Majorship : English

LET Competency : Demonstrate understanding of the nature

of the four language macro-components (listening, speaking,
reading, writing, including grammar) and the theoretical bases,
principles, methods, and strategies in teaching these
components.

Introduction
Listening is the neglected communication skill. While all of us have had instruction in reading,
writing, and speaking, few have had any formal instruction in listening. Most of us spend seven of
every 10 minutes of our waking time in some form of communication activity. Of these seven minutes
(or 70% of the time we are awake), 10% is spent writing, 15% reading, 30% talking, and 45%
listening.
Think of it! We spend nearly half of our communication time listening, but few of us make any
real effort to be better listeners. For those who do, however, the effort pays great dividends—higher
productivity, faster learning, and better relationships.
Listening is more than merely hearing words. Listening is an active process by which students
receive, construct meaning from, and respond to spoken and or nonverbal messages (Emmert,
1994). As such, it forms an integral part of the communication process and should not be separated
from the other language arts. Listening comprehension complements reading comprehension.
Verbally clarifying the spoken message before, during, and after a presentation enhances listening
comprehension. Writing, in turn, clarifies and documents the spoken message.

The Goal of Teaching Listening

As teachers, we want to produce students, who even if they do not have complete control of
the grammar or an extensive lexicon, can fend for themselves in communication situations. In the
case of listening, this means producing students who can use listening strategies to maximize their
comprehension of aural input, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and tolerate less than
word-by-word comprehension.

The Nature of Listening

Listening takes up as much as 50% of our everyday communication time. It is the main
channel of classroom instruction and the most used language skill at work and at home. Many
learners want to develop effective listening comprehension because it is crucial to their academic,
professional, and personal success.

When we teach listening we consider what the object of our instruction is. We look at ideas
that have influenced thinking on learner listening in English language teaching.

Kinds of Listening
Teachers can help students become effective listeners by making them aware of the different
kinds of listening, the different purposes for listening, and the qualities of good listeners. Wolvin and
Coakley (1992) identify four different kinds of listening:

 Comprehensive (Informational) Listening--Students listen for the content of the message.

 Critical (Evaluative) Listening--Students judge the message.
 Appreciative (Aesthetic) Listening--Students listen for enjoyment.
 Therapeutic (Empathetic) Listening--Students listen to support others but not judge them.
 Traditionally, secondary schools have concentrated on the comprehensive and critical kinds of
listening. Teachers need to provide experiences in all four kinds. For example, listening to literature
read, listening to radio plays, and watching films develop appreciative in addition to comprehensive
and critical listening. When students provide supportive communication in collaborative groups, they
are promoting therapeutic listening. For example, the listening behavior can show understanding,
acceptance, and trust, all of which facilitate communication. Students benefit from exposure to all four
types of listening.

Listening is a general purpose in most learning situations. To be effective listeners, however,

students need a more specific focus than just attending to what is said. See the following chart which
contrasts effective and ineffective listening habits.

The Purposes for Listening

Listening requires conscious mental effort and specific purpose. The purposes for listening
relate to "types" of listening:
 Are you listening to receive information?
 Are you listening to follow instructions?
 Are you listening to evaluate information?
 Are you listening for pleasure?
 Are you listening to empathize?

Listening Comprehension skills or Enabling skills

 Listening for detail—involves listening for specific information

 Listening for gist—listen for main ideas
 Drawing inferences—ability to fill in gaps in the input
 Listening selectively—listen only to specific parts of the input.
 Making predictions—ability to anticipate before and during listening what one is going to hear.

Activities to teach listening skills:

1. Dual dictation
Ask students to get into pairs to write a dialogue. When student A is speaking, student B should write
down what they are saying and vice versa. When they have finished the conversation, they should check
what each other has written and put the two sides of the conversation together. You could then ask
students to perform their dialogues again to the rest of the class, or to swap with other pairs.
This activity works best if you give students a theme or role-play, e.g.
 A conversation between friends about holidays
 An argument between siblings
 An interview with a famous person
 A scene from a film
 Class memory quiz
Ask one student at a time to go to the front of the class. Ask the rest of the class to ask them any
questions they like (as long as they are not too personal!), e.g.
 What is your favourite colour/food/band?
  What did you have for lunch?
 Which country would you most like to visit?
Try to make a note of some of the answers. When all of the students (or half of the students, if you
have a large group) have been interviewed, explain that you are going to hold a quiz about the
class. Get the students into small teams and ask them to put their hand up if they know the answer
to a question, e.g.
 Which student likes Oasis?
 What is Marie's favorite food?
 Which two students would like to be famous actors?
Award a point to the first team to answer correctly. This game can be a lot of fun, and encourages
students to listen to each other.

