Speaking Skills

Strategies for effective Speaking

Learners should also learn the following strategies in order to improve their speaking skills.

The strategies are as follows:

 participating in dialogue, group discussions and formal meeting
 identifying and staying on the topic
 making relevant contributions and offering opinions and ideas
 asking and responding to questions
 taking turns and making notes
 summarizing and paraphrasing content
 managing meeting using agenda and records of minutes
 responding appropriately to listeners‘ reactions
 planning, preparing and presenting formal speeches
 outlining key information on cue cards
 rehearsing delivery and keeping within time limits
 selecting visual aids and props
 learning and using recovery strategies when interrupted
 anticipating listeners‘ expectations and reactions
 evaluating performance by asking for feedback from peers, using criteria
checklists and comparing two speakers

Functions of Speaking
Speech is usually used for purposes of interaction, transaction and performance.

Talk as Interaction
You are not new to conversation. Talk as interaction is the same as conversation. When you meet people, you
exchange greetings, engage in small talk, recount recent experiences etc. You do these because you want to be
friendly and wish to establish a relationship with others. The main features of talk as interaction include the
following. It:
 acts as a social function.
 Shows role relationship.
 reveals speaker‘s identity.
 is formal or casual
 reflects degree of politeness, familiarity

What must you do so your students can effectively use talk as interaction? For your students to effectively use
talk as interaction you need to teach them how to do the following:
1
  Open and close conversations
 Choose topics to speak on
 Engage in small talk
 Joke
 Recount (check) personal incidents and experiences
 Take turns in discussions, debates etc.
 Use appropriate style of speaking for formal and informal settings and respecting standard speech
etiquette (protocol)
Talk as Transaction

Examples of talk as transaction include, classroom group discussion, asking someone for direction, buying
something in a shop, ordering food from a menu in a restaurant etc. For your students to use talk as
transaction effectively, what do you need to do? You will need to teach them the following skills.
Explaining a need or intention
 Describing something
 Asking questions
 Making requests
 Asking for clarification
 Confirming information
 Justifying an opinion
 Clarifying understanding
 Making comparisons
 Agreeing and disagreeing with somebody

Talk as Performance

This last type of talk refers to public talk, that is, talk that transmits information before an audience. This is
one area where students are afraid. Why do you think your students are afraid to use talk as performance?
They panic when you ask them to stand before an audience to make a speech, for example at debates. You
will have to teach your students the following skills to be effective speakers. Teach them how to:
 use appropriate formats of presenting information in logical/chronological sequence.
 maintain audience involvement creating an effect on the audience.
 use appropriate vocabulary and registers (items) for given audiences
2
  use appropriate opening and closing remarks

Language Features involved in Speaking

There are two groups of features involved in speaking. These are the segmental and the
supra-segmental features of a language.The ability to use these features enable someone
to speak a language fluently. Although we had discussed these under the unit on
teaching sounds, we will discuss them again in this unit because of their importance in
speech development.
 Segmental Features
Segmental features are the basic units of sounds which combine to form the spoken
language. These are called phonemes and they serve to distinguish words from one
another. How can your students distinguish words from one another? You can teach
your students this distinction through discrimination exercises of sounds using
minimal pairs. For example, teaching the English vowel sounds in words like bee and
tea, see, and tea.

Supra segmental Features

Supra segmental features include; stress, rhythm and intonation.
 Stress: This is the combination of length, loudness and pitch applied to syllables in
a word. All words that have more than one syllable, have word stress. What this
means is that at least one of the syllables is longer and louder than the other
syllable(s). Most often your students may simply learn word stress as they acquire
new vocabulary. You should however teach your students some rules for
identifying word stress such as shown in the following:

