Teaching Speaking

1. The Speaking Skill in Communication

1.1. Why and When We Speak?
1.2. What Does Communicating Involve?

2. Developing Communicative Competence in the

Classroom
2.1. Oral Practice Activities (Controlled Practice)
2.2. Less Controlled Practice
2.3. Freer Practice

3. Speaking for Fluency

3.1. Feedback on Communication Activities
 1. The Speaking Skill in Communication

In considering the role of speaking as it relates

to communication and the relevance of
speaking to language teaching, a few questions
have to answered:

 a) why and when we speak,

 b) what communicating involves,

 c) what factors influence speaking.

 1.1. Why and When We Speak

 We speak in order to:

 • get information about things or people;

 • explain, instruct, direct;
 • get something done;
 • express judgement, opinions, feelings;
 • promote warmth, friendship, etc.;
 • relate events, anecdotes, descriptions, etc.
 1.1. Why and When We Speak
 six underlying functions of language (or ‘macro’
functions of language)
 i) directive: influencing other people’s behaviour (e.g.,
request for permission, order, instructions);
 ii) descriptive: talking about the world, the past, etc.;
 iii) expressive: expressing emotions, imagination,
opinions, etc.;
 iv) phatic: promoting human warmth (e.g., "It’s cold
today, isn’t it?");
 v) metalinguistic: talking about the language one is
using (e.g., ‘John’ is the subject of the sentence);
 vi) poetic: using language creatively (especially in
literature and humour).
 1.2 What Does Communicating Involve?

 two types of activity that take place almost simultaneously:

planning and execution. It is a combination of linguistic and
cognitive sub-skills, social and cultural awareness and
confidence.

 In their mother tongue, speakers have the ability to

discriminate and manipulate sounds in order to produce
fluent, intelligible speech and to use accurate and meaningful
stress and intonation.

 They also have the ability to make linguistic choices at the

level of vocabulary and grammar and at the level of style and
register, to form natural and meaningful sentences,
appropriate to one’s communicative purpose in a given
situation.
 1.2 What Does Communicating Involve?

The factors that influence the speaker’s

language choices are:

 a) the interlocutors (speaker and listener);

 b) the code (shared language of the
interlocutors);
 c) the message topic;
 d) the message form;
 e) the setting / situation;
 f) the function of each utterance.
 1.2 What Does Communicating Involve?

The cognitive sub-skills involve formulating

language in the mind as a representation of the
intended meaning. This involves planning on three
levels: discourse, utterance and constituents.

Discourse takes account of the kind of

communication the speaker is participating in (e.g.,
joke telling; conversation; giving instructions, etc.),
the situational and linguistic context, the features of
conversation and the cohesion of the utterances
communication strategy.
 1.2 What Does Communicating Involve?
The meaning of the planned utterances is considered
in terms of what function they will have (e.g.
requesting, checking, advising, etc.); the topic of the
overall communication (e.g. politics, bringing up
children etc.); what information can be taken as
known and what needs to be considered as new; and
how the message will stylistically be conveyed (e.g.
straight, ironical, understated etc.)

Speakers also need to make choices referring to

specific constituents: linguistic items (lexical units,
structures, stress, intonation) and to organising these
in the right order.
2. Developing Communicative Competence in
the Classroom
 When organising a speaking activity, Ts need to bear in
mind questions like:
 •Is the activity promoting real communication? How
natural can be communication in the classroom?
 What aspects of non-linguistic communication are SS
showing: facial expression, gesture, tone of voice?
 What different registers of language can be practised in
this activity? What range of styles and registers do they
need?
 Do SS need to learn to communicate to the same degree of
complexity and subtlety?
 To what extent does effective communication depend on
linguistic accuracy?
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities

 The activities primarily designed for oral

practice are grouped according to the degree
of control exerted by the teacher over the SS’
language choice. They show a gradual move
from very controlled to ‘freer’.

 Teachers generally follow the traditional

model of language teaching, which attempts
to realise the principles of staging learning.
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities

 This model is:

 • presentation (including controlled oral practice);

 • less controlled oral practice (also called ‘guided

creativity’ or ‘semi-controlled oral practice’);

 • freer stage (the focus may still be on the

language being practised). Select activities that are
likely to produce the language that has recently
been presented and practised.
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities
 Practice itself can be graded from controlled to
semi-controlled to freer.
 This progression gives SS the chance to see when
and how they need to use the target items in real
life and to become more independent language
users
 Some classroom learning activities will be accuracy
based, i.e. aimed at the correct production of
specific language, but as we move along the
continuum from controlled to free, there are
increasing opportunities for the SS to practise and
develop fluency.
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities

 Accuracy activities are activities in which you aim for the

SS to concentrate on the language they are using. These
include manipulating, practising and ‘freely’ using
particular items of language (e.g., a substitution drill to
practise the form of the present perfect, an elicited
dialogue to practise apologising, a ‘free stage’ to
practise conditional II; etc.)

