CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
2. How speaking/oral skills have been taught?
The Grammar-Translation Method: students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate (usually in writing) from one language to another.
The Audio-lingual Method: speaking skill is taught by having
students repeat sentences and recite memorized textbook dialogues.
Communicative Language Teaching: this approach emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. In this method teachers often downplay accuracy and emphasize students‟ ability to convey their messages
3. What are the current views on teaching speaking?
What is the purpose of teaching speaking/oral skills?
Mucia (1991)1: the goal of speaking component in a language class should be to encourage the acquisition of communication skill and foster real communication in and out of the classroom.
Scrivener (2005)2: fluency and confidence are the important goals in speaking class.
Higgs and Mohan3: focus of teaching oral skills should be put on fluency and communicative effectiveness instead of the goal of accurate form.
Specifically, Nunan (2003) 4: teaching speaking is to teach learners to:
Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns
Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language.
Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter.
Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.
Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency.
Principles of teaching speaking
Balancing accuracy-based with fluency-based practices
In speaking classes students need form-focused instruction and meaning-focused instruction.
Contextualizing practice
It is important that students have the chance to experience the language in meaningful contexts.
Personalizing practice
It‟s easier for the learners to learn English if the things they are talking about are relevant and close to their personal experiences or when they can express their personal views.
Building up confidence
It‟s important to help the students to build up confidence in speaking English, so the teachers should create a relaxed and supportative environment.
Maximizing meaningful interactions
One main objective of teaching speaking is to develop students‟
ability to initiate a topic, to ask questions, to take turns in speaking, to change topics and to have some control over the
communications.
Helping students develop speaking strategies
Speaking involves strategies, such as initiating a conversation, turn taking, asking for clarification, asking for repetition, getting others‟
attention, getting help from others, and ending a conversation, etc.
Making the best use of classroom learning environment to provide sufficient language input and practice for the students.
In any case, creating an English speaking environment to maximize learning opportunity is crucial for students to develop their communicative ability in a foreign language.
Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity
According to Ur (1996)5 an effective speaking activity has the following features:
Learners talk a lot. Classroom activities must be designed in such ways that provide opportunities for learners to talk a lot.
All get a chance to speak. A minority of talkative students should not dominate Classroom discussions, and contributions must be fairly distributed. Classroom activities must be designed in ways that help all the students to take risk.
Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic, and want to contribute to achieving a task objective.
Language is comprehensible. Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. The teacher must also base the activity on easy language so that the students can use the language fluently without hesitation.
Students speak the target language. The teacher must keep students speaking the foreign language.
How to organized speaking activities?
The dominant view of second language classroom processes today favors a great amount of student-centered learning instead of the traditional teacher-dominated classroom.
Ur (1996)6 introduces some ways to organize the classroom activities:
Pair work: the teacher divides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with his or her partner and all the pairs work at the same time.
Open or public pair work: as with the pair work, the class will be divided into pairs, and each pair of students speaks in turn in front of the class.
Group work: the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together, and as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.
Whole class activity: the whole class takes part into an activity together. An example of this activity is Circle games These games involve the learners sitting in a circle and working as a whole class.
Nunan (2003): Principles for designing speaking teachniques
Use techniques that cover the spectrum of learner needs
Provide intrinsically motivating techniques.
Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts.
Provide appropriate feedback and correction.
Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening.
Give students opportunities to initiate on communication.
Encourage the development of speaking strategies.
What are the typical types of speaking/oral activities?
Controlled activities
Semi-controlled activities
Communicative activities
Dialogues and role-play
Activities using pictures
Problem-solving activities
Other speaking activities
Discussion
Simulation
Information gap
Brainstorming
Story telling
Interview
Story completion
Reporting
Playing card
10: 30 –12: 30 Teaching Pronunciation Suggested questions: