Unit Four

Teaching of Speaking
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 Table of contents

The Nature of Speaking -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53

Approaches to Speaking ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53-54

Types of Speaking ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- 54

Pedagogical Implication ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 55-59

Test yourself --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60

In the previous unit we have examined the nature of the listening skill, the approaches
to listening and how to teach it within the layout of our empirical approach, which is
mainly based on ideas taken from the recent communicative methodology. Now, we
will turn to the skill of speaking. In this Unit, we shall tackle the nature of this skill,
approaches to speaking and try to present suggestions for teaching it.

The Nature of Speaking

Speaking is one of the four major language skills: listening, speaking, reading and
writing. This skill is productive. It is interactive. It is productive when the speaker
produces language orally with the purpose of conveying his ideas to others. This
activity demands knowledge of the language rules as well as the social rules for
implementing this knowledge to produce speech. By language rules we mean, the
ability to construct sentences that are grammatically correct and by social rules we
mean the knowledge of the social rules that govern the social relationships among the
members of a certain society.
Speaking is also interactive. Speakers do not only speak, but they also listen and
speak in response to what they listen to. In other words, speakers have to be good
communicators; that is, they must make themselves understood by the listeners. To do
this, the speaker must be able to use appropriate expressions relevant to a situation,
e.g. giving instructions and describing. Secondly, speakers have to develop a sort of
negotiation skills. These include skills that are used to enable speakers to make
themselves clearly understood, and to find a solution to communication problems as
they appear while the interaction is going on. Negotiation skills consist of the ability
to understand meanings, to change the words according to the development of the
speech event, to correct mistaken interpretation of his message by the listener, to find
words which are understood by the listener and which express his ideas in a simple
and clear way.

Approaches to Speaking

In the previous Unit we compared the bottom-up approach of listening with top- down
approach. This division can also be applied to speaking. The bottom-up approach
suggests the work from the smallest element in the language. i.e. phoneme to
discourse. That means the learner should move from the phoneme to words, to
sentences then to discourse. Whereas, in the top-down approach, the learner goes the
other way around, that is from discourse to smaller components.
To apply the second approach, the learner has to start with understanding the context
of situation which will help him to chose the appropriate syntactic elements. This
demands understanding the relationship between language and its context of situation
on the part of the learner.
 (53)
If language is related to social context, then the nature of language should be
explained in terms of its function in society.

Types of Spea1dig

Bygate (1991: 22-27) divided spoken texts according to function. He said that spoken
texts are routines. Routines are of two kinds: information routines and interaction
routines. Information routines can either be expository routines like narration,
description, instruction or comparison, or evaluative like explanation, justification,
prediction and decision. Interaction routines can be social activities such as
conversation at a party, telephone conversation, etc. or service activities such as job
interview. Speakers also develop skills to solve problems arising when interaction is
going on. These skills are called negotiation skills that can be divided into two types:
negotiation of meaning and management of meaning. This table illustrates his view:
A. Information routines

(1). Expository routines

a. Narration
b. Description
c. Instruction
d. Comparison
(2). Evaluative routines
a. Explanation
b. Justification
c. Prediction
d. Decision

B. Interaction routines:

(1) Social Activities

a. Telephone conversations
b. Conversations at parties
(2) Service Activities
a. Lessons
b. Television interviews

C. Negotiation skills
a. Negotiation of meaning
b. Management of interaction
 (54)
This division can be useful as a skeleton for syllabus design in speaking,

Pedagogical implication

In this section we will try to put the theoretical ideas discussed in the previous sections of this
Unit into practice. We believe that the learners’ attempts to learn speaking in the foreign
language will be facilitated when learners are engaged into communicative exercises, which
enable them to speak. In many traditional courses, the exercises are presented to focus on a
certain grammatical point rather than fluency, so it is a common practice to find exercises
like:
1. Question and Answer:

Teacher: Did the child sing a song last night?

Student: Yes, the child sang a song last night.
Teacher: Did he pass the exam last week?
Learners: Yes, he passed the exam last week.
Teacher: Did you go to the old market yesterday?
Student: Yes, I went to the old market yesterday.

It is obvious that the aim in the above exercise is to teach the student how to answer questions
beginning with the question word “did” using “yes” and the past form of the verb. Such an
exercise is unrealistic in nature because it is out of context and because different answers
could be given to the questions asked by the teacher, such as:

Did the child sing a song last night?

No, she slept early.
Did she pass the exam last week?
I don’t know.
Did you go to the old market yesterday?
Oh, yes! It was really beautiful.

2. Dialogue

A dialogue is an oral interchange between two people or more. Teaching the dialogue has
been always one of the major activities used for teaching the skill of speaking in traditional
books. As a result, learners spend a lot of time repeating dialogues and memorizing them,
here is an example:
Dialo2ue
Dentist: ‘What a clean set of teeth he has got!
 (55)
Technician: Who are you talking about, doctor?
Dentist: The boy I’ve just examined.
Technician: Why did he come to see you then?
Dentist: It’s just one of his regular visits to me to check his teeth.
Technician: It’s really good to have one’s teeth checked regularly.
Dentist: That’s why he has got such healthy teeth.

