Nature of

Speaking
PRESENTER: CHARY ANNE C. GAUANI,
MAEd English
WHAT IS
SPEAKING?
SPEAKING
Speaking is one of the most important and essential skills that must be
practiced to communicate orally. By speaking, people can know the
situations in the world. People who have ability in speaking will be
better in sending and receiving information or message to another.
Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the
uses of verbal and non-verbal symbol in various contexts.
The mastery of speaking skill is a priority for many second and
foreign language learners. Learners often evaluate their success in
language learning of English on the basis how well their improvement
on speaking the language. In genuine communication, speaking is
purpose-driven or it can say that to communicate is to achieve a
particular end, expressing a wish or desire to do something;
negotiating or solving a particular problem; or maintaining social
relationships and friends, etc. Therefore, it can say that speaking as a
skill is playing significant role for the learners who studied English
especially as a foreign language.
Speaking is "the process of building
and sharing meaning through the use
of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a
variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p. What is
13). Speaking is a crucial part of Teaching
second language learning and teaching. Speaking?
Despite its importance, for many years,
teaching speaking has been
undervalued and English language
teachers have continued to teach
speaking just as a repetition of drills or
What is meant by "teaching
speaking" is to teach EFL learners
to:
a) Produce the English speech What is
sounds and sound patterns Teaching
b) Use word and sentence stress, Speaking?
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.
HOW TO Now many linguistics and EFL teachers agree

TEACH on that students learn to speak in the foreign

SPEAKING
In brief, EFL teachers
should
language by "interacting". Communicative
language teaching and collaborative learning
serve best for this aim. Communicative
language teaching is based on real-life
situations that require communication. By
using this method in EFL classes, students
will have the opportunity of communicating
withcreate
each other in the target environment
a classroom language.

where students have real-life communication, authentic activities,

and meaningful tasks that promote oral language. This can occur
when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to
Four things that students need to do with “new
language.”

01 02 03 04
BE UNDERSTA UNDERSTA PRACTICE
EXPOSED ND ITS ND ITS IT
TO IT MEANING FORM
(HOW IT IS
CONSTRUC
TED).
PRINCIPLE Give students
S practice with
FOR
TEACHING
both fluency and
SPEAKING accuracy.
According to
Use group work
NUNAN or pair work.
(2003)
Give students practice with
both fluency and accuracy.

At the beginning and intermediate level of

studies, learners must be given opportunities
to improve their fluency as well as accuracy.
Accuracy means using the target language
correctly and fluency is using language
quickly and confidently. The teacher should
not emphasize on just one of the aspect of
speaking. Rather, students should get
practice on both accuracy and fluency.
 To improve students speaking, they

Use group should be given enough opportunities to

speak in class. So, teachers talk time
should be less and student talk time

work or pair
should be more. It is important for
language teachers do not take up all the
time. According to Nunan also, “Pair
work and group work can be used to
work increase the amount of time that learners
get to speak in the target language
during lesson.” In this way, the students
will get chance to interact and practice
the language with other students.
WHAT MAKES SPEAKING DIFFICULT
OR EASY?

Speaking is different with other language skills, even

though when it is compared to writing, the answer must be
writing. What makes speaking difficult is just because the
language, English. It is a foreign language and the use of it
is very seldom. We can see easily of many things in our life
using English in the written form and it doesn’t need to be
read aloud, so we don’t need to be embarrassed. Bear in
mind that the following characteristics of spoken language
can make oral performance easy as well as, in some cases,
difficult according to Nunan (2003).
CLUSTERIN
G
Fluent speech is phrasal,
not word by word.
Learners can organize
their output both
cognitively and physically
through such clustering.
REDUNDANCY
Sometimes it is used to make meaning clearer.
Performance
variables
The difference between native and
non-native speakers of language is in
their hesitation phenomena. Learners
should know when to pause,
backtrack or correct the language
when they have to speak with it.
Colloquial
Language
The learners should also
know about the words,
idioms and phrases of
colloquial language and
that they get practice in
producing these forms.
Rate of delivery
Another salient characteristic of
fluency is rate of delivery. The
teacher should help learners to
achieve an acceptable speed
along with other attributes of
fluency.
Stress, rhythm, and
intonation

This is the most important

characteristic of English
pronunciation. The stress-
timed rhythm of spoken
English and its intonation
patterns convey important
messages.
Interaction
Speaking is about interaction.
It is about how you interact
and what kind of language
that you use that will make the
communication goes smoothly.
The Characteristics of English-Speaking
Classroom

The classroom is sometimes called as an artificial

environment for learning and using a foreign language
but it is also a real social context in its own right,
where learners and teacher enter into real social
relationship with each other. The language teaching
aim is to equip learners for different contexts and the
usefulness of language learning does not depend only
on what specific pieces of language the learners
encounter but on whether they master the more
general principles, which underline them. In the same
way, the structures and skills that foreign language
learners acquire during classroom interaction can later
be transferred to other kinds of situation.
4 methods for leveraging the classroom setting as a social
backdrop for utilizing a foreign language.

