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Speaking is very important because speaking and human being can not be separated
from each other. It is used to express ideas and to communicate with people. Speaking among
other foreign languages skill ( reading , writing , listening and speaking ) seems to be the most
important one that must be mastered , because it is necessary for the displaying the language
proficiency .Learners are going to be input in situations where communication in English is
needed. That is why; the emphasis is mainly on speaking. So, the need for effective strategies
and activities for the sake of teaching speaking skill and enhancing the learners speaking skill
is not an easy task for many English as foreign language teachers.
This chapter presents the theoretical frame work of the current study, it will shed some
light on speaking skill, it will deal and give a clear definition of what is meant by the
speaking. Also, deal with elements of speaking .In addition ,it mentions the functions and the
characteristics of speaking performance .Moreover; it discussed the difficulties that may face
learners when learning a foreign language ; for instance , teaching speaking and classroom
speaking activities are mentioned ; furthermore , this chapter deal also with oral
communicative strategies for EFL speaking and finally speaking errors.
1. Speaking Skill
Speaking skill is the art of communication and one of the four productive skills that
must be mastered in learning foreign language .A good speaking skills is the act of generating
words that can be understood by the listeners, a good speaker is clear and informative.
Speaking is considered as very important skill since it enables people to express their
emotions, ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Speaking is so much a part of daily life that we take it for granted. The average
person produces tens of thousands words a day, although some people -like
auctioneers or politicians -may produce even more than that. So, natural and integral is
to speaking that we forget how we once struggled to achieve this ability-until, that is,
we have to learn how to do it all over again in a foreign language (p.01).
That is to say, people speak every day, every minute, or may be every second .Therefore, as a
language skill. Speaking becomes an important component to master by the students as the
main tool of verbal communication of expressing opinions and what they have in their minds.
Moreover, according to Hedge (2000), “speaking is a skill by which they are judged
while first impressions are being formed”(p.261).In other words, speaking is an important
skill which deserves more attention in both first and second language since it reflects people’s
thoughts and personalities and that people judge each other depending on their speaking
abilities.
In addition, Harris (1977, p.81) claimed that “Speaking is a complex skill requiring the
simultaneous use of different abilities which often develop at different rates”. In the sense
that, speaking is a skill that requires relating sounds together to form utterances and implicate
the social, Linguistic and mental capacities.
Some of the elements that are important for speaking are the following:
1.2.1.1 Connected Speech
The speakers of English need to produce more connected sound, and not only depend
on the individual phonemes .These sounds are modified, omitted, added or weakened. By
this reason; the teacher should involve students in activities designed specifically to
improve their connected speech.
1.3Functions of Speaking
Speaking is very important in daily communication. People recognized that they are
educated from the way of their speaking. So, someone has to know what to speak and
understand what he/she is talking about. for that reason, mastering the speaking skill in
English language is the priority for many second and FL learners.
Richards (2008) states that, the functions of speaking are classified into their; talk and
interaction, talk as transaction, and talk as performance. He states that “in workshops with
teachers and in designing my own materials, I use an expended three-part version of Brown
and Yule’s framework (after Jones, 1996, and Burns, 1998): Talk as interaction; talk as
transaction; talk as performance. Each of these speech activities is quite distinct in terms of
form and function and requires different teaching approaches.”(p.21).These functions are:
“Talk as transaction refers to situations where the focus is on what is said or done. The
message and working oneself understood clearly and accurately is the central focus, rather
than the participants and how they interact socially with each other” (Richard, 2008, p. 24).
Hodson and Jones (2006, p.14) clarify that “in this type of spoken language students
and teachers usually focus on meaning or on talking their way to understanding” (As cited in
Sabbah, 2015, p.10).
The first type involves situations where the focus is on giving and receiving
information and where the participants focus primarily on what is said or achieved
(e.g. asking someone for directions). Accuracy may not be a priority, as long as
information is successfully communicated or understood.
The second type is transactions that focus on obtaining goods or services, such as
checking into a hotel or ordering food in a restaurant (as cited in Richard, 2008,
p.26).
2.1 Fluency
When teaching and learning processes the essential goal of FL teachers when they
teach the productive skill is oral fluency; which is the main important trait in performing.