Drills
A. What a clean set of teeth he’s got!
1. --------------healthy ------------------------------.
2. ---------------nice ---------------------------------.
3. --------------lovely -------------------------------.
4. -------------beautiful -----------------------------.
B. That is why he has got such a healthy teeth.
1. ------------------------------------------nice ---------.
2. -----------------------------------------clean ---------.
3. ------------------------------------------beautiful --------.
4. ------------------------------------------good -------------.

Many traditional books assign the following steps for teaching the above dialogue.
1. The teacher should explain the difficult words in the dialogue.
2. The learners listen to dialogue without looking at the text in their books.
3. The learners listen again to the dialogue while looking at the text in their books.
4. The teacher should ask the learners to repeat the dialogue more than once after him.
5. The teacher should give the learners time to memorize the dialogue.
6. The teacher should ask two learners to say the dialogue orally.
After finishing the dialogue, the teacher tackles the drills by reading the model sentence and
asking the learners to repeat, using the words in the drill exercise.

A quick glance at the above methodology, we can easily say it is related to the old “Oral
Structural Approach” where the emphasis was on precise pronunciation of words,
memorization and practice of certain structure of language. In fact, the above methodology
does not give the learners the chance to practice the authentic use of the language. In addition,
it does not give them the means to communicate with each other using the foreign language.
Besides, it does not help the learners to think or produce language as it is spoken in real life
situations. However, the empirical approach we are suggesting here attempts to solve most of
the problems, because it is based on interactive language teaching, in which the learners are
given the means to interact communicatively using genuine language.

Speaking, in our view, is a communicative activity that helps the learners use whatever
language is available to them to participate actively in the given tasks. By this way the
learners can think, discuss, negotiate, state their point of view and use genuine language.
 (56)
In our opinion, the core activities for teaching speaking are small group discussion and oral
presentation. We think such activities are sufficient enough to give the learners opportunities
to speak English. In addition, such activities are also compatible with the theoretical work
presented at the beginning of this Unit. Following the three-stage approach of (pre-task stage,
task stage and post task stage) the teacher can organize the group discussions in a very fruitful
way.

Small Group Discussion

(1) Pre-task stage

In the pre-task stage the teacher:

(1) Presents the topic to be discussed, such as “Failure in English”. Then he adds, many
university learners fail in English every semester. Why is that? Is it because the language
itself is difficult? Is it a problem of motivation on the part of the learners? Is it because of bad
teaching? So what do you think?
(2) Explains the situation to the learners. A committee has been formed by the university to
discuss the reasons which lead to the failure of many university learners in English every
semester”
(3) Divides the learners into small groups.
(4) Assigns roles to the learners.
a. Head of the English Department
b. Teacher (l)
c. Teacher (2)
d. Student (1)
e. Student (2)
Selects a spokesman to each group.

(2) Task stage

In the task stage the learners:

(1) Discuss the topic using whatever language available to them.
(2) The teacher goes around to give guidance and help when needed.
(3) The group spokesman writes the main ideas discussed and the
suggestions made by the group members.
(4) Every spokesman reads out the notes to the whole class.
(3) Post-task stage
In the post-task stage, the teacher evaluates the group work and comments on it. In addition,
he/she answers any further questions raised by the learners.
This a suggested form for “evaluation”:
Teacher Evaluation Form

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1. Title of discussion topic ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Names of members in group:
(1) ------------------------------------------
(2) ------------------------------------------
(3) ------------------------------------------
(4) ------------------------------------------
(5) -------------------------------------- ----
3. Did the group members interact with each other?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

---------- ---------- -------------- -----------

4. Did the group members take equal part in the discussion?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

---------- ---------- ----------------
-------

5. Did the group members pronounce the words correctly?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

----------- ----------- -------------- -----------

6. Did the group members use the appropriate vocabulary through out the discussion?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

---------- -------- ----------------- ---------

7. Did the group members use correct sentences (in relation to grammar) in the discussion?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

----------- ------------ ------------- ----------

8. Did the spokesman of the group present logical, relevant information and ideas to the topic
of discussion?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

---------- --------- ------------- -----------
9. Did all the group members speak clearly?

Excellent Good Satisfactory Weak

--------- -------- ---------------
----------

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10. Suggestions to help the group members.
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Some suggested topics that suit such an activity are listed below:
1. The role of the computer in our lives.
2. Pollution and industry are synonymous.
3. Advantages and disadvantages of advertising.
4. Measures to prevent smoking.
5. What makes a successful student.
6. “Sources of energy”, a problem of the future.
7. Successful marriage leads to stability of society.
8. The function of newspapers, magazines and books.
9. The advantages and disadvantages of the Internet.
10. The best policy to encourage sports on the part of elderly people
11. Healthy food leads to healthy generation.
12. Suggestions to develop the department you are studying in.
13. The best ways to increase the number of local technologists in the country.
14. Encouraging women to take up jobs in technology.
15. Criteria you use in selecting the best zoo in the world.
 (59)

Test Yourself

1. Explain the following and give examples of each.

Information routines
Interaction routines
Expository routines
Evaluative routines
Social activities
Service activities

2. How cans a learner uses bottom-up method in speaking?

3. Read the following exercise

Fill in the spaces as given in the example.

He has big feet.
a. _________ long_________.
b. _________ small________.
c. __________flat_________.

How will traditional textbooks treat this exercise?

Why is this kind of exercise not useful?

4. From what you have learnt about the communicative approach and effective teaching, how
can small group discussion be helpful in language learning?
(60)