Unit 10 Teaching Speaking

. Background information:
Students: 50 sophomores
Lesson duration: 2 periods
. Teaching objectives:
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. design speaking tasks
2. know the types of speaking tasks

. organi!e speaking tasks
. Teaching contents:
1. "hat are the #hara#teristi#s of spoken language$
2. %esigning speaking tasks
. &sing group work in speaking tasks
'. (ypes of speaking tasks
5. )rgani!ing speaking tasks
. Key and difficut points:
%esign and organi!e speaking tasks
. Teaching approaches:
1. *omputer+aided ,nstru#tion
2. %emonstration
. (ask+based approa#h.
. Teaching aids:

-ulti+media, whiteboard, pi#tures,
. Teaching procedures:
1. !hat are the characteristics of spoken anguage"
1.1 #ifference bet$een spoken and $ritten anguage
1.1.1 %ead&in activities

Speaking is the skill that the students will be .udged upon most in real+life
situations. ,t is an important part of e/eryday intera#tion and most often the first
impression of a person is based on his0her ability to speak fluently and
#omprehensibly. So, as tea#hers, we ha/e a responsibility to prepare the students as
mu#h as possible to be able to speak in 1nglish in the real world outside the #lassroom
and the testing room.
1.1.' The characteristics of spoken anguage
1.1.2.1 Spontaneous
)ne of the #hara#teristi#s of spee#h in e/eryday life is that spee#h is
spontaneous. (hat is, in most situations, people do not plan ahead of time what they
are going to say. (he fa#t that spee#h is spontaneous means that it is full of false
starts, repetitions, in#omplete senten#es, and short phrases.
1.1.2.2 (ime #onstraint
2nother aspe#t of produ#ing spoken language is the time+#onstraint .(he
students must be able to produ#e unplanned utteran#es in real time3 otherwise people
will not ha/e the patien#e to listen to them.
1.1.2. 4our #ommon features
2##ording to Bygate 516789, there are four #ommon features of spoken language:
&sing less #omple: synta:3
(asking short #uts, e.g. in#omplete senten#es3
&sing fi:ed #on/entional phrases ; #hunks3
&sing de/i#es su#h as fillers, hesitation de/i#e to gi/e time to think before
speaking
1.1.( Task 1
2sk students to work in pairs and summari!e the main differen#es between
spoken and written language using the table pro/ided below.
Spoken "ritten
1 Spontaneous "ell+planned
2 Senten#es are often in#omplete, ungrammati#al,
and full of hesitations, false starts, and
redundan#ies
Senten#es are often #arefully #onstru#ted
and well+ organised
,f it is not re#oded, spoken language #an<t be
listened to again. ,t is e:pe#ted to be understood
immediately.
"rtieen language is #omparati/ely
speaking permanent. ,t #an be read as oten
as ne#essary.
1.1.) Task '
1.1.'.1 2sk students to #onsider the aspe#ts of the nature of spoken language and
de#ide the following a#ti/ities whether to help to prepare students for real life spee#h
in 1nglish$ 5adapted from Bygate, 1678:79
1. reading aloud
2. gi/ing a prepared talk
. learning a pie#e of te:t or dialogue by heart
'. inter/iewing someone, or being inter/iewed
5. doing a drill
1.1.'.2 2sk students to present their /iewpoints, and the tea#her draw
#on#lusions:
(he only a#ti/ity that would help students prepare for spontaneous spee#h would
be the fourth one: inter/iewing someone or being inter/iewed. (he only other a#ti/ity
that is realisti# is the se#ond one: gi/ing a prepared talk, but this would usually not be
re=uired of any of the students until they were at an ad/an#ed le/el of 1nglish. (he
other three a#ti/ities, reading aloud, memori!ing a dialogue by heart, and doing a drill
are merely language pra#ti#e a#ti/ities that ha/e /ery little basis in real life.
'. *rincipes for teaching speaking
'. 1 Baancing accuracy&based $ith fuency&based practices
,n speaking #lasses students need form+fo#used instru#tion and meaning+fo#used
instru#tion. (he former pays attention to details of pronun#iation, grammar,
/o#abulary, and so forth3 the latter lays emphasis on pro/iding opportunities to
produ#e meaningful spoken messages with real #ommuni#ati/e purposes.
