ELT 3111035
1 Teaching English Language Skills I
Week 9
How to Teach Speaking
Lecturer: Volkan İnceçay, Ph.D.
Outline
Review of the last weeks
2
Teaching Listening & Speaking (Richards, 2008)
3 Revision
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Challenges Learners Face in Speaking
4
Challenges learners face in mastering social interactions:
Including feeling awkward and struggling with fluency.
Strategies for overcoming these difficulties include
practicing topic introductions,
using back-channeling techniques,
increasing exposure to (native) interactions,
practicing small talk and
preparing topics to build conversational confidence and fluency.
Integrating Listening as Comprehension with
Speaking
5
Listening texts provide a foundation for speaking tasks, reinforcing the noticed
linguistic features through active usage in conversation or role-play.
Subsequent speaking tasks, helping learners internalize and actively use new
language forms.
Example activities include reconstructing listening texts into dialogues or discussions.
This dual focus on comprehension and acquisition allows learners to practice
vocabulary and grammar in communicative contexts.
Three main types of speaking: talk as interaction (social exchanges), talk as
transaction (exchanging information), and talk as performance (structured
monologues).
1. Talk as interaction is explained with its social purpose and conventions, such as
turn-taking and adjacency pairs.
Skills include managing openings and closings, choosing appropriate topics, and
navigating politeness.
Activities like role-play and guided conversational starters
Three Main Types of Speaking
6
Talk as interaction (social exchanges), talk as transaction (exchanging
information), and talk as performance (structured monologues).
1. Talk as interaction is explained with its social purpose and conventions,
such as turn-taking and adjacency pairs.
Skills include managing openings and closings, choosing appropriate topics,
and navigating politeness.
Activities like role-play and guided conversational starters
2. Talk as transaction: Emphasizing clarity and accuracy in conveying
information. Communication focusing on clear and precise exchange of
information.
Examples include classroom group discussions and practical exchanges like
asking for directions: asking for directions and ordering food
Skills required include explaining intentions, seeking clarification, and
confirming details
Three Main Types of Speaking
7
2. Talk as transaction is further divided into two types:
exchanging information (e.g., group discussions) and
obtaining goods or services (e.g., ordering food).
Activities like role-playing service encounters can be utilized for teaching
these practical skills such as problem-solving and group discussions.
These activities should include brainstorming, ranking ideas, and simulations
to practice information exchange.
Three Main Types of Speaking
8
3. Talk as performance: focusing on monologues such as speeches and
presentations.
Features include structured organization, emphasis on accuracy, and
audience engagement.
Real-life examples like giving a welcome speech or class report.
Using appropriate formats, sequencing ideas, and engaging the audience.
Activities include analyzing model speeches and practicing oral
presentations with peer feedback.
Students should be guided through preparation, rehearsal, and presentation
stages, gradually moving toward independent performance..
Activities like deconstructing sample texts and analyzing audience
expectations can be used.
Role-play and Simulations in Teaching Speaking
9
Preparation involves reviewing vocabulary and real-world context,
modeling transactional stages, and practicing in assigned roles.
The balance between fluency and accuracy in communication-focused
tasks.
Richards critiques overemphasis on fluency in communication tasks, noting
that it can compromise linguistic accuracy.
He suggests task-based sequences (pre-task, task, and post-task) to
balance fluency and grammatical competence.
Repeated practice of structured tasks is recommended to consolidate skills.
How to Teach Speaking
10
The task cycle:
Students complete communicative tasks in pairs or group.
This is followed by planning and reporting their findings to the class.
Post-task analysis involves reviewing language use and practicing specific
linguistic forms, such as verb conjugations or sentence structures.
Peer collaboration and guided teacher support in refining language use
during tasks.
Assessing Speaking
11
Criteria for assessing different types of talk, such as interaction, transaction,
and performance such as clarity of ideas, language accuracy, and
audience engagement through tools like observation forms to assess group
discussions.
A sample lesson plan
12
Pre-Speaking Stage (15 minutes)
Objective: Prepare students for the transactional speaking activity by
activating prior knowledge and introducing key vocabulary and structures.
Warm-Up Activity: Show a short video or images depicting transactional
scenarios (e.g., a café, a train station).
Ask students to identify the context and discuss what kinds of conversations
might take place in these settings.
Vocabulary Introduction: Provide a list of key phrases and expressions for
transactional scenarios, such as:"Can I have...?""How much does this
cost?""Where is the nearest...?«
Practice pronunciation and sentence structure with the class.
Schema Activation: Discuss common scenarios like ordering food or asking
for directions. Brainstorm potential challenges or misunderstandings in these
interactions.
A sample lesson plan
13
While-Speaking Stage (30 minutes)
Objective: Engage students in role-play activities to practice transactional
speaking skills.
Role-Play Activity: Divide the class into pairs. Assign one student to be the
customer and the other the service provider (e.g., shopkeeper, waiter, ticket
seller). Provide each pair with a role card detailing their objectives. For
example: Customer: "You are in a restaurant. Order a meal, ask about the
ingredients, and pay. "Waiter: "Greet the customer, take the order, and
provide information about the meal.
Scenario Rotation: After 5-7 minutes, students switch roles or scenarios to
practice different interactions (e.g., ordering at a café, asking for bus
directions).
Teacher Monitoring: Walk around the classroom, observing and providing
corrective feedback on pronunciation, sentence structure, and
communication strategies.
A sample lesson plan
14
Post-Speaking Stage (15 minutes)
Objective: Reflect on the activity, consolidate learning, and address areas
for improvement.
Group Feedback: Discuss the role-play activity as a class. Ask:"What did you
find easy or challenging?""How did you handle misunderstandings or
confusion?"Highlight successful strategies observed during the activity.
Targeted Practice: Focus on common errors noted during the activity. For
example:Practice correcting specific pronunciation issues. Review
alternative ways to ask for clarification (e.g., "Could you repeat that?" or "I
didn’t catch that.").
Extension Activity: Ask students to write a short dialogue based on one of
the scenarios and practice it in pairs.
A sample lesson plan
15
Assessment Criteria for Performance
Clarity: Students clearly express their needs and intentions without
ambiguity.
Accuracy: Grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation are appropriate for
the context. Errors do not interfere with communication.
Use of Strategies: Students use clarification requests, repetition, or rephrasing
to resolve misunderstandings.
Interaction Management: Students initiate, maintain, and conclude
conversations effectively (e.g., proper greetings, and polite closings).
Engagement: Students demonstrate confidence and active participation in
role-play scenarios.
Next Week
16
Speaking
Materials
1. Teaching and Researching Speaking (Hughes & Reed,
2016)
2. Teaching ESL/EFL Listening & Speaking (Newton & Nation,
2021)
17 Key Takeaways from Today’s Session
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