Developing students skills and confidence in communication

When selecting learning activities, the teacher should always remember

that the goal is for the students to be able to interact freely with others –
understand what others wish to communicate in the broadest sense and to be
able to convey to others what they themselves wish to share. Only knowledge
and extensive practice are not enough to ensure confident interaction. The latter
requires practice in actual purposeful conversational exchange with others. The
students should be encouraged to express themselves freely in the language
trough experiences and games which provide them with a framework for
spontaneous communicative creation. If they are to develop as uninhibited
communicators who seize opportunities to use the language with native
speakers, they must overcome early their timidity and the fear of being
embarrassed.
The crossing from bridge to shore, however, won’t take place without
encouragement. Many students will remain on the bridge, rather than face the
unprotected autonomy of real communication, unless they are given
opportunities to develop confidence and self-reliance. In other words, such
students will prefer the safety of the structured exercise and develop a nervous
attitude toward the unstuctured which will be hard to change. The students
must learn to express their personal intentions through all kind of familiar and
unfamiliar combinations of language elements. In oder to help them achive this
the teacher should give priority to the development of an adventurous spirit in
trying to convey one’s meaning to others in the foreign language.
Students need situations where they are on their own – not supported by a
teacher or stuctured exercise – trying to use the foreign language to exchange
with others messages of real interest to them. Motivation to communicate must
be aroused in some way. The teacher may propose, or encourage students to
develop, activities which have intrinsic interest for them, activities in natural
interactional contexts such as seeking and giving information, expressing one’s
reactions, hiding one’s intentions, taking one’s way out of trouble, solving
problems, discussing ideas, conversing over the telephone.
These types of interactional activities lend themselves to various patterns if
individualisations, with students naturally seeking partners with whom they
feel at ease. Each individual has the needs for feelings of security,
belongingness, esteem and self-realization. Since genuine interaction springs
from the depths of the individual personality all of these needs affect students
reactions in an autonomous situation. Only the students themselves know
whether personally they feel more at ease with a fluent speaker who can help
them along, a less fluent speaker whose lesser ability encourages them in their
own efforts, or a good listener who inspires them with confidence.