The document discusses different approaches to teaching oral language skills, identifying three main types of speaking - talk as interaction, transaction, and performance. It analyzes the features and skills of each type of speaking, and recommends strategies for teaching students skills like conversation, information exchange, and formal presentations. Teachers should identify students' needs, plan activities with clear objectives, and provide feedback to help learners improve their oral language abilities.

1. Article Presentation by
Carinne Karlick
ESL 501

2. According to Richards,
• The mastery of speaking English is a priority
for most second language learners.
• The question that has long been debated:
What is the best approach to teaching oral
language skills?
• A variety of approaches have been
implemented by teachers and have been the
focus of textbooks.

3.  Direct Approaches focus on specific features of
oral interaction.
 Examples: topic management, questioning strategies
and turn-taking
 Indirect approaches create conditions for oral
interactions through group work, task work
and other strategies (Richards, 1990).

4.  Composed of idea units (conjoined short phrases)
 Planned (ex: lecture) or unplanned (ex: conversation)
 Employs more generic words than written language
 Contains slips and errors reflecting on-line processing
 Involved reciprocity (ex: interactions are jointly
constructed)
 Shows variation (ex: between formal and casual speech)
reflecting speaker roles,
speaking purpose, and the context

5.  According to Richards (2010), designing
speaking activities and instruction materials for
L2 learners it is important to recognize the
different functions speaking performs and the
different purposes our students need speaking
skills.
 Brown and Yule (1983) distinguish between
interactional (social) functions of speaking and
transactional functions (exchange of
information).

6. • After designing his own materials and
collaborating with teachers in
workshops, Richards uses an expanded three
part version of Brown& Yule’s framework
(after Jones, 1996 and Burns, 1998)
– Talk as interaction
– Talk as transaction
– Talk as performance

7. FEATURES SKILLS
• Primarily social function • Open and close
• Reflects role relationships conversations
• Reflects speaker’s identity • Choosing topics
• May be formal or casual • Turn-taking
• Uses conversational • Recounting recent
conventions and register experiences
• Reflects politeness • Interrupting
• Employs generic words • Reacting to others
• Is jointly constructed • Making small talk
• Using adjacency-pairs

8.  Commonly referred to as “conversation”
 According to Richards, mastering the art of talk
as interaction is difficult and may not be
important to all learners.
 Some students may feel awkward and at a loss
for words in interactional situations.
 They may avoid such situations.
 It puts students at a disadvantage when
conversation is important.

9.  Most difficult to teach because it is complex
and has “unspoken rules”
Best Taught
 Naturalistic dialogues
 Modeling opening and
closing conversation
 Recounting personal experience
 Practice reacting to what others say.
 For example: Students are given dialogue and work in pairs
adding reactions that have been omitted. Or students practice
conversation starters and have to respond by asking 2 follow
up questions.

10. FEATURES SKILLS
• It has an informational focus • Explaining an intention or
• The main focus is the need
message & not the • Describing something
participants • Asking questions
• Participants make use of • Confirming information
communication strategies to • Justifying an opinion
make themselves understood
• Frequent questions, • Making suggestions
repetitions, and • Clarifying understanding
comprehension checks • Making comparisons
• Language accuracy is not • Agreeing and disagreeing
always important

11.  The focus on what is said or done
 The message is the central focus and ensuring
that the speaker is understood clearly.
 Burns identifies 2 types:
- One focuses on giving/receiving info and on
what is said or achieved.
- The second focuses on getting
goods or services.

12.  More easily planned with use of current
materials, role play and real-world
transactions.
Best Taught
 Ranking activities
 Brainstorming
 Group discussion
 For example: Students prepare a list of controversial
statements, exchange and discuss them.
 Simulation or Role Play
 For example: Students act out real world transactions in three
stages: preparation, modeling, practice/review

13. FEATURES SKILLS
• Focus on both message • Using appropriate format
and audience • Info presented in
• Reflects organization and appropriate sequence
sequence • Maintain engagement
• Form and accuracy are with audience
important • Use proper punctuation
• More like written and grammar
language • Use appropriate
• It is often monologic vocabulary
• Use appropriate opening
and closing

14.  Refers to talk that transmits information before
an audience like performances, public
announcements and speeches.
 In a school setting this type of talk could be
presenting an oral report, conducting a
class debate or giving a speech.
 It is usually evaluated according to its
impact on the listener.

15. This requires a different teaching strategy. According to Jones (1996), talk
as performance need to be prepared for and scaffold the same way as
written text and strategies used to make text accessible applied to formal
uses of spoken language.
Best Taught
 Providing examples: Speeches, oral
presentations, stories though video/audio.
 Examples are then analyzed to understand how texts
work and what their linguistic features are.
 Questions to guide the process are:
 What is the speaker’s purpose? Who is the audience?
 What info does the audience expect? How does the talk
begin/develop/end? What strategies are involved? What
language is used?
 Students then work together on planning their own
text to present.

16. When planning speaking activities:
 Determine what kinds of speaking skills will the course
focus on (interaction, transaction, performance.)
 Perform an informal needs analysis through
questionnaires, interviews, communicative tasks etc.
 Then identify the teaching strategies for learners to
acquire each kind of talk.
 Determine the expected level of performance and the
criteria used to assess.

17. Teachers need to consider what the completion of
the activity involves according to the type
(interaction, transaction or performance)
of talk and classroom activity.
 Teachers should ask themselves:
 How will the activity be modeled?
 What language support will be needed?
 What resources will be used?
 What learning arrangements will be needed?
 What level of performance is expected?
 How will the feedback be given?

18. It is suggested to assign one student be an
observer during a discussion
 Talk as Interaction
 Introduces new topics effectively,
contributes equally by taking turns,
interrupting appropriately
 Talk as Transaction
 The speaker’s need is expressed effectively, a description is clear.
 Talk as performance
 Clarity of presentation (is it organized and comprehensible?)
 Use of discourse markers, repetition, stress to emphasize important
points.
 Audience engaged when appropriate