2. Don’t take notes!
Find all the information and resources at:
http://anglester.blogspot.com
3. Outline:
1. Definition of “Speaking”.
2. Definition of “Teaching Speaking”.
3. Elements of a Speaking Activity.
4. Activities to Enhance Fluency
5. Designing a Speaking Activity
6. Assessment and Grading
7. Advices and Resources
4. 1. Definition of Speaking:
“Speaking" is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and
non-verbal symbols, in a variety of context”.
(Chaney, 1998, p.13).
5. 1. What is “Speaking”?
Speaking is the primary mode of
communication
All humans learn to speak as part of their natural
biological development
An important component of the language
teaching
Speaking exercises are integral in the adoption
of another language
6. 1.Components of a Speaking Activity
• Contextualized practice - clear the link
between linguistic form and communicative
function
• Opportunity to personalize language -
students can express their own ideas,
feelings, preferences and opinions
• An awareness of the social use of language -
appropriate social behavior and the
language that accompanies it
• Opportunity to build confidence - build
confidence in students to produce
language quickly and automatically
7. 1. What are the types of
classroom performance ?
Imitative (this should be limited) – repetition drill
Intensive – practice a
grammatical/phonological feature
Responsive – to respond to a question
Transactional (dialogue) – to convey
information
Interpersonal (dialogue) – to interact socially
Extensive – monologue
(intermediate/advanced)
8. “Teaching Speaking" is to teach ESL learners
to select appropriate words and sentences
according to the proper social setting,
audience, situation and subject matter.
2. Definition of Teaching Speaking:
9.
10. • Speaking is the most important skill, as it is
the last step in language acquisition.
• It is a tough job for teachers to engage
student to speak, because there are some
barriers and affective filters.
• You can write or read or learn grammar or
listen individually, but you can not speak
with yourself so teaching speaking needs
more consideration.
2. Some Teaching Considerations:
11. 2. How Do We Teach Speaking?
Present new vocabulary words and
grammatical structures in situational and
communicative contexts.
Use the language quickly and confidently with
few pauses, which is called fluency.
Produce the English speech sounds and sound
patterns.
Use word stress, intonation patterns and the
rhythm of the second language.
12. 2. What are the principles for
Teaching Speaking ?
Focus on fluency and accuracy (depending on
objective).
Develop speaking strategies and motivating
techniques.
Use authentic language in meaningful contexts.
Provide appropriate feedback and correction.
Optimize the natural link between listening and
speaking (and other skills).
Give students the opportunity to initiate
oral communication.
13. 2. Stages for Speaking Activities.
Pre-communicative: Where mainly accuracy-
based activities are used. They tend to be the
most controlled.
Practice stage: These are fluency based
activities where they tend to be less controlled.
Communicative interaction or production
stage: Free activities and improvisations.
14. 2. Some examples for teaching
speaking
Interviews
Guessing games
Ranking exercises
Discussions
Problem-solving activities
Role plays
Simulations
15. 2. What are the common
speaking strategies ?
Asking for clarification (what? Pardon?).
Asking someone to repeat something.
Using fillers and conversation maintenance cues
(uh-huh, right, yeah, okay, hmm).
Getting someone’s attention.
Using paraphrases for structures one can’t
produce.
Using formulaic expressions.
Using mime and non-verbal expressions.
16. TASK 1: Brainstorming
Discuss with your partner possible reasons why
learners do not speak English in class. Write a
couple of these reasons on a paper sheet.
Come up with a couple of ideas to encourage
students to speak.
2. Why Learners Do Not Speak?
17. 2. Why Learners Do Not Speak?
They have nothing to say.
They feel silly speaking a language in which they know
they are making mistakes.
It is artificial to communicate with your classmate in a
foreign language.
They do not have the English level to express the
concepts that the teacher wants them to express.
It is very tiring to concentrate on producing in a foreign
language; especially when your level is low.
The topic is boring.
18. Lack of curriculum emphasis on speaking
skills.
Teachers limited English proficiency.
Class conditions do not favor oral
activities.
Limited opportunities outside of class to
practice.
Examination system does not
emphasize oral skills.
2. Reasons for poor speaking Skills
19. 2. Suggestions:
Create a purpose for class communication.
Allow enough time for thinking.
Give enough input before students speak.
Select topics suitable for the learners’
proficiency (level, age…).
Create a reward/punishment system for
speaking in English. (extra points – 0,25)
Avoid over correction (Accuracy vs. Fluency)
20. Organizer: Get Ss engaged and set the activity.
Prompter: Provide Ss with chunks not words.
Observer: Analyze what causes communication
breakdowns.
Participant: Do not initiate the conversation.
Feedback provider: Tell Ss how proficient their
performance was.
Resource: Provide Ss with tools to improve their
oral performance.
Friendly: Establishes a good rapport with Ss.
2. Characteristics of Teacher in
Speaking Activities:
21. 3. Teacher’s Role:
Increase the Learners’ Role and Responsibility…
Use learner centred activities
Focus on the learner talk time
Adjust Feedback/Error Correction…
Choose the right time to correct students
Choose the right way to correct students
Integrating Skills
Combination of listening, speaking, reading,
and writing in classroom activities.
