SPEAKING

L e a r n i n g Te a c h i n g
Chapter 7
 Conversation and Discussion classes
Topics and
Cues

Structuring
talk

Avoiding the
talk-talk loop

Open
Playing the devil’s advocate Questions
 Communicative Activities

 An activity that has communication as its main aim (as

opposed to practice of particular language items)

A communication activity will

normally involve an ‘information
gap (when one person knows
?
something that the other one
doesn’t). Such gaps between
people give us a need and desire ?
to communicate with each other.
 A few keys to getting
a good discussion going…
 Frame the discussion well
 Preparation time
 Don’t interrupt the flow
 Specific problems are more
productive than general issues
 Role cards
 Buzz groups
 Break the rules
 Some common
communicative activities

Picture difference tasks

Group planning tasks
List sequencing tasks/ranking tasks
Pyramid discussion
Board games
Puzzles and Problems
 How to organize learners in ‘Speaking tasks’

 Make eye contact with those

they are speaking to

 Hear clearly what the other

person/people are saying

 Be reasonably close together

 Other common speaking
activities: “Role-play”
 Activity where students take on a character or make
use of given information or ideas in order to get
speaking practice.
Role-play (cont.)
Role-play (cont.)
 “Real-play”
 A variety of ‘role-play’ in which students play
themselves in familiar contexts, perhaps to help study
and resolve problems they have had in these situations
Real-play (cont.)
 “Simulation”
A large-scale role-play. Role cards are normally used,
but quite a lot of other printed and recorded background
information as well (memos, news flashes, graphs,
articles, etc.) causing participants to take note of the data
and re-adjust their positions.
The intention is to create a much more complete, complex
‘world’ (business company, television studio, government
body, etc.)
 General concepts about
‘Accuracy’ & ‘Fluency’
Accuracy
Refers to the ability to produce grammatically correct
sentences, but may not include the ability to speak/write
fluently. Accuracy activities teach ‘new language’ or may focus
on developing correct language.

Fluency
Speaking naturally without worrying too much about being
100% correct. Fluency activities normally allow learners to try
out language they ‘already understand’ and have ‘learned’,
but not yet made part of their repertoire.
 Fluency, Accuracy
and
Communication

You often need to decide whether to focus on one or

the other. There are times in classroom work where a
focus on getting language correct is more useful than a
focus on fluency and vice versa.
Running a ‘Fluency Activity’
 Ideas for correction work
after a fluency activity
 Write up a number of sentences used during the activity
and discuss them with your students
 Write a number of sentences on the board. Give pens/chalk
to Ss and encourage them to make corrections
 Invent and write out a story that includes a number of
errors you overheard during the activity. Hand out the story
the next day and the students (pairs/whole group), find the
errors and correct them
 Write out two lists (A&B). Each list has the same sentences,
but there are mistakes in one or the other. Divided in two
groups (A&B). Students need to reach conclusions about
which sentences are correct.
 Scaffolding
Refers to the way a competent language speaker helps a less
competent one to communicate by both encouraging and providing
possible elements of the conversation.

• Does not interfere too much with the flow of

conversation
• Offers useful language feedback
• Actually helps the speaker to construct his
conversation
• It isn’t a normal conversation in the sense that
the teacher/listener is not aiming to contribute
any personal stories/opinions of his/her own;
the aim of his/her own speaking is solely to
help the speaker tell his story
 Scaffolding Techniques
 Showing interest and agreeing
 Concisely asking for clarification
 Encouragement echo
 Echoing meaning
 Asking ‘conversation oiling questions’
 Asking brief questions (or using sentence heads)
 Unobtrusively saying the correct form of an
incorrect word (only if it contributes to
communication)
 Giving the correct pronunciation of words in
replies without drawing any particular attention to
it
 Unobtrusively giving a word/phrase that the
speaker is looking for
 Different kinds of Speaking
(speech genre)

A genre is a variety of speech/writing expected to be

found in a particular place, with particular people, in a
particular context, to achieve a particular result, using a
particular channel (e.g. face-to-face/phone), etc.

It is often characterized by specific choices about style,

manner, tone, quantity, volume, directness, choice of
words, formality, type of content, etc.
 Some ‘speech genres’
Telling a joke
Meeting people in a cafe
at an informal party

Discussing sales in a
business meeting
Asking for directions
on the street Leaving an answer
phone message

Agreeing the price

for a business deal
Analyzing a ‘genre’
 Try this…

What characteristics do you find when

people speak in the following contexts?
1
2
3
4
5
6

7
8

9
 Why is ‘genre’ important?
A language learner needs to learn not only
grammar, pronunciation, etc. but appropriate ways
of speaking in different situations as well (these
may be significantly different in the target culture)

We must give learners chances to select

appropriate genres and planning the appropriate
language needed for a variety of different speaking
situations and audiences to ensure successful
communication
 Factors involved in ‘Speech Acts’

Pronunciation Choosing and maintaining

a suitable level of politeness

Organizing
information
Interaction
Context Listening
Speaking
Language strategies
items
 1. Set task

2. Plan the speaking

Stages in a 3. Rehearse the speaking

‘Speaking 4. Do the task
Lesson’
(Basic lesson 5. Feedback/Review the success

sequence) 6. Add/Correct/Revise

7. Redo the task

* Exposure to example