2. Listen for lies

Divide the class into two teams A and B. Ask one student at a time to come to the front of the class and
read aloud a passage which you have chosen, e.g. a story or newspaper article. Then ask them to read it
aloud again, but to make some changes. Each time a lie (or change) is read out, the students must stand
up. The first team to stand up gets a point. This game requires students to listen carefully and encourages
them to remember important information and details.

Listening as a PRODUCT
It shows what listeners do in order to demonstrate their understanding. It is described in terms
of outcomes which are stated either verbally or non-verbally.

Examples of listening outcomes:

 Follow instructions
 Organize and classify information
 Take effective notes
 Take dictation
 Transfer information into graphic forms
 Reconstruct original text
 Make appropriate oral response

Listening as a PROCESS
Students do not have an innate understanding of what effective listeners do; therefore, it is the
responsibility of teachers to share that knowledge with them. Perhaps the most valuable way to teach
listening skills is for teachers to model them themselves, creating an environment which encourages
listening. Teachers can create such an environment by positive interaction, actively listening to all
students and responding in an open and appropriate manner. Teachers should avoid responding
either condescendingly or sarcastically. As much as possible, they should minimize distractions and
interruptions. It is important for the teacher to provide numerous opportunities for students to practice
listening skills and to become actively engaged in the listening process.

Listening is a mental process. Our brain processes linguistic information in three

ways:
1. Attend to signals (sounds or print) and identify them as words.
2. Process information in the most efficient way.
3. Draw on knowledge stored in the long- term memory.

Anderson proposed a three-phase language comprehension model:

 Perception is the encoding of sound signals
 Parsing is the process by which an utterance is segmented according to syntactic structures
or meaning cues to create a mental representation of the combined meaning of the words.
  Utilization occurs when listeners relate mental representations of the input to existing
knowledge in long- term memory

Factors that Influence Learners’ Listening

Three sources of information are crucial to how language learners listen:
1. Background knowledge (schematic)
2. Knowledge of the situation and co-text (contextual)
3. Knowledge of the language system (systemic)

Listening can be best understood as a combination of low and high inferences (Rost, 1990)
Listeners make low-level inferences when they use their knowledge of linguistic features to infer
(decode) the sounds in an utterance. To understand what a message means, they engage in higher
level inferences by using on their knowledge of both linguistic and pragmatic nature.

Another cognitive perspective on learner listening is the use of listening comprehension strategies.
These are mental mechanisms used to process and manage information. The three categories of
listening strategies are:

 Cognitive : process, interpret, store and recall information. This involves strategies such as
inferencing and prediction.
 Metacognitive : manage and facilitate mental process; cope with difficulties during listening.
Examples of such strategies include comprehension monitoring and visualizing.

 Social-affective : ask the help of others to facilitate comprehension; manage one’s emotions
when listening such as confidence building and cooperation.

Methods of Teaching Listening Skills

Effective, modern methods of teaching listening skills encompass everything from interactive exercises to
multimedia resources. Listening skills are best learned through simple, engaging activities that focus more on
the learning process than on the final product. Whether you are working with a large group of students or a
small one, you can use any of the following examples to develop your own methods for teaching students how
to listen well.

1. Interpersonal Activities
One effective and nonthreatening way for students to develop stronger listening skills is through
interpersonal activities, such as mock interviews and storytelling. Assign the students to small groups of
two or three, and then give them a particular listening activity to accomplish. For example, you may
have one student interview another for a job with a company or for an article in a newspaper. Even a
storytelling activity, such as one that answers the question "What was your favorite movie from last
year?" can give students the opportunity to ask one another questions and then to practice active
listening skills.

2. Group Activities
Larger group activities also serve as a helpful method for teaching listening skills to students. You can
begin with a simple group activity. For the first part, divide students into groups of five or larger and
instruct them to learn one hobby or interest of at least two other group members. Encourage them to ask
clarifying questions during the activity, and you may allow them to take notes if helpful. However, as
time passes and their skills grow, you should limit students to only writing notes after the completion of
 the first part of the group activity. For the second part, have the students sit in a large circle, and then
have each individual student share the name and the hobby or interest of the group members that she or
he met. This second part of the group activity can also lend itself to additional listening exercises. For
example, you may ask students to name a number of the hobbies and interests identified during the
sharing session.