'.1.1 +orm&+ocused Speaking
2n effe#ti/e way to begin is to base speaking on some useful, simple memori!ed
phrases and senten#es. (hese may be greetings, simple personal des#riptions, and
simple =uestions and answers. (hese #an be pra#ti#ed in Repetition drills. (he tea#her
#an /ary the #ontent of the senten#e. (hat is, the tea#her #an substitute a word for one
of the words in a senten#e. (his is #alled a Substitution drill.
'.'.' ,eaning&+ocused Speaking
Language learners should be gi/en opportunities to pra#ti#e and use meaning+
fo#used #ommuni#ation, in whi#h they must both produ#e and listen to meaningful
oral #ommuni#ation.
'. ' -onte.tuai/ing practice
>eople use language differently in different #onte:ts. ,t is important if the
students ha/e the #han#e to e:perien#e the language in meaningful #onte:ts. ,n this
way, both meaning and the usage of the stru#ture #an be naturally obtained.
'. ( *ersonai/ing practice
,t<s easier for the learners to learn 1nglish if the things they are talking about are
rele/ant and #lose to their personal e:perien#es or when they #an e:press their
personal /iews. (he tea#hers #an help students learn better by personali!ing the
#ontent and #onte:t so that students #an talk and write about their own life
e:perien#es and their personal opinions.
'. ) Buiding up confidence
,t<s important to help the students to build up #onfiden#e in speaking 1nglish, so
the tea#hers should #reate a rela:ed and supportati/e en/ironment. )nly when
students feel #onfident and #omfortable to speak, will they parti#ipate in a#ti/ity in
the a#ti/ities and tasks.
'. 0 ,a.imi/ing meaningfu interactions
)ne main ob.e#ti/e of tea#hing speaking is to de/elop students< ability to initiate
a topi#, to ask =uestions, to take turns in speaking, to #hange topi#s and to ha/e some
#ontrol o/er the #ommuni#ations. (he tea#her should ensure the intera#tion is
meaningful and parti#ipation is ma:imum.
'. 1 2eping students deveop speaking strategies
Speaking in/ol/es strategies, su#h as initiating a #on/ersation, turn taking,
asking for #larifi#ation, asking for repetition, getting others< attention, getting help
from others, and ending a #on/ersation, et#. (he #lassroom is a good pla#e for
students to de/elop the strategies #ons#iously.
'.3 ,aking the best use of cassroom earning environment to
provide sufficient anguage input and practice for the students.
,n any #ase, #reating an 1nglish speaking en/ironment to ma:imi!e learning
opportunity is #ru#ial for students to de/elop their #ommuni#ati/e ability in a foreign
language.
(. #esigning speaking tasks
(.1 %ead&in activities
"hen we design speaking tasks, one important #onsideration is the language
profi#ien#y le/el of the students. (here are se/eral fa#tors to #onsider when designing
speaking a#ti/ities. Look at the task below and see if you #an think of other fa#tors.
(.' Task (
2sk the students to think about a su##essful speaking a#ti/ity that they ha/e
parti#ipated, and dis#uss what makes it su##essful$
(.( +actors contributing to successfu speaking tasks
2lthough the su##ess of a speaking task depends on many fa#tors, the following
#hara#teristi#s are #ommon in su##essful speaking tasks 5adapted from &r, 166?9
(.(.1,a.imum foreign tak
,n su##essful speaking tasks, the students talk a lot in the foreign language. )ne
#ommon problem in speaking a#ti/ities is that students often produ#e one or two
simple utteran#es in the foreign language and spend the rest of the time #hatting in
their nati/e language. 2nother #ommon problem is that the tea#her talks too mu#h of
the time, thus taking away /aluable pra#ti#e time from the students.
(.(.' 4ven participation
"hether the task takes pla#e among the whole #lass or in small groups, a
su##essful task should en#ourage speaking from as many different students as
possible. (he task should be designed in a way so that the outspoken students do not
dominate dis#ussions. "hen ne#essary, the tea#her may interfere to guarantee e=ual
opportunities for students of different le/els.
(.(.( 2igh motivation
@esear#h has shown that moti/ation is one of the most important /ariables in
su##essful language learning. (ea#hers #an do a lot to in#rease and maintain the
moti/ation of students by the types of tasks that they organi!e in #lass. Students are
eager to speak, when the topi# is interesting or there is a #lear ob.e#ti/e that must be
rea#hed. 2gain great #are should be taken to make sure the task is in line with the
studentsA ability to deal with the task. ,f the task is too easy, the students may think it
is #hildish and thus lose interest.