Using the foreign language for classroom

management.
Using the foreign language as a teaching
medium.
Using the foreign language for
conversation or discussion sessions.
By dialogues and role-plays on school
experience.
6 TYPES OF
SPEAKING
PERFORMANCES

1. Imitative
2. Intensive
3. Responsive
4. Transactional
(dialogue)
5. Interpersonal
(dialogue)
6. Extensive (monologue)
Imitative
A very limited portion of classroom speaking time may
be spent generating “human tape recorder” speech,
where, for example, learners practice an intonation
contour or try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound. This
practice is for focusing on some particular element of
language form. “Drills” offer students an opportunity
to listen and to orally repeat certain strings of language
that may pose some linguistic difficulty- either
phonological or grammatical. They can help to establish
certain psychomotor patterns and to associate selected
grammatical forms with their appropriate context.
Intensive
Intensive speaking goes one step
beyond imitative to include any
speaking performance that is
designed to practice some
phonological or grammatical
aspect of language. Intensive
speaking can be self-initiated or
it can ever form part of some
pair work activity, where
learners are “going over” certain
forms of language.
Responsive
A good deal of student’s speech
in the classroom is responsive:
short replies to teacher or
student-initiated questions or
comments. These replies are
usually sufficient and do not
extend into dialogues. It is
meaningful and authentic.
Transactional
(dialogue)
Transactional language,
carried out for purpose of
conveying or exchanging
specific information, is an
extended form of
responsive language.
Interpersonal
(dialogue)
It is carried out for the purpose of
maintaining social relationships
than for the transmission of facts
and information. These
conversations are a little trickier for
learners because they can involve
some or all factors such as: a casual
register, colloquial language,
emotionally charged language,
slang, ellipsis, sarcasm and a covert
Extensive (monologue)
Students at intermediate to advance levels are
called on to give extended monologues in the
form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps
short speeches. Here the register is more
formal and deliberative. These monologues
can be planned or impromptu.
CHALLENGES IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING
CLASSROOM AND THE SOLUTIONS
1. Problems Found
in the Speaking
Class
a. Students do not want to talk or say
anything
b. Students keep using their own language.
c. It is difficult to handle students in large
classroom.
d. Students are not disciplined in
classroom.
e. The materials do not fulfill the need of
students
f. Students have low motivation to learn
English
2. How to encourage
Students to Speak

a. Encourage students’ interactions

b. Make speaking activities
communicative
c. Plan speaking activities carefully
 1. Use techniques that cover the spectrum of
learner needs, from language-based focus on
accuracy to message-based focus on interaction,

3. Principles for meaning and fluency.

2. Provide intrinsically motivating techniques.
Designing 3. Encourage the use of authentic language in

Speaking meaningful contexts.

4. Provide appropriate feedback and correction.
Techniques (by 5. Capitalize on the natural link between speaking
and listening.
NUNAN) 6. Give students opportunities to initiate oral
communication.
7. Encourage the development of speaking
strategies.
4. Some Activities to Promote Speaking

Discussio Simulati Informat Brainstor

Role Play
ns ons ion Gap ming
Story
Storytelli Interview Reportin Playing
Completi
ng s g Cards
on
Picture Picture Find the
Narratin Describin Differenc
g g e
a) Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the
target language by providing a rich environment that
contains collaborative work, authentic materials and
tasks, and shared knowledge.
b) Try to involve each student in every speaking activity;
for this aim, practice different ways of student
participation.
5. Suggestions
c) Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing
student speaking time. Step back and observe students.
for Teachers in
d) Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's
response. Teaching
e) Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean?
How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt
students to speak more.
Speaking
f) Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was
really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your
efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your
voice…"
g) Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they
are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her
speech.
h) Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class;
contact parents and other people who can help.
i) Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right
track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or
pairs.
j) Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking
activities.
k) Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing
themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to
practice the spoken language.
 Communicative
Competence
Communicative Competence
refers to “what a speaker
needs to know in order to be
communicatively competent
in a speech community”.
• Communicative Competence is the ability to
use the language correctly and appropriately in
the context where it is used to accomplish
communication goals
• The desired outcome of the language learning
process is the ability to communicate
competently, not the ability to use the language
exactly as it is.
IN HYME’S VIEW
A person who acquires
communicative competence
acquires both knowledge and
ability for using feasible and
appropriate language in relation
to the situational context.
Grammatical
Competence
It refers to what Chomsky calls
linguistic competence and involves
the mastering of the linguistic
code including vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation, spelling
and word formation.
 It deals with the
interpretation of
Discourse individual message
elements and is also
Competence
related to the ability for
combining ideas to achieve
cohesion in form and
coherence in thought.
Sociolinguistic
Competence

It refers to the extent

to which utterances
are produced and
understood
appropriately in
different social
contexts.
Strategic
Competence
It describes the nonverbal communication
strategies that may be called into action to
compensate for breakdowns in communication due
to performance variables, or due to insufficient
competence.
Strategic competency is knowing how to recognize
and repair communication breakdowns, how to
work around gaps in one’s knowledge of the
language, and how to learn more about the
language and in the context.
 “Words have power. They can make
people’s hearts soar, or they can make
people’s heart sore.”

Thank you!