Improve Speaking Skills

Tips and Techniques for Speaking and Presentation

Skills
Sep 19, 2007 Dorit Sasson

Improving speaking skills begins with fostering student motivation and effective teaching

What do you do when students don’t want to put that extra mile to do a speaking
presentation, so they get cold feet and read from their notes just to get by. Improving
speaking skills takes a lot of classroom practice, motivation to speak, and skill.
Sometimes it is necessary to think beyond the box, adding creative elements wherever
possible depending of course, on the skills of your students and how open they are to
creative thinking.

Improving the speaking skills of your students may be difficult, but the added benefit is
building confidence in students for speaking skills and strategies. Even though the
professional years are still way in the future, help your students by starting small. Teach
both speaking and listening activities, sometimes even in one lesson, while preparing
them for that future presentation. That way, students don’t feel the pressure and burden
when it comes their turn to present a presentation due to remembering the fear of those
earlier years during those speaking activities.

Teaching Activity Using Speaking Activities

Use picture prompts. Depending on the variety of visual resources and class level and
ability, a teacher can brainstorm with the class a variety of sentences, (key) words, and
phrases around a particular category or situational context that is the building block for a
presentation.

Follow-up with a memory game or exercise. Students then work in pairs writing down or
translating the words they remember.

Effective Teaching Continues

Another teaching activity involves asking questions or presenting statements that are not
true about themselves, and then asking their friends to decide whether they are true or
false. Students have a lot of fun with this one.

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Play Adjectives All Around! Students have one minute to present all the adjectives
they can in a sentence.

This person is _______________________________________________.

The other student then tries and guess who the person is. Make sure they include a
minimum of five adjectives and no more than seven or eight. A teacher can use this
activity to draw the students’ attention to the different categories that make up an
adjective.

Additional Tips for Improving Speaking Skills

• Allot a time limit for each and every speaking activity. Take into consideration
those activities that involve either group or pair work.
• Keep the activity fun and simple. Make sure the instructions are also crystal clear.
• Don’t overdo speaking activities in one lesson.
• Make sure you aim for a balance between speaking and listening.
• Have a back-up plan for the entire class and for individual students who are
withdrawn.
• Always reflect on what can you do as a teacher to help students improve their
speaking skills.

The more diverse and creative your speaking activities become, the easier it will be for
you to train your students to improve their speaking skills and speaking exercises will
become much more automatic.

Read more at Suite101: Improve Speaking Skills: Tips and Techniques for Speaking and
Presentation Skills
http://newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/improve_speaking_skills#ixzz0hnxHn
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 Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote
Speaking in a Second Language
Hayriye Kayi
http://unr.edu/homepage/hayriyek
kayih[at]unr.nevada.edu
University of Nevada (Nevada,USA)

Introduction
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. 13). Speaking is a crucial
part of second language learning and teaching. 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 memorization of dialogues. However,
today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students'
communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and
learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative
circumstance. In order to teach second language learners how to speak in the best way
possible, some speaking activities are provided below, that can be applied to ESL and
EFL classroom settings, together with suggestions for teachers who teach oral language.

What Is "Teaching Speaking"?

What is meant by "teaching speaking" is to teach ESL learners to:

• Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

• Use word and sentence stress, 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.
• Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.
• Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
• Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is
called as fluency. (Nunan, 2003)

How To Teach Speaking

Now many linguistics and ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the
second 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 ESL classes, students will
have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language. In brief,
ESL teachers should create a classroom environment 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 complete a
task.

Activities To Promote Speaking

Discussions

After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons. The students
may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their
discussion groups. Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion
activity is set by the teacher. In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this
purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant
things. For example, students can become involved in agree/disagree discussions. In this
type of discussions, the teacher can form groups of students, preferably 4 or 5 in each
group, and provide controversial sentences like “people learn best when they read vs.
people learn best when they travel”. Then each group works on their topic for a given
time period, and presents their opinions to the class. It is essential that the speaking
should be equally divided among group members. At the end, the class decides on the
winning group who defended the idea in the best way. This activity fosters critical
thinking and quick decision making, and students learn how to express and justify
themselves in polite ways while disagreeing with the others. For efficient group
discussions, it is always better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid
contributing in large groups. The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or
the students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every
discussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to be open to
different ideas. Lastly, in class or group discussions, whatever the aim is, the students
should always be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support, check
for clarification, and so on.

Role Play

One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing. Students pretend they are in
various social contexts and have a variety of social roles. In role-play activities, the
teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel.
Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell
him what happened last night, and…" (Harmer, 1984)

Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulations different than role
plays is that they are more elaborate. In simulations, students can bring items to the class
to create a realistic environment. For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, she brings
a microphone to sing and so on. Role plays and simulations have many advantages. First,
since they are entertaining, they motivate the students. Second, as Harmer (1984)
suggests, they increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in role play and
simulation activities, they will have a different role and do not have to speak for
themselves, which means they do not have to take the same responsibility.

Information Gap

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs. One student will have the
information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their information.
Information gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting
information. Also, each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be
completed if the partners do not provide the information the others need. These activities
are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target
language.

Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the context,
either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly
and freely. The good characteristics of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized
for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas.

Storytelling

Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or
they may create their own stories to tell their classmates. Story telling fosters creative
thinking. It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development,
and ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have. Students also can tell
riddles or jokes. For instance, at the very beginning of each class session, the teacher may
call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes as an opening. In this way, not only will
the teacher address students’ speaking ability, but also get the attention of the class.

Interviews

Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people. It is a good idea
that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions
they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their own interview
questions. Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their
speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized.
After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class. Moreover,
students can interview each other and "introduce" his or her partner to the class.

Story Completion
This is a very enjoyable, whole-class, free-speaking activity for which students sit in a
circle. For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences he or she
stops narrating. Then, each student starts to narrate from the point where the previous one
stopped. Each student is supposed to add from four to ten sentences. Students can add
new characters, events, descriptions and so on.

Reporting

Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class,
they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news. Students can also
talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their
daily lives before class.

Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four. Each suit will represent a topic. For
instance:

• Diamonds: Earning money

• Hearts: Love and relationships
• Spades: An unforgettable memory
• Clubs: Best teacher

Each student in a group will choose a card. Then, each student will write 4-5 questions
about that topic to ask the other people in the group. For example:

If the topic "Diamonds: Earning Money" is selected, here are some possible questions:

• Is money important in your life? Why?

• What is the easiest way of earning money?
• What do you think about lottery? Etc.

However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are
not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little
practice in spoken language production. Rather, students ask open-ended questions to
each other so that they reply in complete sentences.

Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures. Students are asked to tell the story
taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the
teacher as a rubric. Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structures they need to use
while narrating.

Picture Describing
Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give students just one
picture and having them describe what it is in the picture. For this activity students can
form groups and each group is given a different picture. Students discuss the picture with
their groups, then a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class.
This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public
speaking skills.

Find the Difference

For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given two different
pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture of girls playing
tennis. Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences in the pictures.

Suggestions For Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Here are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching oral language:

• 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.
• Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice
different ways of student participation.
• Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time.
Step back and observe students.
• Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.
• Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that
conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.
• 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…"
• Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are
speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.
• Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents
and other people who can help.
• 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.
• Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.
• Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing
themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the
spoken language.

Conclusion
Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning. The ability to
communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of
the learner in school and success later in every phase of life. Therefore, it is essential that
language teachers pay great attention to teaching speaking. Rather than leading students
to pure memorization, providing a rich environment where meaningful communication
takes place is desired. With this aim, various speaking activities such as those listed
above can contribute a great deal to students in developing basic interactive skills
necessary for life. These activities make students more active in the learning process and
at the same time make their learning more meaningful and fun for them.

References
• Celce-Murcia. M. 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language
(3rd ed). USA: Heinle&Heinle.
• Chaney, A.L., and T.L. Burk. 1998. Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-
8. Boston: Allyn&Bacon.
• Baruah, T.C. 1991. The English Teacher's Handbook. Delhi: Sterling Publishing
House.
• Brown, G. and G. Yule. 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
• Harmer, J. 1984. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman.
• McDonough, J. and C. Shaw. 2003. Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher’s
guide. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell.
• Nunan, D., 2003. Practical English Language Teaching. NY:McGraw-Hill.
• Staab, C. 1992. Oral language for today's classroom. Markham, ON: Pippin
Publishing.
ELT Book Reviews

How to Teach Speaking

Scott Thornbury
Pearson Education Ltd, 2005
pp. iv-156

Reviewed by :
Robert J. Dickey
Gyeongju University, Korea

>>Order here

The "assumed" skill: Speaking!

We can all "speak" -- right? It is, after all, assumed that a normally-healthy human being
develops speaking skills, although some learn to do it better than others. It is speaking
that sets us apart from other animal, so they say. For the most part, we aren't taught
speaking as a distinct skill as we develop our first language skills, unlike reading, writing,
and (perhaps) listening.

Scott Thornbury's approach in How to teach speaking will surprise you.

Probably even the least trained teachers recognize that speaking is more than simply
producing orally the planned language we produce in writing. But other than subskills
like pronunciation and perhaps the distinct grammar of casual speech, is it really worth
this much attention? Well...

Surprise, Surprise
Sometimes experienced teachers developed established routines or expectations that can
lead to rude awakenings in the classroom with a new class of students. So too, we can be
surprised when a book tackles a subject in ways other than expected. That can be good,
after the initial discomfort.

Scott Thornbury's approach in How to teach speaking will surprise you. Ultimately, in a
good way. Take the time to warm up to a new way of doing!

Recognizing what we are talking about

When we think about it, a "speaking" class and a "conversation" class aren't really the
same thing, although we often casually interchange these terms. I was somewhat
uncomfortable through much of my initial spin through How to teach speaking because I
was expecting a "how to teach conversation" book. And because Thornbury's
presentation is rather different than we have experienced in Jeremy Harmer's series
opener How to teach English and other major series in basic teacher training, like David
Nunan's Practical English language teaching and Kathy Bailey's Practical English
language teaching: Speaking. Such surprises can be irritating, at least at first. But
remember, it is the irritation in the oyster that generates the pearl.

Attacking the issues in a different way

The opening chapters deal with speaking generalities, using the first language context, in
the same way that Second Language Acquisition is often taught by first examining what
happens in the L1. The problem here is that the short introduction to the book doesn't
really make clear that we are attacking the problem in this way. A more expansive
introductory chapter, or some indication on the back cover, describing this framework,
would clarify matters tremendously.

Also different, but in a good way, is how Thornbury tackles terminology. Assuming that
teachers and teachers-to-be are intelligent human beings who enjoy intellectual
stimulation, new terminology is presented in context, with supportive descriptions but
without the simplistic or over-technical definitions that burden so many other books.
While a glossary is often helpful, the index for this book will guide most readers to the
pertinent description should they lose track later on in their readings. Thornbury provides
more technical vocabulary than many other texts, which will serve a teacher well as they
enter discussions on this topic with peers or continue their readings elsewhere. Avoiding
such language is a short-cut to future embarrassment.

The practical focus of the book is most clearly evidenced by the fact that the text is not
burdened with references to obscure scholarly works. A concise set of further readings
are organized by chapter at the back of the book. Those who want to explore more will go
there.

Once we have worked our way into Chapter three, where L1 and L2 speaking is
distinguished, we have grown accustomed to Thornbury's design, and it all begins to
make a lot of sense.

Awareness-raising, Appropriation, and Autonomy

Chapters four through six are the type of things most of us were expecting from such a
book. Activities. The strength of this book is that they aren't a mere hodge-podge of
ideas, but are founded on the theory presented earlier. Here the first "practical classroom
application" appears, with it's clever little margin icon -- a chalkboard! Really nice stuff
here. It's not just photocopiable exercises, which you can find elsewhere. This is structure
that allows teachers to understand the “why” and develop their own. It draws upon the
strengths of the CELTA design of instructing novice teachers: demonstrating practical
classroom devices with imagery and example.

Planning and Assessing

The final unit could be the first in many contexts. Do we need to teach speaking in our
educational context? If we teach it, then, how do we assess? Here assessment refers to
both the learner, which of course does make sense at the end of the book, but also,
assessing institutional and learner needs. Do we need to teach speaking???

There is an interesting little mention of genre-based teaching as an alternative to task-

based teaching, and here, as throughout, Thornbury's concern for the grammar and
vocabulary aspects of speaking are visible. Clearly this is not your prototypical turn-of-
the-century "task is all" approach to teaching speaking.

Self-Study Tasks
The Task Files at the back of the book provide useful post-reading exercises, with
references to the pages where the discussion of the underlying knowledge is presented.
Better still, there is a KEY! (So often missing in other books where activities are
presented.) Placing this at the end of the book rather than after each chapter is but one
more of this book’s alternative approaches.

And so...
There is always more than one way to tell a story. Sometimes it takes a different
presentation before people really get it. Scott Thornbury's How to teach speaking is an
important contribution to the teachers' library because it offers a different path. And as
Robert Frost reminds us, "that has made all the difference."

References
Bailey, K. (2005). Practical English language teaching: Speaking. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English. Harlow, Essex: Longman. Reviewed (1st ed.)
http://www.eltnews.com/features/elt_book_reviews/2006/03/how_to_teach_english.html
Nunan, D. (ed.). (2003). Practical English language teaching. New York: McGraw-
Hill/Contemporary. Reviewed
http://www.eltnews.com/features/elt_book_reviews/2008/08/practical_english_language_
tea.html
Teaching Speaking
Speaking English is the main goal of many adult learners. Their personalities play a large
role in determining how quickly and how correctly they will accomplish this goal. Those
who are risk-takers unafraid of making mistakes will generally be more talkative, but
with many errors that could become hard-to-break habits. Conservative, shy students may
take a long time to speak confidently, but when they do, their English often contains
fewer errors and they will be proud of their English ability. It's a matter of quantity vs.
quality, and neither approach is wrong. However, if the aim of speaking is
communication and that does not require perfect English, then it makes sense to
encourage quantity in your classroom. Break the silence and get students communicating
with whatever English they can use, correct or not, and selectively address errors that
block communication.

Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar (discussed elsewhere in this
guide), which are necessary for effective oral communication. Or a grammar or reading
lesson may incorporate a speaking activity. Either way, your students will need some
preparation before the speaking task. This includes introducing the topic and providing a
model of the speech they are to produce. A model may not apply to discussion-type
activities, in which case students will need clear and specific instructions about the task
to be accomplished. Then the students will practice with the actual speaking activity.

These activities may include imitating (repeating), answering verbal cues, interactive
conversation, or an oral presentation. Most speaking activities inherently practice
listening skills as well, such as when one student is given a simple drawing and sits
behind another student, facing away. The first must give instructions to the second to
reproduce the drawing. The second student asks questions to clarify unclear instructions,
and neither can look at each other's page during the activity. Information gaps are also
commonly used for speaking practice, as are surveys, discussions, and role-plays.
Speaking activities abound; see the Activities and Further Resources sections of this
guide for ideas.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you plan your speaking activities.

