PKB 3053 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY

TOPIC 3

SPEAKING SKILLS

2 HRS

Synopsis
This is the third topic in the course profoma. This topic deals with the
definition and concept of speaking. Also discussed here are problems
about auditory expressive language, how to assess auditory expressive
language and techniques of teaching speaking skills.
Learning Outcomes
1 Give the definition and concept of speaking.
2. Identify problems in auditory expressive language.
3. Describe how auditory expressive language is assessed.
4. Explain the techniques of teaching speaking skills and using the

techniques.

Topic Framework
Speaking Skills
3.0 Definition qnd concept of
speaking

3.1 Auditory
Expressive
:Language
Problems
3.1.1 Stammering
3.1.2 Repetitive
3.1.3 SKILLS
Aphasia
SPEAKING
3.1.4 Dysphraxia

3.2 Assessment of
Auditory Expressive
Language

3.3 Techniques of
teaching speaking
skills
3.3.1 Developing
vocabulary
3.3.2 Teaching
sentence
patterns

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Introduction
Speaking is considered by learners as one of the most
difficult skills as it involves real-time processing which means that learners
don;t have much time to formulate what they want to say and how to say it.
It is for this reason, and the fact that they are afraid to make mistakes, that
students often avoid speaking and therefore never get the opportunity to
build up confidence through practice. Students also avoid speaking
because they are afraid of not being understood due to poor pronunciation.
This poor pronunciation often stems from previous learning experiences
where emphasis was on written accuracy with little chance to develop oral
skills. Students may also in many cases, have little opportunity to practise
their English speaking outside the classroom environment.
3.0 Definition and Concept of Speaking
According to the Oxford dictionary, speaking is the action of conveying
information or expressing ones feelings in speech. Speaking skills, or
sometimes known as auditory expressive language skills, is the ability to
use language to express an idea or a message to another person in a
communicational situation. For a person to be a competent speaker, he will
need to have mastered all the components of language namely listening,
reading and writing. This means he will need to be able to correctly
articulate the words, know the meanings of words, phrases and other
linguistic items in order to convey his idea adequately, be able to formulate
different kinds of sentences, and also to be able to explain ideas using
connected texts.

3.1 Auditory Expressive Language Problems

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A person who has a defect in his speech organ will have a problem in
some aspect of speech production. His speech could be too nasal or too
breathy or he may be unable to articulate certain speech sounds.
He could also have a poor auditory memory resulting in a problem of
recalling words from memory. A person with such a problem will have slow
and hesitant speech and his speech will be punctuated with mmm and
filler sentences like What do you call it? or You know what I mean.
An auditory expressive language problem could manifest itself in
1. Incorrect usage of language
2. Overuse of simple sentences and a lack of complex ones
3. An inability to express abstract concepts or ideas
4. An inability to adjust the style of communication according to the
communicational situation and
5. A tendency of not providing sufficient information
Some of the problems are discussed here:
3.1.1 Stammering
Stammering means to speak with involuntary pauses or repetitions. It can
also mean to utter with involuntary pauses or repetitions. It is a way of
speaking characterized by involuntary pauses or repetitions.Stammering
and stuttering have the same meaning - it is a speech disorder in which
the person repeats or prolongs words, syllables or phrases. The person
with a stutter (or stammer) may also stop during speech and make no
sound for certain syllables. People who stutter often find that stress and
fatigue make it harder for them to talk flowingly, as well as situations in
which they become self-conscious about speaking, such as public
speaking or teaching. Most people who stutter find that their problem
eases if they are relaxed.
We all have the capacity to stutter if pushed far enough. This may happen
during a very stressful interrogation in a police station, talking to

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emergency services on the telephone, or trying to respond to a particularly
agile and aggressive lawyer while on the witness stand in court.
Stuttering is common when children are learning to speak. However, the
majority of kids grow out of this stage of initial stuttering. For some,
however, the problem persists and requires some kind of professional help,
such as speech therapy. It is important that parents do not add to a child's
stress by drawing too much attention to the problem when they are trying
to communicate verbally. The calmer a child feels the less acute the
symptoms tend to become.
The signs and symptoms of stuttering are:

Problems starting a word, phrase or sentence

Hesitation before certain sounds have to be uttered
Repeating a sound, word or syllable
Certain speech sounds may be prolonged
Speech may come out in spurts
Words with certain sounds are substituted for others
(circumlocution)
Rapid blinking (when trying to talk)
Trembling lips (when trying to talk)
Foot may tap (when trying to talk)
Trembling jaw (when trying to talk)
Face and/or upper body tighten up (when trying to talk)
Some may appear out of breath when talking
Interjection, such as "uhm" used more frequently before attempting
to utter certain sounds

Experts are not completely sure what causes stammering. We do know

that somebody with a stutter is much more likely to have a close family
member who also has one, compared to other people. The following
factors may also trigger/cause stuttering:

Developmental stuttering - as children learn to speak they often

stutter, especially early on when their speech and language skills
are not developed enough to race along at the same speed as what
they want to say. The majority of children experience fewer and
fewer symptoms as this developmental stage progresses until they
can speak flowingly.
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Neurogenic stuttering - when the signals between the brain and

speech nerves and muscles are not working properly. This may
affect children, but may also affect adults after a stroke or some
brain injury. In rare cases neurogenic stuttering results in lesions
(abnormal tissue) in the motor speech area of the brain.

Psychological factors - it used to be believed that the main

reasons for long-term stuttering were psychological. Fortunately, this
is not the case anymore. Psychological factors may make stuttering
worse for people who stutter, such as stress, embarrassment, etc.,
but they are not generally seen as underlying long-term factors. In
other words, anxiety, low self-esteem, nervousness, and stress
therefore do not cause stuttering per se. Rather, they are the result
of living with a stigmatized speech problem which can sometimes
make symptoms worse.

Research shows that approximately half of all children who have a stutter
that persists beyond the developmental stage of language have a close
family member who stutters. If a young child has a stutter and also a close
family member stutters, his/her chances of that stutter continuing are much
greater. A child who starts stuttering before 3.5 years of age is less likely to
be stuttering later on in life. The earlier the stuttering starts the less likely it
is to continue long-term. About three-quarters of all young children who
stutter will stop doing so with one or two years without speech therapy. The
longer the stuttering continues the more likely it is that the problem will
become long-term without professional help (and even with professional
help). Long-term stuttering is four times more common among boys than
girls. Experts believe there may be neurological reasons for this, while
others blame the way family members react to little boys' stuttering
compared to little girls' stuttering. However, nobody is really sure what the
reason is.
Experts say that parents should consider visiting their general practitioner,
or primary care physician when:
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The child's stuttering has persisted for over six months

When the stuttering occurs more frequently

When it is accompanied with tightness of the facial and upper body

muscles

When it interferes with the child's schoolwork

When it causes emotional difficulties, such as fear of places or

situations

When it persists after the child is 5 years old

3.1.2. Repetitive
Repetitive talk and talking to self usually go together, and are exhibited by
children with a broad range of developmental difficulties. These children
usually have social difficulties as well, and tend to be resistant to change
and to display repetitive motor behaviours. They may repeat: "Are we
going to the Zoo? Are we going to the Zoo? as many as ten times or until
someone interrupts and redirects them. They may also repeat phrases to
themselves, such as, "It's ok, you are not hurt". Although just a few children
display these characteristics. These children require extensive input and
support from school and home.
Repetitive speech patterns of children with higher cognitive abilities may
get overlooked because of similarities between these children's behaviour
and that of peers who are just boisterous or too active. But there is growing
recognition that some children who are quite competent intellectually also
engage in repetitive talk. This could help explain why recent reports have
shown considerable increases in numbers of children with repetitive or
nonfunctional speech in the general population. The latest studies suggest
that about 1% of children and adolescents speak repetitively, although not
all of them will talk to themselves or say things that don't make sense for
the context.