3. Audio Segments/songs
You can also teach listening skills through audio segments of radio programs, online podcast,
instructional lectures and other audio messages. You should model this interactive listening process in
class with your students, and then instruct them to repeat the exercise on their own. First, instruct
students to prepare for listening by considering anything that they will want to learn from the content of
the audio segment. Once they have written down or shared these ideas, then play the audio segment,
allowing the students to take notes if helpful. Once they have gained confidence and experience, repeat
this activity but instruct students to not take notes until the completion of the audio segment. You can
use shorter or longer audio segments, and you can choose more accessible or more challenging material
for this type of exercise.

4. Video Segments
Another helpful resource for teaching listening skills are video segments, including short sketches, news
programs, documentary films, interview segments, and dramatic and comedic material. As with audio
segments, select the portion and length of the video segment based on the skill level of your students.
With your students, first watch the segment without any sound and discuss it together. Encourage the
students to identify what they think will be the content of the segment. Then, watch the segment again,
this time with sound, allowing students to take notes if helpful for their skill level. After the completion
of the video segment, you can have students write a brief summary of the segment, or you can take time
to discuss as a group how the segment compares with the students' expectations.

The following ideas will help make your listening activities successful:
 Noise
Reduce distractions and noise during the listening segment. You may need to close doors or windows
or ask children in the room to be quiet for a few minutes.
 Equipment
If you are using a CD-player, make sure it produces acceptable sound quality. Bring extra batteries or
an extension cord with you.
 Repetition
Read or play the text a total of 2-3 times. Tell students in advance you will repeat it. This will reduce
their anxiety about not catching it all the first time. You can also ask them to listen for different
information each time through.
 Content
Unless your text is merely a list of items, talk about the content as well as specific language used. The
material should be interesting and appropriate for your class level in topic, speed, and vocabulary. You
may need to explain reductions (like 'gonna' for 'going to') and fillers (like 'um' or 'uh-huh').
 Recording Your Own Tape
Write appropriate text (or use something from your textbook) and have another English speaker read it
onto tape. Copy the recording three times so you don't need to rewind. The reader should not simply
read three times, because students want to hear exact repetition of the pronunciation, intonation, and
pace, not just the words.
 Video
You can play a video clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about what dialog is
taking place. Then play it again with sound and discuss why they were right or wrong in their
predictions. You can also play the sound without the video first, and show the video after students have
guessed what is going on.
 Homework
 Give students a listening task to do between classes. Encourage them to listen to public in airports, bus
stations, supermarkets, etc. and try to write down what they heard. Tell them the telephone number of a
cinema and ask them to write down the playing times of a specific movie. Give them a tape recording of
yourself with questions, dictation, or a worksheet to complete.

Bottom–up Listening

This refers to a process by which sounds are used to build up units of information, such as
words, phrases, clauses and sentences before the aural input is understood.

Top-down processing
This refers to the application of background knowledge to facilitate comprehension.
It is generally believed now that both top-down and bottom-up processing occur at the same
time in what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck,1993). In some instances, one type of
processing might take precedence over the other, depending on the amount of practice an individual
has had on a specific task.

Stages in a Listening Lesson

The Phases of Listening
The three phases of the listening process are: pre-listening, during listening, and after
listening.

Pre-listening
During the pre-listening phase, teachers need to recognize that all students bring different
backgrounds to the listening experience. Beliefs, attitudes, and biases of the listeners will affect the
understanding of the message. In addition to being aware of these factors, teachers should show
students how their backgrounds affect the messages they receive.
Prepare your learners by introducing the topic and finding out what they already know about it. A good way to
do this is to have a brainstorming session and some discussion questions related to the topic. Then provide any
necessary background information and new vocabulary they will need for the listening activity.

There are several strategies that students and their teachers can use to prepare for a listening
experience. They can:

1. Activate Existing Knowledge. Students should be encouraged to ask the question: What do I
already know about this topic? From this teachers and students can determine what
information they need in order to get the most from the message. Students can brainstorm,
discuss, read, view films or photos, and write and share journal entries.
2. Build Prior Knowledge. Teachers can provide the appropriate background information
including information about the speaker, topic of the presentation, purpose of the presentation,
and the concepts and vocabulary that are likely to be embedded in the presentation.
3. Review Standards for Listening. Teachers should stress the importance of the audience's
role in a listening situation. There is an interactive relationship between audience and speaker,
each affecting the other. Teachers can outline the following considerations to students:
o Students have to be physically prepared for listening. They need to see and hear
the speaker. If notes are to be taken, they should have paper and pencil at hand.
o Students need to be attentive. In many cultures, though not all, it is expected that the
listener look directly at the speaker and indicate attention and interest by body
language. The listener should never talk when a speaker is talking. Listeners should put
distractions and problems aside.
 o "Listen to others as you would have them listen to you."

