PKB 3105 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY
TOPIC 3 SPEAKING SKILLS 2 HRS
Synopsis

This is the third topic in the course profoma. This topic deals with the
definition and concept of speaking. Also discussed here are problems
about auditory expressive language, how to assess auditory expressive
language and techniques of teaching speaking skills.
Learning Outcomes
1 Give the definition and concept of speaking.
. !dentify problems in auditory expressive language.
". #escribe how auditory expressive language is assessed.
$. %xplain the techniques of teaching speaking skills and using the
techniques.
Topic Framework
1
&peaking &kills
".' #efinition qnd concept of
speaking
"." Techniques of
teaching speaking
skills
".".1 #eveloping
vocabulary
".". Teaching
sentence
patterns
". Assessment of
Auditory %xpressive
(anguage
".1 Auditory
%xpressive
)(anguage
*roblems

".1.1 &tammering
".1. +epetitive
".1." Aphasia
".1.$ #ysphraxia
PKB 3105 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
METHODOLOGY
SPEAKING SKILLS
Introduction
&peaking is considered by learners as one of the most
difficult skills as it involves real,time processing which means that learners
don-t have much time to formulate what they want to say and how to say it.
!t is for this reason, and the fact that they are afraid to make mistakes, that
students often avoid speaking and therefore never get the opportunity to
build up confidence through practice. &tudents also avoid speaking
because they are afraid of not being understood due to poor pronunciation.
This poor pronunciation often stems from previous learning experiences
where emphasis was on written accuracy with little chance to develop oral
skills. &tudents may also in many cases, have little opportunity to practise
their %nglish speaking outside the classroom environment.
3! "e#inition and $oncept o# Speaking
According to the .xford dictionary, speaking is the action of conveying
information or expressing one/s feelings in speech. &peaking skills, or
sometimes known as auditory expressive language skills, is the ability to
use language to express an idea or a message to another person in a
communicational situation. 0or a person to be a competent speaker, he will
need to have mastered all the components of language namely listening,
reading and writing. This means he will need to be able to correctly
articulate the words, know the meanings of words, phrases and other
linguistic items in order to convey his idea adequately, be able to formulate
different kinds of sentences, and also to be able to explain ideas using
connected texts.

3% Auditory E&pressi'e Language Pro()ems
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A person who has a defect in his speech organ will have a problem in
some aspect of speech production. 1is speech could be too nasal or too
breathy or he may be unable to articulate certain speech sounds.
1e could also have a poor auditory memory resulting in a problem of
recalling words from memory. A person with such a problem will have slow
and hesitant speech and his speech will be punctuated with /mmm/ and
filler sentences like /2hat do you call it3/ or /4ou know what ! mean./
An auditory expressive language problem could manifest itself in
1. !ncorrect usage of language
. .veruse of simple sentences and a lack of complex ones
". An inability to express abstract concepts or ideas
$. An inability to ad5ust the style of communication according to the
communicational situation and
6. A tendency of not providing sufficient information
&ome of the problems are discussed here)
".1.1 &tammering
&tammering means to speak with involuntary pauses or repetitions. !t can
also mean to utter with involuntary pauses or repetitions. !t is a way of
speaking characteri7ed by involuntary pauses or repetitions.Stammering
and stuttering have the same meaning , it is a speech disorder in which
the person repeats or prolongs words, syllables or phrases. The person
with a stutter 8or stammer9 may also stop during speech and make no
sound for certain syllables. *eople who stutter often find that stress and
fatigue make it harder for them to talk flowingly, as well as situations in
which they become self,conscious about speaking, such as public
speaking or teaching. :ost people who stutter find that their problem
eases if they are relaxed.
2e all have the capacity to stutter if pushed far enough. This may happen
during a very stressful interrogation in a police station, talking to
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emergency services on the telephone, or trying to respond to a particularly
agile and aggressive lawyer while on the witness stand in court.
&tuttering is common when children are learning to speak. 1owever, the
ma5ority of kids grow out of this stage of initial stuttering. 0or some,
however, the problem persists and requires some kind of professional help,
such as speech therapy. !t is important that parents do not add to a child;s
stress by drawing too much attention to the problem when they are trying
to communicate verbally. The calmer a child feels the less acute the
symptoms tend to become.