Fluency is the capacity to speak confidently and at a rate consistent with the norms of the
relevant native speech community. Moreover, fluency in the view of Hedge (2000, p.54). The
capacity to have an idea about how to put words and expressions and relate ideas in an
effective way together in a suitable way. As he said, “The term fluency relates to the
production and it is normally reserved for speech. It is the ability to link units of speech
together with facility and without strain or inappropriate slowness, or undue hesitation”.
Belhabib (2015) states that, the majority of EFL learners think that fluency as the capacity to
speak quickly. That is why; they start to speak in a rapid way without pauses (p.14).
Furthermore; Hughes (2002) adds that “fluency is achieved when learners are able to
express themselves in a clear and reasonable in order to be understood without hesitation
otherwise the listeners will lose their interest”.
In addition to that, Thornbury (2005) argued that pauses and speed are very important in
oral fluency for the speaker to take breath also native speakers take pauses from time to time
for the listeners do not lose their attention (p.6). He summarized the feature of fluency as
follows:
4-They are long runs of syllables and words between pauses (ibid, p.8).
Beside this, Luoma (2004, p.89) confirms that “one central part of fluency is related
to temporal aspects of speech, such as speaking rate, speech pause relationship, and frequency
of dissiliency markers such as hesitations, repetitions and self-corrections”.
Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately .In speaking, it is
the aim of many language learners .It is an important part of speaking and it includes the
following:
In other words, fluency is the capacity to answer or respond in a coherent way by relating
words and expressions effectively.
2.2 Accuracy
According to Alim (2015, p.16), most SL teachers nowadays emphasize the term of
accuracy in their teaching because learners seek more to be fluent and they forget being
accurate.
Baily (2004) defines Accuracy as “the ability to speak properly-That is, selecting the
correct words and expressions to convey the intended meaning, as well as using the
grammatical patterns of English” (p.5).In other words, if the learners neglect being accurate,
they will produce incorrect utterances during oral performance which leads to
misunderstanding the content and the listener later will lose interest.
Another definition of accuracy, “it is the speech where the message is communicated
using correct grammar .The notion the accuracy can be expanded to include correct
pronunciation to target language norms”(Goh & Burns,2012, p.43 as cited in Alim 2015,
p.16). Moreover, accuracy refers to ‘how well the target language is produced in relation to
the role system of the target language’ (Skehan, 1996b, p.23 as cited in Ellis & Barkhuizen
2005, p.139). Therefore, FL learners should put their emphasize on such things when
producing a spoken language. Hedge (2000, p.64) asserts that, “the communicative approach
somehow excuses teachers and learners from a consideration of how to develop high level of
accuracy in the use of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary”. In other words, as all know
that language is a mean of communication. So, communicative approaches have some
tolerated in the errors of students which related to grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
2.2.1. Grammar
Grammar is the language’s rules. It is a description of the rules for forming sentences,
including an account of the meaning that these forms convey (Thornbury, 1999, p.13). It is
very important to teach grammar in spoken context and see how language works in sentences
and also expressions.
Grammatical range and accuracy refer to the range and the accurate and appropriate use
of the candidate’s grammatical resource. The indicators of grammatical range are the length
and complexity of the spoken sentences, the use of subordinate clauses, and the range of
sentence structures, especially to move elements around for information focus. The key
indicators of grammatical accuracy are the member of grammatical errors in a given amount
of speech and the communicative effect of error (Hughes, 2002, p.105). In other words,
grammar let us know how language is when interacting ideas, this last expressed in sentences
which are made by arranging words.
Carter and Mc Carthy (1995, p.207) assert that “if we need to achieve the oral production
then we need to focus on spoken language and not the written form”.
In addition, Thornbury (2005, p.21) lists the following features of spoken grammar:
First, the clause is the basic unit of construction, and clauses are usually added (co-
ordination). Also, the use of head+ body + tail construction. Another key feature of spoken
grammar is the direct speech favored, vagueness tolerated, a lot of ellipsis and many question
tags as well. The last feature in the use of performance effects, including: (hesitations,
repeats, false starts, incompletion and syntactic blends).Also, Harmer (2001) explains that FL
learners have to achieve grammatical accuracy when expressing their thoughts without
changing the meaning of sentences as natives.
