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ԽԱՉԱՏՈՒՐ ԱԲՈՎՅԱՆԻ ԱՆՎԱՆ ՀԱՅԿԱԿԱՆ ՊԵՏԱԿԱՆ

ՄԱՆԿԱՎԱՐԺԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՄԱԼՍԱՐԱՆ

ՕՏԱՐ ԼԵԶՈՒՆԵՐԻ ՖԱԿՈՒԼՏԵՏ

ՌՈՄԱՆԱԳԵՐՄԱՆԱԿԱՆ ԼԵԶՈՒՆԵՐԻ ԵՎ ԴԱՍԱՎԱՆԴՄԱՆ


ՄԵԹՈԴԻԿԱՅԻ ԱՄԲԻՈՆ

ՀՐԱՆՈՒՇ ՆԵՐՍԻՍՅԱՆ ՄԵԼԻՔԻ

ԱՆԳԼԵՐԵՆ ԽՈՍԵԼՈՒ ՈՒՆԱԿՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԻ ԶԱՐԳԱՑՄԱՆ


ԽԹԱՆՈՒՄԸ ԴԱՍԱՐԱՆԻ ՓՈԽՆԵՐԳՈՐԾՈՒՆ
ՀԱՂՈՐԴԱԿՑՄԱՆ ՄԻՋԱՎԱՅՐՈՒՄ

ՄԱԳԻՍՏՐԱՏՈՒՐԱՅԻ ԱՍՏԻճԱՆԻ ՀԱՅՑՄԱՆ ԱՇԽԱՏԱՆՔ

Գիտական ղեկավար՝
ստորագրություն

Մ.Գ.Թ., պրոֆոսոր՝ Հայրյան Կարեն


գիտ.աստիճան, կոչում, ազգանուն, անուն

,,Թույլատրել պաշտպանության,,
Ամբիոնի վարիչ՝
ստորագրություն

Մ.Գ.Թ., դոցենտ՝ Միքաելյան Տիգրան


գիտ.աստիճան, կոչում, ազգանուն, անուն

ԵՐԵՎԱՆ – 2022

KHACHATUR ABOVIAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

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Faculty of Foreign Languages

Chair of Romance and Germanic Languages and Teaching Methodology

MASTER`S DEGREE GADUATION PAPER

THEME: PROMOTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT ENGLISH SPEAKING


SKILLS IN THE CLASSROOM INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT

Student: Hranush Nersisyan

Scientific supervisor: Karen Hayryan – PHD, Professor

YEREVAN - 2021

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………4

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CHAPTER 1: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPMENT ENGLISH SPEAKING
SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

1.1 Current Content of Developing English Speaking Skills in Basic School………………………9

1.2 The Main Objectives of Developing FL Speaking Skills in Basic School.……………………15

1.3 Difficulties of Teaching/Learning English Speaking Skills and Some Ways to Overcome Them
in Basic School………………………………………………………………………………….18
CHAPTER 2: STRATEGIES FOR CREATING INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
TO IMPROVE TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

2.1 The Basic Principles of Interactive Teaching FL Speaking Skills ………………………………22

2.2 Strategies Used to Promote the Development of English Speaking Skills in Basic School…….26

2.3 Testing Some Interactive Strategies to Promote the Development of English Speaking Skills
in the 8th Grade…………………………………………………………………………………...34
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………42

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………43

SUMMARY IN ARMENIAN……………………………………………………………………….45

INTRODUCTION

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In Methodology of Teaching Foreign Languages (FL) it has been long ago proved that
efficient development of speaking skills in Basic School is conditioned by a variety of factors. In the
framework of communicative language teaching all the objective and subjective factors of teaching
FL speaking skills should be classified, analyzed and combined to assist the creation of interactive
learning environment. According to one of the numerous definitions on interaction, it is the
collaborative exchange of thoughts, ideas and feelings between people, resulting in reciprocal
effect on each other. Through interaction, schoolchildren get an opportunity to increase their
language store not only speaking on, listening to or reading FL linguistic material, but they are also
engaged in discussions, joint problem-solving tasks, pastime activities etc. with their classmates.
At present, communication and interaction are considered fundamental aspects in teaching and
learning any FL, and particularly English as the leading means of communication all over the world.
Research has proved that interaction is both the main goal and means for language development
where pupils get opportunities to express themselves freely and easily. Pupils need to participate in
social contexts where they are using the English language as a comprehensible output. Learning
contexts require pupils to focus more on spoken language, getting experience how knowledge,
thoughts and opinions are expressed, while they subconsciously enlarge vocabulary and develop
grammatical skills as well. However, many researchers have shown that in every learning context the
teacher encounters pupils who do not have desire and motivation to participate in classroom
communicative tasks.
It is well known that EFL or ESL learners are more often willing to participate in reading,
writing and listening activities, but feel unwilling to engage in speaking activities, mainly owing to
insufficient speaking skills. In order to develop adequate speaking skills in the target language, it is
necessary that teachers constantly use different strategies in learning contexts to engage all the pupils
in various oral communicative tasks. At present, however, it is predominantly the teacher who speaks
in FL classroom, that`s why the pupils do not get opportunities to obtain the necessary experience of
speaking. In contrast to that teacher-centred approach, the so called FL communicative classroom
includes opportunities to use language in different contexts, where learning experiences are
exchanged. The communicative classroom establishes such learning environment where interaction is
a foundation for language development, it also creates great abilities for pupils to be actively involved
in the learning process. It is comparatively a new teaching strategy which has developmental impact
not only on pupils’ speaking, but also listening, writing and reading abilities. Therefore, FL

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communicative classroom becomes essential especially for those pupils who have fewer experience in
speaking the target language.
Interactive learning technologies include clearly planned learning procedure: interactive
methods, tools, set of activities stimulating learners motivation, cognitive and mental conditions and
requirements for achieving expected results. Thus, interactive technology comprises a scope of
interactive methodological means that a teacher uses in her/his work. Within this context, it should be
mentioned that modern methodology of teaching FL is defined as method or way to reach the
expected goal. The basis of interactive learning is a direct learner – teacher, learner – learner
dialogue. It can be one lesson, a series of lessons or the whole course. Such classification reflects the
main features of interactive methods of teaching a FL, which are: active participation,, collective
responsibility in situational training activities; developing learners' reflective skills, attention,
imagination, observation, innovative thinking; logic, critical thinking and creativity, efficiency,
curiosity, cognitive independence and persistence in achieving goals.
According to many specialists, the most important key to creating an interactive language
classroom is the presence of corresponding motivation. From this point of view, FL learners’
motivation must be preserved, elaborated and heightened by all means. In the framework of
interactive communication, the assumption that motivation and language learning are directly
connected is supported by numerous researchers and teachers. Motivation is the reason for
interaction. A motive is what prompts the person to act in certain way, or at least develop an
inclination for specific behavior. According to a well known definition: ,,Motivation is regarded as a
cycle, in which thoughts influence behaviors, behaviors drive performance, performance affects
thoughts, and this cycle repeats,,. Each stage of the cycle is composed of many dimensions including
attitudes, beliefs, intentions, efforts and withdrawal which can all affect the motivation that an
individual experiences. Motivated pupils are willing to work hard, add their own goals to those of the
classroom, focus their attention on the tasks at hand, persevere through challenges, do not need
continuous encouragement, and may even stimulate others in the classroom, prompting collaborative
learning.
The investigation of up-to-date methodological literature certifies that set of strategies for
application of modern interactive technologies for systematic development of English speaking skills
in Basic School in particular , have not been sufficiently worked out up to now. It doesn`t mean ,
however, that the given problem is somehow underestimated. We are sure, that the lack of
indispensable methodological management for the use and usage of the mentioned technologies in

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solving different FL teaching problems should be considered in wider context. It relates to general
incapability of contemporary methodology of teaching FL to solve a number of essential issues, and
the problem under discussion among them.
It has been scientifically proved that many interactive technologies which are currently used
for the development of FL speaking skills in Basic School are very productive for creating an
adequate speaking environment that provides an interactive participation of all the pupils. However,
it is obvious that using any such technology in teaching a FL speaking skills , without thorough
investigation of its appropriateness and advisability for the given methodological objective, hardly
will create effective conditions for the development of pupils’ communicative skills, as well as its
creative application by the teacher. Thus, scientific approach to modern interactive technologies of
teaching English speaking skills presumes to accumulate useful information on each of them which
enables to adjust any technology in accordance with the structure, functions, content and goals of
interactive teaching for the particular age group of pupils. The question is: how to realize this
trustworthy hypothesis in practice . In other words, there should be clear understanding about the
interactive technologies designed for the development of English speaking skills, as well as data on
methodological management of this process.
Our research focuses on issues of rational application of certain interactive technologies in
teaching/learning English speaking skills in basic school. It sets out to give a general overview of
interactive teaching English in basic school and provides a detailed analyses of modern technologies
used for creating more interactive communicative atmosphere for efficient development of English
speaking skills. The integration of interactive technologies into more efficient development of
English speaking skills should be carried out in accordance with curriculum requirements, taking into
account age peculiarities of the pupils. The mentioned modern technologies should be used as
supplement to the classroom instruction to promote the creation of more motivated, interactive
communicative environment in the classroom.
The theme of the work is: Promotion of the Development English Speaking Skills in the
Classroom Interactive Environment.