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Most children with repetitive speech also display problems in
communication and are intellectually delayed. This group is more likely to
be identified early, as early as the second year of life or even earlier in
some cases. Once these children acquire speech, they may use it
inappropriately for the context (nonfunctionally), and also will most likely
talk to themselves. Such children may also reverse pronouns, e.g., use
"He" for "I", and may use metaphors to communicate.
3.1.3. Aphasia
Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that
are responsible for language. For most people, these are areas on the left
side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as
the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in
the case of a brain tumor, an infection, or ementia. The disorder impairs
the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and
writing. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or
apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage.
Aphasia is caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the
brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs
when blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they
do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and
important nutrients. Other causes of brain injury are severe blows to the
head, brain tumors, brain infections, and other conditions that affect the
brain.
There are two broad categories of aphasia: fluent and non-fluent.

Fluent aphasia
Damage to the temporal lobe (the side portion) of the brain may result in a
fluent aphasia called Wernicke's aphasia. In most people, the damage
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occurs in the left temporal lobe, although it can result from damage to the
right lobe as well. People with Wernicke's aphasia may speak in long
sentences that have no meaning, add unnecessary words, and even
create made-up words. For example, someone with Wernicke's aphasia
may say, "You know that smoodle pinkered and that I want to get him
round and take care of him like you want before." As a result, it is often
difficult to follow what the person is trying to say. People with Wernicke's
aphasia usually have great difficulty understanding speech, and they are
often unaware of their mistakes. These individuals usually have no body
weakness because their brain injury is not near the parts of the brain that
control movement.
Non-fluent aphasia
A type of non-fluent aphasia is Broca's aphasia. People with Broca's
aphasia have damage to the frontal lobe of the brain. They frequently
speak in short phrases that make sense but are produced with great effort.
They often omit small words such as "is," "and," and "the." For example, a
person with Broca's aphasia may say, "Walk dog," meaning, "I will take the
dog for a walk," or "book book two table," for "There are two books on the
table." People with Broca's aphasia typically understand the speech of
others fairly well. Because of this, they are often aware of their difficulties
and can become easily frustrated. People with Broca's aphasia often have
right-sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg because the frontal
lobe is also important for motor movements.
Another type of non-fluent aphasia, global aphasia, results from damage
to extensive portions of the language areas of the brain. Individuals with
global aphasia have severe communication difficulties and may be
extremely limited in their ability to speak or comprehend language.
There are other types of aphasia, each of which results from damage to
different language areas in the brain. Some people may have difficulty
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repeating words and sentences even though they can speak and they
understand the meaning of the word or sentence. Others may have
difficulty naming objects even though they know what the object is and
what it may be used for.
3.1.4 Dyspraxia
This used to be referred to as the clumsy child syndrome, Dyspraxia
presents as an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement.
The dyspraxic person may have difficulties with manual and practical work,
personal organisation, memory and attention span. Dyspraxia is generally
broken down into two types, Developmental Motor Dyspraxia (DMD) and
Verbal Dyspraxia. There is a great deal of confusion about these,
especially verbal dyspraxia. Not every child who is late learning to talk or
understand language has verbal dyspraxia. In fact very few have. Verbal
dyspraxia is a very specific learning disability and I have found that most
also have Developmental Motor Dyspraxia.
Children with verbal dyspraxia find it hard to form words and letters when
speaking. The mouth and tongue are controlled by hundreds of different
muscles and most of us have no trouble in performing the complex coordination achievement of speech.
Verbal dyspraxics do have trouble with this but it is not the muscles
themselves that are at fault. Rather it is the messages being sent
backwards and forwards to the brain that cause the problems. It is like
being permanently tongue-tied. It is very important that all the other pupils
in a school understand why the Verbal Dyspraxic has problems with
speech so that the pupil is not bullied.
When observing these children speak I am given the impression that each
mouth movement has to be thought out before the word is spoken. The
amount of thinking involved in this activity makes it hard for the child to
also concentrate on what (s)he is saying.
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If you ask these children to repeat a word several times, even to repeat
their own name or a simple word like cat or run they cannot do it without
having to think before each word. So instead of saying run run run run run
run they will say, run run. run.. run run...
For them this simple task is very difficult. These children are usually late
learning to speak so tend to get noticed and helped early in life. Having
Verbal Dyspraxia does not mean that the pupil necessarily also have
Developmental Motor Dyspraxia.
Mankind sees speaking as being so fundamentally basic a task that
someone who has difficulty with it is unconsciously thought of as stupid.
This is of course not at all true and if you are teaching or caring for such a
child you must make sure that everyone who comes in contact with this
child understands that s/he is just a clever as any of his/her classmates.
Stephen Hawkins, with his electronic voice, may have inadvertently helped
us accept this.
Verbal Dyspraxia is not the same thing as stuttering These children always
need specialist help from speech therapists and often physiotherapists and
occupational therapists as well. They have to learn to think about and
control how the lips and tongue works to form all the different sounds and
words. Watching how the mouth and tongue move when forming different
sounds helps these children and I use a mirror to make sure that the child
can see how his/her mouth, tongue and lips form each sound. This can
take some time. Because they have to concentrate so much on working
out how to say each sound the quality of content of what they say can
suffer (just as the content of written work can suffer in a dyslexic) until they
have mastered these new skills.
You can do the following to help the children with this problem:

