Speaking skill

2.1 What is speaking?

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.

2.2.Definition of speaking skills

Speaking is described as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. Speaking depends on the context or the situation, Context includes the physical environment, the purposes for speaking is more often spontaneous, open ended, and evolving. Speaking requires learners to not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary but also that they understand when, where, why and in what ways to produce language.

2.3.Techniques in Teaching Speaking

Oral skills have two major components. First, there are motor perceptive skills. These are the means of perceiving, recalling and articulating in the correct order the sounds and structure of a language. Generally, these are developed at the primary level.

The second component of oral skills is the 'interaction skills'. Interaction skills involve what to say, how to say and how to establish and maintain contact with the other person.

          In recent years there has been a growing emphasis on the teaching and learning of conversation/oral skills. With the spread of English there is a greater demand for the learner to communicate in the target language rather than acquire knowledge of correct structure. The following are the major techniques of teaching oral skills:

The Conversation Class: One of the accepted ways of teaching speech is to hold a 'conversation class'. The teacher sits with a group of learners and asks them questions about their home, family, work, etc. It is a question and answer session.

The Topic Based Discussion Class: Another kind of fluency-based activity is the topic-based discussion. The teacher plans discussions on interesting topics. This is an improvement on the conversation class because the discussion is structured and clear.

Task Based Fluency Practice: With the increasing importance being given to Communicative Language Teaching, task based fluency practice is being used more and more. In this, a group is given a task to perform through verbal interaction. It may be in the form of a group activity or role play. The group has to perform a task which has a tangible output either in the form of giving a group report, a speech or a presentation. This gives the group a concrete task to work with and clear guidelines regarding its scope. It also provides a basis for feedback.

2.4. Tasks for Developing Speaking Skill – Individual, Pair and Group Work

Group work has been found conducive in the development of oral skills. Research has shown that in a 40 minute class with a strength of 40 students per class a learner gets less than a minute to participate in the speaking activity. Group work provides a framework whereby a learner can have maximum participation.

·         group work gives an opportunity to learners to speak in small groups.

·         helps learners to get rid of their inhibitions.

·         learners feel more motivated and have a sense of belonging.

·         helps in establishing a sense of personal rapport.

·         communication is better when the physical distance between individuals is reduced.

·         students can also interact as a group with other groups. This can build an atmosphere of healthy rivalry.

The teacher is also freed from being at the centre stage and moves freely around the room, giving advice and support when needed. It provides an opportunity for peer teaching. Students are more likely to learn from each others.

One of the problems of group work is that students may get over excited, get out of control and the classes may get too noisy. Teachers also find that the purpose of teaching oral skills is defeated if learners lapse into their mother tongue. At times, some learners fail to get 'involved' despite the best efforts of the teacher. In classes that are very large, the teacher cannot supervise efficiently.

2.5. Improving Oral Fluency – Parallel Sentences, Conversation, Dialogue, Role Play

 Parallel Sentences(Parallel structures )

Parallel structure refers to sentences that express one or more similar ideas using the same pattern of words. The ideas are normally joined using conjunctions, such as "and" or "or."

 An example of parallel structure is – Glory likes dancing, eating and riding

 It is a parallel sentence because of the use of grammatically equal "-ing" form of words.

Glory likes dancing, eating and to ride bikes - is not a parallel sentence because "ride" does not use the "-ing" ending that "swimming" and "hiking" do. Parallel structure adds impact to what we are saying. It shows that each idea has the same level of importance.  Parallel constructions comprise similar word or phrase patterns.

Eg: The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. 

We see that the word “teacher” is repeated in every sentence. Besides, the verbs are used in the same tense form (Present Simple). These two factors (word repetition and tense coordination) make up for parallel structure / construction.

Conversation: Conversation is a communication between multiple people. It is a social skill  that is not difficult for most individuals. Conversations are the ideal form of communication.  For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions. A successful conversation includes interesting connections between the speakers or things that the speakers know. For this to happen, those engaging in conversation must find a topic on which they both can relate to in some sense.

Dialogue: A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. It is also a literary form in which two or more parties engage in a discussion.

1. Use quotation marks to indicate words which are spoken by characters.

            "I want the truth!"

2. Always start a new paragraph when changing speakers. We cannot have two people speaking in the same paragraph. 

3. The most obvious way to do that is with a speech tag, i.e., placing a phrase like John said, "... at the beginning of the quotation or …," said John at the end.

4. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking.

5. Use correct punctuation, capitalization and spacing.

            "You don't have to answer that question!" said the Judge.

6. Vary the use and placement of speech tags.

7. Use narrative sentences to show the character's concurrent acts, thoughts and/or perceptions.

Know the characters:  If we have invented our own characters, we may have them speak any way we like, as long as it sounds natural for the time and place in which they exist. If we are using someone else's characters, we must take care to use them properly.

Types of Dialogue:  When learners have acquired adequate command of the basic skills in dialogue writing two types of dialogue can be used.  They are Open Dialogue and Cued dialogue.  In open dialogue the learner has to identify more strongly with a social role and provide whole responses during a piece of social interaction.  In cued dialogue learners interact on the basis of a series of cues.