(.(.) 5ight anguage eve
,n a su##essful speaking task, the language is at the right le/el. (he task must be
designed so that students #an #omplete the task su##essfully with the language that
they ha/e. ,f the students la#k too mu#h /o#abulary the task will be#ome frustrating
and the students are likely to gi/e up or re/ert ba#k to the nati/e language.
). Types of speaking tasks
,t is important to gi/e the students a /ariety of speaking a#ti/ities so that they
will be able to #ope with different situations in reality. Bariety also helps keep
moti/ation high. Some types of speaking a#ti/ities are gi/en as follows.
).1-ontroed activities
*ontrolled a#ti/ities mainly fo#us on form and a##ura#y, whi#h for#ed students
to pay attention to #ertain stru#tures or fun#tions so that these #an be a##urately
produ#ed. Cowe/er, tea#hers should be en#ouraged to design #ontrolled a#ti/ities in a
meaningful way.
).' Semi&controed activities
Semi+#ontrolled a#ti/ities fo#us more on meaning and #ommuni#ation. ,t<s no
longer stri#tly #ontrolled.
).( -ommunicative activities
*ommuni#ati/e a#ti/ities allow for real information e:#hange. (he new stru#ture
or fun#tion be#omes integrated into the a#ti/ity, in whi#h students are more #on#erned
with meaning. )ne e:#ellent way to make speaking tasks #ommuni#ati/e is to use
information&gap activities, in whi#h the students ha/e different information and they
need to obtain information from ea#h other in order to finish a task.
).) #iaogues and roe&pay
2 #ouple of problems with the way most dialogues are presented in te:tbooks are
that the language is not authenti# or natural. *omplete senten#es are often used in an
attempt to tea#h students the grammar of the language3 howe/er, the natural spee#h of
nati/e speakers is often phrases or senten#e fragments full of pauses, false starts, and
repetitions as we pointed out in a pre/ious se#tion. (he se#ond ma.or problem is with
the way most dialogues are taught. (ea#hers ask students to memori!e dialogues by
heart. So, what #an tea#hers do to make dialogues more #ommuni#ati/e$ 4irst of all,
turn the dialog age into role play, so the students #an pretend they are a#ting as
someone else.
&r 5166?:19 points out that the fa#tors that affe#t the su##ess of role+plays are:
the tea#herAs enthusiasm3 #areful instru#tions3 #lear situations and roles3 and making
sure that the students ha/e the language they will need to #arry out the role+play.
).0 6ctivities using pictures
2#ti/ities using pi#tures are in/aluable in speaking a#ti/ities. 2ppropriate
pi#tures pro/ide #ues, prompts, situations and non+/erbal aid for #ommuni#ation.
Students for elementary le/el to ad/an#ed le/el #an all benefit from using pi#tures in
speaking a#ti/ities.
).1 *robem&soving activities
2nother type of speaking a#ti/ity that we will present in this se#tion is the
problem+sol/ing a#ti/ity. (his type of a#ti/ity tends to be produ#ti/e be#ause there is
a #lear ob.e#ti/e to be rea#hed. (here are many topi#s that would be interesting and
rele/ant to the studentsA life. >roblem+sol/ing a#ti/ities re=uire a higher le/el of
language profi#ien#y3 howe/er the diffi#ulty le/el #an be #ontrolled somewhat by the
topi#. ,n general, problem sol/ing a#ti/ities #an work /ery well with more ad/an#ed
students espe#ially if the topi# is something that they #an relate to.
).3 7ther speaking activities
-any kinds of a#ti/ities #an be designed around the theme of e:#hange personal
information. 1/en when you ha/e a #lass of students that know ea#h other =uite well,
you #an still design a#ti/ities where the task is for them to find out some details about
ea#h other that they do not already know.
0. -oncusion
(he tri#k in tea#hing speaking is to pro/ide a #han#e for students to speak and
make them speak. 2lthough the tea#herAs talk #an be good modeling and useful input,
it is best to keep the tea#her<s talk at a minimum le/el. (here is a belief that students
should not be for#ed to speak when they are not ready yet. (his belief is based on the
assumption that if the students ha/e not learned enough language #omponents 5e.g.
grammar, /o#abulary9, they are unable to produ#e meaningful language. ,n *hina,
generally speaking, both tea#hers and students ha/e paid great attention to learning
grammar and /o#abulary. So our problem is not ha/ing anything to say but not
knowing how to say things. 2nd this results from the la#k of opportunities to speak.
(he most important aspe#t of preparing students to speak in real life is to gi/e them as
many opportunities, as possible to pra#ti#e produ#ing unplanned, spontaneous and
meaningful spee#h under time pressure.