Теория и методика обучения иностранному языку (стр. 12 )

Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) speaking seems the most important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing and many if not most foreign language learners are interested in learning to speak. That’s why teaching speaking is vitally important for all language teachers at all levels.

Let’s start with the question ‘Why do we speak? What are the reasons for speaking in real life?

Task 1. Work in groups and make up a list of reasons for speaking in real life.

Possible answers:

In real life we speak:

-  to transfer some info

-  to realize some intentions

-  to establish / maintain some relations

-  to show one’s knowledge

-  to ask for something

Task 2. How do we speak (characteristics of process / language used)?

in real life	in classroom
- “long turns” (prepared speech, lectures)
- “short turns”
- simple structures
- ellipsis
- set expressions
- fillers / pauses (hesitations)
- repetitions / rephrasing

What is speaking in the classroom?

Task 3. Mark these statements as true, false or debatable. Put a tick (Ö) in the right column.

Speaking in the classroom
	T	F	D
1. Speaking is producing oral utterances
2. Speaking is always interactive
3. Speaking always involves a thought process
4. Speaking may have no message at all
5. The language of speaking can be successfully acquired from books
6. Speech errors show that the speaker needs more practice.
7. The interaction of learners in lessons produces a lot of noise and makes learning difficult or impossible.
8. The more English words learners know the more they are able to speak.
9. Natural communication between the teacher and learners in lessons in the best way to teach speaking.
munication games should be used to lower stress in lessons
11. Simulation exercises should be used only after the learners have acquired the necessary language
12. An information gap activity involves one learner communicating information that the other learner doesn’t have
13. A task - based approach to speaking means that fewer texts will be offered to the learners
14. A process – oriented approach to speaking means that emphasis will be pout on developing skills rather than learning the text of a dialogue or a monologue

Speaking can be looked upon under these headings:

1) Accuracy 2) Fluency

What do they both imply?

If accuracy is form, then fluency is meaning.

What does accuracy involve?

It involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

What does fluency involve?

It involves the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously; when speaking fluently students should be able to get the message across, regardless of grammatical and other mistakes.

What problems occur with speaking activities?

Task 4. What problems occur with speaking activities? Can you think of any?

Work in groups and make a list of problems with speaking you, yourselves as students come across with and learners at school might have.

Possible answers P. Ur p.121 Box 9.2

What can the teacher do to help solve some of the problems?

1.  Use group and pair work. It increases STT and lowers inhibition of learners who are unwilling to speak in front of the class.

2.  Base the activity on easy language. In general, the level of language needed for a discussion should be lower than that used in intensive language – learning activities it should be easily produced, so that they can speak fluently with the minimum of hesitation. It is a good ides to teach or review essential vocabulary before the activity starts.

3.  Make a careful choice of topic and task to stimulate interest. The clearer the purpose of the discussion the more motivated the learners will be.

4.  Give some instruction or training in discussion skills. If the task is based on group discussion then include instructions about participation when introducing it. For example, tell learners to make sure that everyone in the group contributes to the discussion, appoint a chairperson etc.

5.  Keep students speaking the target language. The best way to keep students speaking the target language is simply to be there yourself as much as possible, reminding them and modeling the language use yourself.

Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

Task 5. Work in groups and work out your own characteristics of a successful speaking activity.

Now you can compare your finding with those given by P. Ur. p.120 Box 9.1

What is the teacher’s aim in a speaking activity?

The teacher should teach:

-  to express intentions

-  to transfer information

-  to establish / maintain relations

-  to speak in situations of :

Ö  social aspect

Ö  cultural aspect

Ö  general context

P. Ur p. 123 Box 9.3

Task 6. Work in groups of four. Choose one observer in each group. Do both activities, one after the other. The observer should keep an eye on how things are going: how much people are talking, the kind of language they are using, how interested and motivated they are.

Task 7. Now compare both activities. Which was more successful in producing, good oral fluency practice? Can you give a reason why? Was it the topic? The task? The organization?

The main differences between the two activities is that the first is topic – based and the second one is task – based.

Topic. A good topic is one to which learners can relate using ideas from their own experience and knowledge, the ‘ability-grouping’ topic is appropriate for most schoolchildren. It should also represent a controversy, in which participants are likely to be fairy divided. Some questions or suggested lines of thought can help to stimulate discussion. A topic-centred discussion can be done as a formal debate, where the topic is discussed and finally voted on by all.

Task. A task is goal-oriented; it requires the group or pair to achieve an objective that is usually expressed by an observable result, such as brief notes or lists, a rearrangement of jumbled items, a drawing, and a summary. Within the task you often find instructions such as ‘reach a consensus’, or ‘find out everyone’s opinion’.

Which is better?

As a generalization, it is probably advisable to base most oral fluency activities on tasks. But there is usually a small but significant minority who prefer a topic-centred task and find them interesting.

Three of activities for developing Speaking skills are:

-  controlled

-  guided

-  free

? What do we mean by activities of these types? (activities 1-24)

Knowledge ≠ Skill

? What analogy can you draw here? (knowledge – about a language; skill – using a language)

There are two basic ways to see a skill

motor-perceptive skill interaction skill

involve perceiving, recalling and articulating in the correct order sounds and structures of the language

involve making decisions about communicating, such as: what to say, how to say, and whether to develop it, in accordance with one’s intentions, while maintaining the desired relations with others

↓ ↓

problem transfer of skills

‘If all the language produced in the classroom is determined by the teacher, we are protecting {the learner} from the additional burden of having to make his own choices. He will not be able to transfer his knowledge from a language – learning situation to a language – using situation.’