The aim of our research is: to analyse methodological data on objective and subjective
factors of interactive teaching English speaking skills and work out relevant strategies for improving
this process through application of contemporary methodological technologies in Basic School.

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The relevance of the work is based on contemporary social demand to disclose pupils`
motivational potential of acquiring English speaking skills by means of purposeful application of
certain interactive technologies in basic school. Appropriate usage of these technologies are
necessary to make the teaching and learning processes more effective on account of creating an
adequate communicative atmosphere in classroom so that the pupils are motivated to be engaged in
interactive oral communication.

The objectives of the graduation paper are:

 to study methodological literature on theory and practice of creating FL classroom


interactive communicative environment in basic school;
 to reveal the share of present-day classroom interactive English speaking activities within
communicative instruction in basic school;
 to work out more efficient methodological strategies by means of creating necessary
conditions for application of interactive technologies in the development of English speaking
skills taking into consideration its significant teaching/learning potential;
 to put into practice tasks increasing pupils` willingness to engage in English interactive
speaking activities;
 to select more remarkable topics for interactive discussion in the target language, relevant for
the given age group;
 to motivate learners using relevant topics as highly interesting for English interactive
discussion;
 to work out set of tasks providing learners with a reason to communicate in the target
language;
 to organize testing of classroom interactive teaching of English speaking skills on the basis
of systemic usage of certain interactive technologies in basic school;
 to register results of testing the usage of certain interactive technologies in teaching English
speaking skills in basic school;
 to drive at conceptual conclusions and make corresponding recommendations about systemic
use of certain interactive technologies which potentially can improve the quality of
teaching/learning English speaking skills in basic school.
The methods used in the research: critical study of corresponding methodological sources,
analyses of the interrelated processes of teaching/learning foreign languages, experimental teaching,

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testing innovative pedagogical ideas, comparative analysis of the experimental results.
The hypothesis of the research is as follows: the development of English speaking skills in
basic school will become more efficient and purposeful if contemporary interactive technologies are
intensively applied in this process promoting the creation of interactive classroom communicative
environment.

The practical value of the work is that the results of the investigation may be helpful for
teachers of the English language, as well as further researches.
Structurally our diploma work consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusion,
references and summary in Armenian.
The first chapter: “General Characteristics of Development English Speaking Skills in
Basic School” is focused on current content of developing speaking skills in basic school, the main
objectives of developing FL speaking skills and problems of teaching/learning English speaking
skills in basic school.
The second chapter: “Strategies for Creating Interactive Classroom Environment to Improve
Teaching English Speaking Skills in Basic School” includes the basic principles of interactive
teaching FL speaking skills, strategies used to promote the development of English speaking skills
in basic school, and testing some interactive technologies to promote the development of English
speaking skills in the 8th Grade.
The conclusion sums up the results and puts forward certain deductions.
The bibliography consists of 32 scientific sources: books, articles and internet sources used
during the research.

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CHAPTER 1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPING ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

1.1 Current Content of Developing English Speaking Skills in Basic School

In the hierarchy of language communicative skills the position of speaking has evolved over the
centuries in response to user`s need. In the 21st century speaking has become a crucial part of a second or
foreign language (ESL , EFL) teaching and learning. Despite its utmost significance, however, for many
decades teaching speaking has been underestimated within the predominant method of the time. Rather
ignored in the Grammar-Translation Method, it became a primary skill in the Direct Method.
Audiolingualism brought even more focus on speaking, although the linguistic principle, it was based
on, viewed oral discourse as imitative routine behaviour in typical and predictable situations. The
grammatical syllabus of the Cognitive Method incorporated activities in all language skills, giving equal
importance to each of them. Finally, Communicative Language Teaching CLT added more realistic
dimension to teaching oral discourse by introducing numerous forms of interaction to the classroom and
practising the language in natural or probable situations [20, pp. 13-14].
Although the contribution of CLT to developing forms of speaking practice in the language
classroom can hardly be overestimated, there is a growing tendency among researchers and practitioners
to criticize it for its insufficient recognition of the complexity of speaking as a psycholinguistic process
and of placing too strong an emphasis on information gap criterion as leading to artificial or impractical
tasks [7, p. 42]. Nowadays, in spite of the inevitable criticism of available methods, techniques or
resources, speaking is generally perceived as the most fundamental skill to acquire. Since the onset of
the communicative era it has been treated as the ultimate goal of language training and its proper
development has become the focus of attention of both teachers and learners of the basic school as well.
However, it is also a commonly recognized fact that achieving proficiency in foreign language speaking
in classroom conditions is not an easy task. Even advanced learners often finish the FL school course
with the conviction that they are not sufficiently prepared for speaking outside the classroom. This
common problem results basically from the character and inadequate frequency of speaking
opportunities in the classroom in comparison to the abundance of natural varieties and modes of oral
communication. In fact, selecting the most appropriate types of spoken discourse for classroom practice

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in a particular language course is a very hard decision which, unfortunately, hardly ever reflects the
natural occurrence and distribution of communicative situations [ 10, pp. 44-47 ].
Additionally, an advanced FL course should create optimal conditions for developing
learners’ sociocultural knowledge, that is “the culturally embedded rules of social behaviour” and
their linguistic knowledge, which includes discourse and speech act knowledge, and knowledge of the
grammar, vocabulary and phonology of the target language [11, p 31]. These knowledge areas must
then be appropriately activated in order to be made available for use in regular speaking practice in
the classroom and beyond. Importantly, as far as the stages of mental processing involved in speaking
are concerned, there is not much difference between native and target languages. Both combine the
processes of conceptualizing, formulating, articulating, self-monitoring and negotiating. Yet, the skill
of speaking is not automatically transferable from the speaker’s first language into the second [11,
p.35].
It is well known, that even extensive knowledge of the target language grammar and
vocabulary often presented by advanced learners of a foreign language does not guarantee success in
oral communication when this knowledge is not properly integrated or accessed [1, p. 162]. Problems
in speaking may be additionally aggravated by excessive use of self-monitoring processes and a
tendency to formulate utterances in the native language first. These mental operations create obvious
costs in terms of fluency and may lead to producing artificial discourse. Some other problems that are
commonly observed in the language classroom are related to individual learners’ personalities and
attitudes to the learning process and learning speaking in particular [32, p. 48].
According to P. Ur the mentioned problems can be defined as follows:
 inhibition – fear of making mistakes, losing face, criticism; shyness;
 nothing to say – learners have problems with finding motives to speak, formulating
opinions or relevant comments;
 low or uneven participation – often caused by the tendency of some learners to dominate in
the academic group;
 mother-tongue use – it refers to incompetent teachers and is particularly common in less
disciplined or less motivated classes for learners find it easier or more natural to express
themselves in their native language [12, p. 115].
As many teachers’ observations indicate, the above mentioned situations occur in language
classrooms regardless of the level of proficiency or the number of pupils in the group. Moreover,
every learner enters any learning and communicative environment with his or her entire personality

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additionally shaped by their prior learning and communicative experiences, both positive and
negative. This individual dimension is particularly noticeable among more advanced learners who
often have a good insight into the nature of their individual difficulties, an accurate assessment of the
skills they have already developed and, consequently, clearly defined needs [4, p. 63].
Designing a speaking syllabus depends on several factors, the most obvious being the age and
level of learners, the learning context and the aim of teaching. First, it must be defined how much
emphasis can be given to speaking within a particular grade and whether speaking is to be taught
separately or integrated with the teaching of other skills and areas of the language. Secondly, it is
essential to choose an approach which defines the teaching procedure. From this point of view, the
selection between a task-based approach, a genre-based one or the combination of both types is the
most crucial step in designing the course as it influences all the elements of the learning process in
progress. Nevertheless, a modern multi-layered syllabus should specify the target aspects of the
speaking skill to be taught, as well as the grammar and vocabulary components [11, p. 85].
According to S. Thornbury genre-based approach focuses on the notion of the
communicative situation which centres around a particular spoken genre or sphere[11, p. 97].
Needless to say, the variety of types of communicative situations is virtually unlimited. As a
consequence, the teacher faces the necessity of deciding which situations should be included in the
language course he or she coordinates. This selection, however well-thought-out it may be, is always
connected with eliminating or ignoring a number of relatively significant situations and concentrating
on those which seem most relevant to the particular learning context. The next step is defining the
most important parameters of the selected situations, such as the topics, goals, discourse genres,
social and cultural norms [32, p. 49]. The actual teaching procedure starts from establishing the social
purpose and cultural context of a given genre, later a typical example is presented and analysed,
finally learners create their own samples of appropriate communicative events [11, pp. 121-122].
In contrast, a task-based approach stems from the general idea that “a language is best learned
through using it, rather than learned and then used” [11, p. 119]. Consequently, it is believed that
accuracy results from fluency, in other words the need to communicate effectively leads to the
refinement of language learning. A task-based syllabus, then, takes the form of a sequence of
integrated tasks which involve speaking, and which reflect the situations that learners are likely to
meet in real circumstances. Both approaches have their advantages and drawbacks. The task-based
approach has been criticized for giving priority to the process of using language rather than focusing
on the language that learners actually produce. The genre-based approach has been considered

