"Basic conversational fluency" is one of those foreign language education constructs that don't serve anybody's purpose, for actual conversations in life are not made up of a series of imaginary small talks in which everyone sticks to "basics."
Foreign language education in countries like Japan and Taiwan shouldn't set a goal for all as "basic conversational fluency," for most citizens of those countries don't speak with any native English speaker in their entire lives (I didn't meet any till I went to college in Tokyo), and a minority of them who do need English for jobs need higher-level skills than that imaginary construct.
Emphasis in mass foreign language education ought to be put on reading and listening (two skills that almost all, anywhere people live in wired nations, have chances to employ if they are motivated), especially reading. Focus on grammar for the first two weeks to three months (depending on how different students' target and native languages are), and then make them read articles in the target languages on topics that interest them (sports journalism for sports fans, movie reviews for movie fans, etc.) for the rest of the year, using dictionaries as often as they need. After one year, students may continue in the same foreign language or move on to a new one. For specialized education targeting the aforementioned minority, emphasis should be on how the languages they are learning are actually being used in their respective professions.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>