4. Establish Purpose. Teachers should encourage students to ask: "Why am I listening?" "What
is my purpose?" Students should be encouraged to articulate their purpose.
o Am I listening to understand? Students should approach the speech with an open
mind. If they have strong personal opinions, they should be encouraged to recognize
their own biases.
o Am I listening to remember? Students should look for the main ideas and how the
speech is organized. They can fill in the secondary details later.
o Am I listening to evaluate? Students should ask themselves if the speaker is qualified
and if the message is legitimate. They should be alert to errors in the speaker's thinking
processes, particularly bias, sweeping generalizations, propaganda devices, and
charged words that may attempt to sway by prejudice or deceit rather than fact.
o Am I listening to be entertained? Students should listen for those elements that make
for an enjoyable experience (e.g., emotive language, imagery, mood, humor,
presentation skills).
o Am I listening to support? Students should listen closely to determine how other
individuals are feeling and respond appropriately (e.g., clarify, paraphrase, sympathize,
encourage).
Before a speaker's presentation, teachers also can have students formulate questions that
they predict will be answered during the presentation. If the questions are not answered, students
may pose the questions to the speaker. Students should as well be encouraged to jot down questions
during listening.

An additional strategy is called TQLR. It consists of the following steps:

T – Tune-in
(The listener must tune-in to the speaker and the subject, mentally calling up everything known
about the subject and shutting out all distractions.)
Q -- Question
(The listener should mentally formulate questions. What will this speaker say about this topic?
What is the speaker's background? I wonder if the speaker will talk about...?)
L -- Listen
(The listener should organize the information as it is received, anticipating what the speaker
will say next and reacting mentally to everything heard.)
R -- Review
(The listener should go over what has been said, summarize, and evaluate constantly. Main
ideas should be separated from subordinate ones.)
5. Use a Listening Guide. A guide may provide an overview of the presentation, its main ideas,
questions to be answered while listening, a summary of the presentation, or an outline. For
example, a guide such as the following could be used by students during a presentation in
class.
1. Situation:
Speaker's name:
Date:
Occasion:
2. What is the general subject of this talk?
3. What is the main point or message of this talk?
 4. What is the speaker's organizational plan?
5. What transitional expressions (e.g., firstly, secondly, in contrast, in
conclusion) does the speaker use?
6. Does the speaker digress from the main point?
7. Write the speaker's main point in no more than three sentences.
8. What is your personal reaction to the talk?
While- Listening Stage

While-listening tasks are what students are asked to do during listening time. The listening
tasks should be enjoyable and meaningful to the students. It should be simple and easy to handle. It
should provide opportunities for students to succeed.
Students need to understand the implications of rate in the listening process. Nichols (1948) found
that people listen and think at four times the normal conversation rate. Students have to be
encouraged to use the "rate gap" to actively process the message. In order to use that extra time
wisely.

Effective listeners:

 connect—make connections with people, places, situations, and ideas they know
 find meaning—determine what the speaker is saying about people, places, and ideas
 question—pay attention to those words and ideas that are unclear
 make and confirm predictions—try to determine what will be said next
 make inferences—determine speaker's intent by "listening between the lines"; infer what the
speaker does not actually say
 reflect and evaluate—respond to what has been heard and pass judgment.

"Comprehension is enormously improved when the speaker's schema or organizational pattern

is perceived by the listener" (Devine, 1982). Teach students the various structures (e.g., short story,
essay, poetry, play), organizational patterns (e.g., logical, chronological, spatial), and transitional
devices. Effective listeners can follow spoken discourse when they recognize key signal expressions
such as the following:

 Example words: for example, for instance, thus, in other words, as an illustration
Usually found in: generalization plus example (but may be found in enumeration and
argumentation)
 Time words: first, second, third, meanwhile, next, finally, at last, today, tomorrow, soon
Usually found in: narration, chronological patterns, directions (and whenever events or
examples are presented in a time sequence)
• Addition words: in addition, also, furthermore, moreover, another example
Usually found in: Enumeration, description, and sometimes in generalization plus example
 Result words: as a result, so, accordingly, therefore, thus
Usually found in: Cause and effect
 Contrast words: however, but, in contrast, on the other hand, nevertheless
Usually found in: comparison and contrast (and whenever speaker makes a comparison or
contrast in another pattern) (Devine, 1982).
 Most students need practice in making inferences while listening. A simple way to help
students become aware that there is meaning between the lines is to read a passage from literature
which describes a character's actions, appearance, or surroundings. From this information, students
make inferences about the character's personality. Teachers should keep in mind that the purpose of
an exercise such as this is not to elicit the exact answer, but to provide opportunities for students to
make various inferences. Students also need to be aware of the inferences they can make from non-
verbal cues. A speaker's tone and body language can convey a message as well.