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inadequate as it relies too heavily on imitating models and this is not necessarily the way in which
people communicate in real life [31, p. 90]. It seems, however, that all learners may benefit more
from a genre-based framework since it emphasizes the importance of social context, purpose, register
and interlocutors’ expectations, that is the components of a communicative situation which are
seldom covered or analysed in classrooms at lower levels of language proficiency.
It must be stressed that all oral discourse stems from a communicative intention, that is the
speaker has a definite aim which he or she wants to achieve in a particular communicative situation.
This situation may require creative thinking and producing a highly personal individualized
utterance or relying on automatic reactions in accordance with established social and cultural norms.
Yet, in order to implement a communicative goal, a speaker must enable the interlocutor to
understand, interpret and evaluate the information being passed. Seen from such a perspective,
speaking seems a very complex activity which combines the processes of intending, planning,
constructing and monitoring. Eventually, these operations have to be executed in fractions of seconds
according to the demands of communicative fluency [7, p. 233].
In the light of the above mentioned assumptions it may be claimed that ongoing content of
developing English speaking skills in basic school does not adequately administered for purposeful
enhancement of this process. In other words, the present model of teaching English speaking skills is
not satisfactory, because pupils much more listen to FL speech in the classroom than get the
possibility to be engaged in speaking activities. Whereas, it seems obvious that in order to learn to
speak or develop this ability, learners have to speak as much as possible. As Skehan claims, a
comprehension-based approach is not sufficient on its own, and relying on listening tasks as the only
source of language input does not guarantee success in language learning [10, p. 16]. He underlines
the importance of output, that is the actual practice of interactive speaking, and identifies the roles it
may play in interlanguage development:
 to generate better input – speaking is used as a signaling device to obtain better input, it
enables the negotiation for meaning in the form of clarification requests and
comprehension or confirmation checks;
 to force syntactic processing – being aware that they have to speak makes learners more
attentive to syntax while listening, as a result listening tasks become more effective for
interlanguage development;
 to test hypotheses – it should not be assumed that the learner will individually receive
relevant information for the specific needs of his or her interlanguage at the right moment,

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by speaking the learner controls the present state of one`s interlanguage, tests hypotheses,
takes risks and looks for relevant feedback;
 to develop automaticity – to become effective as a speaker, the learner needs to achieve a
degree of ease and a natural level of speed and rhythm, frequent speaking practice is the
only way of acquiring such fluency;
 to develop discourse skills – speaking practice cannot focus only on “short turns” but it
should also give opportunities for taking part in extended discourse, this allows for
developing discourse management and turn-taking skills, which underlie the negotiation of
meaning in ongoing communication;
 to develop a personal voice – learners who rely exclusively on what others say are not
likely to develop a personal manner of speaking, they are dependent on the meanings they
are exposed to and cannot steer conversations, each learner should learn how to
meaningfully influence ongoing discourse and find ways of individual expression.
The above mentioned approach suggests that frequent and well-planned speaking practice has
a great impact on learners’ interlanguage development. However, the question of whether it is a
sufficient and efficient condition for language learning still remains open for theoretical and practical
consideration [10, pp. 16–19].
Traditional classroom speaking practice often takes the form of drills in which one person asks
a question and another gives an answer. The question and the answer are structured and predictable,
and often there is only one correct, predetermined answer. The purpose of asking and answering the
question is to demonstrate the ability to ask and answer the question. By encouraging pupils to use
clarification phrases in class when misunderstanding occurs, and by responding positively when they
do, instructors can create an authentic practice environment within the classroom itself. As they
develop control of various clarification strategies, learners will gain confidence in their ability to
manage the various communication situations that they may encounter outside the classroom.
In contrast, the purpose of real communication is to accomplish a task, such as conveying a
telephone message, obtaining information, or expressing an opinion. In real communication,
participants must manage uncertainty about what the other person will say. Authentic communication
involves an information gap; each participant has information that the other does not have. In
addition, to achieve their purpose, participants may have to clarify their meaning or ask for
confirmation of their own understanding [2, p.96].

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To create classroom speaking activities that will develop communicative competence,
instructors need to incorporate a purpose and an information gap and allow for multiple forms of
expression. However, quantity alone will not necessarily produce competent speakers. Instructors
need to combine structured output activities, which allow for error correction and increased accuracy,
with communicative output activities that give pupils opportunities to practice language use more
freely.
Thus, the above mentioned comes to certify that the ongoing content of teaching English
speaking skills in basic school doesn`t meet the learners` today`s communicative needs, that is they
do not obtain speaking skills to use beyond certain topics and beyond the classroom. These and other
difficulties result basically from the current content of organizing the development of speaking skills,
its insufficient character and inadequate frequency of speaking opportunities in the classroom, which
is the only invariable place to obtain necessary experience in that sphere of FL communication.

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1.2 The Main Objectives of Developing English Speaking Skills in Basic School.

In methodological literature it is often indicated that developing oral communicative skills is


a real challenge for EFL or ESL teachers if the learners do not study the target language in an
adequate speaking environment [16, p. 273]. In order to enhance pupils` FL speaking competence
within the oral communicative development language learning strategies must be linked to
meaningful communicative activities in the classroom [8, p. 51]. Therefore, language teaching
activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing individual language use, which requires that FL
teachers should not only create a purposeful and humanistic classroom atmosphere, but also provide
each learner with a turn to speak. English language learners benefit when more opportunities are
given for practicing English language skills. Nowadays, It is a truth acknowledged by almost all
methodologists and FL teachers that learning speaking skills is more effective when pupils have an
opportunity to participate fully, interactively discussing ideas and information rather than teachers
talking and learners listening [23, p. 90]. Thus, FL teaching/learning environment should be
constructed in a way that allows learners to interact not only freely, but with desire and pleasure as
well [5, pp. 42-43]. From this point of view, our diploma work focuses on using adequate strategies
for creating such classroom communicative atmosphere and activities which will for the most part
enable learners to participate in acquiring English speaking skills more efficiently. Hence, within this
diploma research we decided to identify the most effective strategies that can be employed in the
classroom.
It is well known that in practice of teaching foreign languages the formation and
development of speaking skills is currently thought to be the most important among the four
communicative skills [3, p. 88]. All over the world, for most people the ability to speak especially
English has become synonymous with knowing that language. That is why, speaking English, as well
as in other second or foreign languages has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four
skills, i.e listening, speaking, reading and writing [2, p. 391]
It has been long ago scientifically proved that learners of foreign languages usually attain
more higher level of proficiency in receptive rather than in productive communicative skills, though,
in both cases mastering the communicative skills is based on a considerable amount of practice. The
efficiency of practical activity in learning languages principally depends on the teachers’ theoretical
competence and practical training experience [21, p. 775].
Originally, language came into being as a means of communication. It exists and is alive only

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through speech. So, when we speak about teaching a foreign language, we first of all mean teaching it
as a means of communication which is no longer a language, but speech in its oral and written
manifestations [22, p. 16]. Speech is a bilateral process. Oral speech includes hearing and speaking,
i.e. oral communication has two types: receptive-listening and productive-speaking.
In organizing the development of FL speaking skills certain principles are used for designing
the so called speaking techniques. Speaking techniques include tasks designed to help learners attain
speaking proficiency in the target language on the basis of certain principles systematically used by
the teacher [14, p. 45]. Among the most advantageous such principles to be mentioned are:

 Techniques should cover the spectrum of learner’s needs, from language-based focus on
accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency.
 Techniques should be intrinsically motivated.
 Techniques should encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts.
 The teacher should consistently provide feedback and correction.
 The teacher should establish natural link between speaking and listening activities.
 The teacher should give pupils opportunities to initiate oral communication.
 The teacher should encourage the development of strategic competence by using techniques
of verbal and non-verbal means of oral communication.
The overall efficiency of teaching/leaning FL speaking skills is considerably conditioned by
the types of classroom speaking performance. Taking into account the closest relations between
listening and speaking, at least six categories of oral performance are advised to be carried out in the
classroom [13, p.434] . Four of them, the most significant in our opinion, are presented below:

1.Imitative (drills)

Imitation in the form of drilling is performed for focusing on some particular element of
language. Drills offer learners an opportunity to listen to and orally repeat certain fragments of
language representing some difficulty, either phonological or grammatical. Drills are to language
teaching what knowledge is to other subjects [19, p. 83]. Drills offer limited practice through
repetition. Here are some useful instructions for successful drills:

 Keep them short (only a few minutes of a class hour).


 Keep them simple (preferably just one point at a time).
 Make sure learners are aware why they are doing the given drill.

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 Limit drills to phonology or grammar phenomena.
 Make sure they ultimately lead to communicative goals.
 Don’t overuse drilling.

2.Intensive

Intensive speaking relates to the practice of some phonological or grammatical aspects


of language. Intensive speaking can be self-initiated or it can even form part of some pair work
activity when learners test certain speech patterns.
3.Responsive

A good deal of learner speech in the classroom is responsive, which consists of short
replies to teacher or learner-initiated questions or comments. These kinds of replies are usually
sufficient and do not extend into dialogues. Such speech is usually meaningful and authentic:
e.g. Teacher: How are you today?
Pupil: Thank you, I’m well.
Teacher: What is the main idea in this text?
Pupil: Teacher’s profession is the best.
4.Interpersonal (dialogue)

The other form of conversation is the interpersonal dialogue, carried out more for the
purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the exchange of information. This form of
conversation is a little complicated for learners because it may involve the following linguistic
phenomena:
 a casual register – a piece of speech, which is characteristic to casual interactions, such as:

confidential, intimate, emotional etc.

 colloquial language – a word stock used in everyday conversation but not in formal speech
 slang – a set of words and expressions, used by a particular social group, such as:

soldiers, teenagers, criminals etc.

 ellipsis – sentences with omitted words, the meaning of which, however, is understood
 sarcasm – comments that involve mockery, intended to make somebody seem or feel
ridiculous, angry, unreasonable, silly etc” [3, p. 70].