Role Play:

Role plays are important in the communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles. A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and imagination.  Role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and increases motivation.  Role play can improve learners' speaking skills in any situation, and helps learners to interact. As for the shy learners, role play helps by providing a mask, where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated. In addition, it is fun and most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning.  The joy of role-play is that students can 'become' anyone they like for a short time - The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star. It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable.  The advantages of Role play are the following -

• Stimulates real life conversation
• Is a fluency activity
• Is suitable for consolidation of a topic
• Creates sensitivity and a sense of awareness
• Increases motivation
• A break from routine
•  Prepare students for real life and unpredictability

 Situation for a Role Play

Keeping in mind students' needs and interests a situation for a role-play should be chosen.  Teachers should select role plays that will give the students an opportunity to practice what they have learned. Students should choose the situation themselves. They might either suggest themes that intrigue them or select a topic from a list of given situations. To find a situation for a role-play, the teacher can write down situations that encounter in every day life, or read a book or watch a movie, because their scenes can provide many different role play situations.

Dramatization

Drama is concerned with the world of 'let's pretend'. It provides an opportunity for a person to express himself through verbal expressions and gestures using his imagination and memory. Drama centers on –

•  language development,
• personal awareness,
• group co-operation,
• sensory awareness and
• imaginative growth.

          Drama can be used in the teaching of English as a Second language for a variety of purposes.  Drama activities can be used as a means of reinforcement of language learnt.  It helps to extend, retain and reinforce vocabulary and sentence structure through role-play and communication games.   Drama improves oral communication.

Creating Drama with poetry is an exciting language learning experience. The technique employs a multi-sensory approach to language acquisition by involving second language learners physically, emotionally, and cognitively in the language learning process.  The students use the target language for the specific purpose of communication. They experiment with non-verbal communicative aspects of language (body language, gestures, and facial expressions), as well as verbal aspects (intonation, rhythm, stress, slang, and idiomatic expressions), while interpreting the poems. The students begin to feel the language and gain the confidence to interact outside the classroom using the target language. 

Play reading

In play reading actors read a play aloud. In a play reading actors sit in chairs in front of the audience. Sometimes they stand behind a music stand so they can put the script in front of them. This way it is easier for them to look at the audience and to gesture, make hand and arm movements to help the audience understand how the character is feeling.

Usually one actor reads the lines for one character. Sometimes when there are many characters in a play, an actor may read the lines for several characters. One actor reads the stage directions. It is important for the actors to know their characters and the script so they can make the reading interesting. They need to know what their characters are saying – and why they are saying that.

The actors need:

• volume – being loud enough to be heard
• good diction – saying the words clearly so the audience will understand the words
• vocal variety – using a loud or soft voice to fit the meaning of the play; going slow or faster to make the play more interesting
• eye contact – looking at the audience as often as possible to keep their interest

Group 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 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.

2.6. Story Telling, Narration and Description

Story Telling

Most dictionaries define a story as a narrative account of a real or imagined event or events. Within the storytelling community, a story is more generally agreed to be a specific structure of narrative with a specific style and set of characters includes a sense of completeness. Through this sharing of experience we use stories to pass on accumulated wisdom, beliefs, and values. Through stories we explain how things are, why they are, and our role and purpose. Stories are the building blocks of knowledge, the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present, and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions.

Storytelling is an interactive performance art form - Direct interaction between the teller and audience is an essential element of the storytelling experience.

Storytelling is a co-creative process - Storytelling audiences do not passively receive a story from the teller, as a viewer receives and records the content of a television program or motion picture. The teller provides no visual images, no stage set, and generally, no costumes related to story characters or historic period. Listeners create these images based on the performer's telling and on their own experiences and beliefs.

Storytelling is by its nature, personal, interpretive, and uniquely human - Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories in an integral and essential part of the human experience.

Storytelling is a process, a medium for sharing, interpreting, offering the content and meaning of a story to an audience - Because storytelling is spontaneous and experiential, and thus a dynamic interaction between teller and listener, it is far more difficult to describe than is the script and camera directions of a movie, or the lines and stage direction notes of a play. Storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience.

Narration

Narration is considered as an essential quality of teachers. Narration is a skill that can be acquired through training and practice. In the process of narration language appropriate to the audience must be used. Language should be beautiful, interesting simple and smooth.  This will add to the suitability of narration. The narration should not be too fast or too slow.  It should be smooth and should have appropriate speed.

The language should also be appropriate to the situation.  Language is the most important aspect of the skill of narration.  It should be according to the situation being narrated.  The basic idea of the narrator is to communicate about the mood, concept or feeling etc., in the situation which may be anger, happiness, pity etc., Variation in pitch of the voice according to the situation brings life in narration whereas monotonous voice is just as the prose reading.  Pitch should be according to the size of the class. 

Narration is full if the narrator uses gesture, verbal and non-verbal cues to emphasize the emotions, feelings etc.  Through gestures, the narrator may indicate size, shape of the objects, ideas that is to be communicated etc., The content of the narration consists of statements, direct and indirect forms and the narrator should use direct speeches instead of using indirect speeches since they should be presented in the form as spoken by the characters in the real situations. There should also be continuity in the narration

Description

            Story is an arrangement of words and images that re-create life-like characters and events. By how a storyteller describes and arranges a description of a story's events, issues and ideas, the storyteller gains the attention of an audience. To sustain that interest, the action of a story is often presented as revolving around resolving some human need: to feel loved, to be in control of one's life and fate, to be able to avenge wrongs, overcome obstacles, discover and understand the meaning and purpose of life. To reward the interest of an audience, the storyteller arranges the elements of their story to fulfill the issues it raises.

2.7. Suggestions for improving oral fluency/ Speaking among students

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

·         Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language.

·         Try to involve each student in every speaking activity.

·         Reduce teacher speaking time in class and increase student speaking time.

·         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 etc.,

·         Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking.

·         Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class.

·         Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.

·         Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves.

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. Various speaking activities 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.