The signs and symptoms of stuttering are)
*roblems starting a word, phrase or sentence
1esitation before certain sounds have to be uttered
+epeating a sound, word or syllable
<ertain speech sounds may be prolonged
&peech may come out in spurts
2ords with certain sounds are substituted for others
8circumlocution9
+apid blinking 8when trying to talk9
Trembling lips 8when trying to talk9
0oot may tap 8when trying to talk9
Trembling 5aw 8when trying to talk9
0ace and=or upper body tighten up 8when trying to talk9
&ome may appear out of breath when talking
!nter5ection, such as >uhm> used more frequently before attempting
to utter certain sounds
%xperts are not completely sure what causes stammering. 2e do know
that somebody with a stutter is much more likely to have a close family
member who also has one, compared to other people. The following
factors may also trigger=cause stuttering)
"e'e)opmenta) stuttering , as children learn to speak they often
stutter, especially early on when their speech and language skills
are not developed enough to race along at the same speed as what
they want to say. The ma5ority of children experience fewer and
fewer symptoms as this developmental stage progresses until they
can speak flowingly.
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?eurogenic stuttering , when the signals between the brain and
speech nerves and muscles are not working properly. This may
affect children, but may also affect adults after a stroke or some
brain in5ury. !n rare cases neurogenic stuttering results in lesions
8abnormal tissue9 in the motor speech area of the brain.
Psyc*o)ogica) #actors , it used to be believed that the main
reasons for long,term stuttering were psychological. 0ortunately, this
is not the case anymore. *sychological factors may make stuttering
worse for people who stutter, such as stress, embarrassment, etc.,
but they are not generally seen as underlying long,term factors. !n
other words, anxiety, low self,esteem, nervousness, and stress
therefore do not cause stuttering per se. +ather, they are the result
of living with a stigmati7ed speech problem which can sometimes
make symptoms worse.
+esearch shows that approximately half of all children who have a stutter
that persists beyond the developmental stage of language have a close
family member who stutters. !f a young child has a stutter and also a close
family member stutters, his=her chances of that stutter continuing are much
greater. A child who starts stuttering before ".6 years of age is less likely to
be stuttering later on in life. The earlier the stuttering starts the less likely it
is to continue long,term. About three,quarters of all young children who
stutter will stop doing so with one or two years without speech therapy. The
longer the stuttering continues the more likely it is that the problem will
become long,term without professional help 8and even with professional
help9. (ong,term stuttering is four times more common among boys than
girls. %xperts believe there may be neurological reasons for this, while
others blame the way family members react to little boys; stuttering
compared to little girls; stuttering. 1owever, nobody is really sure what the
reason is.
%xperts say that parents should consider visiting their general practitioner,
or primary care physician when)
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The child;s stuttering has persisted for over six months
2hen the stuttering occurs more frequently
2hen it is accompanied with tightness of the facial and upper body
muscles
2hen it interferes with the child;s schoolwork
2hen it causes emotional difficulties, such as fear of places or
situations
2hen it persists after the child is 6 years old
".1.. +epetitive
+epetitive talk and talking to self usually go together, and are exhibited by
children with a broad range of developmental difficulties. These children
usually have social difficulties as well, and tend to be resistant to change
and to display repetitive motor behaviours. They may repeat) >Are we
going to the @oo3 Are we going to the @oo3 as many as ten times or until
someone interrupts and redirects them. They may also repeat phrases to
themselves, such as, >!t;s ok, you are not hurt>. Although 5ust a few children
display these characteristics. These children require extensive input and
support from school and home.
+epetitive speech patterns of children with higher cognitive abilities may
get overlooked because of similarities between these children;s behaviour
and that of peers who are 5ust boisterous or too active. Aut there is growing
recognition that some children who are quite competent intellectually also
engage in repetitive talk. This could help explain why recent reports have
shown considerable increases in numbers of children with repetitive or
nonfunctional speech in the general population. The latest studies suggest
that about 1B of children and adolescents speak repetitively, although not
all of them will talk to themselves or say things that don;t make sense for
the context.
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:ost children with repetitive speech also display problems in
communication and are intellectually delayed. This group is more likely to
be identified early, as early as the second year of life or even earlier in
some cases. .nce these children acquire speech, they may use it
inappropriately for the context 8nonfunctionally9, and also will most likely
talk to themselves. &uch children may also reverse pronouns, e.g., use
>1e> for >!>, and may use metaphors to communicate.