• Content
As much as possible, the content should be practical and usable in real-life
situations. Avoid too much new vocabulary or grammar, and focus on speaking
with the language the students have.
• Correcting Errors
You need to provide appropriate feedback and correction, but don't interrupt the
flow of communication. Take notes while pairs or groups are talking and address
problems to the class after the activity without embarrassing the student who
made the error. You can write the error on the board and ask who can correct it.
• Quantity vs. Quality
Address both interactive fluency and accuracy, striving foremost for
 communication. Get to know each learner's personality and encourage the quieter
ones to take more risks.
• Conversation Strategies
Encourage strategies like asking for clarification, paraphrasing, gestures, and
initiating ('hey,' 'so,' 'by the way').
• Teacher Intervention
If a speaking activity loses steam, you may need to jump into a role-play, ask
more discussion questions, clarify your instructions, or stop an activity that is too
difficult or boring.
Communicative language teaching
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and

foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of
learning a language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of
foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach”.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Relationship with other methods and approaches

o 1.1 The audio-lingual method
o 1.2 The notional-functional syllabus
o 1.3 Learning by teaching (LdL)
• 2 Overview of CLT
• 3 Classroom activities used in CLT
• 4 Critiques of CLT
• 5 See also

• 6 References

[edit] Relationship with other methods and

approaches
Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to the audio-lingual method (ALM), and as
an extension or development of the notional-functional syllabus. Task-based language
learning, a more recent refinement of CLT, has gained considerably in popularity.

[edit] The audio-lingual method

The audio-lingual method (ALM) arose as a direct result of the need for foreign language
proficiency in listening and speaking skills during and after World War II. It is closely
tied to behaviorism, and thus made drilling, repetition, and habit-formation central
elements of instruction. Proponents of ALM felt that this emphasis on repetition needed a
corollary emphasis on accuracy, claiming that continual repetition of errors would lead to
the fixed acquisition of incorrect structures and non-standard pronunciation.
In the classroom, lessons were often organized by grammatical structure and presented
through short dialogues. Often, students listened repeatedly to recordings of
conversations (for example, in the language lab) and focused on accurately mimicking
the pronunciation and grammatical structures in these dialogs.

Critics of ALM asserted that this over-emphasis on repetition and accuracy ultimately did
not help students achieve communicative competence in the target language. Noam
Chomsky argued "Language is not a habit structure. Ordinary linguistic behaviour
characteristically involves innovation, formation of new sentences and patterns in
accordance with rules of great abstractness and intricacy". They looked for new ways to
present and organize language instruction, and advocated the notional functional syllabus,
and eventually CLT as the most effective way to teach second and foreign languages.
However, audio-lingual methodology is still prevalent in many text books and teaching
materials. Moreover, advocates of audio-lingual methods point to their success in
improving aspects of language that are habit driven, most notably pronunciation.

[edit] The notional-functional syllabus

Main article: Notional-functional syllabus

A notional-functional syllabus is more a way of organizing a language learning

curriculum than a method or an approach to teaching. In a notional-functional syllabus,
instruction is organized not in terms of grammatical structure as had often been done with
the ALM, but in terms of “notions” and “functions.” In this model, a “notion” is a
particular context in which people communicate, and a “function” is a specific purpose
for a speaker in a given context. As an example, the “notion” or context shopping
requires numerous language functions including asking about prices or features of a
product and bargaining. Similarly, the notion party would require numerous functions
like introductions and greetings and discussing interests and hobbies. Proponents of the
notional-functional syllabus claimed that it addressed the deficiencies they found in the
ALM by helping students develop their ability to effectively communicate in a variety of
real-life contexts.

[edit] Learning by teaching (LdL)

Learning by teaching is a widespread method in Germany (Jean-Pol Martin). The

students take the teacher's role and teach their peers.

[edit] Overview of CLT

As an extension of the notional-functional syllabus, CLT also places great emphasis on
helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts and places great
emphasis on learning language functions. Unlike the ALM, its primary focus is on
helping learners create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical
structures or acquire native-like pronunciation. This means that successfully learning a
foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their
communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply
knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate
proficiency to communicate.

CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching

method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. As such, it is most often defined
as a list of general principles or features. One of the most recognized of these lists is
David Nunan’s (1991) five features of CLT:

1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target

language.
2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also
on the Learning Management process.
4. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important
contributing elements to classroom learning.
5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside
the classroom.

These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very
interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the
language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom. Under this
broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their
communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and
beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair
and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based
activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which
students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar
and pronunciation focused activities.

