Promoting L2 English speech fluency in Finnish general upper secondary education: An analysis of textbooks and teachers’ perceptions

This article addresses how speech fluency is promoted in general upper secondary education in Finland. Promoting speech fluency was examined from two perspectives: an analysis of activities in textbooks and teachers’ views of the usefulness of textbooks in teaching fluency. The textbook analysis included 32 English textbooks from four textbook series. Teachers’ perceptions were studied with a questionnaire that was answered by 26 English teachers. The results demonstrate that there were 64 fluency-focused activities in the 32 textbooks. Over 80% of the participants wished to have more fluency-enhancing activities in textbooks, yet, over 60% were satisfied with the number of fluency activities. The results suggest that the importance of speech fluency is recognised in textbooks and by teachers, but teachers are expected to supplement textbooks with other fluency-focused activities. A large variety of fluency activities in textbooks would be beneficial to facilitate learners’ fluency development in an ideal way.