Instructional Strategies for

Teaching Speaking

ZolotonoshaFebruary 24, 2012

Presented by Carol Haddaway, Sr. English Language Fellow, UkraineU.S. Department of State

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“Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most

demanding of the four skills.”

(Bailey and Savage in Celce-Murcia, p. 103)

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Because we must do it instantaneously and

interactively with another person or people. Fluent speech contains reduced forms (what

do you want?) slang (cool), idioms (hit the road running),

phrasal verbs (figure out) stress, rhythm, and intonation; During the interaction with another speaker

one must monitor and understand the other person, think of one’s contribution, produce it, monitoring its effect…

(Lazarton, p.103)3

WHY?

Create a relaxed atmosphere Use interesting topics and stimulating

activities Expose Ls to naturally pronounced speech

and integrate pronunciation into your lesson Get Ls used to combining listening and

speaking in real time, in natural interaction. Establish English as the main classroom

language

(Davies , 2000, p. 82)4

Implications for Teaching

“Talking classrooms”

Create a classroom culture of speakingthrough the general use of English in the classroom.

(Scott Thornbury in Harmer, p. 123)

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Information Gap

Learners: motivate, involve, focusLearners: motivate, involve, focus

create expectations, introduce topiccreate expectations, introduce topic

Oral Skills Class

Who are my learners?

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Build on their experience Share their expertise Use realia to keep learning as

concrete as possible S1: Have you ever been to Lviv? S2: No I haven’t . Have you? S1: Yes. It’s wonderful S2: How long did you stayed? S1: One week S2: The buildings are beautiful, yes? S1: Yes, and the streets….the chocolates.. S2: Ah, have you ever been to Kyiv?

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Low Level Learners

BICS (Basic interpersonal Communication Skills)

Social language – interpersonal interactions

Repetitive – functional language (greetings, making requests, giving directions, sharing information).

Evidence of mastery: good TL pronunciation, ease of TL social interactions, use of TL expressions

Used primarily, though not exclusively in oral language – listening and speaking

Takes 2-3 years to master(Jim Cummings, 1970)

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Non-academic learners

CALP (Cognitive Academic Language

Proficiency)

Language encountered in academic situations Used primarily thought not exclusively in reading and

writing Not repetitive Takes on average 7-9 years to become truly fluent Participate in learning activities such as

Class participation Discussions & Presentations Interacting with peers and professors Asking and answering questions Interpersonal communication

(Jim Cummings, 1970) 10

Academic Learners

Small Groups

Teacher, Learners, AtmosphereTeacher, Learners, Atmosphere

Error Correction, ActivitiesError Correction, Activities

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Affective Filter

Balance Accuracy and Fluency

Is it more important to be able to speak a language with accuracy (grammatically correct) or

with fluency (communicatively correct, but not always grammatically correct)?

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Practice typically involves focusing only

in the new language structures (e.g. comparisons)

Focus on pronunciation, vocabulary, word formation, sentence formation

Errors are usually dealt with immediately

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Accuracy

L1: Is the Toyota bigger than the Chevy? L2: Yes, it is. Is the Lexus cheap than…. Teacher: Cheap…? L2: Is the Lexus cheaper than the Chevy? L3: No, it isn’t. Is the Lexus faster than the

Toyota? L4: Yes, it is. Is prettier the Toyota? Teacher: Is the……..

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Accuracy example

Likely to take place when

speaking activities focus on meaning and its negotiation, when speaking strategies are used, and when overt correction is minimized.

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Fluency

Information GapInformation Gap

Think Pair ShareThink Pair Share

Telling StoriesTelling Stories

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To exchange information Main attention is sharing information Need to communicate to reach

objective Learners must ‘fill the gap’ to complete

the activity/communication

Information Gap Characteristics

Allow for comprehensible input (i+1)

Input should be at the right level of difficulty to promote acquisition

Learners produce language – this output ‘pushes’ learners to undertake complete grammatical processing (M. Swain)

Help lower students’ affective filterSleep questionnaireOne thing in common

Why information gap activities?

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Cooperative Activity

Think Pair

Share

Think-Pair-Share

How: Teacher presents a question or problem Students are given “think/wait time” and write

answers (1) Students pair with a partner (2) Pair share with another pair (4) Group share their responses and ideas with

another small group or with the entire class.Why: Have time to think, plan, and rehearse, with

feedback Can practice before talking to whole group

Interaction is the key to improving

EFL learners’ speaking ability. How do you promote this interaction in your classroom? 

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Question/Problem 1

What types of speaking activities

do you normally use in your classroom? Do they serve different purposes? 

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Question/Problem 2

Your students are really shy and

don’t say anything. How do you arouse in your learners a willingness and need or reason to speak?  

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Question/Problem 3

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Your students say they can’t talk

because they’ll make lots of mistakes. What do/can you do to help them overcome this fear?

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Question/Problem 4

What are effective ways to give

students feedback on their performance during oral activities?

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Question/Problem 5

Self – Correction

Give learners the opportunity to correct themselves, helping as necessary

Peer – Correction If learner cannot self-correct, invite other

learners to make the correction

Teacher Correction Recast, Error or Mistake, Accuracy or

Fluency focus29

Feedback and Error Correction

Error Treatment

Should errors be treated?What errors should be treated? How should they be treated?

Who and When? “There is a French widow in every

bedroom.” “The different city is another one in the

another two.”

Story telling

Groups of 3

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Learners talk a lot

Student (STT) vs teacher (TTT) – wait time Participation is even

discussion not dominated by a minority of talkative students

Motivation is high learners are eager to speak; interested in topic

Language is of an acceptable level utterances are easily comprehensible acceptable level of accuracy

UR, 1991, p. 120

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A successful speaking activity

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(Rivers, 1987 in Richards & Renandyn, p.208) (Rivers, 1987 in Richards & Renandyn, p.208)

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles. Longman

Davies, P. and Pearse, E. (2000). Success in English Teaching. Oxford University Press.

Farrell, T. (2006). Succeeding with English Language Learners. Corwin Press.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. Pearson Longman.

Lazaraton, A. (2001). Teaching Oral Skills. In Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language 3rd Ed., edited by M. Celce-Mircia. Heinle & Heinle.

Richards, J.C. & Renandya, W.A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching. Cambridge.

Ur, P. (1996).. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge. 34

References

Thank you!

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