Although listeners need not capture on paper everything they hear, there are times that
students need to focus on the message and need to record certain words and phrases. Such note-
making ("listening with pen in hand") forces students to attend to the message.

Transcribing or writing down live or recorded speech can sharpen students' listening, spelling,
and punctuation skills.

 Teacher selects an interesting piece of writing.

 The selection is read aloud to the class (and perhaps discussed).
 The teacher then dictates the passage slowly to the class. The students transcribe the form
and conventions (i.e., spelling, punctuation, and capitalization) as accurately as possible.
 Students compare their transcription with distributed copies of the original.

Critical thinking plays a major role in effective listening. Listening in order to analyze and
evaluate requires students to evaluate a speaker's arguments and the value of the ideas,
appropriateness of the evidence, and the persuasive techniques employed.

Planning and structuring classroom activities to model and encourage students to listen
critically is important. Students should learn to:
 Analyze the message

Critical listeners are concerned first with understanding accurately and completely what they
hear (Brownell, 1996).
 Analyze the speaker
Critical listeners must understand the reliability of the speaker. Is the speaker credible?
Trustworthy? An expert? Dynamic?
 Analyze the speaker's evidence
Critical listeners must understand the nature and appropriateness of the evidence and
reasoning. What evidence is used? Expert testimony? Facts? Statistics? Examples? Reasons?
Opinions? Inappropriate evidence might include untrustworthy testimony; inadequate,
incorrect, inappropriate, or irrelevant facts, statistics, or examples.
 Analyze the speaker's reasoning
Critical listeners must understand the logic and reasoning of the speaker. Is this evidence
developed in logical arguments such as deductive, inductive, causal, or analogous? Faulty
reasoning might include hasty or over-inclusive generalization, either-or argument, causal
fallacy (therefore, because of this), non sequitur (confusion of cause and effect), reasoning in a
circle, begging or ignoring the question, false analogy, attacking the person instead of the idea,
or guilt by association.
 Analyze the speaker's emotional appeals
Critical listeners must understand that persuaders often rely on emotional appeal as well as
evidence and reasoning. Critical listeners, therefore, must recognize effective persuasive
appeals and propaganda devices.
Post-Listening Stage
This is usually at the end of a lesson. These are off-shoots or extension of the work done at the pre-
and while listening stage. At this stage the students have time to think, reflect, discuss and to write.

Students need to act upon what they have heard to clarify meaning and extend their thinking.
Well-planned post-listening activities are just as important as those before and during. Some
examples follow.

 To begin with, students can ask questions of themselves and the speaker to clarify their
understanding and confirm their assumptions.
 Hook and Evans (1982) suggest that the post-mortem is a very useful device. Students
should talk about what the speaker said, question statements of opinion, amplify certain
remarks, and identify parallel incidents from life and literature.
 Students can summarize a speaker's presentation orally, in writing, or as an outline. In
addition to the traditional outline format, students could use time lines, flow charts, ladders,
circles, diagrams, webs, or maps.
 Students can review their notes and add information that they did not have an opportunity to
record during the speech.
 Students can analyze and evaluate critically what they have heard.
 Students can be given opportunities to engage in activities that build on and develop concepts
acquired during an oral presentation. These may include writing (e.g., response journal,
learning log, or composition), reading (e.g., further research on a topic or a contradictory
viewpoint), art or drama (e.g., designing a cover jacket after a book talk or developing a mock
trial concerning the topic through drama in role).

PROCESSING IN LISTENING

Bottom–up Listening

This refers to a process by which sounds are used to build up units of information, such as
words, phrases, clauses and sentences before the aural input is understood.

Top-down processing
This refers to the application of background knowledge to facilitate comprehension.
It is generally believed now that both top-down and bottom-up processing occur at the same
time in what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck,1993). In some instances, one type of
processing might take precedence over the other, depending on the amount of practice an individual
has had on a specific task.

