unit 6 teaching speaking do you think speaking is very important in language learning? warming-up...
TRANSCRIPT
Unit 6Unit 6
TeachinTeaching g SpeakinSpeakingg
Do you think speaking is very important in
language learning?
Warming-up QuestionsWarming-up Questions
(Wang: 156)
Do you think speaking has been paid much attention to for most middle school English teachers?
Some main speaking activities in class
Repeating after the teacher
Reading aloud
Learning a piece of text or
dialogue by heart
Doing drills
What do you thin
k of them?
(Wang: 158)
Main topics for this unit
Differences between spoken language
and written language
Principles for teaching speaking
Designing successful speaking tasks
Types of speaking tasks
Organizing speaking tasks
I. Differences between spoken language and written language
in fairly simple sentence structures
in incomplete sentences
in informal, simple or common vocabulary
with broken grammar, false starts, hesitation,
fillers, etc.
with a high proportion of repetition or redundancy
largely unplanned organization
a low density of information
context dependent (Background knowledge is
necessary to understand exactly what is being
expressed.)
Gu: 210
I. Differences between spoken language and written language
Wang: 156-158
II. Principles for teaching II. Principles for teaching speakingspeaking
Read the part of the textbook from Page 159
to Page 160.
III. Designing speaking III. Designing speaking taskstasks
Question
What are the problems in getting
learners to talk in the classroom?
What problems do we have in our oral English classes?
1. Reluctance :
The learners are
reluctant to speak
in the classroom.
What are the
factors that may
cause reluctance
for the learners
to speak?
Cultural factors
Learners’ prior learning experiences and
the expectations created by these
experiences (e.g. learners educated in large
classes, learners taught in schools where
speaking was simply not encouraged, etc. )
Linguistic factors
Difficulties in transferring from the learners’
first language to the sounds, rhythms, and stress
patterns of English
Difficulties with the native speaker
pronunciation of the teacher
A lack of understanding of common
grammatical patterns in English (e.g. English
tenses)
Low proficiency in English
Psychological / affective factors
Cultural shock
Previous negative social or political experiences
Lack of motivation
Anxiety or shyness
Nunan, 2001: 234-235
2. Motivation :
The learners have
no motivation to
speak in the clas
sroom.
Why are learners unmotivated?
Why are learners unmotivated?
Lack of success / progress over time Uninspired teaching Boredom Lack of perceived relevance of materials Lack of knowledge about the goals of the
instructional program Lack of appropriate feedback
Nunan, 2001: 233
What can be done?
● Make instructional goals explicit to learners● Break learning down into sequences of
achievable steps● Link learning to the needs and interests of the learners● Allow learners to bring their own knowledge and
perspectives into the learning process● Encourage creative language use● Help learners to identify the strategies underlying
the learning tasks they are engaged in● Develop ways in which learners can record their
own progress
3. Low or uneven participation
4. Mother tongue use
Ur 1996: 121-122
Ur 1996: 121-122
Use group work Base the activity on easy language Make a careful choice of topic and task
to stimulate interest Give some instruction or training in
discussion skills Keep students speaking the target language
Solutions to these problems
Characteristics of Characteristics of a a ssuccessful uccessful sspeaking peaking aactivityctivity
Learners talk a lot.
Participation is even.
Motivation is high.
Language is of an acceptable level
(Wang: 161-162)
IV. Types of IV. Types of speaking speaking
activitiesactivities
Please make a list of activities you often do in your oral classes.
Speaking activities
repetition
Role play
Gapped dialogue
Use pictures to make up stories
drills
games
Prompted dialogue
Match expressions in two columns to make a dialogue
discussion
Read and act
Information gap
Scrambled dialogue
Interviews using a
questionnaire
Make up a dialogue in a
given situation
Types of speaking activities
(Wang: 162-164)
Pre-communicative activities
Communicative activities
Structural activities
Quasi-communicative activities
Functional communicative activities
Social interaction activities
Types of speaking activities
Controlled accuracy work
Script-based role plays
or simulations
Script-based conversations
From-based interviews or
surveys
(Davies and Pearse: 48-50)
Types of speaking activities
(Davies and Pearse: 85-86)
Free fluency work
Uncripted role plays
Problem-solving or
decision-taking activities
Discussions and debate
Group projects
Speaking activities
repetition
Role play
Gapped dialogue
Use pictures to make up stories
drills
games
Prompted dialogue
Match expressions in two columns to make a dialogue
discussion
Read and act
Information gap
Scrambled dialogue
Interviews using a
questionnaire
Make up a dialogue in a
given situation
Information-gap activities
Two speakers have different parts of informat
ion making up a whole. Because they have diff
erent parts of information, there is a ‘gap’ bet
ween them.
Describe and draw – completion of task
Story-telling activity
Practice:
Do task 4 on page 164
Questionnaires and Surveys
To get students to conduct
questionnaires and surveys.
Harmer 2000; 89-90
SLEEP QUESTIONAIRE
How many hours do you normally sleep?_______
Are you a light sleeper/heavy sleeper?______
Have you ever
Talked in your sleep? Yes No
Walked in your sleep? Yes No
Had a nightmare? Yes No
Fallen out of bed? Yes No
…………………. Yes NoIf you answer yes, describe the experiences:
Natural use of the
present perfect
Discussions
Describing pictures
Picture differences
Things in common
Shopping list
Solving a problem
Ur, 1996: 125-128
Harmer 2000: 90-91
Role plays
Harmer 2000: 92-94
Ur 1996: 131-133
Wang 2006: 165-167
Homework
1. Why is group work often used in speaking activities? 2. What else should teachers do during a
speaking activity?