David Wilkins

Task 8

Here is a list of things that we tend to teach in language courses. Which are only examples of motor-perceptive skills and which are also examples of interaction skills?

1. Show an ability to produce at least 35 of the 40 phonemes in British English.

2. Form the perfect tense correctly with have followed by the past participle of the lexical verb.

3. Be able to ask someone the time.

4. Have the ability to introduce yourself to someone you have never met.

5. Be able to use at correctly with expressions of time and place.

6. Show an ability to describe your flat or home clearly to a decorator or estate agent.

7. Be able to use correctly the three forms of lexical verbs.

8. Be able to use the telephone to obtain info about trains / plane / bus times.

Think of criteria for a good speaking class involving 5 elements:

	our reasons why
The teacher • • The learners • The atmosphere • Correction • Activities

Task 9

1.  Non-communicative activity

2.  Communicative drill

3.  Communicative activity

? What makes a communicative activity?

Task 10

How communicative are different classroom activities

Pre - communicative activities

The main purpose of the learner is

·  to produce certain forms in an acceptable way. He is prompted to use these forms by the teacher’s instructions (as in a drill).

·  to produce language that they have recently learnt (e. g. through opened or cued dialogues)

The learner’s focus is more on language forms to be learnt than on meanings to be communicated.

Communicative activities

The purpose of the learner is to use the linguistic repertoire he has learnt, in order to communicate specific meanings for specific purposes.

·  they improve motivation

·  they allow natural learning

·  they can create a context which supports learning

Is an activity pre-communicative or communicative? It depends on how the teacher presents the activity : exposition of activity, explanation of activity

(from William Littlewood (1994), “Communicative Language Teaching, CUP”)

How communicative are different classroom activities?

What is communicative activity? Below are six criteria that you can use to decide how communicative different classroom activities are. Use these criteria to evaluate the selection of classroom activities attached.

Criteria for evaluating how communicative classroom activities are:

1.  Communicative purpose: The activity must involve the students in
performing a real communicative purpose rather than just practising language
for its own sake. In order for this to occur there must be some kind of 'gap'
(information or opinion) which the students seek to bridge when they are
communicating.

2.  Communicative desire: The activity must create a desire to communicate in
the students. That is, even though speaking is forced on the students, they
must feel a real need to communicate.

3.  Content not form: When the students are doing the activity, they must be
concentrating on what they are saying not how they say it. They must have
some 'message' that they want to communicate.

4.  Variety of language: The activity must involve the students in using a variety
of language, not just one specific language form. The students should feel to
improvise, using whatever resources they choose.

5.  No teacher intervention: The activity must be designed to be done by the
students working by themselves rather than with the teacher. The activity
should not involve the teacher correcting or evaluating how the students do
the activity, although it could involve some evaluation of the final 'product' of
the activity when the activity is over. This assessment should be based on
whether the students have achieved their communicative purpose, not whether
the language they used was correct.

6.  No materials control: The activity should not be designed to control what
language the students should use. The choice about what language to use
should rest with the students.

Draw a table like the one below. Put a tick if you think the activities meet the criteria. Put a cross if you think they do not. In some cases you may not be sure, so put a question-mark.

Criteria	Activities
1. Communicative purpose 2. Communicative desire 3. Content not form 4. Variety of language 5. No teacher intervention 6. No materials control

When you have finished filling in the table, rank the 5 teaching activities according to how communicative you think each activity is overall.

1.  . (most communicative)

2.

3.

4.

5.

(least communicative)

Group work

Work in groups of three. Study the example and then continue.

Student A to	Student В to	Student С (Replies)
Ask Kay to give you her pen.	Give me your pen please.	YES (Here you are).
Ask Mrs Wright to give us a sandwich.	Could we have a sandwich, Mrs Wright?	YES (Certainly).
1. Ask Jerry if he's got a letter for me.		NO
2. We must do some shopping tomorrow. Ask your boss to give you a day off.		NO
3. Ask Adrian to give you his dictionary.		YES
4. If you want more coffee, ask Mrs Wright.		YES

2. Communicative task

Practice with your parent:

A Where are you from?

В I'm from (country).

A Which part of (country) are you from?

В (Town).

A What's your address?

В (Address).

3. Pair work

Work with your partner and ask each other questions about accommodation in your country. Here are some of the questions:

a. What is the cheapest type of accommodation?

b. Are meals served in all types of accommodation?

c. Does the price of a room always include breakfast?

d. What facilities are provided?

e. Is advance booking advisable?

4. Practice accepting and refusing things

Copy the table below into your exercise book. Put a tick next to each item if you like it. Put a cross if you do not like it.

Item	Like / dislike
1. apples 2. cabbage 3. beer 4. coffee 5. pork 6. fish 7. milk 8. cakes

Work with a partner. Offer him each item in the table. He should accept or refuse it and give a reason for his answer. He should then offer you each item.