Teachers create activities that imitate real
world language use.
22. 3. Elements of a Successful
Speaking Activity:
Provide Appropriate Input
Integrate Skills
Use Variety of Aids
Create a Purpose for Speaking
Base your Lesson on Real Life Situation
Tailor to the Needs
23. 3. Getting students to speak
• Games: surveying games, bandit and sheriff,
shopping games, taboo…
• Drilling: standing in circles then throw the ball
to question-answer each other, using pictures
(from books or cards), ask and answer
questions in pairs/groups, telephone game
• Singing: We’re table number one, The finger
song, Can I have a pen?
• Chanting: What time is it?,
• Storytelling: retelling stories
24. 3. Communicative Activities:
Classroom activities are designed to get learners
speak and listen to one another (communicate).
TASK 2: Question
Which of the following is a communicative task?
a) Students read a prepared speech.
b) Students read a story and look at the picture.
c) One student reads the instructions and the
other fixes the machine.
…And a speaking task?
25. Find the Difference
Discussions
Debates
Projects (News)
Benefits?
Fostering critical thinking
Quick decision making and justify themselves
Disagreeing with the others politely
4. Activities To Promote Speaking:
29. 4. Storytelling & Story Completion:
Storytelling
Story Completion
Benefits?
Fostering creative thinking
Expressing ideas in the format of beginning,
development and ending, and teaching the
characters and setting of a story
30. Picture Describing (comparing&contrasting)
Picture Narrating
Benefits?
Fostering the creativity and imagination.
Improving public speaking skills.
Finding similarities and differences.
Speculating feelings and future actions.
4. Picture Describing &
Picture Narrating:
31. 4. Interviews & Reporting:
Interviews
Reporting
Benefits?
Giving students a chance to practise their
speaking.
Helping them becoming socialised.
33. 4. Brainstorming & Playing Cards:
Brainstorming
Playing Cards
Benefits:
Never criticise learners’ ideas.
Collaborative working.
Teacher should state at the beginning of the
activity some rules (Ss are not allowed to
prepare yes-no questions, they should
answer with complete sentences, etc.)
34. TASK 3: Your Example
Create one activity covering these points. Then,
critique one of your peers’ activities using these
criteria.
Controlled – Creative?
Level (s) of production?
Teacher roles?
Accuracy, fluency, communicative?
Language focus?
Other skills?
Stage in a lesson?
Seating arrangement?
35. What Mistakes Do ESL Teachers Make
When Designing a Speaking Activity?
5. Designing a Speaking Activity:
36. Do not provide enough input or sufficient
vocabulary beforehand
Do not provide authentic materials and shared
knowledge.
Do not monitor students’ performance.
Setting inaccurate time limit.
Give limited opportunity for students to speak the
target language and do not involve all students.
Focus on the dominant students and
ignore shy ones.
5. Mistakes of ESL Teachers (I) :
37. Do not prompt students to speak more.
Increase teacher talk time in class.
Usage of one mode of interaction.
Distract students by correcting their
pronunciation, grammar or word choice.
Give offensive signs when commenting on a
student’s response or pronunciation.
Give no or unconstructive feedback
5. Mistakes of ESL Teachers (II):
38. Challenges of assessing speaking activities:
What to test
How to test
When to asses.
Scoring
6. Speaking Assessment Challenges:
40. How to test?
Question/ Answer
Picture Test
Situation Response
Role-Play
Formal Presentation
Tense
6. Speaking Assessment Challenges:
41. When to assess?
Provide appropriate feedback and correction.
Takes notes while pairs or groups are talking.
Address problems to the class after the activity
without embarrassing the student who made error.
You can write the error on the board and ask who
can correct it.
6. Speaking Assessment Challenges:
42. 6. Overview = confidence
Calendar
Sequence and Examples
46. Speaking Checklist:
Things to be aware of when evaluating speaking
(pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary):
Pronunciation:
Individual sounds
Stress and Intonation
Pausing and Phrasing
Reductions
6. Speaking Assessment Challenges:
48. 7. Advice (I): How to improve my
conversation skills?
Don’t be shy and self-conscious!
Communication errors can be solved.
A conversation is an interactive activity
involving listening and speaking from both
parties.
It’s all about listening and asking questions.
Do some research!
Lulls are normal.
If a conversation is going wrong,
it may not be your fault.
50. 7. Advice (I): How to improve my
pronunciation?
Listening and reading aloud
Writing
Networking and making friends
Greeting people on the street
Having small talks in public
Joining one-on-one conversations,
conversation and common interest groups
Watching foreign movies with English
subtitles
51. 7. Resources (II)
Daily Conversations:
http://www.worldenglishclub.com/daily-english-
conversations
EBooks:
http://www.gutenberg.org
Phrases and Expressions for Speaking:
http://www.eslgold.com/speaking/phrases.html
57. 7. Common teacher statements
“My students are too shy to speak in a
group”
“Their English level is too poor to give their
opinion”
“There are too many students in the
classroom to do a speaking activity”
“They are not motivated to speak in English”
Etc.
No more excuses!
58. Thank you for listening
Ester Boldú
Blog: anglester
Mail: esterboldu@gmail.com