Teaching Speaking

Plan

1.Characteristics of Speaking as a language activity and its interrelation with other language activities.

2.Notion of a prepared and impromptu speech and their correlation in TFL at school.

3.Basic forms of oral speech: which of them to teach first.

4.Notion of a speech situation, kinds of situations and ways of building them up.

Speaking is an expression of one’s thoughts aimed at solving communication tasks.

Communication in general is aimed at solving tasks connected with human relations, at changing them.

Communication

speaking

gestures movements facial poses social contacts

expression (buying tickets,

paying money)

Speaking as a language activity (LA) has the following specific features:

Ø Motivation which is based on a speaker’s need of communication; it is always motivated;

Ø Active character, i.e. Sp. reveals the speaker’s attitude to reality;

Ø Purposefulness, i.e. each utterance has its own communicative task (to persuade, to convince, to talk to, to ask…);

Ø Connection with a man’s activity, i.e. upon the situation;

Ø Connection with the communicative function of thinking;

Ø Connection with the speaker’s personality (each of us is an individual, characterized by a unique combination of abilities, peculiarities, character, and it can’t but reveal itself in speech);

Ø Situational character, i.e. coordination of speech units with the basic components of the process of communication (time, place, interlocutor, relationships);

Ø Heuristic character (эвристический): one can’t operate only with cliché, set phrases. An utterance is often unpredictable;

Ø Independent process: speaking is independent of what has been read, of the mother-tongue, of props;

Ø Normal tempo.

Ø Integrated character, i.e. synthesis of speech habits, life experience, emotions of speakers.

A skill is the optimal level of perfection (improvement, development) of a certain activity. A skill differs from a habit in the fact that it enables a speaker to conduct an activity, not a single act.

connected with situational independent

the communicative

functions of thinking connected with the

speaker’s personality

motivated

active

purposeful heuristic character connected with

the speaker’s activity

interacted with other

aspects of the language

The main features of any skill are as follows:

a) Purposefulness, i.e. its impact is directed at the interlocutor;

b) dynamic character, i.e. an ability to use speech material in new situations;

c) productive character, i.e. an ability to produce new utterances;

d)Integrated character, i.e. synthesis of speech habits, life experience, emotions of speakers.

e)Independent character, i.e. independent of props and the mother-tongue

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Speaking is closely connected with all other language activities:

B.Listening Comprehension as well as Sp. requires intensive mental activity with support of the mechanisms of inner speech and anticipation. Both have the same analyzers at work (kinesthetic and auditory). Sp. and LC promote each other’s development in the process of teaching;

C.Writing appeared as a means of fixation of the sounds for presenting and reproducing sound speech;

D.Reading is a transitional stage between Sp and Wr. and it has some features of both of them.

Speech Competence is realized through functions and its functional exponents

e.g. To be able to:say “hello” Hi, how are you?

Introduce let me introduce…/ this is…/ meet…

Inform I’d like to tell you/you need to know... agree/disagree Let me (dis)agree with you/I can’t but…

An impromptu speech is based on:

a) The skills of combining the familiar language material in a new way;

b) The skills of transfer of the assimilated material into different situations;

c) The skills of initiating speech;

d) NO preliminary preparation on a specific subject for a particular occasion.

A prepared speech is more widely used by the pupils. A prepared speech may be based on the suggested language material and a topic/ situation, or on the suggested topic/situation, but not on the suggested material.

In the psychological aspect both forms of speaking possess such qualities as purposefulness, communicative motivation, situational character, being addressed to the interlocutor.

A monologue is characterized by: continuity, completion, logical succession, contextuality. Or, it has: - continuous

- completed

- logical consistent

- successive

- contextual

A dialogue is a typical example of impromptu speaking;it is characterized by a greater degree of emotional colouring and situational relevance (conditionality).

A situation is characterized by the following features:

a) Absence of immediate connection of speech (language) units with the present circumstances;

b) Dynamic character, i.e. it undergoes constant changes together with them. Each remark changes and develops the situation;

c) A situation is not a mere entity of circumstances, events and relationships;

d) The content of a situation is based on a problem or conflict which breaks the existing system of relationships;

e) A speech situation is always realized in a speech act.

A communicative situation may be defined as a system of interacting factors of objective and subjective nature which involve a man into language intercourse and predetermine his speech conduct.

A communicative situation comprises 4 groups of factors (or components):

Ø Real circumstances;

Ø Relationships between the communicators;

Ø Speaking intentions;

Ø Realization of an act of communicators.

Situations may be real, imaginary, teaching which are built up with the help of mechanical aids or verbal aids.

A teaching situation should always contain a speech task which predetermines the speaker’s position and the direction as well as wording of speech.

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Ways of modeling situations:

1) Visual;

2) Verbal oral

written;

3) Visual-verbal video;

poly-screen;

4) Problem situations:

a) Suggesting of a few variants of solving one ad the same problem. Pupils are to choose the most interesting/appropriate one (e.g. the way of traveling, the movie to watch);

b) Creating a special barrier in the way of solving a problem (e.g. sport team);

c) Giving incomplete information:

d) Suggesting different controversial points of view (e.g. civilization doesn’t save us from cruelties of nature);

e) Using lack of experience of pupils for solving the problem (e.g. weigh an elephant);

f) Using their life experience, but in new situations (e.g. what a real teacher should be?)

Lecture 11

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 1617