This document provides 7 techniques for getting English language learners to speak in the classroom. It begins by outlining the 7 techniques: 1) repetition of phrases, 2) memorization of language chunks, 3) short meaningful responses, 4) interaction with classmates, 5) focus on accurate language production, 6) focus on fluent language production, and 7) interaction with native or fluent speakers. Each technique is then explained in more detail with examples of classroom activities. References are also provided for further reading on techniques to promote oral production.

1. 7 Ways to Get Your Students Talking
in the EFL Classroom
Noel Houck
Cal Poly
Donna Tatsuki
KCUFS

2. Poll 1
Which of the following is your main concern:
 Producing intelligible speech
 Using conventional expressions
 Speaking for special purposes
 Engaging in conversations
 Giving presentations
 Other

3. 7 Ways to Get Students Speaking
 1. Say Something – Anything! Repeat it
 2. Say Something – Anything! Memorize and produce it
 3. Say Something Meaningful – but keep it short
 4. Say Something Meaningful – to other students
 5. Say Something Meaningful – but say it accurately.
 6. Say Something Meaningful – but say it fluently.
 7. Say Something Meaningful – to an L2 speaker.

4. Embed Activities in a
Pre-Post Activity Sequence
 Pre Activity Preparation
 Vocabulary
 Grammar focus (if F on F)
 Activate schema
 Post Activity
 Reporting
 Turn in activity sheet
 Teacher or peer feedback

5. 1. Say Something – Anything!
Repeat it!
Goal: Students become used to producing chunks of language
 Repeat in chorus
 *Backwards build up
 Repeat after Teacher
 Left side, right side
 Unison
 Sing Songs, Recite poems, Perform chants
 Read aloud
 Unison
 Sequentially

6. Example: Backwards Build up
Tonight.
Dinner tonight.
For dinner tonight.
Go for dinner tonight.
Want to go for dinner tonight.
You want to go for dinner tonight.
Do you want to go for dinner tonight?
Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?
How about the new Thai restaurant?
I hear it is expensive.
No problem. My treat.

7. 2. Say Something – Anything
Memorize it!
Goal: Students produce longer chunks of language
 *Read and look up
 *Talking circle
 Recitations
 Poems
 Slogans
 Jokes

8. Read and Look Up (Bresnihan)
Example: Dialogues (Rainy Weather)
Situation: You walk into a Situation: You are standing in a store,
store to get out of the rain, waiting for it to stop raining so hard.
and you see your partner Your partner comes into the store.
A B
1. What a day! It looks like it’s never 2. a. It looks like it will never stop, doesn’t
going to stop raining. it?
3. a. No, the forecast this morning said b.Yeah, I’ve never seen so much rain.
we’ll have at least 3 more days of it. Does it rain like this all the time here?
b. Around this time of year it does.
Sometimes you think it will never 4. a. I’m glad to hear that. It’d be awful if it
stop. went on day after day.
5. a. Really? It doesn’t rain much where b. Boy, I don’t see how you stand it. We
you come from, huh? never have anything like this at home.
b. Really? It rained like this all the 6. a. Nope.You get more rain in a week here
time there, huh? than we get in a year at home.
b.Yeah. And I forgot my umbrella, too.

9. Ex: Talking Circle – Survey Activities
(Bresnihan)
Find someone who…
--likes windsurfing
--has been to Hawaii
--was born in January
Ask someone…
--What is your favorite
color?
--What did you eat for
breakfast?
--What is your ideal
vacation?

10. 3. Say Something Meaningful –
but keep it short
Goal: Students respond to meaningful questions
 *Short answers to personal questions
 *Short answers to common conversational questions
 *Short answers to story
 Short suggestions during story

11. Short Answers to Teacher Questions
 Example Questions
Yes-No Questions
1. Is Srisucha wearing a red sweater?
2. Do you have a dog?
3. Have you ever eaten sushi?
Wh-Questions
1. What’s Srisucha wearing?
2. Who in the class wears glasses?
3. What did you have for dinner last night?
4. What countries have you visited?

12. Short Answers (Wong & Waring, 2010)
 Teacher Questions - Student Answers
1. Q: How was your weekend? A: Great. Thanks.
2. Q: What did you do? A: Oh, I went to a party.
3. Q: Who did you go with? A: A couple of my friends.
4. Q: Where was the party? A: Just around the corner.
5. Q: How long has Jack been sick? A: A couple of months.
6. Q: Is he really going to
lose his job? A: I think so.
7. Q: When did he find out? A: Yesterday.

