Discussion – Is fluency enough to communicate effectively?

[Janice C.]

Do you think it is possible to communicate effectively with very little understanding of the English tenses?

Share your thought with other people by posting them in the discussion thread below.

[Anonymous]

To tell the truth, I don’t think that it is possible to communicate effectively with very little understanding of the English tenses. If we chat with friends or we are tourists and ask some information, May be, it will be enough. By long odds, if we want to have effective communication we must know the English tenses.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it is very difficult to communicate effectively without knowing at least some basic grammar rules. You can be easily misunderstood.

[Anonymous]

I am sure that if a person wants to communicate effectively, (s)he should know some basic grammar rules. Sometimes present tenses can denote future actions or conditionals can describe events from the past, present or future depending on the tenses used. If you do not know these peculiarities, it will be extremely difficult to communciate effectively. Thus, fluency is not the most important part of communication.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Yes, to be able to express ourselves and understand information from varies sources more accurately a certain level of knowledge of the tenses is required.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Yes, to be able to express ourselves and understand information from varies sources more accurately a certain level of knowledge of the tenses is required.

[Anonymous]

It depends upon what the communication objective is. For example, if the person wishes to purchase goods or services in English then they can do so with fluency and little understanding of the English tenses. If however, the objective is to hold a conversation then an understanding of the English tenses will be extremely helpful.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Yes, the purpose of the speaker with the language will determine the importance of the tenses.

[Michael Lynch]

It´s possible to travel and have very basic conversations with little knowledge of grammar, but to participate in life and not be an observer requires more.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Exactly, as mentioned above, the importance of the knowledge of the tenses depends on the speaker’s aim of communication.

[Anonymous]

It’s possible to communicate on a very basic level eg; asking – I want go, I want this, etc. But to communicate effectively I think you need to have knowledge of the main tenses to convey meaning and instill understanding in the listener. Especially the main tenses such as Present, Past and Future.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

I agree. Thank you for your thoughts, Linda.

[yewande.olusore]

I don’t think it’s possible for one to communicate effectively or teach English with very little understanding of English tenses except on a basic level.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Thank you for your comment, Yewande. I believe that a lot of people would agree with you.

[Anonymous]

I think the most important thing here is the vocabulary knowledge that you have

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Thank you for your opinion, Marine. How important do you think it is to know the tenses in English to be able to communicate effectively?

[Anonymous]

It’s possible to communicate, but not effectively. I think communicate to be effective, also depends on the goodwill of the other person, because communication is a two-way street.

[Hedvig Ilyes]

Reading your comment, Cristiane, reminds me of what a teacher of mine once said to a student of hers, ‘If they (people with fluent English) really want to, they will understand you.’

[M C Crumlish]

As a teacher we must look towards the needs of the student, their age and ability. The simple verb tenses are needed to have a meaningful conversation on a basic level, however I think the more complex tenses are not required unless the student has a need for these ie. graduate, business etc.

[Author]

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