G'day, how's it going mate? Tempo is more important than accuracy when it comes to normal conversation in English. Not many people are willingly and patiently listening to your talk if you talk so slowly and too many odd pauses. That is to say, good oral fluency is a must-have that has to be taken into consideration. Let's elaborate it further.
Yes, there is no doubt that clear pronunciation is a valuable asset to speaking. The clearer you enunciate each word, the better your listener will understand you for sure. But, tempo is in fact more important than pronunciation as the speed and rhythm during speaking immensely affects your listener's willingness and concentration. People tend to become impatient once some distraction such as a bad-tempo-talk has infiltrated into your listener's internal mind. To avoid this consequence, you've got to be well trained in... what I call "non-stop talk strategy", which essentially helps enhance not just your speaking ability but confidence as well.
To this end, always make sure that you self-analyse the daily performance whereby you record yourself and listen to the recorded audio considering your voice wave, speed as well as a bit of accuracy. The first priority is to analyse your speaking rate, followed by voice wave and accuracy. I reckon the average speed ranging from 120 to 150 wpm should be the most comfortable keeping one's concentration on listening and understanding. Not too slow not too fast are the best. Varying your speaking rate has also an impact on how your listener perceives you. Constant monotone really distracts your listener's willingness to concentrate on listening and understanding. So, don't speak like a robot.
As for me, when I'm doing read aloud and internal monologue I don't really care about the speed or tempo, but I'm more aware of articulation and grammar things. But, on the other hand, when I'm conversing with others I try to speak a bit faster with a good tempo rather than think about articulation and grammar things. So, self-training and real conversation in terms of tempo and articulation have to be distinguished. That's what many people say like 'Don't think too much about pronunciation and grammar during conversation'. However, when you are training yourself you should be able to be aware of them.
Thanks for reading my blog. Talk to you soon.