Speaking Skill by Kathleen M. Bailey

Lecture # 25

Review of the last lecture

We talked about speaking in the last lecture.

Speaking is the productive aural/oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.

People feel that speaking in a new language is harder than reading, writing and listening for two reasons:

i): Unlike Reading or Writing, speaking happens in real time

ii): When we speak, we cannot edit and revise what we wish to say. We can do so, when we have to write.

Review…….

Differences between Spoken and Written Language•Spoken: Auditory Temporary: immediate reception Prosody (rhythm, stress, intonation) Immediate feedback Planning and editing limited by channel •Written: Visual Permanent: delayed reception Punctuation Delayed or no feedback Unlimited planning, editing, revision

Review…..

• During the late twentieth century, Language acquisition research made us reconsider old beliefs about how people learn to speak.

• Several studies prove that interaction helps people and children learn a language.

• So CLT ……………………came into practice.

Two Versions of CLT: i) The weak version: the teacher should teach components of

language but include communicative abilities. ii) The strong version: since students learn through interacting, lesson should consist of opportunities to communicate in the target language.

Principles for Teaching Speaking

• Let’s start where we left our topic last week.

3: Principles for Teaching Speaking

1: Be Aware of differences between second language and foreign language learning contexts

A foreign language (FL) context is one where the target language is not the language of communication in the society. ( learning English in Pakistan)

A second language (SL) Context is one where the target language is the language of communication in the society (English in the UK or Spanish in Mexico)Second language learners include refugees, international students, and immigrants.

3: Principles for Teaching Speaking

2; Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy

Accuracy: CorrectnessFluency is the extent to which speakers use language quickly and confidently with few hesitations or unnatural pauses.

3: Provide opportunities to students for speaking: group work; pair work

Limit teacher talk

4: Plan Speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning

3: Principles for Teaching Speaking

5: Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking

Interactional Speech is communication with someone for social purpose. It includes both establishing and maintaining social relationship

Transactional Speech: involve communicating to get something done. Exchange of goods and/or services.

4: Classroom Techniques and Tasks

• Information Gap:• Jigsaw Activities:Bidirectional or multidirectional information gap.

Each person in a pair or group has some information the other person needs. E.g . One student could have a timetable for train travel in Canada. Another could have a map of Canada. Without showing each other the visual information, they must speak English to plan a one-week trip.

Tango Seating: One student’s right shoulder is next to the other student’s right shoulder and they are facing opposite directions. This arrangement allow them to hear one another but not see what is being drawn or constructed on their partner’s desk

Classroom Techniques and Tasks

• Role plays are excellent activities for speaking in the relatively safe

environment of the classroom.

• Simulations are more elaborate then role plays. In a simulation, props and documents provide a somewhat realistic environment for language practice.

For example. In a Language Class about the grocery store, a teacher might bring in “products” for the students to buy ( a box of crackers, coffee, a jar of jam) and even play money for making their purchases. A check out counter would be set up for the students to practice transactional speaking with the cashier.

Classroom Techniques and Tasks

Contact Assignments: involve sending students out of the classroom with a stated purpose to talk to people in the target language.

5: Speaking in the Classroom

Be ware of Unequal Power Discourseplease Practical English Language teaching for more details.

Reading by Neil Anderson, Brigham young university (USA)

• What do you about Reading Skills?

What is Reading?

• Reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their background knowledge to build meaning.

• The Goal of Reading is Comprehension.• Strategic Reading:

The ability of a reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading.

Good readers know what to do when they encounter difficulties.

Fluent Reading is the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension .

What is Reading?

Meaning does not rest in the reader nor does it rest in the text. The reader’s background knowledge integrates with the text to create the meaning.

The text, the reader, fluency and strategies combined together define the act of reading.

Teaching reading has at least two aspects.

1st : It can refer to teaching learners who are learning to read for the very first time.

2nd : Teaching reading refers to teaching learning who already have reading skills in their first language

Summary

Today we had a discussion on principles for teaching speaking. •Be Aware of differences between second language and foreign language learning contexts.

• Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy

• Provide opportunities to students for speaking: group work; pair work

• Limit teacher talk

• Plan Speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning

Summary

• Classroom techniques and tasks:Information gap: one person has information, other doesn’t have, so they

use target language to share information.Jigsaw activitiesTango seatingRole playssimulations;

We started talking of Reading Skills.