 Fluency activities are activities where you want the SS to

concentrate on what they are using the language for.
Language is seen as a tool to be used to fulfill whatever
the SS are engaged in doing (e.g., a student is
explaining to a classmate how to do something).
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities

 The aim of controlled practice activities is to

provide practice in manipulating and discriminating
sounds, stress, intonation, formal components (e.g.
word order) and in reinforcing and discriminating
meaning.
 Examples of controlled practice activities:
 Repetition practice (choral and individual repetition
practice and then extending into substitution drills, often
followed by a question and answer drill.)
 Action chain/Chain drill (SS sit in a circle and S1 asks S2,
S2 asks S3, and so on).
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities
 Mingling activity (SS walk around the class asking their
questions to as many other SS as possible).

 The ‘Information Gap’ technique (the ‘information’ gap may

be supplied by the T, or base on SS’ own life experiences).

 In controlled activities, the primary aim is fluidity, i.e. the

rapid and accurate production of patterns or sentences.

 Meaningful drills provide both context and the mechanical

manipulation necessary for accurate fluidity.
 Communicative drills, combine the mechanical practice and
context principles, but also add the ‘information gap’
principle.
 2.1. Oral Practice Activities
 Drills are lively and snappy if done with vitality,
technical precision and humour. They are good for
varying pace and practising quick pronunciation or
form. SS like drills because they are ‘safe’, i.e. they have
little chance of making mistakes. Drills, however, can be
predictable, mechanical and unnatural.

 The preoccupation with communicative teaching has

made some teachers believe that the communicative
activities equip the SS with the chosen language item(s),
which can be internalised more efficiently in
communicative activities. This assumption has led to a
rejection of controlled practice activities. However, the
SS need opportunities for controlled practice, followed
up with further semi-controlled practice in later lessons.
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice
 The aim of less controlled practice activities is to
offer either more pronunciation practice or more
practice of recently learned language. They provide
context to reinforce the meaning of recently
learned language or in making linguistic choices.
Thus, SS may become more linguistically
independent.

 A number of activities used for controlled practice

may be adapted for less controlled practice. For
example, an information gap may be based on a
jigsaw reading.
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Aims of less controlled practice activities are:

 to revise and consolidate structures, vocabulary or

functional exponents;

 to give SS an opportunity to practise making linguistic

choices;

 to help SS assimilate new language into their existing

‘pool’;

 to develop SS’ use of rhythm and intonation.

 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Examples of less controlled activities:

 Cued dialogues
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Completion dialogue activity

 2.2. Less Controlled Practice
 An elicited dialogue activity (usually based on
board drawings, pictures or mimes)
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice
 Elicited narratives can be used to revise and
consolidate structures or vocabulary.

 They give the SS an opportunity to practise making

choices, to practise continuous speaking or to help
them assimilate new language into their existing
pool of language.

 Two types:
 i) blackboard drawings, pictures or sounds;
 ii) mime stories.
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Blackboard drawings, pictures or sounds. Select or draw a series of

pictures and find a story or monologue to fit, containing natural
use of structure or vocabulary. Set the scene, characters, time and
context. Pre-teach necessary vocabulary. Display the first picture
on blackboard, prompt, select elicitations, standardise, practise,
recap and move on. Display the second picture on blackboard and
repeat the same procedure. Be careful that linkwords are practised
too. Finally recap the whole story, ensuring the linking of
sentences.

 To exploit group work: a) mix up pictures and ask the SS to sort

them out themselves; b) leave out the key picture and ask the SS
to supply the missing element; c) give the SS random flash cards
which they have to sequence; d) give a written story or joke
chopped up and ask them to reconstruct it.
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Mime stories. Develop a set of clear instruction gestures.

 Use a story that can be mimed, containing the natural
use of structure or vocabulary. Establish instructions and
check if the SS have understood. Pre-teach vocabulary if
necessary. Set the scene, characters and time context
clearly. Mime each stage clearly - elicit, select,
standardise, practise, recap, move on to the next mime.
 Follow the same procedure. Make sure sentences are
linked naturally. Recap whole story, ensuring sentence
linking where necessary and involving as many SS as
possible.
 2.2. Less Controlled Practice

 Language games are an ideal activity for providing

semi-controlled practice, as the nature of the game
tends to restrict the actual language used. Some
games are so limited in the language that they
require that they can be used for controlled
practice.

 Playing the game may lead naturally to the use of

language items the SS have not come across in
other classroom activities but which may be useful
to them in other circumstances.
 2.3. Freer Practice

 Aims:
 to increase the SS’ ability to deal with the
unpredictable;
 to give SS maximum opportunity for self-
expression, for the exploitation of their language
resources and for the practice of their
communicative skills.
 to encourage SS’ independence and risk-taking
rather than risk-avoiding strategies.
 to give SS more practice in making linguistically
and socially appropriate choices.
 Roles: advisor, facilitator, monitor or guide.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 The SS’ choice of language is not directly prompted
by the T.

 The activities are likely to lead naturally to the

production of the target language.

 Some Ts like to preface the activity with

instructions like “Try to use the language we have
been practising” or “Try to use the Past Perfect”,
etc.