Vandegrift (2004) mentioned that students may use either top-down or bottom-up processes. As one
listens, he /she may consciously or unconsciously use one or both processes. Cahyono and Widiati
(2009) mentioned that “successful listeners are those who can use both bottom-up and top – down
processes by combining the new information and the knowledge that they already know”. Brown
(2006) and Yildirim (2016) elaborated on this:

… students must hear some sounds (bottom-up processing), hold them in their working memory long
enough ( a few seconds) to connect them, and then interpret what they’ve just heard before
something new comes along. At the same time, listeners are using their background knowledge (top-
down processing ) to determine meaning with respect to prior knowledge and schemata”

AS FUTURE LANGUAGE TEACHERS, YOU SHOULD ENSURE TO PROVIDE ACTIVITIES THAT

WOULD INVOLVE STUDENTS PROCESSING AND DECODING THE TEXT (BOTTOM – UP) AND
THEN COMPREHENDING USING ONE’S SCHEMA(TOP-DOWN)

TEACHING SPEAKING

Introduction

Speech is the most basic means of communication.”Speaking in a second language or foreign

language has often been viewed as the most demanding and challenging of the four skills.” (Bailey
and Savage, 1994) What specifically makes speaking in a second language or foreign language
difficult. According to Brown (1994) a number of features of spoken language includes reduced forms
such as contractions, vowel reduction, and elision; slang and idioms; stress, rhythm, and intonation.
Students who are not exposed to reduced speech will always retain their full forms and it will become
a disadvantage as a speaker of a second language. Speaking is an activity requiring the integration of
many subsystems.

The Goal of Teaching Speaking

The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency. Learners should be able to
make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid
confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the
social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, instructors can use a

balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output, and communicative
output.

The Nature of Speaking

Oral communication is a two-way process between speaker and listener (or listeners) and
involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding (or listening with
understanding). Both speaker and listener have a positive function to perform. In simple terms, the
speaker has to encode the message he wishes to convey in appropriate language, while the listener
(no less actively) has to decode (or interpret) the message.

Different views of speaking in language teaching

A review of some of the views of the current issues in teaching oral communication can help
provide some perspective to the more practical considerations of designing speaking lessons.

1. Conversational discourse
The benchmark of successful language acquisition is almost always the demonstration of an
ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through interactive discourse with other speakers of the
language. Although historically, “conversation” classes have ranged from quasi-communicative
drilling to free, open, and sometimes agenda-less discussions among students; current
pedagogical research on teaching conversation has provided some parameters for developing
objectives and techniques.
 Though the goals and the techniques for teaching conversation are extremely diverse—
depending on the student, teacher, and overall context of the class—language teachers have
nonetheless learned to differentiate between transactional and interactional conversation.
Instructors have discovered techniques for teaching students conversation rules such as topic
nomination, maintaining a conversation, turn-taking, interruption, and termination. Teachers have
also learned to teach sociolinguistic appropriateness, styles of speech, nonverbal communication,
and conversational routines. Within all these foci, the phonological, lexical, and syntactic
properties of language can be attended to, either directly or indirectly.

2. Teaching pronunciation
There has been some controversy over the role of pronunciation work in a communicative,
interactive course of study. Because the overwhelming majority of adult learners will never acquire
an accent-free command of a foreign language, should a language program that emphasizes
whole language, meaningful contexts, and automaticity of production focus on these tiny
phonological details of language? The answer is “yes,” but in a different way from what was
perceived to be essential; a couple of decades ago.

3. Accuracy and fluency

An issue that pervades all of language performance centers on the distinction between
accuracy and fluency. In spoken language the question we face as teachers is: How shall we
prioritize the two clearly important speaker goals of accurate (clear, articulate, grammatically and
phonologically correct) language and fluent (flowing, natural) language?

It is clear that fluency and accuracy are both important goals to pursue in Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT). While fluency may in many communicative language courses be an
initial goal in language teaching, accuracy is achieved to some extent by allowing students to
focus on the elements of phonology, grammar, and discourse in their spoken output.

The fluency/accuracy issue often boils down to the extent to which our techniques should be
message oriented (or teaching language use) as opposed to language oriented (also known as
teaching language usage). Current approaches to language teaching lean strongly toward
message orientation with language usage offering a supporting role.

4. Affective factors
One of the major obstacles learners have to overcome in learning to speak is the anxiety
generated over the risks of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible.
Because of the language ego that informs people that “you are what you speak,” learners are
reluctant to be judged by hearers. Our job as teachers is to provide the kind of warm, embracing
climate that encourages students to speak, however halting or broken their attempts may be.

