TEACHING SPEAKING

SPEAKING is a productive skill that enables a person to produce oral output and put information out in the world. The style of speaking depends on the context (a casual conversation, a formal conversation, a speech, etc.) and it reflects the role/status the person has in that intervention.

Speaking has three main functions depending on the aim: talk as interaction, talk as transaction, and talk as performance.

INTERACTION: it is the most casual style, the one used to maintain social relationships (social function). The main example would be the casual conversation, the small talk.

Teaching talk as interaction

• Native speakers have several fixed expressions that foreign speakers should learn and use in order to sound natural (long time no see, as I was saying, what’s up, I don’t get the point…). 
• Some skills that should be developed are opening/closing conversations, making small talks, joking, turn-taking, reacting,..
• Activities could include: providing the groups with situations in which small talk is appropriate, asking follow up questions after a listening, play videos with real conversations,…
• It is important to provide feedback. 

TRANSACTION: when we speak to exchange or provide information, aiming to make oneself understood clearly and accurately. It differs from interaction in that this style is not as casual, and it involves situations like asking for directions, getting information, buying something, problem-solving…

Teaching talk as transaction

• Some skills that should be developed are explaining intentions, description, asking questions, confirming information, clarifying, agreeing/disagreeing,…
• Activities could include: information-gap tasks (ex. getting information other groups have and they don’t), problem-solving tasks (ex. solving a mystery, organising a party) and role plays. Role plays should follow three steps: preparing (review vocabulary, contextualising), modelling (teaching the language function needed), and practising (assigning the roles and performing the role play).

PERFORMANCE: the style used for public talk in front of an audience, focusing on monologues rather than dialogues. It is the one closer to written language, as it is generally prepared beforehand (speeches, announcements, lectures, etc.).

Teaching talk as performance

• Some skills that should be developed are sticking to the format, presenting the information properly, engaging with the audience, correct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, and proper opening and closing.
• Activities could include: watching videos of speeches or presentations (ex. TED talks) and analyse the speaker’s purpose, the type of audience, the information they provide, the way they open, develop and end the talk…; work in groups to prepare a presentation about a topic and then perform it, teach explicit text structures and their features,…

ASSESSING SPEAKING

When assessing speaking tasks, the teacher should think about different features depending on which kind of talk is being practised:

• Whether accuracy will be assessed (it is not as important in interaction as in performance) and how (it is better to write down the errors/mistakes and tell them in the end rather than interrupting).
• The amount of time that is expected from each speaker: some students get anxious about public speaking and others don’t, and the times should be respected (Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis).
• Whether long pauses or repetitions will be accepted: Depends on the level of the student and the type of speaking (in interaction, they are normal).

These are just some ideas the teacher should bear in mind when creating the assessment process and its instruments. They illustrate the need of consciousness about the speaking style and their different elements.

Let’s see a real example of a speaking activity…

TALK AS INTERACTION + TRANSACTION: A RESTAURANT

The activity consists of a role play set in a restaurant. In groups of three, two students will take the role of diners and one will be the waiter. One part of the role play will involve the two diners ordering food to the waiter, and the other part will be a small talk between them. This activity is designed for 5th grade of Primary (10-11 years old), and the level expected is A2.

What is the aim of the activity? The activity will give the students a chance to practise speaking as transaction (the diners ask about food, the waiter replies to those questions, the diners order, etc.) and as interaction (after they order the food, the speakers will have to come up with topics for small talk).

What stages will the activity be divided into?

1) PREPARING: the activity would be done as part of the lesson related to food. Before the speaking, the students will review all the vocabulary they have learnt about food and recycle previously learnt conversation skills they think will be necessary like turn-taking, changing subject, giving opinions, etc. They will also brainstorm what skills might be necessary when ordering food: asking, being polite, etc. this can all be written in a big word cloud on the blackboard.

2) MODELLING: the teacher will play a video of a scene like they one they are supposed to represent. The students will take ideas to add to their performance and also compare the vocabulary and expressions used with the ones they suggested. They can include new elements to their review.

3) PRACTISING: after watching the example, the students will be divided in groups of 3 and they will be assigned a role. All of them will have a copy of a menu created by the teacher. The play should include:

• Part 1: the waiter greets the dinners and takes their order. This should include some questions by the diners about any dish they want and the waiter’s answer.
• Part 2: small talk. While they wait, the diners should have a casual conversation. Given that we want to foster fluency and naturalness, they can talk about something they would discuss in real life, or continue a conversation they were having before class. If not, they will have a note with some ideas (weather, a new tv show you are watching, your pet,…) but not specific guidelines.
• Part 3: the waiter brings the food, and they thank them (close).

After they finish, they will switch roles and practise again.

What language support will be needed? The students can use the word cloud on the blackboard. They will also have menus to choose the dishes from, and the diners will have a note with possible topics of conversation.

What resources will be needed? The teacher will have to print the menus and the notes. The students will need a place to perform separated from the other groups, and at least a table.

What level of performance is expected? 

• INTERACTION: the activity is more fluency-oriented, so the accuracy mistakes will not be assessed unless they impair understanding. The students are expected to carry out simple but effective dialogues, use some conversation techniques like turn-taking or asking for opinions, or some fixed expressions. The ability to find synonyms or rephrase to not get stuck will also be valued.
• TRANSACTION: the students are expected to follow the basic structure of this kind of situations. This includes greetings, “what will you have?”, asking and replying about some ingredient, “I’ll have…”, saying please an thank you, “right away”, etc.

How and when will feedback be given? The teacher will walk around the groups and listen, and write down the main errors and mistakes. After the role play finishes, she will give a group feedback and address them, never interrupting the performance.

REFLECTION

Speaking, along with listening, was one of the skills I received less formation in while I was in Primary school, not only in foreign language, but in first language as well. The only speaking practise we did in foreign language class was answering questions to the teacher out loud, but we were never tasked with presentations, performances and such. This is also part of the reason why I never knew how to teach speaking if not through "question-asnwer" dynamics. 

Thanks to this unit I have realised that there is much more to speaking than just being able to have a casual conversation. Speeches, presentations and formal conversations should also be trained, because if they are not, students keep passing and passing school levels and ultimately reach university or the job market without the necessary skills to properly communicate in society. 

I had never thought of roleplays as a way of fostering varied conversations, and now I will definitely use it when I work. Furthermore, tasks like problem-solving exercises are a great way to include not just speaking but allso high order thinking skills (memory, logic, planning, organisation, etc.) in school work, which I also believe it's necessary to move on from traditional static work. All in all, I now know there is a wide variety of oral texts and registers students should be given the opportunity to practise and master. It is precisely what we tried to do with the activity we designed, and it was inspiring to create new ways of practising a skill we thought could not we fostered in any other way that was not the traditional.