Teaching Speaking: What Speakers Do and Know

MODULE VII
TEACHING WHAT SPEAKERS
SPEAKING DO AND KNOW

WHAT IS SPEAKING?
• Speaking is“ the process of building and sharing meaning through the
use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.”
• Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown,
1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997).
• Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one‟s

thoughts and feelings in spoken language.
WHAT SPEAKERS DO
1. Speech production
2. Conceptualization and formulation
3. Articulation
4. Self-monitoring and repair
5. Automaticity
6. Fluency
7. Managing talk
SPEECH PRODUCTION
The process in which words are selected to be spoken,

they are phonetically formulated, then articulated and at
the end are ready to be performed by the vocal
apparatus.
FEATURES OF SPEECH PRODUCTION
LINEAR
It takes place in real

time while words
follow words, and
CONTINGENT phrases follow
AND phrases. UTTERANCE
SPONTANCITY
Speech is produced
A real time process utterance by
with a limited utterance
thinking time
INTERLOCUTOR
Overlaps Who are we talking

may occur to?
PROCESSES IN SPEECH PRODUCTION
CONCEPTUALIZATION
It is what is in the
mind of the speaker
Linguistic Knowledge World Knowledge

FORMULATION
How we order
words according
our knowledge of:
Context Lexicon Syntax Grammar rules

ARTICULATION
Organs of speech
producing sounds
Thoughts and sounds become words

SELF-MONITORING- REPAIR
It is when we
correct ourselves
To say a word again, you know you were mistaken

AUTOMATICITY
Speak without occupying
our mind in lower details
Your mind is focused on what you want to say,

not in the grammar, sentence structure or vocabulary
The accuracy that we have
FLUENCY when speaking a language
Make pauses Manage your speech speed
Add-on
Use of strategies
prefabricated (chaining FLUENCY
chunks together of short
phrases)
MANAGING TALK
It deals with how we
interact when speaking a
language
Manage turn taking Avoid overlapping

WHAT SPEAKERS KNOW
LINGUISTIC
KNOWLEDGE
EXTRALINGUISTIC SPEECH
KNOWLEDGE CONDITIONS
WHAT SPEAKERS KNOW
Knowledge that is relevant to speaking can be categorized

either as a knowledge of features of language (linguistic
knowledge) or knowledge that is independent of language
(extralinguistic knowledge).
WHAT SPEAKERS KNOW
The kinds of knowledge that speakers bring to the skill of

speaking comprise EXTRALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE,
such as background knowledge of topic and culture; and
LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE, including discourse
knowledge, speech act knowledge, and knowledge of
grammar, vocabulary and phonology.
EXTRALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
Topic and Cultural Knowledge
It refers to the common information

shared by people having a
conversation, this includes common
experiences as well.
Context Knowledge
It allows speakers to make reference to the immediate context.
This “situated” nature of speech means that it is
characteristically elliptic, that is words, phrases, whole clauses
are left out because they are redundant.
Context Knowledge
Other characteristics of spoken language are:
1. High frequency of personal pronouns, especially you, and I.
2. The use of substitute forms, e.g.: I don’t think so.
3. The use of deictic language, that is words and expressions that make
direct reference to the context, e.g.: this, that, there, here, over there, etc.
Sociocultural Knowledge
The knowledge about social values and the norms of behavior in a given
society, including the way these
values and norms are realized
through language.
This knowledge can be linguistic
and extralinguistic.
LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
Genre Knowledge
PURPOSE INTERACTION PLANNING
Transactional
Non-interactive Planned
conveying or
exchanging specific
interactive Unplanned
information
Interpersonal
maintaining social
Genre Knowledge
Discourse Knowledge
• It refers to organizing and connecting utterances, as well as
mapping this knowledge on to the turn-taking structures of
interactive talk.
• The use of discourse markers is particularly important in terms of
the fluid management of interactive talk.
• Discourse markers are used to signal one’s intentions, to hold the
conversation turn, and to mark boundaries in the talk.
Discourse Knowledge
Here are some common discourse markers and their meanings:
1. Right now, anyway: they mark the beginning or closing of a
segment of talk.
2. Well: a very common way to initiate a turn or linking it to the
preceding turn.
3. Oh: used to respond to the previous speaker’s utterances, with
implications of surprise.
Discourse Knowledge
4. And, but, or: they are used to connect discourse.
5. So, because: they are also conjunctions, they signal that what follows is the
result or the cause of what has been said.
6. Then: this is often used to signal an inference based on what someone else has
said.
7. Y’know, I mean: these markers serve to gain and maintain attention on the
speaker. The first by appealing to the hearer’s shared knowledge, and the
second by signaling that some kind of clarification is going to follow.
Pragmatic Knowledge
• It describes the relation between language and its contexts of use,

including the purposes (function) for which language is being used.
• Pragmatic knowledge is knowing how to do things with language,