17
Thus, we have touched upon only the most significant objectives of teaching English speaking
skills in basic school, though in practice the teachers deal with many other objectives.

1.3 Difficulties of Teaching/Learning English Speaking Skills and Some Ways to


Overcome them in Basic School

The main goal of teaching speaking skills is to develop corresponding communicative


efficiency. It is a gradual process, accompanied by a number of objective and subjective factors. It is
known, that when learners of a foreign language try to express themselves this process usually starts
with certain hesitation, i.e. cliché expressions which fill in pauses, much repetition and frequent
indefiniteness as they seek the most convenient combination of words to express their intended
thought [9, p. 54]. These difficulties are due to such factors as: poor speaking practice, deficient
vocabulary, or lack of self-confidence, fear of making mistakes, as well as lack of interest in the
subject [15, p. 139]. Some of such problems need more detailed explanation.

Lack of Interest in the Subject:

Many learners in foreign language classrooms stay silent because they have "nothing to say ".
This may be the reason of the fact that the teacher has chosen a topic about which learners know very
little or nothing. In such situations second language learners often prefer not to make explanations,
and when they are imposed to participate in discussion of the given topic their common answers are:
"I have nothing to talk about", "I don't know", "No comment" or they keep silent whatsoever..

Poor Listening Practice:

It is well known that listening comprehension plays a major role in the interaction that occurs
between two or more people. Nowadays, in the development of FL oral speech majority of teachers,
as well as pupils pay more attention to teaching/learning speaking than listening skills. Therefore, the
student does not comprehend sufficient elements in the message to be able to make further
contribution to the discussion.

Deficient Vocabulary:

As practice shows, most of the learners encounter with difficulties in using and choosing
appropriate words when expressing thoughts in the target language. As a matter of fact, the volume of
the passive vocabulary prevails over the active one in FL school instruction which causes certain

18
difficulties for communication. The teacher must be aware of this methodological factor and help
his/her pupils to feel at ease while communicating in a foreign language.

Mother Tongue Use:

Needless to prove, that in learning a foreign language all the pupils tend to use their mother
tongue not only outside, but also inside the classroom because they feel more comfortable and less
exposed to the target language. In the framework of communicative language teaching it is within the
FL teacher`s professional duty to motivate learners to use the target language as much as possible.

Lack of Self Confidence and Fear of Making Mistakes:

In many classes, some learners prefer to keep their ideas to themselves because they are afraid
of being corrected by the teacher. However, pupils' mistakes must be corrected, but in case the pupil
is attempting to encode her/his thoughts they should be interrupted as little as possible. This problem
reveals more when learners try to participate in communication but many factors stop them to do so.
There are too many negative factors, which refer to the feeling of shyness and fear of making
mistakes and these are due to the development of communicative skills and the feeling of linguistic
inferiority. Learners fear to make mistakes especially if they speak about negative aspects. As S.
Thornbury states: "…learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in
the classroom worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or loosing face, or simply shy of
the attention that their speech attracts" [11, p. 89].

Low Uneven Participation:

There are always pupils who tend to be dominant and take almost the whole classroom FL
talk time. However, there are others who prefer to speak only if they are sure that what they say is
correct, and still other pupils who keep silent, show no interest or participation all along the course.
Some specialists suggest streaming weak participators in groups and permiting them work together.
In such cases, they think, learners will not hide behind the strong participators, and the teacher can
achieve a high level of participation. Another factor that can create problem of participation is the
classroom arrangement that may not help learners to perform some speaking activities. Low
participation is due to the ignorance of teacher's motivation too. If the teacher does not motivate
her/his learners, the talkative ones also will show no interest. So, increasing and directing pupils`
motivation is also one of the teacher's responsibilities.
Overcoming the above mentioned and other problems in teaching Fl speaking skills in basic

19
school basically depends on the teachers` proficiency and competency. However, it is not the only
role of the FL teacher. The latter has to play different roles in the classroom at the same time. At least
three roles of FL teacher, i.e.: prompter, participant and feedback provider in organizing the
purposeful development of speaking skills is depicted below.

Prompter: the teacher should help his/her learners when they get lost, or cannot think of what to say
next or in some other way lose the fluency the teacher expects of them. Sometimes, the best option
teacher can do is to leave the pupils to struggle out on their own. However, the teacher may offer
discrete suggestions to help them [18, p. 446].

Participant: teachers can participate in discussions or role-plays themselves to prompt covertly,


introduce new information. This will help the activity along, ensure continuing learner engagement,
and maintain a creative atmosphere [6, p. 27].

Feedback provider: teachers should be aware of when and how to give feedback in speaking
activities because over-correction may inhibit learners and take the communicativeness out of the
activity. [4, p. 210]

Speaking about the difficulties in the development of English speaking skills in basic school it
should not be underestimated the impact of motivation on this process. From this point of view, first
to be mentioned is pupils` interest in topics which are touched upon in English classes. When a topic
connects to what learners like to do, their engagement in communicative activities deepens as they
willingly spend time thinking, dialoging, and creating ideas in meaningful ways [17, p. 83]. Making
learning contextual to real-world experiences is a key learning technique with differentiating for
learner interests. Often the core content and concepts are represented in the world beyond the
classroom or school building in ways that pupils cannot make sense. When teachers plan for content,
processing, and product, differentiating by interests help remove the blindfold so that learners can
see those invisible concepts made visible.
According to specialists, pupils` interests often work well with instructional planning based
on readiness and learning profiles. Readiness combined with interest lead to learners, doing work at a
respectable complexity level with the familiarity of a topic that they relate to. For example, pupils
could write persuasive reviews about games or items that they know intimately, or they might explore
science concepts through LEGO Robotics [19, pp. 90-91]. Matching learning profiles with learners`
interests allows learners to process understanding of concepts through different modalities based on
their own experiences.

20
The first step to differentiate for interests is to find out what learners care about and like to do.
Pupil surveys and learning profile cards are two methods for collecting the data [21, p. 770]. Parents
and pupils providing these details send the message that their experiences matter. That is a powerful
message to start off the school year or term [31, p. 72].
Promoting choice allows teachers to decide their activities: give learners choices based on a
variety of interests. Many pupils may share common ground, which means that there is often
something for everyone. For individuals with serious disengagement issues, teachers recommend
activities around their interests, either as a targeted readiness activity or as something the whole class
could experience. The benefit is that disengaged learners will make the connections they need, and
the others get to see the learning target from a new perspective.
A higher level of activating interest is to have learners propose their own ideas for products
and activities. This constructivist approach engages pupils to do more complex work and spend more
time on the task than they normally would. It also terrifies some teachers for how to quality control
the vast variety of products that learners could develop. It is advised a practical two-step approach:

 Have clear learning criteria and ensure that learners understand them.
 Limit the options to a manageable number.

All the pupils are motivated by tasks that interest them. When learners care, they willingly
spend hours carried away with speaking, reading and revising the past material. Learners are less
concerned about dealing with complex work with difficult obstacles if the topic interests them and if
they have relative freedom in accomplishing the work. If this approach is good for professionals,
why not use it for pupils [5, p. 48].

21
CHAPTER 2. STRATEGIES FOR CRIATING INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM
ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

2.1 The Basic Principles of Interactive Teaching FL Speaking Skills

In interrelated processes of teaching and learning the English language adequate interaction
between participants plays significant role to give and take inputs that emphasizes the level of
activeness of learners in acquiring the target language. In this respect, learners will be more
autonomous, self-actualized and self-fulfilled when they are adequately involved in interactive
learning process. Interaction can be implemented by teacher’s initiative to learners and learners’ to
themselves. Undoubtedly, the best way to acquire a language other than the mother tongue is to live
in communities where it is the main means of communication or in other places where it is in
constant use. In the mentioned circumstances anybody will have to acquire a FL sooner or later. As to
the passive communicative environment, where one can use the target language only by chance, the
only place for steady communication for pupils is the classroom. The latter is considered the best
place for the steady formation and development of both oral and written communicative skills if this
process is implemented on scientific basis and if all the pupils are interactively engaged in the
educational process. In this respect, H. Jonassen states that as a communication tool, language can be
acquired only by practicing and experiencing and by interaction [14, pp. 45-46].
M. H. Long argues that interaction facilitates acquisition of language because of the
modification of language through conversation expressed in such discourse and provides input that
the learners need [16, p. 277]. Through interaction learners obtain opportunities to comprehend and
use the language that was otherwise incomprehensible for them. Many specialists claim that
interaction in communicative classroom plays irreplaceable role in foreign or second language
acquisition. Altogether, everybody may obtain any skills better if he/she experiences it by
himself/herself. So, when the learners are engaged in interactive classroom activities, they get much
more opportunities to develop communicative skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. In
other words, the success in learning a FL is directly conditioned by the teachers` capability to create
classroom interactive communicative environment [14, p. 46]

