Chapter 9: How to teach speaking

How to teach speakingI. Kinds of speaking Ss do In Activate (Follow-up) Exercises Role play (e.g. an interview, information- gap, a conversation) after a reading or listening text, learning a certain structure, a grammar point Group Discussion (with guiding questions) after reading or listeningGiving a short talk II. Reasons for encouraging Ss to do speaking tasksRehearsal: to rehearse a real life event in the safety of the classroom & “to get the feel” of what communicating in L2 looks likeFeedback: T how well Ss are doing & what problems they are havingSs how easy a speaking task & what need to improve, confidence & satisfaction, further study Engagement: good tasks highly motivatingIII. Kinds of speaking activities Information gaps (elementary/intermediate)Surveys (elementary)Discussion (inter. /upper inter.)Role- play (upper inter./ advanced)(Textbook pp.88-93)Information gap activitiesDesigned to be done in pairsCreating communicative needs, 2 Ss are given different informationActivities can be done in various ways:(1) One student has some information & and the other student has to find it out by asking questions.(2) One student has information & tell it to the other student(3) Both Ss have # information & tell each other(a) Finding the differences b/w 2 pictures(b) Exchange information- student A’s sheetNamesHomeJobsweekendmovies1. John______artist______romance2._____London______TV______3. Xian______nurseVisit friends_______4._____Rome_______Pubs______5. Minh_______engineer_______ComedyStudent B’s sheetNamesHomeJobsWeekendMovies1.____Ohio________bar_______2. Kate_____salesclerk_______action3._____Beijing______________cartoon4. Silvia______tour guide_______music5.______Vietnam_______relax_______Surveys/Questionnaires involving learners asking & answering questions in order to complete the survey or questionnaires more useful if Ss plan the questionnaires themselves used after tenses (present perfect, simple present with adverbs of frequency) a good lead-in to writing task (note: a follow-up task  very necessary)Adverbs of frequencyHow often do you___?rarelysometimesTwice a year1. Eat fast food2. Clean house3. Have a check-up4. travelDiscussion Pre-listening, reading & writing (warm-up discussions): when introducing a new topic or prepare learners to read or listen to a text, it’s common to set a few questions for pair or group discussion, followed by a report back to the whole class Example (1)Before Ss read the article “Celebrities in theMedia: Are You Starstruck?”, they work in pairs to discuss the questions below:1. Think about your favorite singer, movie star, and athlete. What information do you know about each person? How did you find out this information?2. Why are people interested in famous people?Example (2) Before listening to the presentation on “the current state of tourism”, Ss work in group to discuss the questions below:1. Do tourists in the 21st century visit different destinations from those of the 20th century?2. What impact have computers had on the tourism industry?Example (3)Work in groups of four to discuss the questions below:1. What are the main causes of traffic jam in Ho Chi Minh city?2. What are some serious effects of this problem?Then, prepare an outline of a cause- effect essay on traffic jam in HCMC. Role-play activities Ss simulate a real life encounter (e.g. a business meeting, an interview, a conversation in an aeroplane cabin, a shop or a cafeteria as if they were doing so in the real world Other Communicative Activities guessing games exchanging personal information prepared talks formal debatesCriteria for speaking tasks Productivity: a speaking task needs to be maximally language productive in order to provide the best condition for autonomous language use Purposefulness: language productivity can be increased by making sure that speaking activity has a clear outcome, esp. one which requires learners to work together to achieve a common purpose Interactivity: activities should require learners to take into account the effect they are having on their audience Challenge: the task should stretch learners so that they are forced to draw on their available communicative resources to achieve the outcome Safety: learners need to feel confident - when meeting challenges & attempting autonomous language use, they can do so w/o too much risk. Authenticity: tasks should have some relation to real – life language use IV. How to correct oral mistakes Constant interruption destroying the purpose of speaking task Not to single Ss out for particular criticism Watching & listening, to give feedback later  more appropriate VI. What teachers should do during a speaking activityNot wrong with teachers getting involvedDo not try to dominateGetting involved to give some prompts or to correct Ss’ mistakes in a very sympathetic and sensitive way