 Compound noun: The first part of the compound word is stressed. For
example; BLUE-bird, BLACK-board, NOTE-book, etc.
 Phrasal verbs versus Compound nouns:
Let-DOWN LET-down
In the above examples the stress pattern is different. For phrasal verbs the
stress is on the preposition while in the compound noun the first part gets the
stress.
 Words with same spelling but different pronunciation and meaning.
In this case, the part of speech changes with the word stress.
Noun Verb
‗’record re‘cord
‗’progress pro‘gress
3
 In the above example, if the word is used as a noun, the first syllable gets the stress
while, the second syllable gets the stress in verbs.
Rhythm: This is the regular patterned beat of stressed and unstressed syllables and pauses in a sentence.
For example: He WANTS to EAT later.
Intonation: This is the variation of pitch of the voice when speaking. In English, intonation is used to
convey some ideas or concepts, such as surprise, irony or to change a statement to a question. For example:

Three common intonation patterns are falling intonation, rising-falling, and falling-rising intonation
patterns. Intonation is closely connected to grammar and meaning. Intonation can signal a statement or a
question. It can be used to signal the middle or end of sentence. Falling intonation refers to speech that goes
from a high pitch to a low pitch, rising intonation refers to speech that goes from a low pitch to a high
pitch, and flat intonation refers to speech that has no change in pitch. All three of these have different
functions based on the mood and intention of the words.

English Intonation: Stressed and Unstressed Syllables

English intonation is fundamentally linked with stressed and unstressed syllables.

Students who speak English as a second language often want to sound like native English speakers. In fact,
this is a common goal in many English classrooms.

While there’s nothing wrong with sounding like a non-native speaker, sounding like a native English
speaker is about a lot more than fitting in. Proper English intonation can make the difference between
understanding and misunderstanding what someone says.

However, figuring out when certain syllables should be stressed or unstressed can be challenging for non-
native speakers. In order to understand these two concepts better, we’ll need to take a look at what English
intonation means.

What is English Intonation?

Intonation in English refers to the way in which the voice rises and falls when speaking or singing.

You might have noticed that, when a native English speaker says something, certain words or phrases have
a higher pitch, while others have a lower pitch. This is what intonation means.

Voice intonation in English matters because it can govern meaning and mood.

There are essentially three types of intonation: falling intonation, rising intonation, and flat or unchanging
intonation. Falling intonation refers to speech that goes from a high pitch to a low pitch, rising intonation

4
refers to speech that goes from a low pitch to a high pitch, and flat intonation refers to speech that has no
change in pitch.

All three of these have different functions based on the mood and intention of the words. However, falling
and rising are the most common patterns of English intonation. Falling and rising intonation are both
denoted by arrows. A downward arrow (↘) signifies falling intonation, while an upward arrow (↗)
signifies rising intonation.

Falling Intonation (↘)

In English, falling intonation is the most common pattern. Manystatements, commands, and WH- questions
make use of falling intonation. Typically, the intonation falls on the last word or syllable in a sentence. In
the intonation examples below, the pitch falls on the underlined word or syllable:

 Statements
o I like your (↘) haircut.
o We moved to New (↘) York.
o They have three (↘) cats.
o He was born in (↘) September.
 Commands
o Go to your (↘) room.
o Bring me my (↘) keys.
o Open the (↘) door.
o Help me carry this (↘) upstairs.
 WH- Questions
o Who is that (↘) man?
o What is your (↘) name?
o When will you be (↘) home?
o Where are you (↘) going?
o Why does he look (↘) sad?
o How are you (↘) feeling?

As you can see, these are all pretty standard sentences and questions that one might hear in an English
conversation. Falling intonation is common because it denotes a neutral tone. So, during casual
conversation, you will hear it frequently at the end of many sentences.

Rising Intonation (↗)

Rising intonation is not as common as falling intonation, but it is equally important for certain situations.
Using rising intonation at the end of a question encourages the other person to fill in the missing
information. It is most commonly used in yes/no questions and tag questions. For example:

 Yes/No Questions
o Are you a (↗) Gemini?
o Do you want to watch a (↗) film?
5
o Is he your (↗) friend?
o May I use the (↗) bathroom?
 Tag Questions
o We studied English together, (↗) didn’t we?
o You want to go to the park, (↗) don’t you?
o The weather is so nice, (↗) isn’t it?
o He likes bowling, (↗) doesn’t he?

Flat or Unchanging Intonation

Unlike falling or rising intonation, unchanging intonation is not common in English.