5. The interaction effect

The greatest difficulty that learners encounter in attempts to speak is not the multiplicity of
sounds, words, phrases, and discourse forms that characterize any language, but rather the
interactive nature of most communication. Conversations are collaborative as participants engage
in a process of negotiation of meaning. So, for the learner, the matter of what you say is often
eclipsed by conventions of how to say things, when to speak, and other discourse constraints.

David Nunan (1991) notes a further complication in interactive discourse: what he calls the
interlocutor effect, or the difficulty of a speaking task as gauged by the skills of one’s
interlocutor. In other words, one learner’s performance is always colored by that of the person
(interlocutor) he or she is talking with.
Factors that Influence Learners’ Speaking
The six factors below suggest that any learner who really wants to can learn to pronounce
English clearly and comprehensibly. As the teacher, you can assist in the process by gearing your
planned and unplanned instruction toward these six factors.

1. Native Language
The native language is clearly the most influential factor affecting a learner’s pronunciation. If
the teacher is familiar with the sound system of a learner’s native language, (s)he will be better
able to diagnose student difficulties. Many L1 to L2 carryovers can be overcome through a
focused awareness and effort on the learner’s part.

2. Age
Children under the age of puberty generally stand an excellent chance
of “sounding like a native” if they have continued exposure in authentic contexts. Beyond the age
of puberty, while adults will almost surely maintain a “foreign accent,” there is no particular
advantage attributed to age. A fifty-year-old can be as successful as an eighteen-year-old if all
other factors are equal. The belief that “the younger, the better” in learning a language is a myth.

3. Exposure
It is difficult to define exposure. One can actually live in a foreign country for some time but not
take advantage of being “with the people.” Research seems to support the notion that the quality
and intensity of exposure are more important than mere length of time. If class time spent focusing
on pronunciation demands the full attention and interest of students, then they stand a good
chance of reaching their goals.

4. Innate phonetic ability

Often referred to as having an “ear” for language, some people manifests a phonetic coding
ability that others do not. In many cases, if a person has had exposure to a foreign language as a
child, this “knack” is present whether the early language is remembered or not. Others are simply
more attuned to phonetic discriminations. Some people would have you believe that you either
have such a knack, or you don’t. Strategies-based instruction, however, has proven that some
elements of learning are a matter of an awareness of your own limitations combined with a
conscious focus on doing something to compensate for those limitations. Therefore, if
pronunciation seems to be naturally difficult for some students, they should not despair; with some
effort and concentration, they can improve their competence.

5. Identity and language ego

Another influence is one’s attitude toward speakers of the target language and the extent to
which the language ego identifies with those speakers. Learners need to be reminded of the
importance

6. Motivation and concern for good pronunciation

Some learners are not particularly concerned about their pronunciation, while others are. The
extent to which learners’ intrinsic motivation propels them toward improvement will be perhaps the
strongest influence of all six of the factors in this list. If that motivation and concern are high, then
the necessary effort will be expended in pursuit of goals. As the teacher, you can help learners to
perceive or develop that motivation by showing, among other things, how clarity of speech is
significant in shaping their self-image and, ultimately, in reaching some of their higher goals.

Problems that language learners face during speaking

 Students often think that the ability to speak a language is the product of language learning, but
speaking is also a crucial part of the language learning process. Effective instructors teach students
speaking strategies—using minimal responses, recognizing scripts, and using language to talk about
language—that they can use to help themselves expand their knowledge of the language and their
confidence in using it. These instructors help students learn to speak so that the students can use
speaking to learn.

Douglas Brown (2000) identified eight factors that can make speaking difficult.

1. Clustering
Fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word. Learners can organize their output both cognitively
and physically (in breath groups) through such clustering.

2. Redundancy
The speaker has an opportunity to make meaning clearer through the redundancy of language.
Learners can capitalize on this feature of spoken language.

3. Reduced forms
Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc., all form special problems in teaching spoken English.
Students who don’t learn colloquial contractions can sometimes develop a stilted, bookish quality
of speaking that in turn stigmatizes them.

4. Performance variables
One of the advantages of spoken language is that the process of thinking as you speak allows you
to manifest a certain number of performance hesitations, pauses, backtracking, and corrections.
Learners can actually be taught how to pause and hesitate. For example, in English our “thinking
time” is not silent; we insert certain “fillers” such as uh, um, well, you know, I mean, like, etc. One
of the most salient differences between native and nonnative speakers of a language is in their
hesitation phenomena.

5. Colloquial language
Make sure your students are reasonably well acquainted with the words, idioms, and phrases of
colloquial language and those they get practice in producing these forms.

