Unit II B

Language Skills
 Introduction
“speaking in a second or
foreign language has
often been viewed as the
most demanding of the
four skills”
(Bailey and Savage 1994)
Sp eaking is an “ activ ity
requir ing the
integr ation of many
subs ys tem…..all thes e
fa ctors combines t o
make speaking a
second or f or eign
language a f ormidable
tas k f or language
learner s….ye t f or many
people, speaking is
seen as the centr al
skill”
Even in a production-
based approach
such as the
Silent Way, student
speech is carefully
controlled for structure
and content .
 A second implication is that
multiple skills should be
taught whenever possible .
In fact Murphy ( 1991 )
believes that oral skill
teachers should always
connect speaking , listening ,
and pronunciation teaching
although the focus in any
one class or activity may
highlight one or another
Today we understand that
students learn from teachers ,
from classmates and from the
world outside the classroom,
and the more the learner seeks
these opportunity , the more
likely he or she will learn to
use the language .
In the oral skills
classroom , students
should be allowed and
encouraged to initiate
communication when
possible, to determine
the content of their
responses or
contributions ,and to
evaluate their own
production and
learning
The Oral Skills
Classes.
One basic consideration is
the level of the students
and their perceived needs
. Level may be determined
by the placement test
administered by the
institution or by the
diagnostic test given by
the teacher.
Nowadays, oral skill classes
at all levels are often
structured around
functional uses of
language.
Teacher may , or may not,
be given text-books or
materials for teaching the
oral skills class.
Teachers need to become critical
consumers of publisher materials by
asking question such as:
Is the text appropriate for the level ?
What sort of content/topics are used ?
Is the focus on authentic
communication ?
Does the text integrate speaking,
listening, and pronunciation ?
So Teachers will decide to pick and
choose the activities from a variety
of source and create some of their
own materials as well.
Activities
Discussion
• Discussions are the most commonly
used activities in the oral skills class.
• Students are introduced to a topic
via a reading, a listening passage, or
a videotape and are then asked to
get into pairs or groups to discuss a
related topic in order to come up
with a solution, a response , or the
like.
• Teacher must take care in planning
and setting up a discussion activities.
 Activities
• Speeches
• Prepared speech . Topic for speeches will
vary depending on the level of the
student and the focus of the class, but in
any case , students should be given
some leeway in determining the content
of their talks.
• Speeches can be frightening for the
speaker and , after a while , boring for
the listeners , so it is a good idea to
assign the listeners some responsibilities
during the speeches.
 Activities
• Role Plays.
• A third major activities ,particularly
suitable for practicing the
sociocultural variations in speech
acts, such as complimenting ,
complaining and the like.
• A model dialogue, presented aurally
and/ or in writing , serves as
language input , after which the
class is encourages to evaluate the
situation s as to understand the
Activities
• Conversations
• Assign students to find a native
speaker and arrange to
taperecord a 20-30 minutes
interaction with this person.
• Students transcribe a portion of
their interaction.
• Once the transcript is produced
,there are various activities that
can be pursued.
Activities
Audiotaped Oral Dialogue Journals.
Oral dialogue journals are one format
where practice with fluency and
attention to accuracy can be
accomplished at the same time.
The student gives an audiocassette
tape to the teacher, who starts the
oral journal .
Teachers give some directions for the
assignment and perhaps suggesting a
topic .
Activities
• Other Accuracy –based Activities
Brown (1994)recommends that if drills are to
be used, they should be short , simple, and
snappy ,they should lead to more
authentic communication
Wong (1994) recommends an activities
called “Two-Minutes Conversations”
For example : If I were (a/an)………….I
would…….(a/an)…….because………………..
Teaching Oral Skills in
an EFL Context
• When teaching speaking skills , EFL
teachers need to be particularly
adept at organizing class activities
that are authentic , motivating, and
varied should be in-class or out-class
learning activities.
• Students can be encouraged or
assigned to go to English speaking
business or embassies/consulates to
find native speakers to observe or
interact with.
Assessmen
t•
Two kinds of oral assessment
• The first ,evaluation of classroom
performance.
• A second assessment situation with which
the oral skills teachers may be confronted
is preparing students to take –interpreting
results from-large scale oral examinations,
successful performance on which has
become increasingly common as a
requirement for admission to university, as
a minimum standard for teaching
assistantship ,and as a qualification for