".1.". Aphasia
Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that
are responsible for language. 0or most people, these are areas on the left
side 8hemisphere9 of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as
the result of a stroke or head in5uru, but it may also develop slowly, as in
the case of a brain tumor, an infection, or ementia. The disorder impairs
the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and
writing. Aphasia may co,occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or
apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage.
Aphasia is caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the
brain. :any times, the cause of the brain in5ury is a stroke. A stroke occurs
when blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Arain cells die when they
do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and
important nutrients. .ther causes of brain in5ury are severe blows to the
head, brain tumors, brain infections, and other conditions that affect the
brain.
There are two broad categories of aphasia) fluent and non,fluent.
F)uent ap*asia
#amage to the temporal lobe 8the side portion9 of the brain may result in a
fluent aphasia called 2ernicke;s aphasia. !n most people, the damage
occurs in the left temporal lobe, although it can result from damage to the
right lobe as well. *eople with 2ernicke;s aphasia may speak in long
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sentences that have no meaning, add unnecessary words, and even
create made,up words. 0or example, someone with 2ernicke;s aphasia
may say, >4ou know that smoodle pinkered and that ! want to get him
round and take care of him like you want before.> As a result, it is often
difficult to follow what the person is trying to say. *eople with 2ernicke;s
aphasia usually have great difficulty understanding speech, and they are
often unaware of their mistakes. These individuals usually have no body
weakness because their brain in5ury is not near the parts of the brain that
control movement.
Non+#)uent ap*asia
A type of non,fluent aphasia is Aroca;s aphasia. *eople with Aroca;s
aphasia have damage to the frontal lobe of the brain. They frequently
speak in short phrases that make sense but are produced with great effort.
They often omit small words such as >is,> >and,> and >the.> 0or example, a
person with Aroca;s aphasia may say, >2alk dog,> meaning, >! will take the
dog for a walk,> or >book book two table,> for >There are two books on the
table.> *eople with Aroca;s aphasia typically understand the speech of
others fairly well. Aecause of this, they are often aware of their difficulties
and can become easily frustrated. *eople with Aroca;s aphasia often have
right,sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg because the frontal
lobe is also important for motor movements.
Another type of non,fluent aphasia, global aphasia, results from damage
to extensive portions of the language areas of the brain. !ndividuals with
global aphasia have severe communication difficulties and may be
extremely limited in their ability to speak or comprehend language.
There are other types of aphasia, each of which results from damage to
different language areas in the brain. &ome people may have difficulty
repeating words and sentences even though they can speak and they
understand the meaning of the word or sentence. .thers may have
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difficulty naming ob5ects even though they know what the ob5ect is and
what it may be used for.
".1.$ #yspraxia
This used to be referred to as the clumsy child syndrome, #yspraxia
presents as an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement.
The dyspraxic person may have difficulties with manual and practical work,
personal organisation, memory and attention span. #yspraxia is generally
broken down into two types, #evelopmental :otor #yspraxia 8#:#9 and
Cerbal #yspraxia. There is a great deal of confusion about these,
especially verbal dyspraxia. ?ot every child who is late learning to talk or
understand language has verbal dyspraxia. !n fact very few have. Cerbal
dyspraxia is a very specific learning disability and ! have found that most
also have #evelopmental :otor #yspraxia.
<hildren with verbal dyspraxia find it hard to form words and letters when
speaking. The mouth and tongue are controlled by hundreds of different
muscles and most of us have no trouble in performing the complex co,
ordination achievement of speech.
Cerbal dyspraxics do have trouble with this but it is not the muscles
themselves that are at fault. +ather it is the messages being sent
backwards and forwards to the brain that cause the problems. !t is like
being permanently tongue,tied. !t is very important that all the other pupils
in a school understand why the Cerbal #yspraxic has problems with
speech so that the pupil is not bullied.
2hen observing these children speak ! am given the impression that each
mouth movement has to be thought out before the word is spoken. The
amount of thinking involved in this activity makes it hard for the child to
also concentrate on what 8s9he is saying.
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!f you ask these children to repeat a word several times, even to repeat
their own name or a simple word like Dcat/ or DrunE they cannot do it without
having to think before each word. &o instead of saying Drun run run run run
runE they will say, ErunFFF runFFF. runFFF.. runFFF runFF..E.