13. Answer Questions on a Story: Dog Story
(Byrne, 1967)

14. 4. Say Something Meaningful -
to other people (pair/group activities)
Goal: Students interact with classmates to make decisions and
solve problems
 Definition of Task
 Types of Tasks
 *Jigsaw
 *Info Gap (one picture)
 Problem solving
 Decision making
 Opinion giving

15. Example: Jigsaw A & B (Bygate, 1987)

16. Example: Information Gap -The Kite
(Yorkey, 1985)

17. Example: Tricky Info Gap City Tour A & B
(Anderson & Lynch, 1988)

18. Example: Picture Order Story
(Anderson & Lynch, 1988)

19. Poll #2
 Which of these techniques do you already use?
 Repetition
 Memorization
 Meaning focused
 Meaning with a focus on form
 Fluency

20. 5. Say Something Meaningful
But say it right!
Goal: Produce accurate speech (with a Focus on Form)
 *Picture Description
 *Picture Comparison Jigsaw
 *Picture Strip Jigsaw
 *Form-Focused Story Questions
 *Dictocomp

21. Example: Picture Description
Present Progressive and Present Perfect

22. Example: Picture Comparison Jigsaw
(Granger & Plumb, 1981)
A B

23. Example: Picture Strip Jigsaw
Stick Figures A (Palmer et al.)
●

24. Example: Picture Strip Jigsaw
Stick Figures B (Palmer et al.)
●

25. Form-Focused Story Questions
1. What happened on the princess s birthday?
2. Describe the princess s living situation.
3. What happened to the ball one day?
4. Where was the frog? What was the frog
doing?

26. Example: Dictocomp – San Francisco
 1848 to 1880 was a time when San Francisco grew rapidly.
In 1848 its growth was stimulated by gold, which was
discovered nearby. Soon afterwards, it became home to
many Chinese, who were hired to build the railroad. The
growth in population that had begun with the Gold Rush
continued. By the 1880s San Francisco had been
transformed from a small mining town into a major city
that was respected for its economic and social life..

27. 6. Say Something Meaningful
But say it fluently
Goal: Produce a text with a minimum of pauses, false starts,
etc.
 *Taking turns naturally
 *Strip story jigsaw
 *60-second conversation
 *Conversation jigsaw
 Prepared speech
 *4-3-2 (opportunities to repeat a story or short speech)

28. Example: Taking Turns Naturally
(Carroll, 2011)
 Conversing about food preferences –example of a
spontaneously produced, naturally timed conversation :
A: I like pepperoni pizza.
B: Oh, I love pepperoni pizza!
C: I like ramen. What do you like?
B: I like octopus sushi.
C: Oh, me too!
A: Eeew! Yuck!

29. Example: Strip Stories

30. Example: 60-second conversation
 Sample Topics – for Japan (may vary according to on where
you are):
skiing
typhoons
karaoke
comic books
baseball
sushi
cell phones
Adele

31. Fluency Jigsaw – Sunny Weather
(Palmer et al., 1985)
Situation A: Walking to Situation B: You are walking to
school, you see your partner. school. Your partner catches up
You hurry to catch up. with you.
1. Sure is a great day, isn’t it? 2. a. I don’t know what you mean. This
3. a. Yeah, really. I don’t like weather is beautiful!
b.Yeah. Makes you want to be
going to class on a day like
outside, doesn’t it?
this. 4. a. Oh, sitting under a tree with a
b. Oh, I’d say it’s at least good book.
seventy-five, maybe eighty b. Me neither. I keep looking out the
degrees. window and daydreaming.
5. a. What do you think about? 6. a. Oh, just about all the things I’d
b. Well, I’d like to, but I really rather be doing.
think I’d better go to class? b. Not me. I just get sleepy.

32. Example: Hat Story (Heaton, 1976)

33. Example: The Snake Story (Heaton, 1975)

34. 7. Say Something Meaningful
to an L2 Speaker
Goal: Interact with speakers of the target language
 Interviews (in and out of class)
 Experiential tasks outside of class
 Model United Nations Simulations
 Project work (data collection)

