REVIEW OF ELT

METHODOLOGY
SPEAKING

Which of the four skills (l-s-r-w)

do you find to be the hardest?
Unlike Reading or writing, speaking
happens in real time.
When you speak, you cannot edit and
revise what you wish to say, as you can if
you are writing. (Nunan 2003)

What is speaking?
Productive Skill
Some differences between written
and spoken language

Background toTeaching
Speaking
Audiolingual
CommunicativeLanguageTeaching

Linguistic Elements Involved

in Speaking

Utterances
Clauses and Phrases
Morpheme
Phonemes

Principles for Teaching

Speaking
Focus on fluency and accuracy
(depending on objective)
Use intrinsically motivating techniques
Use authentic language in meaningful
contexts

 Provide appropriate feedback and correction

Optimize the natural link between listening
and speaking (and other skills)
Give students the opportunity to initiate oral
communication.
Develop speaking strategies

Activities

Information gap
Jigsaw activities
Role-plays
Simulations

Speaking activities in the

classroom
Controlled activities - accuracy
based activities.
Language is controlled by the teacher
Drilling: choral and individual listening to and
repetition of the teacher's modal of
pronunciation

 Guided activities accuracy based but

a little more creative and productive.
output is still controlled by the teacher
but the exact language isn't.
Model dialogues
Guided role play

 Creative communication fluency

based activities.
The scenario is usually created by the
teacher but the content of the
language isn't

Encouraging students to
speak
Many students can seem reluctant to speak in
the classroom
Lack of confidence
Fear of making mistakes
Peer intimidation
Lack of interest in the topic
Previous learning experience
Cultural reasons

 The teacher must try to encourage

student interaction.
The aim should be to create a
comfortable atmosphere, where
students are not afraid to speak or
make mistakes, and enjoy
communicating with the teacher and
their fellow students

Techniques to encourage
interaction
Pair-work
Group work
Plenty of controlled and guided practice before fluency
activities
Create a desire and need to communicate
Change classroom dynamics
Careful planning
Allow students time to think about what they are going to say

After the activity

Provide feedback
Observe how students communicate with
each other
Focus on students improvements
Note down their mistakes to be corrected
in groups

Drilling
Guidelines for Drills
Keep them short
Keep them simple
Keep them snappy
Ensure that students know WHY they are doing the drill
Limit the drill to phonological/grammatical points
Ensure that they lead to a communicative goal
DONT OVERUSE THEM