MODULO 7 - DEVELOPING SPEAKING AND WRITING SKILLS

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS

There are many reasons for encouraging students to speak in class. They get a chance to practice
real life speaking in the safety of the classroom. Speaking tasks make students use any or all the
language they know -- providing feedback for themselves and teachers. Using any textbooks or
materials, teachers can develop extra activities to provoke students to speak. When there is
interesting interaction between teachers and other classmates, students can learn to overcome a fear
of speaking.

Thinking points

a. What are communicative speaking activities? Try to identify some communicative activities in
the Smart Way book course.

b. Is pronunciation important? Why?

c. How much should teachers correct students during a speaking activity?

Speaking activities in the textbook

Speaking activities do not have to take the form of asking and answering questions (even for
beginners). They may take a form of dialog or text which presents the key language pattern of the
unit of the textbook. Typically, students are asked to repeat the key items or read the entire text
aloud. The purpose of this activity is to get them to articulate what they have seen or heard, fixing
the pattern and giving them experience in articulating the sounds.

Activities in a speaking lesson often follow this pattern:

• Lead in - an introduction to the topic of the lesson plus activities, including a focus on new
language.
• Tasks - activities in which learners have opportunities to use the new language. These
activities may move from controlled to freer activities or a teacher may choose to do them
in the opposite order, depending on the class and learning context.
• Post-task activities - activities in which learners do free speaking activities on the topic
and/or work on the language used in the tasks.

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Free activities

It is possible to give extra practice in the language items in a more communicative way. The class
can be just as controlled in terms of the range of language, but the activity appears freer and more
realistic and purposeful to the students.

a) Teachers can build into their lessons activities which match different learning styles, such as a
listening activity followed by a reading activity followed a group work followed by a mingle (an
activity which involves learners walking around the class talking to other students), followed by an
exercise. This activity involves experience in doing. The focus is on meaning rather than form.

Example:

Find someone who… is a dentist

is wearing black
can play tennis
works at night …
This kind of communicative practice, based on a specific language pattern, is often found in
textbooks, but it is a good idea for teachers to provide added practice. It is motivating, easy to do,
and linguistically targeted.

b) Teachers can use dialog frames to fit the language pattern they want to practice.

d) Teachers can also use storytelling, starting with a picture in the textbook, and asking the students
to make up a class story based on it. You could get students to tell this story with each student adding
a new sentence.

e) Teachers can use picture stories, used as frames for narration. These are especially useful when
you want to practice sequencing phrases such as: “first of all…; after that…; finally…”

f) Teachers can ask students to perform in role plays. They build confidence, creativity
communication, fluency and put learning into action.

g) Teachers can also promote discussions with students asking them to agree or disagree and to say
why. Different kind of games are very useful to make students practice oral activities.

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There are two important things about any kind of oral activity:

• The students understand what they have to do.

• They have been taught the language they need for the activity. The more proficient ones will
add more language, but it is important that the slower ones can say something, however
simple.

DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS

Writing skills (Harmer 2007)

The main focus of the course is speaking, but writing and reading are fundamental skills and do
deserve some attention. Train students to use complete sentences. Take advantage of reading
comprehension exercises to practice it, starting with questions and pointing out textual evidence that
leads to an answer. Moreover, work on writing, not only in assigned compositions (which should
be frequent and count towards final grade), but also in class.

Explain the technique for composition (ie, topic sentence, examples, conclusion) and have learners
write mini-compositions: start with three sentences, offering a selection of topic sentences (all
possible opinions about one topic); work up to five sentences, offering only the topic. Since
everyone will be writing about the same topic, students can then read their work aloud and discuss
(not complicated topics of course, simple stuff, not too emotionally charged). For compositions
assigned as homework, give very clear instructions.

According to Holden (1997), Writing should be taught with the same enthusiasm as other skills (ie,
reading, listening, speaking). After all, writing is communication! We write letters, e-mails,
messages to people because we want to tell them something, or to ask them something. And that is
what communication means: exchanging ideas, opinions and information with another person.