22
On the contrary, it is often stated that the failure of FL teachers to maintain interaction will
yield to unfulfilled teaching objectives, and first of all, inefficient development of learners` speaking
skills due to mismanagement of creating classroom interactive communicative environment.
According to D. Nunan, most of the problems related to unsatisfactory development of FL speaking
skills should be traced exactly to teacher`s incompetence [17, p. 137]. On account of professional and
personal problems many FL teachers often do not involve pupils in interactive learning process, or, at
least, take care of participation in that process only some of them. It is no secret that many of learners
are treated as participants who listen and accept the material given by teacher passively. That is why,
teacher-centred approach, i.e. domination of teacher should be avoided in teaching and learning
process[15, p. 44]. Whereas, within learner-centred approach, all the pupils of the given class are
supposed to be interactively involved in all the classroom activities [3, p 128]. Teacher should
facilitate learners participation in communication and regard them as an inseparable component in
teaching and learning processes to make a qualified interaction. The teacher should have perfect
methodological background which assumes possessing many techniques and strategies in the process
of teaching to create the involvement of all the learners. In the basic school, teachers should act like
learner’s parents who have responsibility in the improvement of their communicative abilities and
attitudes [17, p. 154].
As R. Oxford stated, for creating an interactive classroom environment the teacher should
have some roles that are characterized as: controller, director, manager, facilitator, resource [22, p.
166]. From this point of view, the teacher should predict and prepare beforehand every single thing to
make class interactive or, at least active. It should be also mentioned, that practicing a target language
in learners’ culture only in the classroom is the key factor in second or foreign language development.
It will give the opportunity to learners to speak in the language through interaction. Interaction
motivates learners to talk and may provide them with opportunities to use the target language. So,
teachers should integrate instruction strategies into interactive activities, providing a wealth of
information about communicative strategies to raise learners’ awareness about their own learning
styles so that they can develop their own strategies to the requirements of learning tasks. [14, p. 46].
In designing activities, teachers should consider all of skills exercised in the classroom naturally.
Hence, interaction is a very important activity in a foreign language teaching/learning. In the present
era of communicative language teaching, interaction is actually considered to be the heart of
communication and it is what communication is all about [8, p. 96].
The main principles of interactive teaching foreign languages are:

23
 Automaticity – Interaction is best accomplished when particular attention is on contents of
speech, and not on grammar and other linguistic forms.
 Intrinsic motivation – As learners become engaged with one another in speech acts of
fulfillment and self-actualization, their deepest motivation is satisfied. And as they more fully
appreciate their own competence to use language, they will develop a system of self-reward.
 Strategic investment – Interaction requires the utilization of strategic language competence
both to form certain decisions on the way to say or write or interpret language.
 Risk-taking – Interaction requires a particular degree of risk of failing to precise intended
meaning, of failing to interpret intended meaning, of being laughed at, of being despised or
rejected. The rewards in fact are great and worth the risks.
 The language-culture connection – The cultural loading of interactive oral speech requires
that interlocutors be thoroughly moderated within the cultural nuances of language.
 Inter language – The complexity of interaction assumes an extended development process of
acquisition. Numerous errors of speaking and comprehension are going to be a part of this
development, and therefore the role of teachers’ feedback is crucial to the development
process.
 Communicative competence – All of the components of communicative competence:
linguistic, discourse, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, strategic are involved in interaction. All
components must work together for successful communication to take place [8, pp. 90-92].

The above mentioned certifies that interaction and communication are fundamental aspects for
pupils with English as a foreign language. Methodological research has proven that interaction is the
main goal for language development where pupils get opportunities to comprehend and express
themselves in the target language [23, p. 138]. Furthermore, pupils need to participate in social
contexts where they are using the English language as a comprehensible output. When learning
contexts require pupils to focus on the spoken language, and how knowledge, thoughts, and opinions
are expressed, the learners unconsciously develop grammatical skills [23 p. 138]. However, many
researchers have shown that in every classroom and in every learning context the teacher meets pupils
who do not have the courage and motivation to participate in the communicative tasks [6, p. 29].
English as a foreign language learners are more often willing to participate in reading, writing and
listening skills, but feel unwilling to speak English. In order to develop speaking abilities in the target
language, it requires that teachers consciously use different strategies in learning contexts to engage

24
pupils in various communication tasks. In addition, the pupils do not acquire a language if it is only
the teacher who speaks in the classroom, this is because the pupils do not get opportunities to imitate
words and phrases [23, p. 142]. It reaffirms that the communicative classroom includes opportunities
to use language in different contexts, where learning experiences are exchanged.

25
2.2 Strategies Used to Promote the Development of English Speaking Skills in
Basic School
Within interactive instruction of the English language, pupils are expected to learn it as a
means of communication predominantly on the basis of classroom verbal activities. As it was
mentioned in previous subchapters, the teaching of English speaking has currently become a matter
of major concern in basic school and using appropriate strategies to improve this process is viewed
as one of the effective factors influencing the teaching outcome. In addition, strategies employed to
achieve the ability to speak should be different because the goals of each communicative skill are not
the same. Moreover, the strategies for teaching English speaking skills should be made appropriate
for each school age group in order to attain the expected outcomes.
Regarding purposeful strategies for teaching English speaking, it is of utmost significance to
take into account the peculiarities of the given kind of communicative ability. It is clear, that the
ability to speak is not influenced by a single factor, but a number of objective and subjective factors.
Some of those factors to be mentioned are: linguistics knowledge, which consists of genre
knowledge, discourse knowledge, grammar, vocabulary, and phonology, and extra linguistic
knowledge, which includes topic and cultural background, knowledge of the context, and familiarity
with the other speakers, etc. [11, p. 83]. So, it is quite natural, that teachers may use different
strategies of teaching to achieve teaching-learning goals and objectives. Correspondingly, as R. W.
Cole asserts, it is the teacher’s role to provide effective plans/strategies in accomplishing learners’
educational needs, whose general purpose is to communicate using the language being learnt [24 p.
109]. The mentioned and many other assumptions imply that it is teachers’ responsibility to make
pupils speak English by employing suitable teaching strategies of speaking.
This diploma research has been carried out to put into practice more purposeful strategies to
be employed in teaching speaking to pupils of senior grades of basic school.
In search of the mentioned strategies, we encountered with a variety of definitions and
interpretations of the term “teaching speaking”. The problem is, that many specialists have
differently defined the meaning of teaching, which has basic meaning in this case. Thus, K. Feiman-
Nemser and R. Buchmann define teaching as the work of helping people learn “worthwhile
things,” which, as they point out, add an explicitly moral dimension [25, p. 499]. Furthermore, J.
Cohen has stated that teaching can be defined as helping others learn to do particular things as
everyday activity in which many people engage regularly [25, p. 501]. S. Thornbury defines

26
“teaching speaking” as an interactive process which requires the ability to cooperate in the
management of speaking turns [11, p. 70]. According to S. Thornbury speaking is a productive skill,
and as such it needs to be developed and practiced independently of the grammar curriculum [11, p.
70]. D. Kayi also states that speaking is a productive skill in the oral mode [26, p. 65]. He ads, that it,
like the other communicative skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than
just pronouncing words [26, p. 67]. According to D. Nunan , teaching speaking means that the teacher
teaches the learner to:
 produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns,
 use words and sentences, stress intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language,
 select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience,
situation and subject matter,
 organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence,
 use language as a means of expressing, values and judgments,
 use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as
fluency [27, pp. 59-60] .

For different age groups of schoolchildren to acquire solid speaking background in their target
language, it is vital that language teachers put into practice the appropriate type of methodological
approach. The use of interactive language teaching strategies is therefore now widely recommended
as a convincing way to make EFL or ESL classes increasingly focused on pupil participation and
strongly oriented towards communication practice. In this connection it should be noted, that the
term “interactive” has two distinct, but commonly used meanings. It refers both to communication
between people and to the engagement of a user with an online or computer programme [14, p. 46].
Here we will entirely concentrate on the first meaning of the mentioned term.
As it was mentioned above, interactive language teaching strategies have been associated
with the development and implementation of communicative method. Putting into teaching practice
the principles of the communicative method, FL teachers sooner or later realize, that all their efforts
are in vein, i.e. no sufficient results can be expected if learners are not motivated to be voluntarily
involved in classroom activities. Pupils simply do not learn very much by just sitting in class,
listening to teachers and pretending that they are really interested in lesson. Therefore, teachers
should create classroom environment that encourage learners to participate actively in their learning
through verbal interaction in the teaching process [11, p. 237].

27
J. Harner identifies the following five core characteristics of classrooms where active learning
is being successfully deployed [11, p. 238].

 The teacher acts as the facilitator, guiding the learners to become relatively autonomous.
 Teaching focuses not so much on correct grammatical structures but on situations where and
how to use them.
 Specialists work out authentic materials that address the learning needs of the given age of
pupils.
 Learning focuses on language functions and the ability to use them.
 FL teachers use specifically designed tasks that help learners become more self-confident and
fluent users of the target language.
Having in mind the mentioned characteristics of a FL instruction, teachers, as a rule, seek to
get more specific recommendations on how they can use interactive language teaching strategies in
practice. Well, there are many feasibilities for FL instructors to deploy interactive teaching strategies
in their language classrooms. A various number of speaking teaching strategies are now utilized and
used in the classrooms for many circumstances. Below, we’ve highlighted the most common and
highly recommended strategies that maximize opportunities for communication between the teacher
and learners and between learners as well. In all cases, the objective here is to encourage pupils to
repeatedly practice FL speaking, harmonizing it with the other core communicative skills: listening,
reading and writing.

