Teaching Speaking

'I can understand my teacher's English, but when I speak to 'real people' I can't understand them'. This is a comment I'm sure many teachers have heard.

While it is a bit of an exaggeration, students clearly feel that classroom-based speaking practice does not prepare them for the real world. Why do students so often highlight listening and speaking as their biggest problems? Partly because of the demands of listening and speaking and partly because of the way speaking is often taught. It usually consists of language practice activities (discussions, information-gap activities etc.) or is used to practise a specific grammar point. Neither teaches patterns of real interaction.

There are three types of teaching speaking skills. Let's check them out.

Talk as Interaction:

This refers to what we normally mean by ''conversation.'' In other words, when the participants exchange ideas and thoughts during classes for a required task. In this one, there are some skills that have to be  used such as:

- Opening and closing conversations

- Choosing topics

- Making small talk

-  Joking

- Recounting personal incidents and experiences

- Turn - taking

- Interrupting

- Reacting to others

- Using an appropriate style of speaking

Talk as Transition: 

This type of talk refers to situations where the focus is on what is said or done. Some skills to be developed in this type are:

- Explain a need or intention

- Describing something

- Asking questioning

- Confirming information

- Clarifying  understanding

- Making comparisons

- Agreeing and disagreeing

Talk as Performance:  

This is the third type of talk and refers to the usage of speaking. For instance, public talks.

Some of the skills involved in using this talk are:

- Using an appropriate format

- Presenting information in an appropriate sequence

- Maintaining audience engagement

- Using correct pronunciation and grammar

- Creating an effect on the audience

- Using appropriate vocabulary

Implications for teaching:

For every English teacher teacher speaking skills is a challenge due to the shyness of students at the time of speaking about something when they are in a very basic level. They fear to make a mistake in front of others; therefore they avoid participating in classes.