Mistakes in writing activities are much more noticeable than with spoken language. This can limit
students’ abilities to express themselves fluently.

How can this problem be solved?

The answer lies partially in being very clear why students are engaged in this writing activity. Are
they doing it to reinforce the information introduced in the textbook? In that case, teachers want to
make sure students know exactly what structures and vocabulary they should be practicing in the
writing activity, so they can review the vocabulary and grammar structure students may use in the

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activity, even when it is a homework.

Students can also use writing as an activity which produces connected text and expresses personal
ideas. In this case, teachers want to encourage creativity and fluency. Accuracy will take second
place, since enthusiasm and motivation are more important than a rigorous attitude towards
correcting mistakes. Writing can provide teachers with valuable information on what has really been
learned, and what can possibly be re-taught.

Writing skills activities – (Tornbury 2017)

• Reproducing models: Learners study a model text (teachers provide the model) and then
write their own text based on it.
• Interactive writing: Learners interact in writing. For example, they write, and respond to,
text messages to each other.
• Composition: Learners write a composition according to a subject they have studied. They
can do it as a homework. A composition needs an introduction (summarized information of
ideas), body (several paragraphs expanding the main idea of the composition) and
conclusion (a review of the main points, being careful not to rewrite them exactly, or a brief
description of your feelings about the topic).

• Dialog writing + items: Students write a dialog that includes pre-selected items. For
example, they must include six words that are provided by the teacher.

DEVELOPING MULTIPLE SKILLS – (Tornbury, 2007)

Communicative language teaching is based on the premise that people use language in order to
communicate. As we communicate by speaking, listening, reading and writing, then it follows that
it is useful to engage in direct practice of these skills rather than using them only as a means of
practicing a particular language point.

Integrating skills

a) Focus
Review procedures aimed at developing skills and see how learners can combine them
within a single lesson.
b) Learner outcomes
• They understand the main considerations in dealing with integrated skills lessons.
• They are able to analyze integrated skills activities.

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 • They understand how language learning can be integrated in content teaching.
c) Key concepts
• Receptive vs. productive skills
• Content-based learning
• Authentic materials

Different activities to integrate skills

• Discussions involving listening and speaking activities

• Role play involving listening and speaking activities
• Surveys and presentations involving the four skills (ie, reading, writing, listening, speaking)
• Running dictation involving the four skills
• Games involving the four skills

Remember, mingling is a good activity to integrate skills, like the activity, “Find someone who…”
This prompts students walk around the class and ask questions (speaking), listen to their friends
(listening), writing down the information (writing) and then reading to the class (reading).

“You get a text message, you read it and text it back. You read an interesting newspaper story and
tell someone about it. You go to a lecture and you take notes. You pass on some juicy gossip that
you heard. So, outside the classroom, language skills are not always used in isolation. They tend to
be combined.”

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REFERENCES

● Harmer, J. 2007. How to Teach English, Edinburgh: Longman.

● Harmer, J. 2012. The Practice of English language Teaching: Person.
● Spratt, M, Pulverness, A & Williams M. 2012. The TKT Course modules 1,2 and 3:
Cambridge University Press.
● Thornbury, S. & Watkins P. 2013. The CELTA Course: Cambridge University Press.
● Brown, H.D. 2001. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy: Person.
● Ur, P. 2012. A Course in English Language Teaching: Cambridge University Press.
● Celce, M. & Murcia E. 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language: Heinle,
Cengage Learning.
● Harmer, J. 2012. Essential Teacher Knowledge. Core Concepts in English Language
Teaching: Person.
● Holden, S.& Roger M. 1997. English Language Teaching: DELTI
● Thornbury, S. 1999. How to Teach Grammar: Longman.
● Oxford, Rebecca L. 1990. Language learning Strategies. What every teacher should know:
Heinle&Heinle.
● Chamot Anna U& O’Malley, Michael, J. 1994 The CALLA handbook. Implementing the
Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach: Longman.
● Tudor, Y. 2001. The Dynamics of the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
● Holen, S & Nobre V. Teaching English Today. Contexts and Objectives. HUB editorial.