Within the strategies of interactive FL teaching all the classroom activities towards the
development of speaking skills are carried out on the basis of pair and group work. There are,
however, some important distinctions between pair work and group work.
Pair work in language class is a cooperative activity, during which learners share aims and
responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teachers in pairs. Pair work is more appropriate for
tasks that are:
 short,
 linguistically simple,
 quite controlled in terms of the structure of the task.
Appropriate pair activities, that are not recommended for groups of more than two, include:
 practicing dialogues with a partner,
 simple question and answer exercises,
 quick (one minute or less) brainstorming activity.

28
Group work is a common term in teaching activity, covering a multiplicity of techniques in
which more than two learners are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated
interaction. According to P. Ur, group work activities can create many opportunities for learners to
practice speaking fluency [12, p. 64]. It has many advantages for group work:
 generates interactive communication,
 provides opportunities for learner initiation and extended conversational exchanges,
 offers an embracing affective climate,
 promotes learner responsibility and autonomy,
 is a step toward individualizing instruction.
Many specialists draw teachers` attention to the fact that with all its advantages group work
may fail or at least be inefficient if it is not carefully planned, professionally managed, monitored
throughout, and attain its purpose [7, p. 19]. It is also commonly viewed, that group work cannot be
successful without employing appropriate technologies[13, p. 424].
The most advisable group tasks for interactive development of English Speaking skills are:
games, role-play and simulation, drama, projects, interview, brainstorming, information gap,
jigsaw, problem-solving and decision making, opinion exchange, pair and share activities, several
minutes paper.
 Games
Several of the other group tasks outlined below could thus become “games”. Especially
guessing games are common language classroom activities. “Twenty questions,” for example, is
easily adapted to a small group. One member of the group secretly decides that he or she is some
famous person; the rest of the group have to find out who within 20 yes/no questions, each member of
the group taking turns asking questions. The person who is “it” rotates around the group and points
are scored.
 Role-play and simulations
Role-play minimally involves:
 giving a role to one or more members of a group,
 assigning an objective or purpose that participants must accomplish.

In pairs, for example, pupil A is an employer: pupil B is a prospective employee: the objective
is for A to interview B. In groups, similar dual roles could be assumed with assignments to others in
the group to watch for certain grammatical or discourse elements as the roles are acted out. On a

29
group role-play might involve a discussion of a political issue with each person assigned to represent
a particular political point of view. Thus, simulations are activities where pupils are asked to pretend
to be in various social contexts and various social roles [2, p. 139].
 Drama
Drama is a more formalized form of role-play or simulation, with a preplanned line and
script. Sometimes small groups may prepare their own short dramatization of some event, writing
the script and rehearsing the scene as a group. This may be more commonly referred to as a “skit”.
These kind of dramatic performances have positive effects on language learning, but, in fact, they are
time consuming and rarely can form part of a typical school curriculum.
 Projects
For learners of all ages, but especially for younger learners who can greatly benefit
from hands –on approaches to language, certain projects can be rewarding indeed. If you
were to adopt an environmental awareness theme in your class, for example, various small groups
could each be doing different things: e.g., Group A creates an environmental bulletin board for the
rest of the school; Group B develops fact sheets; Group C makes a three-dimensional display; Group
D puts out a newsletter for the rest of the school; Group E develops a skit and so on. As learners get
absorbed in purposeful projects, both receptive and productive language is used meaningfully.
 Interview
Interviews are useful at all levels of proficiency. At the lower levels, interviews can be very
structured. The goal of an interview at this level must be limited to using requesting functions,
learning vocabulary for expressing personal data, producing questions, etc. Learners may ask each
other questions like:
 What is your name?
 Where do you live?
 What country (city) are you from?
At the higher levels, interview can probe more complex facts, opinions, ideas, and feelings.
 Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a technique and its purpose is to initiate some sort of thinking
process. Brainstorming is often put to excellent use in preparing learners to read a text, to discuss a
complex issue, or to write on a topic. Brainstorming involves learners in a rapid-fire, free association
listing of concepts or ideas or facts or feelings relevant to some topic or context.

30
Suppose you were about to read a passage on future means of transportation. You might ask a
small group to brainstorm:
 different forms of transportation, past and present,
 current obstacles to more efficient means of transportation.
The groups’ task would be to make a composite list of everything they can think of within the
category, without evaluating it. In brainstorming, no discussion of the relative merits of a thought
takes place; everything and anything goes. This way, all ideas are legitimate, and learners are released
to soar the heights and plum the depths, as it were, with no obligation to defend a concept. In
whatever follow-up to brainstorming you plan, at that point evaluation and discussion can take place.
 Information gap
The term information gap covers a tremendous variety of techniques in which the objective
is to convey or to request information. The two focal characteristics of information gap techniques
are:
 their primary attention to information and not to language forms,
 the necessity of communicative interaction in order to reach the objective.
The information that learners must seek can range from very simple to complex.
At the beginning level, for example, each member of a small group could be given the
objective of finding out from the others information about their:
 birthday,
 address,
 family members,
 favorite food, etc. and filling in a little chart with the information.
In intermediate classes the teacher may ask group participants about their:
 occupations or hobbies,
 likes and dislikes,
 how long it takes to prepare home assignments,
 best friend(s), etc.
In advanced classes, an interactive group discussion may touch upon such topics as:
 favorite literary hero,
 favorite profession(s),
 attitude towards spot and games,

31
 future plans, etc.
 Jigsaw
Jigsaw techniques are a special form of information gap in which each member of a group is
given some specific information and the goal is to pool all information to achieve some objective.
Imagine four members of a group, each with a [fictitious] application form, and on each form
different information is provided. As pupils ask each other questions (without showing anyone their
own application form), they eventually complete all the information on the form.
Another example of using a jigsaw technique is: you might provide maps to learners in small
groups, each learner receiving different sets of information (where the river or mountain is, etc.). The
goal beginners might be simply to locate everything correctly, and for intermediate learners to give
directions on how to get from one place on the map to another, requiring a collaborative exchange of
information. Then, shuffling the strips the teacher gives each learner a strip. The objective is for
pupils to determine where each of their sentences belongs in the whole context of the story, to stand
on their position once it is determined, and to read off the reconstructed story. Most of the pupils
usually enjoy this technique and almost always find it challenging.
 Problem solving and decision making
Problem solving group techniques focus on the group’s solution of a specified problem. They
might or might not involve jigsaw characteristics, and the problem itself might be relatively simple
(such as giving directions on a map), moderately complex (such as working out an itinerary from
train, plane, and bus schedules) or quite complex (such as solving a mystery in a “crime story” or
dealing with political or moral dilemma). Once again, problem solving techniques center learners’
attention on meaningful cognitive challenges and not so much on grammatical or phonological
forms.
 Opinion exchange
An opinion is usually a belief or feeling that might not be founded on empirical data or that
others could plausibly take issue with. Opinions are often difficult for pupils to deal with at the
beginning levels of proficiency, but by the intermediate level, certain techniques can effectively
include the exchange of various opinions.
 Pair and share activities

This approach helps to extend learners` FL communication beyond simple conversation


practice. Teachers usually offer each pair a topic, a problem, or a question to work on or resolve.
Pupils are given time to form their own conclusion which they then discuss with their pair in their

32
own voice. Learners are encouraged to question each other and argue their case before presenting
their individual responses back to the whole class.

 Several minutes paper

This is another efficient classroom activity to bring together both speaking and writing skills.
Within this activity the teacher asks all pupils to spend several minutes writing about a particular
topic. This might be, for example, to sum up a topic that has been taught or just a general point of
discussion. Having written for two-three minutes, learners then share what they have written in pairs,
groups, or with the whole class. It, therefore, provides an opportunity for all participants to have their
own views heard and not just those who are usually “vocal” in classroom discussions. It is also a very
productive way to develop the pupils` fast thinking and expressing oral and written speech in the
target language.

2.3 Testing Some Interactive Strategies to Promote the Development of English


Speaking Skills in the 8th Grade
33
Two years research of our diploma work, as well as eight years experience of teaching the
English language in a basic school maintain that the success of instruction depends less on pupils`
linguistic knowledge and teaching materials, and more on how the classroom activities are
organized. From this viewpoint, the strategies used by teacher in developing English speaking skills
should be considered as crucial to gain the adequate level of oral communicative skills set by the
curriculum. In this respect, there is a generally recognized viewpoint among the specialists that
strategies now used in teaching English speaking in most of the Armenian basic schools are not
enough efficient and helpful for schoolchildren to gain such skills. Consequently, more
contemporary, purposeful strategies should be implemented in the given teaching process for pupils
of different age groups.
Thus, efficient teaching strategies should be considered as a decisive factor in teaching FL,
and English speaking skills in particular. Rationally selected and applied in this process strategies
may explicitly entail many aspects of a FL instruction, such as: making conscious efforts to acquire
new lexical and grammatical items, selective approach to tasks of major and minor importance,
context based inference and storing the first-hand information into one's long-term memory etc.
However, the influence of other factors that account for individual outcome of this process, such as
learners` motivation, their attitudes towards learning language material, the fear of failure, and many
others should not be neglected either. Particularly, classroom activities should always motivate
learners to do their best. According to modern methodological data, the application of purposeful
techniques have proved to be a peculiar appeal to pupils` inner selves, which make them complete a
variety of tasks and be proud of themselves, and enjoy it as well [22, p. 93 ] It is also well known,
however, that not all the pupils are easily motivated, so teachers often have to use a wide range of
motivational attitudes [29, p. 14].
Taking into account the necessity and importance of using more efficient strategies for the
development of English speaking skills, it is essential to create maximum classroom prerequisites to
help pupils become really skillful speakers. To reach this goal in the framework of communicative
approach, it requires modeling appropriate interactive English speaking strategies which will enable
pupils acquire flexible skills of oral speech: those that learners are likely to encounter when they use
the target language not only in the classroom, but outside it as well.[28, pp.30-31]. In previous
subchapter we have presented many modern strategies which, as methodological sources claim, can
be efficiently used to improve considerably teaching English speaking skills at different stages of