This type of intonation pattern is often referred to as “monotone.” People don’t use unchanging intonation
in normal conversations because it can sound unnatural or robotic.

Rise-Fall Intonation (↗↘)

In addition to the three English intonation patterns listed above, there are also two combination patterns:
Rise-Fall and Fall-Rise Intonation. We commonly use the rise-fall pattern for “either/or” questions, lists,
and conditional statements. For example:

 “Either/Or” Questions or Statements

o You can have either (↗) the fish or (↘) the beef.
o Do you want to go (↗) hiking or (↘) fishing?
o Is she (↗) a student or (↘) a teacher?
o Is the football game on (↗) Saturday or (↘) Sunday?
 Lists
o I have (↗) three books, two pencils, one ruler, and (↘) one eraser.
o I like (↗) swimming, dancing, and (↘) play tennis.
o The apartment includes (↗) two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and (↘) a kitchen.
o He ate (↗) breakfast, lunch, and (↘) dinner.
 Conditional Statements
o If you have any (↗) questions, feel free to give me a (↘) call.
o If you keep having (↗) pain, put ice on (↘) it.
o If you’re (↗) happy, I’m (↘) happy.
o If he wants to (↗) come, he needs to start (↘) packing.

Content words are stressed vs. Function words are unstressed

That's because content words (e.g., words that carry the most meaning when we speak, such as nouns,
verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) typically receive stress in phrases, while function words (e.g., words that
have very little meaning, such as prepositions, articles, pronouns, and auxiliary verbs) do not.

6
7 Stress Rules in the English Language for Perfecting Your Pronunciation
English is a “stressed” language

We’re not literally talking about how stressful English can sometimes be (especially with its contradicting
rules!). What we mean is English stresses or emphasizes some words and syllables compared to
others. They’re pronounced more strongly with higher pitch, and they even take more time to say. In this
sense, English has a melody. You can think of spoken English as more like a wave with ups and downs
rather than a monotone.

This isn’t just an add-on, either – stress is so fundamental to English that a word with the wrong stress
will sound funny (and even unrecognizable). Because of this, a key part of becoming fluent in English is
learning how to apply stress correctly. To make it easier for you, we’ve come up with the main stress
rules in the English language that you should know about. Check them out in our guide below!
Two Levels of Stress in English

When you stress a sound, here’s what exactly happens:

 You draw it out more and say it loudly

 The pitch rises from the previous sound

 Your mouth movements are more exaggerated

 You pronounce it clearly instead of mumbling (tongue-tied) With unstressed sounds, it’s the opposite!
Stress is a consistent feature of the English language, and you’ll encounter it in two levels: word stress
and sentence stress. Let’s go over both:
1. Word Stress
Word stress refers to how there’s one syllable that’s stressed over the others in every English word.
Here are some examples, with the stress on the bolded syllables:

7
 Afternoon

 Cookie

 Departure

 Invite
It’s much more rigid than sentence stress because using the wrong word stress can lead to a breakdown in
communication. English speakers are likely to have a hard time understanding you, and they might even
ask you to repeat yourself. Each word always has the same syllable that’s stressed. In fact, sometimes word
stress can change the meaning of a word. You might give someone a present (stress on the first syllable) or
gift, but you can also present (stress on the second syllable) a proposal.
2. Sentence Stress
With sentence stress, you’re stressing or emphasizing specific words in a sentence over the others. It’s
a bit more flexible than word stress because it depends on your intent – you can stress different words in a
sentence based on what you want to highlight. However, there’s still a more standard way to do it.
Examples:

 Do you have an English class this week?

 We got stranded because it was raining hard.

 The world was so different centuries ago.

 They aren’t sure where they’re headed.

Sentence stress combines with word stress in practically every English phrase or sentence. To sound
natural when speaking English, you have to include both smoothly.

Word Stress Rules in the English Language

Let’s start off with word stress rules. Although the same syllable is always stressed in each word, where
this syllable is located varies from word to word. Some words will have their first syllable stressed,
while for others, it’s the last or even the middle syllable.
These are the main word stress rules in English:
Rule 1: Nouns and adjectives usually stress the first syllable.
8
This is a useful rule because nouns and adjectives are among the most common words that you’ll
encounter.
Nouns refer to people, places, and things.