In the mid 1990s the Dogma 95 manifesto influenced language teaching through the
Dogme language teaching movement, who proposed that published materials can stifle
the communicative approach. As such the aim of the Dogme approach to language
teaching is to focus on real conversations about real subjects so that communication is the
engine of learning. This communication may lead to explanation, but that this in turn will
lead to further communication.[1]

[edit] Classroom activities used in CLT

Example activities

• Role play
• Interviews
• Information gap
• Games
• Language exchange
 • Surveys
• Pair work
• Learning by teaching

However, not all courses that utilize the communicative language approach will restrict
their activities solely to these. Some courses will have the students take occasional
grammar quizzes, or prepare at home using non-communicative drills, for instance.

[edit] Critiques of CLT

One of the most famous attacks on communicative language teaching was offered by
Michael Swan in the English Language Teaching Journal on 1985[2]. Henry Widdowson
responded in defense of CLT, also in the ELT Journal (1985 39(3):158-161). More
recently other writers (e.g. Bax[3]) have critiqued CLT for paying insufficient attention to
the context in which teaching and learning take place, though CLT has also been
defended against this charge (e.g. Harmer 2003[4]).

Often, the communicative approach is deemed a success if the teacher understands the
student. But, if the teacher is from the same region as the student, the teacher will
understand errors resulting from an influence from their first language. Native speakers
of the target language may still have difficulty understanding them. This observation may
call for new thinking on and adaptation of the communicative approach. The adapted
communicative approach should be a simulation where the teacher pretends to understand
only what any regular speaker of the target language would and reacts accordingly.
Teaching English Worldwide: A New Practical Guide to
Teaching English
Paul Lindsay (2000)
Burlingame, CA: Alta Book Center Publisher
Pp. xii + 404
ISBN 1-882483-77-4 (paper)
US $25.95

Designed as a comprehensive introduction to the field of teaching English as a second or

foreign language, Teaching English Worldwide is a helpful instrument for both those who
need a basic self-training in teaching English and those who are planning to take a pre-
service training course in the profession. Not only does the book provide the main points
of the theoretical knowledge that would-be teachers need, but it constantly supports
theory with procedures, techniques, and activities useful for the teaching of all aspects of
the English language.

In his "Note from the Author," Paul Lindsay traces his experience as a teacher of English
and claims that an all-purpose teaching method does not exist. Good teachers should be
less concerned with methods and approaches than with adapting their teaching to the
students, after studying their needs, by choosing suitable materials and practical
techniques. His last suggestion is "to keep an open mind on new ideas about teaching and
learning. Try interesting new ways but don't get hooked on one method" (page ix).

The book is organized into 21 chapters and 5 appendices, plus an answer key for the
review questions and exercises proposed for self-testing at the end of each chapter.

The first two chapters ("Basic Questions" and "Managing your Classroom") focus on
basic issues such as: a) the role of the teacher, considered not as a mere explainer but as a
sensitive helper and attentive organizer; b) the nature of the four skills, analysed in detail
in the central part of the book; c) the communicative needs of students at different levels
of language proficiency; and d) the importance of creating a relaxed learning
environment and of organizing positive learning relationships and activities.

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters set out to discuss the preliminary knowledge of
language levels that enables teachers to approach the teaching of the four skills:
"Presenting Meaning and Context," "Teaching Vocabulary," "Understanding Basic Verb
Forms," and "Teaching Pronunciation."

In order to help students understand the meaning of the new language it is necessary that
teachers convey in very clear and easy ways the meaning and context. This may be
realized through a wide range of techniques, from the use of mimic sounds, gestures, and
facial expressions to the exploitation of pictures, photographs, objects (realia), and songs.
It goes without saying that the meaning of a lexical item depends on the situation of
occurrence, thus teachers should always simulate, as best the classroom facilities can
afford, the context of the situation where the word is employed (e.g., authentic material
such as magazines and newspapers, or everyday situations in familiar environments such
as home, school, friends, shops, and the like). They also should be careful to choose
situations that are interesting for their students, since this device helps them remember
new words. [-1-]

What has been focused on in the previous paragraph can be easily summarized by
observing that the teaching of meaning and context is not merely a matter of transmitting
a long list of new words or lexical items, but rather the more complex procedure of
teaching the vocabulary of a language. This entails recognizing an item in its spoken and
written forms, as well as its grammar and pronunciation; knowing both its denotative and
connotative meanings, its collocations, and its registers of use. The author suggests
various strategies for the teaching of vocabulary. Lexical sets and semantic networks
function well when each word refers to clearly differentiated concepts, and the words are
presented via an action, realia, or a visual context. On the other hand, the use of
synonyms does not work with beginners because it imposes an overloading task on them.
Synonyms are instead useful with intermediate students, as are antonyms, or instructing
students to use word formation strategies. Finally, the use of spidergrams or mental maps
is helpful in tracing a constellation of relations among items belonging to general
categories. I would like to add that making associations, exploring ranges of meaning, or
learning words in groups provide cognitive strategies that are helpful in order to
understand, categorize, and store new items in the mental lexicon. Moreover, teachers
should always make the context of use explicit because this inferencing strategy,
involving a greater amount of mental energy, allows better retention of words (Mondria
& Wit de-Boer, 1991).