34
basic school education. In particular, skillfully handled classroom interactive techniques can promote
learner initiative and autonomy, which in its turn, ensures successful and purposeful language
learning. That is why “interaction” is of utmost significance in language teaching. In the framework
of communicative language teaching interaction is in fact, the essence of communication [28, p.31].
The final aim of our diploma work was to work out relevant strategies for improving teaching
English speaking skills through application of scientifically proved contemporary methodological
techniqes in basic school. It has been carried out on the basis of: a.) the methodological background
on teaching and learning English speaking skills that I have acquired from studies in Methodology of
Teaching FL, b.) theoretical data on issues, concerning the organization of development the English
speaking skills which I had a chance to study from specialized literature, c.) as well as practical
experience in teaching English speaking skills during 8 years of working in a basic school. Thus, I
made up my mind to intensify the interactive teaching of speaking skills by testing some of above
mentioned strategies. So, I took the initiative in organizing a test teaching in the basic school where I
have been working since 2016.
The mentioned test teaching was organised in basic school N2 of the village Arteni in
Aragatsotn Province. As the base for test teaching was chosen the 8 th grade which consists of only 7
pupils. It should be mentioned that as compared with city schools, pupils nowadays are scarce in all
the village schools, and Arteni is not an exception. This is especially problematic in teaching FL
because classes completed with few pupils, as a rule, cause certain difficulties for creation the
necessary classroom communicative atmosphere in the target language. In the context of arrangement
the test teaching under discussion, another negative circumstance is the fact that each grade of the
mentioned village school is presented by a single class which made additional difficulties for
organising test teaching. The latter, as it is known, is based on comparative teaching of pupils of
equal grades and terms.
As far as the mentioned test teaching of English speaking skills could not be carried out in
Arteni basic school alone, parallelly I had to fulfill it in the secondary school N1 located in the same
village. In this school there is also a single 8 th grade consisted of 9 pupils. Hence, I had at my
disposal two 8th grades which was one of the necessary preconditions for organizing the test
teaching and it was done in cooperation with the teacher of the English language of the secondary
school N1. In spite of the fact that I was permitted to realize my test teaching in two 8 th grades of
different schools and within too limited time I did my best to make good use of every possible
means and resources to attain the mentioned goal of test teaching.

35
Thus, in test teaching of English speaking skills were involved two 8 th grades of different
schools consisted of 7 and 9 pupils correspondingly, which conditionally were marked as T1 and
T2 groups. T1 group was chosen for testing certain strategies in search of improving their English
speaking skills instructed by me. T2 group was chosen as the control group of testing, which was
to continue studying English in ordinary regime instructed by the teacher Lusine Poghosyan , under
my guidance. Before starting the test teaching. I worked out a detailed plan for conducting test
teaching in T1 group. Besides, I had reached an agreement with the teacher of T2 group to
coordinate all the classroom activities during the whole test teaching.
Test teaching under discussion was based on qualitative and comparative case study of T1 and
T2 groups. Qualitative research is defined as a research method of observation to gather non-
numerical data, and comparative research is defined as a research method that aims to make
comparisons [15, pp. 79-80]. Within certain strategies, from the start to finish for T1 testing group a
set of classroom activities had been worked out. They were chosen in the result of consulting my
scientific superviser – professor K. Hayryan, as well as the teacher of the English language of the T2
group Mrs. Poghosyan. The chosen activities had to be carried out during 16 lessons, in two months
period.
In both 8th grades of mentioned village schools teaching the English language is realized on
the basis of textbook: (ENGLISH 8, G.Gasparyan, N. Hovhannisyan, H. Kajberuni,; “Manmar”
2015). It consists of unit materials, each containing three parts: Practice Grammar, Practice Reading
and Practice Speaking. As my teaching practice confirms, I share the overall opinion of specialists
that neither the content nor structure of the given textbook meet both the requirements of modern
methodology and pupils` needs. In particular, it does not adequately contribute to the formation and
development of speaking skills of pupils.
The realization of the mentioned test was based on learner-centred approach, giving the pupils
maximum feasibility to reveal their communicative, cognitive and creative abilities. The aim of the
test was an interactive engagement of the pupils of T1 group into systematic discussion on the topics
“My Favourite Profession(s)” and “My Favourite Hobby(s)”, which proved to be very motivated for
the purpose. The mentioned topics were taught in T2 group as well, but in traditional content, without
using above mentioned strategies.
To realize this aim I had to overcome several problems:
 It was planned to carry out the test at each lesson within 15-20 minutes, just not to hold up
the realization of other curriculum requirements.

36
 I convinced the pupils to be talkative and pay more attention to the content of their English
speech than to possible mistakes, which I tried to correct without interrupting the course of
oral communication.
 Within the mentioned topics the pupils were permitted to choose any subject of conversation
themselves.
 Presentation of characteristic features of the given profession or hobby was to be prepared and
reported by a pupil who was going to act as the leader of the interactive discussion.
The test was carried out by 2 methodological models:
Model 1. - One of the pupils writes down on the blackboard the key words and expressions of
the given profession or hobby without naming t it. Pupils express their opinions trying to guess what
profession or hobby is meant. Then the leader presents characteristic features, interesting and useful
aspects of the given profession or hobby, followed by an interactive discussion by all the pupils. The
obligatory term of the discussion is that it should be held in English.
Model 2. – The whole class is getting ready to be engaged in an interactive discussion of a
profession or hobby which was announced at previous English lesson. The discussion is conducted at
first by the teacher, then by a pupil. Learners express their viewpoints about the useful or pleasant
sides of the given profession or hobby. On the basis of questions and answers pupils try to find out
each other`s personal attitude towards the positive and acceptable, as well as negative and non
acceptable sides of the discussed themes.
To promote interactive classroom discussions of the mentioned topics we applied some
methodological techniques, which are presented below.
 Brainstorming: This is an effective activity which helps pupils to express their thoughts in
an appealing manner. I tried to train them to express their ideas using the so called “the art of
storytelling” which is based on comparing the received information with real-life situations.[9, p.50].
The situation might be a joyous movement, sorrow movement, memorable incident etc. I encouraged
the pupils to speak on these areas. Since favourite profession and hobby topics are related to their
personal life they aroused natural desire to express their ideas.
One of the important ways to link up different ideas is to place them in a proper order in the
events which happened to them. Few tips on how to start and end the topic are as follows:
Sequencing words – starting, continuing, ending.
 Firstly, Secondly, Finally
 First of all previously… (before that) In the end…

37
 To start with… then… Eventually…
 Initially, Primarily - Later on , Lastly…
 Your story reminds me of…, As soon as…, Next…
 At the first place…, but still…

 Pair and share activities

This approach helps to extend learners` FL communication beyond simple conversation


practice. I divided T1 class into three pairs and offered each pair a topic, a problem, or a question
concerning their favourite profession or hobby to work on or resolve. Pupils were given 5 minutes to
form their own conclusions which they then discussed with their pair in their own voice, i.e. loudly.
Afterwards learners were encouraged to question frankly each other and argue their case before
presenting their individual responses back to the whole class. The main advantage of this strategy is
that it favours to formulate and express one`s own ideas in a short period of time.

 Opinion exchange
An opinion is usually a belief or feeling that might not be founded on empirical data or that
others could plausibly take issue with. Opinions are often difficult for pupils to deal with. This
technique have proved to develop effectively skills of exchanging various opinions. It helps the
learner to listen attentively, grasp the meaning and respond to the interlocutor`s question. Desire to
take part in opinion exchange of favorite professions and hobbies enabled pupils to form ideas and
provided inputs in group discussions. In the framework of practical usage of this strategy we divided
the class into several groups. They were instructed to listen attentively to some interesting
information and note down the following points: [30, p. 14]
 List of key words
 Summary of main points
 Questions put forth by the speaker
 Views of the speaker (positive and negative)
 General theme of the topic
The remarks noted down by the pupil of each group were discussed at the end of this test.