 In general, the success or otherwise of a free practice

activity depends on how far the SS ‘get into’ the activity,
and this depends on a few factors.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 While many of the practice activities can be adapted for freer
practice, certain activities are particularly suited to this stage of
the lesson.

 a) Information gaps

 If, for example, you are working on reported speech, you might
base your work on a ‘jigsaw’ reading or listening. The SS, in
groups, could listen to a number of ‘candidates’ (no more than
three) interviewed for the same job.
 Then, they would re-group to choose the successful applicant. At
this stage, it would be natural for them to use reported speech to
pool their information. Similarly, the groups could read statements
made by witnesses of an accident (or suspects for a crime, etc.) and
after re-grouping, they would decide who was responsible.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 b) Problem solving. Information-gap activities involve the
SS in making a decision. Thus their ‘free speaking’ has a
definite aim, and they have a task to complete. This
motivating principle can also be exploited in specific
problem-solving activities.
 Examples
 1) Tell the class “There’s a dead man in the middle of a road with a
pack on his back”. The class must find out what happened from you,
but you can only answer “Yes” or “No”. Thus the class will get a lot of
practice in asking past simple questions. [Answer: his parachute did
not open].

 2) Survival problems. From a list of 20 items, the SS choose six that

would help ensure their survival on a desert island or on the moon. If
treated as hypothetical questions, these will lead naturally to practising
the Conditional II. If on the other hand, the SS are on a sinking ship, the
Conditional I or will for spontaneous decisions is more likely to occur.
 2.3. Freer Practice

 c) Games. Though most games, by their very

nature, imply some measure of control, they
may well allow the pupils a wide choice of
language and may be very appropriate as free
stage activities.

 ‘Alibi’, for example, can easily be set up as a

freer practice of past tenses.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 d) Discussions. A discussion will offer SS free
practice in the language of agreeing or disagreeing,
but discussion topics can be chosen to lead naturally
to a variety of other language areas.

 Some discussions may involve an element of role-

play. The classic example is the ‘balloon debate’
where the members of the class represent famous
people (or jobs / professions) trapped in a balloon
(or rocket or nuclear shelter) where resources will
only allow one to survive, so each must justify their
own existence and talk the class round to choosing
them.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 f) Simulations are classroom activities that
reproduce or simulate real situations in which the
pupils have various tasks or problems to solve.
This often involves group discussion and some
dramatisation.

 They can extend over a period of several days and

may incorporate reading, listening and writing
skills as well as speaking. As with role-plays, the SS
may or may not be required to take on a new
persona.
 2.3. Freer Practice
 Both role-plays and simulations may be chosen to
promote the use of particular language points, of
differences in style and register.
 Setting up the activity carefully is crucial to the
success of any freer activity.

 1. Input: give input, informational or linguistic,

checking use and understanding;
 2. Materials*: choose them carefully to ensure
relevance, interest and motivation;
 3. Instructions: make them clear and simple;
 2.3. Freer Practice
 4. Roles: give appropriate roles to the SS, taking care not to
give dominant roles to either quiet or dominant SS;

 5. Preparation time: allow SS the time to think, prepare,

formulate language and ideas (in groups or individually, in class
or at home);

 6. Class management: plan the seating. Your role will be in the

background (monitoring, advising or participating as a peer*);

 7. Learner’s language: make notes of mistakes and use them as

a basis of future remedial work;

 8. Feedback: organise remedial work, use written consolidation,

a summary of topic points and a summary of language points.
 3. Speaking for Fluency
 How can speaking practice in class help prepare SS
for communicating naturally in real life?
 choose the activities very carefully, so that you give
SS sufficient practice in all kinds of conversations.
 Many kinds of speaking activities involve patterns
SS will need outside the classroom.
 Ts need to make the selection and ensure the
balance. Such patterns are in operation in both
monologues and dialogues.
 It will be helpful for SS to highlight these patterns,
possibly via a listening text.
 3. Speaking for Fluency
 Examples
 Tell a story and pause at intervals to encourage SS to
respond appropriately.
 Another option is to give them possible reactions
accompanying the script of story: the SS in groups will
decide which reactions can fit where. Offer such
reactions as “Ah”, “Oh, I see”, “Hum!” “Typical!”, “Really!”,
“What happened?”, “Good idea”, “Oh!”, “Very wise”, “Yes,
of course”, “What?”, “No, of course not”, “I know what
you mean!”, “How awful / terrible / dreadful!”, “Oh dear,
I see!” etc.
 For freer practice, SS can tell their own stories (prepared
as homework) and others respond or encourage them.
 3.1. Feedback on Communication Activities
 Is the correction of mistakes in structure or
functional exponents an appropriate follow-up to a
fluency activity?

 POINTS to consider:

 1. SS may expect this type of feedback.

 2. The focus has been on communication, so

mistakes may not have interfered with the SS’
successful completion of the task and may
therefore be irrelevant.
 3.1. Feedback on Communication Activities
 3. Ts can give feedback on how successful the
communication was.

 4. Where the SS have struggled to communicate,

some help or repair work will be needed. Ts could
do this in a later lesson rather than as instant
feedback.