The fifth chapter is meant to make would-be teachers aware of the different uses and
meanings that verb forms may have and of the difficulties that students encounter in
understanding basic grammar. The author claims that students need to learn the main
points of grammatical correctness, but that this alone does not provide them with the
skills necessary to communicate appropriately and to participate in communicative
situations. The aim of teachers, then, should be to pay attention to the different
illocutionary forces that the same speech act may have depending on the situation and the
participants. How to enable students to recognize the different communicative functions
of utterances is not one of the purposes of the chapter, and, unfortunately, there is nothing
of the kind in any other part of the book. However, in the list of recommended readings
that closes the chapter, good references are made to authors such as Close (1992) and Ur
(1988).

This first set of observations closes with a focus on how to teach pronunciation. After
devoting a few notes to sound, stress, and intonation, the author offers some tasks to
practice phonemic transcription, so that teachers can become aware of the difficulties
students meet when they try to learn correct pronunciation. For each task good pieces of
advice are given. A complex matter such as the teaching of pronunciation cannot be
approached thoroughly in a few pages. Here again, a useful list of further readings is
given for both theoretical references and practical activities. In the teaching of
pronunciation I have found a real help in proverbs because they are usually built on
rhetorical devices such as rhyme and repetition. They represent a relaxing way of
learning new sounds and can later be exploited in speaking and writing activities.

The next chapters center on the four skills in the commonly accepted sequence:
"Teaching Listening," "Teaching Speaking," "Teaching Reading," and "Teaching
Writing."

To develop listening skills, Lindsay provides some useful tips. Teachers should exploit
different listening strategies, and select appropriate materials with a specific listening
purpose in mind. The main tip the author gives is the need to help students develop
listening skills rather than testing their listening ability. To do so, he suggests that
teachers should make students more confident about the listening task by introducing the
chosen material with global understanding questions and by dividing students into pairs
or small groups so that they can share difficulties in finding answers to the proposed
activities. Common tasks are listed: putting events or items in the right order, true/false
statements, multiple choice questions, note-taking. It is worth emphasizing the
importance of teachers being familiar with the crucial role that different types or stages of
memory (e.g., echoic, working, long-term memory) play in the development of listening
abilities (see Cohen et al, 1986; Smyth & Wing, 1987 ). [-2-]

Speaking is introduced through three stages: elicitation of appropriate functional

language, intensive oral practice, and developing oral fluency. The first goal may be
reached by asking questions, using synonyms and antonyms, giving instructions, using
realia and visual aids, gestures, and mime. Intensive practice involves repetition, echo
questions, simple substitutions of dialogue prompts, or combining sentences. These
activities enable students to become more accurate in specific language structures.
Fluency is undoubtedly the most difficult skill to develop since it is highly dependent on
interest in the topic and preparation of required vocabulary. Thus it is good practice to let
students choose the topics and let them break the ice by starting with warm-up activities.
Role-play, games, and information-gap activities are suitable for the development of oral
fluency. As for accuracy, Allan (1991) suggested the use of taping a ten-minute talk from
notes for self-correction of errors.

Reading is seen as an additional exposure to the foreign language, and it contributes to

the development and updating of vocabulary. I may add that it is a good device to
increase systemic knowledge (syntactic and morphological) as well as schematic
knowledge (encyclopaedic, socio-cultural, topic, and genre). Intensive reading is useful in
the language classroom to analyse grammatical features, to learn how discourse markers
are used to connect parts of text, and to infer the meanings of new words and lexical
items relying on the context. These aspects may be elicited by true/false activities,
questions, or cloze exercises. Lindsay emphasizes the importance of extensive reading,
which has the great value of letting students feel more at ease when they have to develop
their writing skills.
Teachers should become aware that writing is useful to their students only when this
activity involves tasks that are realistic and relevant to students' lives. In order to help
students build confidence in their writing abilities, teachers should make wide use of
guided tasks: e.g., giving cue and items, using substitution tables to form sentences,
providing model texts, asking students to write a simple letter or a postcard. Advanced
students may write longer letters, biographies, diaries, stories and fables, topic subjects,
articles for the school magazine. Since writing involves a set of complex cognitive
processes, good teachers would help their students, in my opinion, to generate ideas and
to direct them towards guided techniques. They should also enable students to develop
effective planning procedures and to produce receiver-based compositions. The use of the
word processor assists students in learning spelling, in the generation of rapid drafting,
and in the easy correction of texts, thanks to the revision facilities that any writing
software offers.