0or them this simple task is very difficult. These children are usually late
learning to speak so tend to get noticed and helped early in life. 1aving
Cerbal #yspraxia does not mean that the pupil necessarily also have
#evelopmental :otor #yspraxia.
:ankind sees speaking as being so fundamentally basic a task that
someone who has difficulty with it is unconsciously thought of as DstupidE.
This is of course not at all true and if you are teaching or caring for such a
child you must make sure that everyone who comes in contact with this
child understands that s=he is 5ust a clever as any of his=her classmates.
&tephen 1awkins, with his electronic voice, may have inadvertently helped
us accept this.
Cerbal #yspraxia is not the same thing as stuttering These children always
need specialist help from speech therapists and often physiotherapists and
occupational therapists as well. They have to learn to think about and
control how the lips and tongue works to form all the different sounds and
words. 2atching how the mouth and tongue move when forming different
sounds helps these children and ! use a mirror to make sure that the child
can see how his=her mouth, tongue and lips form each sound. This can
take some time. Aecause they have to concentrate so much on working
out how to say each sound the quality of content of what they say can
suffer 85ust as the content of written work can suffer in a dyslexic9 until they
have mastered these new skills.
4ou can do the following to help the children with this problem)
Always bring in a speech therapist.
Try to be patient with these children and do not keep interrupting or
finishing a sentence for them.
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%xplain to them why they are having the problems and make sure
they understand that they are not stupid and that it is not their fault.
.rgani7e lesson time when you help the child to articulate and
improve his=her speech.
Avoid nagging and correcting as this can make the child tense and
angry.
1and eye coordination games actually helps these children to talk
better because these games encourage the child to learn how their
bodies responds to actions and teaches them to understand how
their bodies relate to the word about them.
These children tend to panic easily and respond badly to sudden
changes in routine. Try to keep to routines.
They get scared easily and are not happy working outside their
comfort 7one. ?ew information and teaching should be carried out
one small step at a time. Teaching should not be moved forward
until you are totally sure that the child has understood everything so
far taught.
:ulti,sensory teaching should be used when ever possible.
3, Assessment o# Auditory E&pressi'e Language
.ne of the best ways to assess the auditory expressive language
problems of a student is to take language samples from the pupil in various
communicational settings. The samples are then examined for the types of
sentences used, the kinds of vocabulary found and whether there is
difficulty in the recall of words. The information revealed by such an
examination will provide the teacher with a good indication of the
inadequacies of the spoken language of the learners, and he can then take
the necessary remedial steps to help them.
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To assess a pupil/s ability to use the linguistic items of nouns, ad5ectives
and propositions, the same tests used to assess listening comprehension
as discussed earlier can be applied. !nstead of requiring a pointing
response after a word has been said, the teacher can point to an ob5ect in
a picture, and ask the pupil to provide the name of the ob5ect, or if it is the
description that he is more interested in, to describe or to state the position
of the ob5ect. The pupil/s ability to produce the language required by the
test will provide an indication of the auditory expressive language skills.
To assess the ability in the use of syntax, some of the following are
common ways of testing for this particular skill)
1. *rovide a word and ask the student to formulate a sentence based
on the word
. *rovide a few words and ask the student to use all the words given
to form a sentence
". *rovide the beginning part of a sentence and ask the student to
complete the sentence
$. *rovide two simple sentences and ask the student to combine the
two sentences into one.
To assess pupils/ ability to use connected text, the teacher can show a
picture and ask the learner to describe the picture, or to tell the story as
shown in a series of practice.
The types of tests which can be used to test speaking are among some of
them)
1. Gsing a checklist
This form of assessment may be done throughout the year and will
help the tcacher assess whether the learner is in fact moving
forward. This list may of course be added to and adapted to suit
your particular needs and circumstances.
. *rogress tests
A progress test may be given either at the end of a particular unit,
week, month, term or year. This type of test is usually prepared or
set up by the class teacher or someone else in the school in order
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to take account of the overall syllabus. *rogress tests are important
for learners as they assist pupils and teachers to measure progress
made. Teachers normally prepare their own progress tests although
some books have these tests. A good test is one which appears to
be both fair and appropriate to the learners. A good test should also
be not too difficult to mark and should provide clear results.