35. Thank You!!

36. Selected References (Pictures)
 Anderson, A., & Lynch, T.(1988). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Tai City Tour, Jumbled Picture Story
 Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press. – Jigsaw with faces
 Byrne, Donn. (1967). Progressive Picture Compositions. Harlow: Longman
 Carroll, D. (2011). Talking naturally. In N. Houck & D. Tatsuki (Eds.) Teaching natural
conversation. Arlington, VA: TESOL.
 Granger, C., & Plumb, J. (1981). Play games with English, 2. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinmann. (photocopiable) – the memory pictures
 Granger, C., & Plumb, J. (1981). Play games with English, 2. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinmann. (photocopiable) – the memory pictures
 Heaton, J. (1975). Composition Through Pictures. Longman.
 Heaton, J. (1976). Beginning Composition Through Pictures. Longman.
 Hill, A.L. (1960). Picture Composition Book. Longman.
 Palmer, A.., Rodgers, T., & Olsen, J. W-B., (1985). Back & Forth Hayward, CA:
Alemany Press. (photocopiable) – Rainy weather, Stick Pictures
 Yorkey, R. (1985). Talk-a-Tivities. Addison Wesley. – Kite picture, strip story

37. Selected References (General)
 Carroll, D. (2011). Taking turns and talking naturally: Teaching conversational turn-taking. Pragmatics: Teaching
Natural conversation. Alexandria VA: TESOL.
 DeKeyser, Robert (Ed.). Practicing in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive
psychology. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
 Doughty, K., & Williams, J. (1998). Communicative focus on form. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.). Focus on form
in classroom second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gattegno, C. (1976).The Common
Sense of Teaching Foreign Languages. New York: Educational Solutions.
 Ilson, R. (1962). The dictocomp: A specialized technique for controlling speech and writing in language learning.
Language Learning, 12(4), 299-301.
 Krashen, S. & Terrell, T. (1983). Natural approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
 Maurice, K. (1983). The fluency workshop.TESOL Newsletter, 17, 429.
 Nation, I.S.P. (1989). Improving speaking fluency. System 3, 377-384.
 Pica, T., Kanagy, R., & Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communication tasks for second language acquisition. In
G. Crookes & S. Gass (Eds.), Tasks and language learning: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 9–34). Clevedon, UK:
Multilingual Matters.
 Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J.
Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97–114). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Toth, P.D. (2008).Teacher- and learner-led discourse in task-based grammar instruction: Providing procedural
assistance for L2 morphosyntactic development. Language Learning 58(2), 237-283.
 West, M. P. (1941). Learning to read in a foreign language. London: Longman.
 White, J. . Getting the learner's attention: a typographical input enhancement study. In C. Doughty & J. Williams
(Eds.). Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gattegno, C.
(1976).The Common Sense of Teaching Foreign Languages. New York: Educational Solutions.
 Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. London: Longman.

38. Frog and Princess Story
The Frog and the Princess
Once upon a time there was a king. He had a beautiful young daughter. For her birthday, the king gave her a golden ball that she played
with every day.
The king and his daughter lived near a dark forest. There was a deep well near the castle. Sometimes the princess would sit by the well
and play with her ball. One day, the princess threw her golden ball in the air, but it did not fall into her hands. It fell into the well.
Splash! The well was deep and the princess was sure she would never see her ball again. So she cried and cried and could not stop.
“What is the matter?” said a voice behind her. The girl looked around, and she saw a frog. He was in a well, his head sticking out of the
water.
“Oh, it’s you,” said the girl. “My ball fell into the well.”
“I can help,” said the frog. “I can get your ball. What will you give me if I do?”
“Whatever you want,” said the princess. “I’ll give you my beautiful gold ring. I’ll give you flowers from my garden.”
“I do not want your beautiful gold ring or flowers from your garden,” said the frog. But I would like to live with you and be your friend.”
He continued, “I would like to eat from your dish and drink from your cup. I would like to sleep on your bed. If I get the ball, will you
promise me all this, Princess?”
“Oh, yes,” said the princess. “I’ll promise.” But she thought, “Silly frog! I could never live with him!”
When the frog heard her promise, he went down into the well. He soon came up with the golden ball in his mouth. He put it at her feet.
She was happy when she saw her ball. She picked it up and ran away.
“Wait,” cried the frog. “Wait for me! Take me with you!”
But she did not listen. She just ran home. She soon forgot the poor frog.
That night the princess was eating dinner when – plop-plop, plop-plop – something came climbing up the steps. When it reached the
door, it knocked. It cried out in a loud voice.
Daughter of the king, open the door for me.”
The princess ran to the door. There was the frog, wet and green and cold! She slammed the door in his face.
The king saw that she was afraid.
My daughter, what are you afraid of?” he asked
It’s a fat, old frog,” said the princess.
And what does he want from you,” asked the king.
The princess explained what had happened, how her ball had fallen into the well and the frog had brought it back to her; how she had
promised him he could be her friend; how she said he could eat from her dish and drink from her cup. But she never thought he
would leave his well. She said she had even promised that he could sleep in her bed!