2.2.2. Vocabulary
When EFL learners succeed in selecting the appropriate words during oral
performance, they will release vocabulary accuracy. Harmer (2001) says that the pre-
knowledge in any language facilitates producing words and utterances for the learner. When
students interacting with others, they find it difficult to express their ideas because they lose
such words especially in the case of synonyms, the learners use words incorrectly which do
not carry the same meaning. That is why; they have to achieve accuracy in vocabulary.
Moreover, Hughes (2002) says that “this criterion refers to the range of vocabulary the
candidate can use and the precision with which meaning and attitudes can be expressed. The
key indicators are the variety of words used, the adequacy and appropriacy of the words used
and the ability to circumlocution (get round a vocabulary gap by using other words) with or
without noticeable hesitation”.
Also, Chaib & Djerada (2018) confirm that “vocabulary is the fuel of both fluency and
accuracy; the more lexicon students’ use, the more they get fluent and accurate” (p.15).
2.2.3. Pronunciation
Harris (1994) states that pronunciation is very important in speaking. If we do not
have an appropriate pronunciation, it can influence the meaning of word .Also, He adds
pronunciation is the way in which a language is spoken, the way in which a word is
pronounced, the way a person speaks the word of language (as quoted in Susaniyah, 2015,
p.7).According to Omari (2015), “Pronunciation is a way in which a language is spoken,
person’s way of speaking a language or words of a language” (p.29).
In addition, Redmond and Vrchota (2007, p.104) argue that “it is imperative that you
use the correct word in the correct instance and with the correct pronunciation. Pronunciation
means to say words in ways that are generally accepted or understood.” (As cited in Kouicem,
2010, p.34). Hence, the listener will not understand if the pronunciation is not correct. Thus,
accuracy is not released.
It is very important for oral production to pay attention to correctness and completeness of
the language.
According to Ur (1996), there are four main problems in getting students speak in FL
classes:
3.1. Inhibition
This problem reveals more when learners try to participate in the classroom but many
factors stop them to do so. Ur(1996) states that “ Learners are often inhibited about trying to
say things in Foreign language in the classroom worried about making mistakes, fearful of
criticism or losing face , or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts”(p.121).
Littlewood (1981, p.93) states that “it is all too easy for a FL classroom to create
inhibitions and anxiety”. In the sense that, applying or practicing the speaking skill of the FL
is not as knowing about this language .He adds that inhibition from one side results from
learners feeling of neglecting in front of their teachers or who they consider as the main
source of input.
From another angle, inhibition appears nearly relating to the students shyness and the
fear of their classmates laughing at them that is why they do not want to talk and develop their
speaking proficiency time and also participation .In other words , inhibition pushes learner to
keep silent during the oral session. According to Little wood (1981, p.93), “many learners will
prefer to keep a “Low profile”, in the hope that they will not be called upon to participate
openly”.
According to Ur (1996, p.121), “even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners
complain that they cannot think of anything to say, or that they have no motive to express
themselves beyond the guilty feeling”.
Moreover, Ur (1996) asserts that this problem is comprised by the inclination of some
learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all. Low uneven participation is
due to the neglecting of teachers motivation too because if the teacher does not push his
learners to contribute others their ideas, and thoughts. So, directing student motivation is one
of the teacher’s responsibilities.
Therefore, the students talk the vocabulary in the TL. For that reason, they borrow
words from their MT; because they find it difficult to use TL correctly .Ur (1996) states that
since the use of MTL when the learners feel less exposed if they do so.
Actually, it is appropriate for the learners to select the exact strategy to overcome these
difficulties.
4. Teaching Speaking
Speaking English is the main goal of many adult learners .Their personality plays a
large role in determining how quickly and correctly they will accomplish this goal .So,
teaching speaking has become important goal for many EFL teachers. However; today’s
world requires that the aim of teaching speaking needs to improve student’s communicative
skills, since only in that way students can express themselves and learn how to follow the
social and the cultural circumstance , because of that, there are different principles and goals
for teaching speaking.
3. Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work,
and limiting teacher talk
The teacher should not be the only who talks in the classroom, the learners should be
given an opportunity to speak. Teachers do approximately 50 to 80 percent of the talking
inside the classroom. Pair work and group work activities can be implemented in order to
increase the student’s talk in the target language during lessons, in this situation the students
can fulfill diverse speaking roles that are normally filled by the teachers; for example, to ask
for clarification.
He also emphasized on the use of the aspects of conversation such as turn taking, or using
Meta language like topic shift, adjacency pairs, closing, or interruptions. In other words, such
steps should be taught at the beginning of the teaching learning process in order to help
student to communicate correctly and effectively.
Thornbury also states that “we now know that speaking is much complex than this and
that it involves both a command of certain skills and several different types of knowledge”
(2005, p.1); i.e. it is difficult to teach speaking and it requires various and multiple types of
activities to teach it. For the sake of a successful learning process, students should be
comfortable to speak and explore their own thinking, they should be supported and
encouraged to express their ideas among classroom activities in order to achieve their
objectives and goals.
5. 1.Discussion
Hedge states that free discussion can provide important opportunities for developing
certain aspects of fluency ideally over a period of time. Free discussion activities will involve
student in talking about a range of topics which engage their interest opinions, histories and
experiences (p.277).
It is the most common activity in the classroom, because it is considered as one form
of communicative activities. So that, it is the activity in which students talk about something
and tell each other their opinions or ideas. It is an exchange of views for the sake of “the
communication and of the communicative continuum” (Harmer, 2001, p.273).
It is one of the most used activities by the teacher in order to teach speaking, this
action or process of taking and debating about a topic should be provided by the teacher. In
this case, the students agree or disagree about the topic and this lead them to express
themselves with more confidence.
Harmer introduces different ways in which discussion can be used (2001, p.273).
- It encourages rehearsal;
In addition, Harmer states that information gap activities involve one student to talk to a
partner in order to solve a puzzle, or find similarities and differences between pictures.
Also, Nunan (2003, p.56) added that “it is a useful activities in which one person has
the information that the other lacks, they must use the TL to share that information, for
instance; one student has the directions to a party and must give them to a classmate”. The
advantages of this activity are to engage students negotiating meaning and help them to
acquire language. It boosts intrinsic motivation and creates a great atmosphere in classroom
by encouraging learner, learner interaction. These activities push students to shift from
working structured environment in a more active communicative one. So, the students use
more TL and discover their gaps which they wish to improve.
5.6. Questionnaire
Questionnaire are very useful as communicative tool in the classroom , students
should prepare a questionnaire about any topic that they want .It is a helpful tool it is already
prepared and both questioner and respondent have something to say to each other. These
questionnaires aid in the use of repetitive language patterns , the advantages of using
questionnaire are that , they have been pre planned , Harmer(2001) states that “
Questionnaires are useful because by being preplanned they ensure that both questioner and
respondent have something to say to each other”(p.274).
5.7. Simulation
Some researchers relate simulation to role play, simulation , as harmer (2001) defines
“ students simulate real life encounter (…) as if they were doing so in the real world , either as
themselves (…) or taking on the role of character different from themselves or with thoughts
and feelings they do not necessarily share “(p.274).Furthermore, “ in simulation the
individual participation speaks and react as themselves , but the group role situation and a task
that they are given is an imaginary one “(Ibid, p.132). It means that, the student thinks of
himself that he is a real participant in the simulation. It is very important in teaching speaking
because it is a practice or activity that gives students the opportunity to practice
communication in different social contexts and in different social rules. Harmer (2001) states
that simulation encourages the use of the oral fluency, also it motivates and a tool of fun and
entertainment.
The teaching of speaking is having high concern in many language programs and
teaching strategies cannot be denied as a factor influencing the teaching outcomes; it should
be made appropriate for each skill. Hughes (2002) defines this term as the ability of the
learners to manipulate a conversation and negotiate interaction in an effective way. Such
strategies are particularly important where there are problems of expression and
communication. (As cited in Kouicem, 2010, p.34).