Always bring in a speech therapist.

Try to be patient with these children and do not keep interrupting or

finishing a sentence for them.
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Explain to them why they are having the problems and make sure
they understand that they are not stupid and that it is not their fault.

Organize lesson time when you help the child to articulate and
improve his/her speech.

Avoid nagging and correcting as this can make the child tense and
angry.

Hand eye coordination games actually helps these children to talk

better because these games encourage the child to learn how their
bodies responds to actions and teaches them to understand how
their bodies relate to the word about them.

These children tend to panic easily and respond badly to sudden

changes in routine. Try to keep to routines.

They get scared easily and are not happy working outside their
comfort zone. New information and teaching should be carried out
one small step at a time. Teaching should not be moved forward
until you are totally sure that the child has understood everything so
far taught.

Multi-sensory teaching should be used when ever possible.

3.2 Assessment of Auditory Expressive Language

One of the best ways to assess the auditory expressive language
problems of a student is to take language samples from the pupil in various
communicational settings. The samples are then examined for the types of
sentences used, the kinds of vocabulary found and whether there is
difficulty in the recall of words. The information revealed by such an
examination will provide the teacher with a good indication of the
inadequacies of the spoken language of the learners, and he can then take
the necessary remedial steps to help them.

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To assess a pupils ability to use the linguistic items of nouns, adjectives
and propositions, the same tests used to assess listening comprehension
as discussed earlier can be applied. Instead of requiring a pointing
response after a word has been said, the teacher can point to an object in
a picture, and ask the pupil to provide the name of the object, or if it is the
description that he is more interested in, to describe or to state the position
of the object. The pupils ability to produce the language required by the
test will provide an indication of the auditory expressive language skills.
To assess the ability in the use of syntax, some of the following are
common ways of testing for this particular skill:
1. Provide a word and ask the student to formulate a sentence based
on the word
2. Provide a few words and ask the student to use all the words given
to form a sentence
3. Provide the beginning part of a sentence and ask the student to
complete the sentence
4. Provide two simple sentences and ask the student to combine the
two sentences into one.
To assess pupils ability to use connected text, the teacher can show a
picture and ask the learner to describe the picture, or to tell the story as
shown in a series of practice.
The types of tests which can be used to test speaking are among some of
them:
1. Using a checklist
This form of assessment may be done throughout the year and will
help the tcacher assess whether the learner is in fact moving
forward. This list may of course be added to and adapted to suit
your particular needs and circumstances.
2. Progress tests
A progress test may be given either at the end of a particular unit,
week, month, term or year. This type of test is usually prepared or
set up by the class teacher or someone else in the school in order
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to take account of the overall syllabus. Progress tests are important
for learners as they assist pupils and teachers to measure progress
made. Teachers normally prepare their own progress tests although
some books have these tests. A good test is one which appears to
be both fair and appropriate to the learners. A good test should also
be not too difficult to mark and should provide clear results.
3. Proficiency tests
Proficiency tests are used to measure overall language proficiency
and include speaking and other language skills. Proficiency testing
can help pupils in at least two ways. Firstly, such tests can help
create positive attitudes and motivation within the English Language
classroom. Pupils experience a sense of accomplishment and this
contributes to a positive tone. Secondly, these tests assist pupils in
mastering the language. They are helped when they study for
examinations and when the results are returned to them and
discussed. The results also confirm areas they have mastered and
those that need further attention.
