Speaking Skills

Presented by the teacher of EnglishRa a Nataliaț

What is Speaking? Speaking is "the process of

building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts."

(Chaney, 1998, p. 13)

To teach speaking is to teach learners to:

Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social sett ing, audience, situation and subject matter

Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.

Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language.

Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.

Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as f luency.

Class Activities For Developing Speaking Skills

Types Of Class ActivitiesLanguage experts have

organized oral skills into four distinctive types.

I. Drills or Linguistically Structured Activities

II. Performance ActivitiesIII. Participation ActivitiesIV. Observation Activities

Drills or Linguistically Structured Activities

Teacher provides a particular structure and the students practice it by repeating it.

For Example, Student 1 to Student 2:I’m Nataly. What’s your

name?Student 2 to Student 3:I’m Ann. What’s your

name?…….. So on………..

Performance ActivitiesA student prepares himself

beforehand and delivers a message to a group or he can also talk about whether he has experienced anything worth telling his friends about his daily life before class.

e.g. Student’s Speech

Participation ActivitiesStudents participate in some

communicative activity in a “natural setting”. They can be asked to read about a certain thing and then they share information in group.

e.g.Discussions on some topics.

Observation ActivitiesStudents observe something, write a brief summary

and present their finding to the class in oral form.

Some Most Commonly Used Activities

Short Speeches Gap Activities Role Play Discussions Identifying differences Ranking description Assembling an object Drawing

Short Speeches• students may be given some easy topics• Prepare them in verbal or written form• Come to stage or deliver a lecture or speech

for given time frame before the class.

Gap ActivityIt is a form of a

Dialogue. One person has

some information which the other person does not have.

An interview or self introduction is an activity of this kind.

Role PlayThis is also a form of

dialogue. Students may be

asked to play different roles in the form of a drama. Students play different roles.

Role Play

e.g.One student acts like Shopkeeper and the other

as the customer in a Shopping situation.

Role Play This exercise will encourage the students to

speak in real life situation.

Simulations Very similar to role-

plays but what makes simulations different than role plays is that they are more elaborate.

Students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment.

Discussions Teacher will give

some topics or pictures

Give them instructions how to proceed

Discussions Students will discuss a

given topic. Speak about wedding

traditions in Moldova(10th form)

Then the teacher or leader of group ask the questions and discussions are carried out.

Identifying differences

Similar items differ in appearance. The features of grammar and vocabulary that are practiced are determined by the content of the pictures and the items that are missing or different. Differences in the activities depicted lead to practice of different verbs. Differences in number, size, and shape lead to adjective practice. Differing locations would probably be described with prepositional phrases.

Jigsaw Activities

Jigsaw activities are more elaborate information gap activities that can be done with several partners. In a jigsaw activity, each partner has one or a few pieces of the "puzzle," and the partners must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture.

The puzzle piece may take one of several forms. It may be one panel from a comic strip or one photo from a set that tells a story. It may be one sentence from a written narrative. Students ask questions in order to find out whose part is first and so on.

Picture Sequencing/Narrating

Students are asked to tell the story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a rubric.

Picture describing A. Draw a face. Write 5 or 6 good sentences about

the face. Pay attention to adjective agreement. B. Work with a partner. Do not show your drawing to

your partner. Read your sentences to your partner. Your partner is going to draw the face according to your sentences. Compare your drawings to check your descriptions.

Eg. Here is Ann. She has l it t le black eyes and a straight nose. Her eyebrows are thin. She has wavy and shoulder length hair. Her l ips are thick. She is pretty.

Assembling an Object Looking at a photograph of an object, a

student gives step-by-step directions to another student who attempts to assemble an object (e.g., a car made from Lego® pieces, a collage made from multiple images, etc.). The student assembling the object can ask questions to clarify the directions

Ranking Small groups work together to construct a

ranking of members that all belong to the same category (e.g., most deadly diseases(10th form) or causes of death. When the group reaches a consensus about their rankings, they may compare their results to actual data.

How to evaluate speaking skills?

You can use these online rubric makers http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index

.php?screen=NewRubric&module=Rubistar http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/oralex/

Suggestions for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.

Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation.

Suggestions for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Reduce teacher speaking t ime in class while increasing student speaking t ime. Step back and observe students.

Indicate posit ive signs when commenting on a student's response.

Ask elicit ing questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.

Suggestions for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Provide written feedback l ike "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and eff icient use of your voice…"

Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.

Suggestions for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.

Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activit ies.

Diagnose problems faced by students who have diff iculty in expressing themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language.