taking into account its context of use. This, in turn, means knowing
how to perform and interpret specific speech acts.
Pragmatic
Knowledge
Speech
Register
acts
Cooperative
Politeness
principle
Pragmatic Knowledge : Speech Acts
• Communicative view of language holds that when someone says

something, they are also doing something.
• The way that specific speech acts (also called functions), such as
complementing, suggesting, requesting, offering, and so on, are
typically realized comprises part of a speaker’s pragmatic
knowledge.
Pragmatic Knowledge : Co-operative principle
• Interpreting the communicative force of speech acts, and knowing

how to respond appropriately, assumes that participants in a
speech event are “playing the game accordingly”.
Pragmatic Knowledge : Co-operative principle
• We have 4 maxims to analyze this principle:
1. Quantity: make your contribution just as informative as required.
2. Quality: make your contribution one that is true.
3. Relation: make your contribution relevant.
4. Manner: avoid obscurity and ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.

Pragmatic Knowledge : Politeness
• It refers to the way we take other speaker’s face needs into account.
• The use of politeness markers, such as please and thank you (or
the equivalents), are universal. In some languages, positive
politeness is encoded in the pronoun system. In Spanish, speakers
can choose between tú or usted, according to the degree of
familiarity or respect they wish to convey.
Pragmatic Knowledge : Register
• It requires of speakers a sensitivity to context related to:
• the tenor: who you are talking to and the relationship between
speakers
• the field: what of the event, what is going on, what is being talked
about)
• the mode: how, the choice of channel, such as the phone or a face-to-
face conversation
Pragmatic Knowledge : Grammar
Pragmatic Knowledge : Vocabulary
• In spoken language there is also a prominent use of deictic language in
speech, that is words and expressions that “point” to the place, time, and
participants in the immediate o distant context.
• Chunks can be defined very broadly as any combination of words
which occur together with more than random frequency.
• They are also known as lexical phrases, holophrases, formulaic
language, and prefabs.
Here are some deictic expressions:
• Spatial deixis: here, this, there, that (place, thing, etc).
• Temporal deixis: now, this, then, that (time).
• Person deixis: I, me, you, your

Of the different types of chunk, the following are the most common:
• Collocations such as densely populated, rich and famous, set the table.
• Phrasal verbs such as get up, log on, run out of, look forward to.
• Idioms, catchphrases, and sayings such as part and parcel, make ends
meet, as cool as a cucumber, speak of the devil…
• Sentence frames: the fixed components of sentences, especially at the
beginning of sentences, that “frame” open slots, such as would you like
a…? The thing is that…; What’s really interesting is the fact that…
• Social formulas such as see you later, have a nice day.
• Discourse markers such as if you ask me, by the way, etc.
Pragmatic Knowledge : Phonology
• Prosody is the rhythm, stress and intonation of speech.
• Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the
emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement,
question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm, emphasis,
contrast and focus, or other elements of language that may not be
encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary.
SPEECH CONDITIONS
SPEECH CONDITIONS
Cognitive Factors
• Familiarity with the topic.

• Familiarity with the genre.
• Familiarity with the interlocutors.
• Processing demands: complex or non-complex mental
processing
SPEECH CONDITIONS
Affective Factors
• Feelings towards the topic and/or the participants: if you are well
disposed to the topic you are talking about, and/or to the other
participants.
• Self-consciousness: being “put on the spot” can cause anxiety which
will have a negative effect on performance; likewise, knowing (or
believing)
SPEECH CONDITIONS
Performance Factors
• Mode (face to face - phone)

• Discourse control (you direct or not)
• Planning and rehearsal time (organize your ideas and
practice)
• Time pressure (you have to speak in a definite time)
• Environmental conditions (acoustic - noise)

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MODULE VII

TEACHING WHAT SPEAKERS

SPEAKING DO AND KNOW

• Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that

• Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one‟s

The process in which words are selected to be spoken,

It takes place in real

Overlaps Who are we talking

Linguistic Knowledge World Knowledge

Context Lexicon Syntax Grammar rules

Thoughts and sounds become words

To say a word again, you know you were mistaken

Your mind is focused on what you want to say,

Make pauses Manage your speech speed

Manage turn taking Avoid overlapping

Knowledge that is relevant to speaking can be categorized

The kinds of knowledge that speakers bring to the skill of

Topic and Cultural Knowledge

It refers to the common information

• It describes the relation between language and its contexts of use,

• Pragmatic knowledge is knowing how to do things with language,

• Communicative view of language holds that when someone says

• Interpreting the communicative force of speech acts, and knowing

• We have 4 maxims to analyze this principle:

1. Quantity: make your contribution just as informative as required.

2. Quality: make your contribution one that is true.

3. Relation: make your contribution relevant.

4. Manner: avoid obscurity and ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.

• Spatial deixis: here, this, there, that (place, thing, etc).

• Temporal deixis: now, this, then, that (time).

• Person deixis: I, me, you, your

• Familiarity with the topic.

• Mode (face to face - phone)

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