Different number of speaking strategies is used in the FL classes, for many reasons
and conditions. Among others, the strategies of teaching speaking are classified by Bygate
(1987) into two main type’s .first, achievement strategies which include; guessing strategies,
paraphrase strategies, and cooperative strategies. Second, reduction strategies which involve
avoidance strategies.
6.1. Achievement Strategies
According to Bygate (1987), the learners always try to find how to deliver a message
without change their ideas in order to fill language gap by using a substitution .As the
following example:
“L I came down from twenty degrees…er. I do not know how you say it was twenty
degrees hot you know
NS: mm
L: and I came up er in Scotland to twenty degrees freezing so, I got very sick just before
Christmas.”(Haastruo and Philipson, 1983, p.149 as cited in Ibid, p.43). (Bygate, 1987,p.43).
Therefore; by utilizing the achievement strategies, because of the insufficient linguistic
resources, the learners try to find solution to the communicative problems.
Another type of guessing strategies , that the speaker might use , is coin a word ,i.e. a
learner may create new words , expressions of the target language word on the basis of his
knowledge of the language to make the interlocutor get the idea .For example; “ Such as
vegetarianist for vegetarian” (Thornbury, 2005 ,p.29).
Moreover, the learner can foreignize his first language words and expressions by
pronouncing it as it refers to the target language for success in delivering his message to the
listener. For example, a Frenchman who speaking English words and pronouncing it in French
tone. According to Thornbury (2005), “Foreignizing a word: such as turning the Spanish word
una carpeta (meaning a file for papers) into the English –sounding a carpet” (p.29).
Finally, the literal translation, this strategy means translating words from the learner’s
mother tongue to overcome obstacles when speaking FL. For example, a Frenchman may
attempt to say “crescent” instead of “croissant” (Ibid).
The first one is lexical substitution strategy, which means the using synonyms and
more general words that constitute the same meaning of the missing words.
The second type is circumlocution strategy whereby the learners compensate a limited
linguistic knowledge; also get their message across, i.e. they can explain a concept by using
some sort of words to express what they want to deliver.
According to Bygate (1987), “This basically involves searching his knowledge of the
TL vocabulary to find an alternative to the expression that he needs” (p.44).
For example,
S3: For
Reduction strategies are used for valuating accuracy over fluency .Yet it may be the
successful one when interacting; thus, they decide finishing the conversation. Therefore, it
used by those learners who know what they want to say, even though, they feel with some
hesitation in explaining their thoughts and ideas which are related to the actual meaning.
Systematic errors are evidence of a learners lack of the target language knowledge ;
whereas, mistakes are the inability the correct use of the language knowledge due to the
different factors such as carelessness, tiredness, and distractions, mistakes can be self
corrected when learners notice them.
There are different strategies of correcting speaking errors that were introduced by
Hedge (2000, pp. 290-291).
1. The teacher frowns and says “No, you do not say that, what you say? Can anybody
hold faun?”
2. The teacher repeats a sentence the student has first said with rising intonation up to the
point of the mistakes, and waits for the students to self-correct.
3. The student has just produced present answer to past- tense question from the teacher,
this later repeats the question, stressing the past tense form, and waits for the student
to self-correct
4. The students use incorrect intonation in a question. The teacher asks the class for an
accurate version, then repeats it, asks the class for choral, repetition, an individual
repetition, and finally returns to the original student.
5. The teacher looks puzzled and requests clarification by asking “What did you say?”
Which the students recognize as an indication of an error, then the teacher waits for
the student to self-correct.
6. The teacher moves his/her hand to indicate an error, gives the correct version, and asks
the student to repeat it.
Conclusion
As a productive skill; speaking is a core element taught in any language class since it
is a mean through which many language aspects could be learned .It plays an increasingly
important role in SL or FL setting as a mean of communication in our daily life to achieve
certain goals or to express view points. Therefore, people who know a language are referred
to as “Speakers” of that language. It is the most frequently used language skill because the
capability to speak English is the priority for many SL/FL learners. They often assess their
success in improving their spoken ability .For that reason, the classroom should be learner’s
centered. This chapter has focused on the difficulties that can face students during speaking
class, and the strategies that can be used .In addition to some communicative activities which
fosters speaking proficiency, helping students to interact freely when using the FL to provide
them with as many opportunities to practice the language orally as possible.