I have been discussing fluency with one of my students today. She felt confident that her speaking skills were becoming better, and they are but at such a slow pace that i would hardly call that progress. How do you react when a learner wants to hear positive feedback when it's not that positive? Well, I have acknowledge that there is indeed some progress but I have also said there ws a long way to run still as she pronounces each single word as clearly and as "isolated" as she does in Spanish. She says she feels very confident when she is with me but when it comes to speaking to others she regards as having a higher level or better command, she goes very shy and gets things wrong. Others are in the same boat! But they find it reassuring to hear that not everybody has as high level as they (the students) think they (others) have.