 Question and Answer session:


This strategy enables the participants to be attentive and orient quickly. It helps them to frame

38
the questions properly. Rapid questioning and answering to problem solving queries help get useful
experience in thinking effectively and communicate creatively. In the framework of developing
‘question and answer ’ abilities we divided the T1 class into two groups. One group put forth
questions and other group was to answer to the questions raised by the first group. Learners could
choose any topic by their choice. Each pupil from the group could ask a question and there was
connectivity between the questions asked by the pupils in the group. Only one chance was given for
the pupils to ask the question or answer the question during each test session. After every ones turn
the cycle moved on [31, p. 77].
 Judging
This strategy enables learners to identify their strong and weak points of oral speech
communication. It helps to overcome limitations and develop one's ability to participate effectively in
group discussion. Within this strategy we divided the class into two groups. One group chose a topic
for group discussion, the other acted like an observer group. The role of the observer group was to
note down the positive and negative qualities of the speaker who was participating in the group
discussion. The areas for identification were:
 Leader: One who guides the discussion and encourages the team members to participate.
 Speaker: One who speaks expressively, bringing various aspects into the discussion.
 Repetition: One who repeats the view of others or without expressing his/her own view.
 Listener: One who listens to the speakers attentively, ready to interfere into discussion any
moment.
It should be noted, that during the whole period of test teaching all the applied strategies
regarded by the participants as verbal games. It is well known, that whenever we deal with a game, it
drives everyone to win. Similarly, when we arranged any competition in the testing TI class, it really
developed pupils`competitive spirit, interest, as well as creativity. The pupils were encouraged to
speak only in English. We asked the learners to form a group of friends and start conversing with
them in English. This not only helped them but also turned to be beneficial to others.
The mentioned strategies were helpful to realize the aim and objectives of our test. The main
purpose was to create English communicative atmosphere which will enhance pupils` engagement in
speaking activities. We especially concentrated on those teaching activities which could be performed
by means of above mentioned techniques. This strategy proved to be highly efficient, for it made the
pupils talk a lot because they were encouraged to talk, no matter how many mistakes they could
make. They interacted with the teacher and with their classmates, practiced speaking and used the

39
language actually instead of memorizing lots of words for the future or looking at the examples
written on the blackboard.
The test teaching also helped us to find out the real problems of pupils` insufficient speaking
skills in English. We came to the well-grounded conclusion that the main reason of pupils`
unsatisfactory speaking skills in English is insufficiency of communicative experience. The latter, in
its turn, is closely connected with the English communicative environment, i.e. classroom speaking
activities, which as we have mentioned several times above, currently is far from being satisfactory in
rural schools of Armenia. Among other negative factors, we must also underline not interesting, even
dull teaching topics, which do not motivate pupils` desire to be engaged in communicative activities
in English. From this point of view, pupils` favorite professions and hobbies proved to be highly
motivating topics, much more efficient and purposeful for the general development of their English
speaking skills.
After a month of test teaching in T1 and T2 groups I carried out a survey to find out the level
of pupils` English speaking abilities within the topic “My Favorite Profession(s)”. In both groups
we asked one and the same questions within the mentioned topic. Almost all the pupils of T2 group
could grasp the meaning of the queries but were unable to express simple ideas, which was a
conclusive evidence that the teaching strategy of the given topic had not been favorable to develop
speaking skills within the topic “My Favorite Profession(s)”, and they were not motivated to discuss
it. The results of the given observation prompted that as compared with T2 group, where the given
topic was being taught on the basis of traditional approach, i.e. without using any new technologies ,
the use of applied innovative technologies in T1 group noticeably enhanced the speaking abilities
of the pupils, though, frankly speaking, I had expected more progress in this communicative area. So,
I made up my mind to use some additional techniques in the development of English-speaking skills
in T1 group.
On the days when I used innovative activities in T1 group the pupils experienced happiness
and joy, whereas in T2 group, where we deliberately didn`t use any new activities no aspect of
foreign language instruction aroused enthusiasm. As to the T1 group, various applications and
teaching materials we used for test teaching, had been selected taking into account that it would
encourage them actively participate in class activities, enhancing their creativeness and personal
initiative, enabling them to share their ideas about what they had learnt due to new activity or game.
The pupils of T1 group were positive and very enthusiastic at every stage of the lesson. There was a
certain novelty factor involved in this enthusiasm. This was not much due to the use of new

40
techniques, which were something new for them, but because the type of the language use perceived
as a game, which was something exciting and enjoyable for them. All the participants of T1 group
were full of praise for their English lessons and were keen to talk about them whenever they were
asked about it.
Constant observation and comparison of T1 and T2 groups made it possible to reveal their
progress in the development of English speaking skills in both groups.
Testing of above mentioned strategies in the development of English speaking skills lasted
only for 2 months. At the end of the given test teaching we carried out another survey to check
pupils` overall activity by percentage. Here are the results of practical teaching of English-speaking
skills based on using innovative classroom activities in the T1 and T2 groups:
T1 group: Activeness - 90% Passiveness – 10% Neutral- 0

T1 group
Passiveness
10%

Activeness
90%

41
T2 group: Activeness - 30% Passiveness – 50% Neutral- 20 %

T2 group
Activeness
Neutral 30%
20%

Passiveness
50%

Taking into consideration the presented results we can arrive at the final conclusion that test teaching
in T1 group with application of strategies based on innovative techniques were much more
productive than ordinary lessons in T2 class were no new strategies had been implied. Despite the
fact that the testing was carried out in above mentioned unfavorable conditions, all in all new
strategies proved to be not only very efficient but also turned into a long-term plan. The latter
concerns to our firm decision to go on testing the vast usage of innovative strategies in the future as a
purposeful alternative to the present-day organization of teaching English speaking skills, and not
only in the 8th grade but in all the other grades as well.

42
CONCLUSIONS

In the framework of the diploma work, the study of corresponding methodological literature
and data from internet sources, as well as relying on our 8 year teaching experience of the English
language in a basic school we have come to a conviction, which elucidates the aim, objectives and
hypothesis of the research: the main reason that pupils at large nowadays cannot engage in English
oral communication, particularly, they have insufficient speaking skills is basically conditioned by the
lack of appropriate methodological strategies. In order to solve this problem, we tried to adopt
strategies aimed at creating favourable classroom communicative environment for motivating pupils
to involve in interactive communication utilizing up-to-date methodological techniques.
In pursuance of realization the mentioned strategies we managed to arrange test teaching of
English speaking skills in the 8th grade of the basic school where I work. The test was implemented
on the basis of classroom intensive discussion on topics highly interesting for their age, therefore
motivating for interactive speaking by means of much applicable methodological techniques. The
systematic, purposeful and guided use of such techniques in the English classroom proved to have a
significant impact not only on pupils' general progress in obtaining communicative skills, and
speaking proficiency in particular, but also on their motivation to be engaged in various
communicative activities.
Thus, the results of test teaching certify that the application of presented strategies
unequivocally foster the development of English speaking skills and encourage pupils to be engaged
in communicative activities more willingly and with pleasure. When used in combination with the
teachers' support and guidance, methodological modern techniques can scaffold the pupils' practical
acquisition of new vocabulary and grammar phenomena, providing unique opportunities for the
development of their spoken language capabilities. As it has been stated above, pupils want to feel
that they are making progress in FL speaking. Successful communicative tasks, in which they
experience joyful moments of ‘authentic speech’, can help them maximise and perceive that progress.

43
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45
SUMMARY IN ARMENIAN
ԱՄՓՈՓՈՒՄ

Սույն դիպլոմային աշխատանքի շրջանակում մեթոդիկայի


համապատասխան գրականության և համացանցի տեղեկատվության
ուսումնասիրությունը, ինչպես նաև հիմնական դպրոցում անգլերեն լեզվի
դասավանդման մեր 8-ամյա փորձը մեզ բերել է այն համոզման, որ օտար լեզվով
բանավոր հաղորդակցվելու աշակերտների համատարած անբավարար մակարդակը,
մասնավորապես՝ խոսելու ունակությունների թերի զարգացման հիմնական
պատճառը ուսումնահաղորդակցական անհրաժեշտ բազայի բացակայությունն է :
Մեր դիպլոմային հետազոտության արդյունքում հիմնավորվել է այն տեսակետը, որ
հիմնական դպրոցում տվյալ հարցի լուծման նպատակով հարկ է որդեգրել
համապատասխան ռազմավարություն՝ ստեղծել օտարալեզու լսարանային
փոխներգործուն հաղորդակցական միջավայր, որի մեջ աշակերտներին
ներգրավելու համար անհրաժեշտ է կիրառել միջազգային կրթական փորձով
հավաստագրված մեթոդական արդի տեխնոլոգիաներ:
Հիշյալ խնդիրների իրականացմանը հետամուտ՝ մեզ հաջողվեց 8-րդ
դասարանում կազմակերպել անգլերեն երկամսյա դասերի փորձնական ուսուցում:
Վերջինիս շրջանակում, այդ տարիքի աշակերտներին մեծապես հետաքրքրող՝ “Իմ
սիրած մասնագիտությունը” և “Իմ սիրած զբաղմունքը” թեմաների ուսուցմամբ մենք
իրականացրեցինք ուսումնական համալիր գործառույթներ, որոնց արդյունքում
ստեղծվեց անգլերեն լեզվով բանավոր հաղորդակցվելու դասարանային
փոխներգործուն միջավայր: Աշակերտներին ներգրավելով անգլերեն լեզվով
անբռնազբոս հաղորդակցվելու՝ արտահայտվելու, ունկնդրելու, կարծիքներ
փոխանակելու և քննարկելու գործառույթներում մեզ հաջողվեց գործնականում
հիմնավորել մեր հետազոտության վարկածն առ այն, որ ուսուցման պատշաճ
ռազմավարության պայմաններում, աշակերտներին խորպես հետաքրքրող
թեմատիկան հիմք է ծառայում ինչպես նրանց օտարալեզու բանավոր խոսքն ավելի
արդյունավետ և արագընթաց զարգացնելու, այնպես էլ օտար լեզվին առհասարակ
ավելի նպատակասլաց տիրապետելու համար:

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