This study reports the effects of text chat on EFL students’ writing fluency, accuracy, and complexity, investigating whether its effects differ according to the interlocutor. The experimental design employed three text chat groups: one between two nonnative speakers (NNS-NNS); another between a nonnative speaker and a native speaker (NNS-NS); and the other between a nonnative speaker and a nativelike chatbot (NNS-NC). 78 college students of English as a foreign language between 19 to 22 years old were sampled and assigned into the three groups, each consisting of 30, 20, and 28, respectively. Over a 16-week period, they engaged in ten 10-minute-long chat sessions. All groups were tested before and after the treatment. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare preand post-test scores as far as fluency, accuracy, and complexity concerned. To find out the differences between mean scores of the groups, a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was run. Results indicated that all three groups showed significant improvement in accuracy while only NNS-NS and NNS-NC groups did in fluency. No effects for complexity were evident. In terms of group differences, no statistical significance was detected. Participants’ perceptions of English learning and text chat positively changed overall. This study has pedagogical implications for EFL teachers, students, and researchers.

Since the introduction of the 6th National Curriculum, English pronunciation teaching in Korea has geared toward fluency, less focusing on accuracy. Since then the two technical terms, accuracy and fluency, have been widely used in the EFL literature in Korea, but in a rather confusing way. This paper is an endeavor to clarify these two concepts in terms of the viewpoints of Phonetics and English Education. From the phonetic standpoint, I argued that accuracy is more closely related to 'clear speech,' whereas fluency is applicable to either 'clear speech' or 'casual speech'. I also suggested two methods for the evaluation of English speaking fluency: one is the evaluation of weak form pronunciation: the other, sentence stresses. From a viewpoint of English Education, I reviewed some relevant literature and found that (1) accuracy and fluency are related to language usage and language use, respectively; (2) accuracy and fluency have been used as terms applicable to all four language skills in language learning, rather than speaking skill only: (3) a definition of fluency needs to be modified for its flexible use in ESL/EFL classroom setting; (4) a number of recent textbooks on pronunciation teaching include lots of useful fluency enhancing practices. As a conclusion, I summed up afore-mentioned discussions and presented some suggestions for the National Curriculum in the future.