Principles for Teaching Speaking

Speaking is a productive skill. Theoritically, according to O’Grady (1996) , it is a mental process. This means that it is a psychological process by which a speaker puts a mental concept into some linguistic form, such as word, phrases, and sentences used to convey a message to a listener. So the speech production is the process by which the speakers turn their mental concept into their spoken utterences to convey a message to their listeners in the communicative interaction.

Much recent work on optimal conditions for the teaching of speaking in second and foreign language classrooms has been grounded in educational psycholinguistics or in cognitive and social psychology. Theoretical constructs for language pedagogy have been drawn extensively from empirical studies, underpinned by the central notions of second language acquisition: communicative competence (Canale and Swain 1980); comprehensible input (Krashen 1985), negotiated interaction (Ellis 1990, Gass and Varonis 1994, Long 1983, Pica, et al. 1989), input processing (VanPatten and Cadierno 1993), developmental sequences and routes of acquisition (Meisel, Clahsen and Pienemann 1981), and communication strategies (Faerch and Kasper 1983). Such constructs are widely taught in teacher preparation programs in second and foreign language teaching and clearly have relevance to oral language instructional practice.

From a communicative view of the language classroom, listening and speaking skills are closely interwined. ESL. Curricula treat oral communication skills will simply be labelled as “Listening/Speaking” course.

Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

Motivation
               Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, "success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.

Speaking is fundamental to human communication

Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that with how much written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of? In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. 

Principles for Teaching Speaking :

 • Focus on fluency and accuracy (depending on lesson/activity objective)

 • Use intrinsically motivating techniques based on  student goals and interests

 • Use authentic language in meaningful contexts

 • Provide appropriate feedback and correction

 • Optimize the natural link between listening and  speaking

 • Give students the opportunity to initiate oral communication

 • Develop speaking strategi

Principles for Teaching Speaking:

1.      Focus on both fluency and accuracy, depending on your objectives

  Accuracy  is  the  extent  to  which  students’  speech  matches  what  peopleactually  say  when  they  use  the  target  language.  Fluency is the extent towhich speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc.

In our current interactive language teaching, we can easily slip into interactive activities that don’t capitalize on grammatical pointers or pronunciation tips. We need to bear in mind a spectrum of learner needs, from language-based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning and fluency. When you do a jigsaw group technique, play a game, or discuss solutions to the environmental crisis, make sure that your tasks have a linguistic (language-based) objective, and seize the opportunity to help students to perceive and use the building blocks of language. At the same time, don’t bore your students to death with lifeless, repetitious drills. As noted above, make any drilling you do as meaningful as possible. The student can not develop fluency if the teacher is constantly interrupting them to correct their oral errors. Teachers must provide students with fluency building practice and realize that making mistakes is a natural part of learning a new language. 

2.      Provide intrinsically motivating techniques

Try at all times to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence and autonomy, and for “being all that they can be”. Even in those techniques that

don’t send students into ecstasy, help them to see how the activity will benefit them. Often students don’t know why we ask them to do certain things, it usually pays to tell them.

3.      Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts

This theme has been played time and again. It is not easy to keep coming up with meaningful interaction. We all succumb to the temptation to do, say, disconnected little grammar exercises where we go around the room calling on students one by one to pick the right answer. It takes energy and creativity to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, but with the help of a storehouse of teacher resource material, it can be done.

4.      Provide appropriate feedback and correction

In most EFL situations, students are totally dependent on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback. In ESL situations, they may get such feedback “out there” beyond the classroom, but even then you are in a position to be of great benefit. It is important that you take advantage of your knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for the moment.

5.      Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

Many interactive techniques that involve speaking will also of course include listening. Don’t lose out on opportunities to integrate these two skills. As you are perhaps focusing on speaking goals, listening goals may naturally coincide, and the two skills can reinforce each other. Skills in producing language are often initiated through comprehension.

6.      Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication

A good deal of typical classroom interaction is characterized by teacher initiation of language. We ask questions, give directions, and provide information and students have been conditioned only to “speak when spoken to.” Part of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate conversation, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control conversations, and to change the subject. As you design and use speaking technique, ask yourself if you have allowed students to initiate language. 

7.      Encourage the development of speaking strategies.

The concept of strategic competence (see Chapter 16:PLLT, chapters 5 and 8) is one that few beginning language students are aware of. They simply have not thought about developing their own personal strategies for accomplishing oral communicative purposes. Your classroom can be done in which students become aware of, and have a chance to practice, such strategies as:

·         asking for clarification (what?)

·         asking someone to repeat something (pardon me?, Huh?Excuse me?)

·         using fillers (uh, I mean, Well) in order to gain (to get) time to process

·         using conversation maintenance cues (Uh-huh, Right, Yeah, OK, Hmm)

·         getting someone’s attention (Hey, Say, So)

·         using paraphrasing for structures one can’t produce

·         appealing for assistance from the interlocutor (to get a word or phrase, for example)

·         using formulaic expressions (at the survival-stage) (How much does____cost?How do you get to the____?)

·         using mime and non-verbal expressions to convey meaning

Source : H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles, San Francisco State University, Third Edition.