"How to Correct Errors" is supplementary to the previous four chapters about the basic
language skills. Strategies are presented to point out learners' errors. After making a
distinction between errors and mistakes, and listing sources of errors, the main types of
correction are explained, and for each of them a list of advantages and disadvantages is
provided. The chapter ends with useful suggestions about the positive and negative
effects that correction has on learners. [-3-]

The next set of chapters ("Teaching with Visual Aids," "Teaching with Games,"
"Teaching with Drama," "Teaching with Songs," and "Learning with Self-Access")
places the focus on a wide group of activities that can be used in everyday teaching in an
amusing manner. They include: a) visual aids (e.g., substitution tables, timelines, realia,
videos), b) games (from warm-up games, action and mime, and vocabulary to games
suitable for the development of the four specific skills), c) drama (in its main
procedures--mime, improvisation, role-play, and simulation), and d) songs (used for both
listening and writing activities). The basic reason for the use of these tools is the need to
vary the learning pace, arouse the learners' interest and diminish the students' anxiety. A
description of the facilities required for a self-access center is followed by a list of
materials which are more effective, especially when this procedure is used as
supplementary learning to the classroom. The teacher can ask students to complete
individual activities in the self-access center in those areas of language in which they
most need practice.

The seventeenth chapter ("Testing") describes the main types of tests and ways of testing,
e.g., fill-in-the-blanks, cloze, matching, scrambled sentences, and dictation. The chapter
closes with a useful grid of the international examination in ESL/EFL together with the
abilities each examination is designed to test.

The last four chapters ("Using Textbooks," "Planning Lessons," "Teaching Monolingual
Classes," and "Key Concepts in Language Teaching") provide: a) a list of advantages and
disadvantages of using books and ways to choose a textbook that meets learners' needs;
b) suggestions for do's and do not's of lesson planning, with examples of how to make
students practice the four skills; c) a stimulus for would-be teachers to reflect on the
differences between teaching multilingual vs. monolingual classes; d) a brief overview of
the basic concepts in language teaching and the methods and approaches exploited during
the twentieth century.

Five appendices close the book. The first one outlines a "General Description of Levels,"
from zero beginners through false beginners, beginning, high-beginning, low-
intermediate, intermediate, high intermediate, and professional users, to expert users.
Next, a specimen outline for a beginning level class is provided in "Performance
Objectives." The third appendix illustrates a "First Lesson to Zero Beginners." Then a
"Placement Test" is provided. Finally, charts of "Phonemic Symbols," both standard
American English and standard British English, are offered. The book closes with the
"Answer Key" for the review questions that each chapter provides for both revision and
self-testing.

On the whole the book serves as a practical guide suitable for providing would-be
teachers with the basic knowledge and techniques needed for the teaching of most aspects
of foreign language. I would no doubt suggest this book to my teacher trainees. What I
would like to find, even in a book which explicitly claims to be practical, is a wider
discussion of the different cognitive styles and cognitive plus meta-cognitive strategies
that students put into use in their learning (Rubin & Wenden, 1997; Ellis & Sinclair,
1989). The teaching of a language is comparable to a re-shaping of mental processes as
far as communication is concerned. And this cannot be done, in my opinion, without a
constant reflection on the way in which the mind of each student attending our classes
works and on the preferential cognitive paths he or she follows. This profound familiarity
with all students' cognitive resources enables us to choose among techniques and
procedures suitable for each of them individually, and to group students in a way that
proves helpful for better and more complete learning. It goes without saying that the
author does know very well how important the recognition of cognitive styles in language
teaching is. What I want to say is that a constant correlation between activities and
cognition is essential even in practical guides, so that would-be teachers are always
encouraged to reflect on the particularity that their difficult profession involves. [-4-]
Teaching Speaking & Conversation
In what ways can conversation be regarded as a skill? How might this influence our
approach to teaching it?

Both motor-perceptive skills and interaction adeptness are usually required in

conversation. Many times this pairing calls upon effective understanding of the two in
order to implement oral exercises in an effective manner. Motor skills involve perceiving,
recalling, and articulating in the correct order sounds and structures of the language.
Interaction skills involve making decisions about communication, such as what to say
and how to say it. Keeping in mind the difference, the class level should play a large part
in determining which of the two skills are predominately used during the course.

Generally the situation or setting makes a difference in the way the speaker uses the
language, for example, time limitations. Does the speaker have time to "process" his or
her thoughts before speaking out loud? Other conditions can also affect the use of
language. Does it make a difference whether the speaker is interacting with one person or
with a group? Differing situations do have distinct aspects and thus can influence the way
in which the speaker uses language.

But how do speakers facilitate oral production? Speakers can ease the oral production of
speech in the following manner:
a) Simplifying structure: Simplifications can be found mainly in the tendency to tack new
sentences on to previous ones by the use of coordinating conjunctions: like, and, or but.
b) The ellipsis technique: By using the ellipsis technique when conversing the speaker is
able to omit parts of speech in order to speak economically. In order to understand the
listener must have a good idea of the background knowledge assumed by the speaker.
c) Formulaic expressions: Formulaic expressions are found in speech patterns consisting
of conventional colloquial or idiomatic expressions. Idiomatic expressions consist of all
kinds of set phrases and although such sayings usually flow together in a set conversation
pattern, they may lose their meaning when taken outside such context.
d) Fillers and hesitation devices: Fillers as well as hesitation devices such as, "you see",
"kind of", "you know" can used in order to give the speakers more time to formulate and
organize their ideas while speaking. In addition to using simple methods of speech, the
speaker can avoid complex noun groups and as a result oral language tends to become
less dense than the written language.

