in English it is important to practise. In the same way as a pianist becomes 'fluent' when playing the piano, or a basketballer becomes better able to shoot accurate goals with practice, a language requires frequent and regular practice. Practise speaking as often as you can.
To improve coherence, think about the logical organisation of your ideas and use connecting or linking words and phrases to improve the clarity of the information you wish to communicate.

Fluency and Cohesion Awareness Activity

Two-minute speaking practice

Speak for an uninterrupted 2 minutes on a topic from the list below to a partner or recording. Take care to organise your ideas before you begin. (You could make· notes before you speak if you wish.)
Speak again for 2 minutes on the same topic; you could change partner or re-record; but this time include linking words and improve the connection of your ideas.
Speak for 2 minutes on the same topic a third time. You can speak to another partner or record a third time. The fluency and the flow of your talk should now be at their best. Do you consider it sounds better than before?

Take care to include linking words when you speak for the second and third time.