Lecture 13

Lecture 13:Speaking

By the end of this lecture, students will be able to:

a- Understand steps on how to teach vocabulary.
b- Prepare an evaluative account on the methods discussed.
c- Create a sample lesson plan about “vocabulary”.

Teaching Speaking

Teaching Speaking

Imagine a learner suddenly freezing mid-conversation, unable to find the words, as silence fills the space and anxiety mounts. Teaching speaking is mainly seen as highly demanding. “It is the most important skill” (Thornbury, 2006, p. 108) since it involves inner and outer expectations from hearers within a social context characterised by real life conversations. Apart from the need to communicate, speaking underpinned a process shaped by accuracy, fluency and contextual appropriateness. The speaking skill involves instant oral production and places high psycholinguistic demands. As for teachers, their task is to facilitate and help learners overcome barriers; however, the feedback should remain to a greater extent constructive.

Speaking Skill vs Pronunciation

While speaking relies heavily on reaching intelligibility, pronunciation aims to improve the overall oral performance. Most of the time, pronunciation, particularly in English, denotes a successful listener’s reception of meaning from the speaker. To communicate effectively, learners need a solid foundation in phonological awareness. According to Ur (1991, p. 47), the concept of pronunciation may be said to include:

• The sound of the language
• Stress/rhythm
• Intonation

Speaking Skill Difficulties (Brown, 2001, pp. 270, 271)

a- Clustering: Since native speakers of English tend to speak naturally in terms of “units”, non-native speakers often find difficulty in following automatic production, while they pronounce words as isolated parts.

b- Redundancy: Repeating the same set of words, phrases or expressions unusually reflects speaking fear, whereas learners need to be taught alternatives along with constant practice.

c- Reduced Forms: Being aware of reduced forms, especially when it comes to casual speech, is a necessity to enhance listening and comprehension in general.

d- Performance Variables: As speaking is a flawless oral production, learners may face obstacles such as looking for fillers, hesitation, though it is required to be seen as “normalised”.

e- Colloquial Language: Learners who are not familiar with informal language patterns usually encounter barriers to understanding or even imitate idioms, slang, etc.

f- Rate of Delivery: The speed of speech without balanced control is a hindrance to intelligibility.

g- Stress, Rhythm Intonation: At the suprasegmental phonological level, they affect not only pronunciation but also meaning coverage.

h- Interaction: It mainly indicates problems with the so-called reciprocal turn-taking communication.

Principles of Designing Speaking Techniques (p272)

1- Meeting learners’ needs: there must be a careful design of speaking tasks to meet students’ lacks, wants and requirements. Suggesting activities that are homogeneous in terms of complexity is indispensable. Success can be indicated when, for example, 80% of students are able to participate in and sustain a 2-minute exchange related to the task objectives, or when most learners contribute at least three relevant responses during a speaking activity. These measurable outcomes help ensure that the principle is actionable and that tasks effectively address learner needs.

2- Providing motivational techniques: Motivation is a determining factor which encourages learners’ risk-taking in oral sessions. There are several techniques, such as free selection of topics, integrating them in content selection remains an advantage.

3- Using authentic language: there is a close link between providing authentic material and other skills. The former shapes the real language circle, increasing students’ involvement and awareness.

4- Appropriate feedback and correction: Feedback is only beneficial when introduced properly in time and context. It should rectify without interruption and correct without embarrassment.

5- Linking between speaking and listening: The interplay between speaking and listening is reciprocal. They both strengthen each other due to the input and output relationship.

6- Encouraging students to take initiatives: In tasks such as speaking ones, there is a tendency towards freer learner-centeredness, particularly when the teacher acts less authoritarian in choosing themes or even the quality of tasks.

7- Encouraging speaking strategies: Speaking practice is not limited to classroom practice. Consequently, providing learners with a plethora of strategies can build autonomy, confidence and self-development.

Speaking Activities

Most of the time, teachers prefer to integrate dialogue (turn-taking) into their speaking lesson plans. Thus, it is popular due to its naturalistic notion, which guides people in using everyday natural speech for communicative purposes.

Story-Telling: This type of activity makes the speaking task feel like a narration, as the speaker can involve the whole class not only in listening but also in a stimulating debate afterwards.

Simulation: It prepares students for real-life, context-based scenarios. Examples: business interview, doctor, travel situation (etc). It is highly beneficial for building communicative competence.

Use of Technology: In today’s digitalised world, accessibility to electronic devices becomes easier. Learners can get access to a diversity of resources, content, and pronunciation differences, though it remains fruitful if it is well targeted. To ensure technology supports genuine communicative goals, teachers might ask themselves: Does this tool provoke at least two minutes of learner-to-learner talk? Reflecting on such questions helps keep the use of technology purposeful and aligned with the intended speaking outcomes.

Use of Mimicking: Imitation of a certain given model can strengthen and develop learners’ pronunciation. Also, it helps enhance prosodic pronunciation, though it should be used carefully without neglecting spontaneous speaking performance.