The following are examples of speech routinely used in conversation which an instructor
should be aware of while teaching in the classroom:
(a) Interaction routines typically occur in any given situation and are likely to occur in a
specific sequence. For example: casual encounter and conversations at parties all tend to
be organized in characteristic ways.
(b) Descriptions of places and people: demonstration of facts, or comparisons all refer to
"information routines." Such routines do not just concern speech, they also occur in
written language.
(c) Negotiation of meaning refers to the skill of communicating ideas clearly and includes
the way participants signal their understanding during an exchange. This aspect of spoken
interaction contrasts most sharply with the written word.
(d) Feedback is the method of examining comprehension as the interaction unfolds. From
the speaker's position, this may include some of the following: asking the other person's
opinion, defining one's meaning or intent with a summarization. From the listener's point
of view there is a comparable group of reactions which complement the speaker's
opinion, such as: indicating understanding by gestures or facial expression as well as
indicating uncertainty by interrupting the speaker where necessary to express one's
reservation with the exchange in dialogue.
(e) Turn-taking is the knowledge which comes with negotiating the control of a
conversation. A speaker has to be efficient at getting a turn and to be proficient at letting
another speaker have a turn. Practical turn-taking requires five abilities:
1. Knowing how to signal that one wants to speak.
2. Recognizing the right moment to get a turn.
3. How to use this structure in order to get one's turn properly and not lose it. 4. The
ability to recognize other people's signals or desire to speak.
5. The ability to acknowledge other people's signals and let them take a turn.
(f) Communication strategies are approaches designed to deal with conversation
difficulties.

Two such approaches to conversational difficulties are the achievement and the reduction
strategies. Both are aimed to compensate for the problem of expression. If the learner
uses an achievement strategy, he or she will attempt to compensate for language disparity
by improvising a substitute through guess-work or intuition. In using achievement
strategies, speakers do not lose or alter any of their message. On the other hand, when
using the reduction approach, the learners may reduce their message in order to bring it
within the scope of their knowledge or else to abandon their central idea and attempt
something more manageable.

In addition to being aware of the differing kinds of speech it might also be advantageous
to develop a list of some of the important speaking skills you think need to be taught to
both elementary and intermediate learners: For elementary students we might consider
the following speaking skills of importance:
a) The ability to reproduce sounds.
b) The knowledge and use of a practical vocabulary.
c) The use of idioms (for example: Hi, instead of Hello).
d) The ability to respond in sentences.
e) The ability to condense verbs (for example: replacing did not with didn't).
f) A vocabulary which enables the student to play games.
g) Knowing and using familiar "native speaker" greetings.
h) The ability to carry on a limited conversation.
When teaching an intermediate level the following speaking skills might be seen as
significant:
a) The ability to agree or disagree.
b) The ability to identify people and places.
c) The capability to express preferences.
d) The skill to expresses opinions.
e) The ability to ask for and give suggestions.
f) The ability to report on what people are asking and saying.
g) The ability to summarize a conversation.

Also of importance are interaction activities which can be used in a speaking class. For
example, the processing of information by engaging in problem solving tasks. Such an
activity may include placing items in a hierarchy of importance, deciding itineraries,
deciding a price range to spend on gifts, developing a story from random picture cues.
Problems may arise from the restricted cooperation because of the students' limited
vocabulary. However, as students move towards a monologue (or one person speaking, as
learners they may begin by not speaking smoothly. The teacher must focus on having
students use language in order to complete a task rather than practicing language for its
own sake.

Another example of an interaction activity may be the development and usage of role
playing. Learners first take part in a preliminary activity which introduces the topic and
the situation as well as some background information. Such activities may include
brainstorming or ranking exercises. An example might be a role play where the students
prepare to rent an apartment. Students first interview one another about the available
accommodations and their desired living arrangements.

Yet, problems can arise when using interaction activities in the classroom, such as a
student's inexperience in focusing on a particular topic or a limited vocabulary for
developing the necessary explanation. Different cultural backgrounds at times may also
interfere with the uniform picture of the situation. For example, apartment searching in
Japan varies considerably from that same activity in the U.S. Teachers must carefully
monitor its effectiveness when promoting conversational fluency.

What is the role of accuracy in a speaking class? How can accuracy be included as a
component of a speaking class? Accuracy in a speaking class includes the control of
grammar and pronunciation as a part of learning language fluency. For speech to be free
of errors the speaker must process and produce comprehensible information. This
requires the speaker to generate speech that is acceptable in both content and form. The
role of accuracy in a speaking class is created by the teacher's providing opportunities for
learners to engage in natural interaction in conversation through the use of
communicative tasks and activities. Teachers should generally sit back and let learners
engage in the natural interaction process whenever possible.

An instructor’s ability to recognize cues in speech patterns and conversation goes a long
way in developing one’s classroom skills. Conversation is regarded as a skill requiring
the speaker to generate speech that is acceptable in both content and form. Speakers learn
to facilitate ease in the oral production of speech in many ways and the instructor must
plan communication strategies to deal with conversation difficulties.
.