Examples: Bottle, Flower, Library, Ocean, Pencil, etc.

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.

Examples: Happy, Interesting, Massive, Modern, Tasty, etc.
Rule 2: Two-syllable verbs and prepositions usually stress the second syllable.
Verbs are action words that describe what someone (or something) is doing. They can also refer to states of
being (e.g. am, are, feel).
Examples: Approach, Commute, Maintain, Perform, Suggest, etc.

Prepositions convey how a noun or pronoun is connected to another word in a sentence. They can refer to
location, direction, or time, among others.
Examples: Above, Among, Except, Instead, Until, etc.
Rule 3: Three-syllable verbs usually stress the first syllable.
If verbs have three syllables instead of two syllables, then most of the time, it’s the first syllable that’s
stressed. This is actually true for most three-syllable words!
Examples: Celebrate, Contemplate, Decorate, Entertain, Innovate, etc.
Rule 4: Words ending in -ic, -sion, and -tion usually stress the second-to-last-syllables.
These are suffixes that are found at the end of the word, so the syllable right before is the one that’s
stressed. This rule also applies to less common suffixes starting in I or U such as -ual, -uous, and -ial.
Examples: Compassion, Decision, Electric, Imagination, Rejection, etc.
Rule 5: Words ending in -cy, -ty, and -gy usually stress the third-to-last-syllables.
For this rule, just count backwards from the last syllable.
Examples: Agency, Biology, Fluency, Society, Security, etc.
Consider these as general rules – they work most of the time, but you’ll definitely still encounter words that
don’t fit. Because of this, it’s still important to learn the pronunciation of words on an individual basis.
However, you can use these word stress rules as a guide so you don’t get overwhelmed when trying to
remember the stress for different words.

9
Sentence Stress Rules in the English Language
Once you can stress the right syllables in individual words, you’ll have to string the words together into a
sentence. That sentence will also have its own stress! Sentence stress rules are simpler, mainly because
you can roughly figure out sentence stress by analyzing the sentence. They’re also much more intuitive,
especially if your native language already uses a similar form of sentence stress.
These are two main sentence stress rules:
Rule 1: Content words are stressed.
Content words are essential to the meaning of the sentence. They generally include nouns, verbs
(except for is, are, am), adverbs, and adjectives. These make up the meat of the sentence and convey
important information. Here are some examples of content words:
Nouns computer, food, music, people, year
Verbs call, live, pay, read, work
Adverbs actually, almost, loudly, quickly, sometimes
Adjectives amazing, confusing, important, old, real
Content words are normally stressed in sentences:

 This is my favorite book.

 They were looking at which stocks to invest in.

 The flight from New York to Chicago just got delayed.

Rule 2: Function words are unstressed.
If a word isn’t a content word in a sentence, then it’s a function word. Function words hold a sentence
together and link the content words. Instead of relaying (conveying) their information, their main point
is to make the sentence grammatically correct.
These include personal pronouns, possessive adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and be verbs.
For example:
Personal Pronouns I, you, we, he, she, it, they
Possessive Adjectives my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Prepositions above, between, instead of, from, until
Conjunctions although, because, but, either, unless
Articles a, an, the

10
Be Verbs am, are, is, was, were
Function words are usually unstressed. We’ve underlined the function words in the sentences below:

 I woke up late because I didn’t hear my alarm clock.

 Which laptop would you recommend?

 They wanted to see the waterfall.

These two sentence stress rules are followed most of the time, but occasionally, English speakers will stress
a function word to emphasize it. The sentence I’m not going normally stresses “going” because it’s a verb
or content word. But you can also say I’m not going even though “not” is a function word if you want to
emphasize your refusal.
Conclusion
Both word stress and sentence stress come so naturally to native English speakers that they don’t even
think about it. However, as an English learner, you’ll have to put effort into picking up word and sentence
stress. This usually involves getting familiar with the stress rules in English and exploring a wide range of
vocabulary – along with plenty of listening and conversational practice.

11
12
13