6. Rate of delivery
Another salient characteristic of fluency is rate of delivery. One of the language teacher’s tasks in
teaching spoken English is to help learners achieve an acceptable speed along with other
attributes of fluency.

7. Stress, rhythm, and intonation

This is the most important characteristic of English pronunciation. The stress-timed rhythm of
spoken English and its intonation patterns convey important messages.

8. Interaction
Learning to produce waves of language in a vacuum—without interlocutors—would rob speaking
skill of its richest component: the creativity of conversational negotiation.
Speaking Tasks for Communicative Outcomes

Type of Performance Task/Response

Imitative Speaking • student simply parrots back (imitate) a word or

phrase or possibly a sentence.
• Tasks:
– word repetition
– pronunciation drills (stress, intonation)

Intensive Speaking • one step beyond imitative speaking to include any

speaking performance that is designed to practice
some phonological or grammatical aspect of
language
• Tasks:
– directed response
– read-aloud
– sentence/dialogue completion tasks
– oral questionnaires
– picture-cued tasks

Responsive Speaking • short replies to teacher- or student-

initiated questions or comments (a good deal of
student speech in the classroom is responsive);
replies do not extend into dialogues; such speech
can be meaningful and authentic.
• Tasks:
– question and answer
– eliciting instructions and directions
– paraphrasing a story or a dialogue
Interactive Speaking : • Transactional dialogue—carried out for the purpose
of conveying or exchanging specific information;
• Transactional (dialogue)
involves relatively long stretches of interactive
• Interpersonal (dialogue) discourse
• Interpersonal dialogue—carried out for the purpose
of maintaining social relationships
• Tasks:
– interviews
– role play
– discussions (arriving at a consensus,
problem-solving)
– games
– conversations
– information gap activity
– telling longer stories
– extended explanations

Extensive Speaking • usually for intermediate to advanced levels; tasks

(monologue) involve complex, relatively lengthy stretches of
discourse; extended monologues can be planned or
 impromptu
• Tasks:
– oral reports
– summaries
– short speeches
– picture-cued storytelling
– retelling a story or a news event

Stages in a Speaking Lesson

What is the role of the language teacher in the classroom? In the first place, like any other
teacher, the task of the language teacher is to create the best conditions for learning. In a sense, the
teacher is a means to an end: an instrument to see that learning takes place. But in addition to this
general function, a teacher plays specific roles in different stages of the learning process.

The Presentation Stage

This is also known as the pre-activity phase of the lesson where the teacher introduces
something new to be learned. At this stage of a speaking lesson, the teacher’s main task is to serve
as a kind of informant. As the teacher, you know the language; you select the new material to be
learned and you present this in such a way that the meaning of the new language is as clear and as
memorable as possible. The students listen and try to understand. Although they are probably saying
very little at this stage, except when invited to join in, they are by no means passive. Always be on
guard against the danger of spending too much time presenting so much so that the students do not
get enough time to practice the language themselves.

The Practice Stage

At the practice stage it is the students’ turn to do most of the talking, while your main task is to
devise and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must at the same time be meaningful,
authentic, and memorable. This stage is also called the While (or Main) Activity or the Speaking
Activity stage. Your role then as teacher is radically different from that at the presentation. You do the
minimum amount of talking yourself. You are like the skillful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of
the performers a chance to participate and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory.

The Production Stage

It is a pity that language learning often stops short at the practice stage or does not go
regularly beyond it. Many teachers feel that they have done their job if they have presented the new
material well and have given their students adequate—though usually controlled—practice in it. No
real learning should be assumed to have taken place until the students are able to use the language
for themselves; provision to use language must be made part of the lesson. At any level of
attainment, the students need to be given regular and frequent opportunities to use language freely,
even if they sometimes make mistakes as a result. This is not to say that mistakes are unimportant,
but rather that free expression is more important, and it is a great mistake to deprive students of this
opportunity.

It is through these opportunities to use language as they wish that the students become aware
that they have learned something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning.
Thus in providing the students with activities for free expression and in discreetly watching over them
as they carry them out, you, as teacher, take on the role of manager, guide, or adviser.

Although the sequence described above—presentation → practice → production — is a well-

tried approach to language learning and is known to be effective in average (i.e., non-privileged)
classroom conditions; it should not, however, be interpreted too literally. These stages are not recipes
for organizing all our lessons. In the first place, the actual “shape” of a lesson will depend on a
number of factors, such as the amount of time needed for each stage. Activities at the production
stage in particular can vary a great deal in length. Also, stages tend to overlap and run into one
another; for example, some practice may be part of the presentation stage.