3.3 Techniques of Teaching Speaking Skills
As in the teaching of listening comprehension in a communicational
context, the teacher should teach the language and linguistic items
relevant to the situation first. Patterning drills can be effective in helping the
student to master common sentence patterns in English. For example, the
teacher could provide the sentence, The mango costs fifty cents each and
drill the learner until he is able to substitute mango with the names of
other fruits or the monetary amount with some other figure.
There are some learners whose English language production is very
limited,or who do not attempt to produce spoken language. For such
learners, what the teacher can do is to try what are said to be effective
techniques known as expansion, parallel talk and self-talk.
In expansion, if a pupil says something like door and his gestures or
expression seem to indicate that he wants the teacher to open the door for
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him, the teacher can provide the necessary language, such as Oh, Niza
wants me to open the door. Yes, I will open the door. This technique is
informal and can be applied every time a pupil seems to make a request or
a statement, but does not use the correct language to articulate the needs.
With the parallel talk techniques, the teacher provides the language that
goes with an action. For example, if the pupil is making a cup of tea, the
teacher could make sentences that correspond to his actions, such as
Mamat is taking out the cup. Mamat is pouring tea into the cup. Mamat is
stirring the tea. This technique will have the effect of helping learners
associate language with the experience.
In the self-talk technique, the teacher articulate verbally the action he
himself is performing with the hope that the pupil will be able to associate
the words with the action. There are many books which teachers can refer
to when teaching speaking. Two will be described here, namely developing
vocabulary and teaching sentence patterns.
3.3.1 Developing vocabulary
1. Naming place a collection of objects in a box. Let the pupil
name the object as it is taken out of the box. You could also
have a collection of pictures and carry out the same kind of
activity.
2. Departmental store let one pupil be the salesperson and
another the customer. The customer makes the order and the
salesperson provides the object requested.
3. Rapid naming teacher points to objects or pictures and the
pupil has to name the objects or pictures as quickly as
possible. This is good training to improve auditory memory.
4. Missing words read a story to the pupil and pause at
certain points to leave out words. Ask the pupil to supply the
missing words.
5. Word pairs some words can be taught in pairs to make it
easier for the pupils to remember. For example, words like
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fork-spoon, cat-dog, pencil-paper and cry-laugh will be more
easily remembered if they are presented together as they are
closely associated.
3.3.2 Teaching sentence patterns
1. Show pictures of different activities but teach the pupil to use
the same sentence pattern for the activities. For example, the
teacher can have a picture of a boy crying, a boyrunning and
a boy singing. The teacher can formulate the sentence Te
boy is crying and ask the spupil to formulate sentences using
the same pattern for the other two pictures.
2. The teacher can also provide two basic sentences, and teach
the learner to combine the sentences using the pattern she
has modelled for him. For example, she can provide two
sentences like The orange is big. The orange is sweet. After
teaching the pupil the pattern, the teacher can then provide
other pairs of sentences and ask the pupil to combine the
sentences using the same pattern.
3. Sentence patterns can also be taught in other ways. For
example, to teach question forms, the teacher could provide
a statement like The book is on the shelf.and teach the
question form, Where is the book? he can then provide
other examples and have the learner form similar questions

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Exercise 1.
Collect language samples of one of your pupils. Collecting samples
basically means that you have to tape record the language used by
the pupil in a communictional situation, for example, when you are
talking with hm about himself. When you have the recorded language,
write down the whole dialoge, and study the language used. Discuss
the language inadequacies in terms of phonology, semantics,
morphology and syntax.
.

You have now come to the end of the topic. Well

done.

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