". *roficiency tests
*roficiency tests are used to measure overall language proficiency
and include speaking and other language skills. *roficiency testing
can help pupils in at least two ways. 0irstly, such tests can help
create positive attitudes and motivation within the %nglish (anguage
classroom. *upils experience a sense of accomplishment and this
contributes to a positive tone. &econdly, these tests assist pupils in
mastering the language. They are helped when they study for
examinations and when the results are returned to them and
discussed. The results also confirm areas they have mastered and
those that need further attention.
33 Tec*ni-ues o# Teac*ing Speaking Ski))s
As in the teaching of listening comprehension in a cpmmunicational
context, the teacher should teach the language and linguistic items
relevant to the situation first. *atterning drills can be effective in helping the
student to master common sentence patterns in %nglish. 0or example, the
teacher could provide the sentence, /The mango costs fifty cents each/ and
drill the learner until he is able to substitute /mango/ with the names of
other fruits or the monetary amount with some other figure.
There are some learners whose %nglish language production is very
limited,or who do not attempt to produce spoken language. 0or such
learners, what the teacher can do is to try what are said to be effective
techniques known as expansion, parallel talk and self-talk.
!n expansion, if a pupil says something like /door/ and his gestures or
expression seem to indicate that he wants the teacher to open the door for
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him, the teacher can provide the necessary language, such as /.h, ?i7a
wants me to open te door. 4es, ! will open the door./ This technique is
informal and can be applied every time a pupil seems to make a request or
a statement, but does not use the correct language to articulate the needs.
2ith the parallel talk techniques, the teacher provides the language that
goes with an action. 0or example, if the pupil is making a cup of tea, the
teacher could make sentences that correspond to his actions, such as /
:amat is taking out the cup. :amat is pouring tea into the cup. :amat is
stirring the tea./ This technique will have the effect of helping learners
associate language with the experience.
!n the self-talk technique, the teacher articulate verbally the action he
himself is performing with the hope that the pupil will be able to associate
the words with the action. There are many books which teachers can refer
to when teaching speaking. Two will be described here, namely developing
vocabulary and teaching sentence patterns.
".".1 #eveloping vocabulary
1. ?aming H place a collection of ob5ects in a box. (et the pupil
name the ob5ect as it is taken out of the box. 4ou could also
have a collection of pictures and carry out the same kind of
activity.
. #epartmental store H let one pupil be the salesperson and
another the customer. The customer makes the order and the
salesperson provides the ob5ect requested.
". +apid naming H teacher points to ob5ects or pictures and the
pupil has to name the ob5ects or pictures as quickly as
possible. This is good training to improve auditory memory.
$. :issing words H read a story to the pupil and pause at
certain points to leave out words. Ask the pupil to supply the
missing words.
6. 2ord pairs H some words can be taught in pairs to make it
easier for the pupils to remember. 0or example, words like
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fork-spoon, cat-dog, pencil-paper and cry-laugh will be more
easily remembered if they are presented together as they are
closely associated.
".". Teaching sentence patterns
1. &how pictures of different activities but teach the pupil to use
the same sentence pattern for the activities. 0or example, the
teacher can have a picture of a boy crying, a boyrunning and
a boy singing. The teacher can formulate the sentence /Te
boy is cryiIng/ and ask the spupil to formulate sentences
using the same pattern for the other two pictures.
. The teacher can also provide two basic sentences, and teach
the learner to combine the sentences using the pattern she
has modelled for him. 0or example, she can provide two
sentences like / The orange is big. The orange is sweet./ After
teaching the pupil the pattern, the teacher can then provide
other pairs of sentences and ask the pupil to combine the
sentences using the same pattern.
". &entence patterns can also be taught in other ways. 0or
example, to teach question forms, the teacher could provide
a statement like /The book is on the shelf./and teach the
question form, /2here is the book3/ he can then provide
other examples and have the learner form similar questions
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%xercise 1.
$o))ect )anguage samp)es o# one o# your pupi)s $o))ecting samp)es
(asica))y means t*at you *a'e to tape record t*e )anguage used (y
t*e pupi) in a communictiona) situation. #or e&amp)e. w*en you are
ta)king wit* *m a(out *imse)# /*en you *a'e t*e recorded )anguage.
write down t*e w*o)e dia)oge. and study t*e )anguage used "iscuss
t*e )anguage inade-uacies in terms o# p*ono)ogy. semantics.
morp*o)ogy and synta&
.
0ou *a'e now come to t*e end o# t*e topic /e))
done
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