Fluency Illusion in SLA

The fluency illusion originally is a form of cognitive bias that provides the illusion that one has mastered some skill or material because of familiarity. It's where we tend to equate the ease of processing information with actual knowledge or comprehension, and how our subconscious mind tricks us into thinking we know more about the content than we actually do.

The fluency illusion occurs when the ease of processing information is mistaken for actual comprehension or learning. This can lead to overconfidence in one's knowledge.

A common example is when you're reading a book and understanding the material as you go along, but when questioned about the content, you tend to struggle.

The idea is that we misrepresent familiarity with understanding.

Not only is this a great cognitive bias to be aware of but it also has a great definition in the world of SLA (Second Language Acquisition).

To the untrained eye - one might seem more proficient or fluent than they actually are. Unless you yourself are fluent in the language(s) you have no real way of judging the level of another

We see this effect in different forms all the time.

Take this video as an example.

This is an extreme example but to the casual viewer you of course can recognise that his accent and speech are for comedic effect and unpracticed. But unless you are fluent or highly skilled in Korean, you may not be able to explicitly explain what is wrong, can tell if expressions are unnatural or incorrect, or even if his vocabulary is similar to that of a child.

In the video his speech is rehearsed to be at least understood, but in reality this may not even be comprehensible.

You can be conversational with a shockingly low ability - native speakers can compensate and adjust in many different ways.

With this in mind, it gives perspective on not only gauging your level as a language learner but also understanding that there is no ceiling to progress. In simple terms, you don't know what you don't know. You will notice as you improve and as your level rises, you are able to make distinctions and explanations to the levels below you.

So the next time you watch the polyglot that claims to have mastered and speak 10 languages - just know there's a high chance of fluency illusion at play.