SPEAKING SKILLS
- Ø Listening
- Ø Speaking
- Ø Reading
- Ø writing
Among these fourfold functions of language, speaking
deserves a special mention. Because 80% of human communication takes place
through the medium of speaking. Here, I am trying to analyze what speaking is
and how can we achieve the skill of speaking as well as, how can we evaluate it.
Speaking Skills
Language is not something
‘in-built’ in human beings. It is a learned behavior as well as it is
culturally transmitted. Language is conventional and human beings tend to
acquire language in order to communicate with their fellow beings.
Hence language is a system of sounds and words, we use
both written and spoken forms of language for communication. But we need some
special skills in order to achieve proficiency in language. Those skills are called as the four-fold skills of language (LSRW). Attaining these fourfold skills is crucial in learning any language.
Here, our concerned topic is the skill of speaking which
comes right after listening in the fourfold skills of language. Speaking skill deserves a special mention because a lion share of the human communication is via verbal transaction. Especially in this great paced global village primary importance is vested upon speaking rather than any other language skill.
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing
meaning which involves producing, receiving and processing information. Speaking
is the transmission of communications. It is often spontaneous open-ended and
dynamic. Speech as well as written form of language has its own structure, form
and skills. There are number of subskills one needs to attain the ability to
speak fluently and efficiently. Articulation, Lexis, Grammar etc are some
subskills which come under the skill of speaking.
Speaking requires not only linguistic competence but also
sociolinguistic competence. For oral communication normally there should be a
speaker and a listener who may change their roles in a conversation.
The speech habits, expressions and the knowledge in the topic etc have an effective impact on the success of any
exchange. The speaker must be able to anticipate and produce what is expected, depends
on the particular situation or the context. Turn taking, rephrasing, providing,
feedback or redirecting etc are some important factors in determining one’s
ability to successfully delivering an exchange.
A speaking lesson should include 5 important elements or
it should be comprised of 5 steps. They are:-
- Ø Preparation
- Ø Presentation
- Practice
- Evaluation
- Extension
In a classroom set up dialogues and conversations are the
most important and commonly used speaking activities, though a teacher can opt
for a variety of many other activities. Some of them are listed below:-
Ø Imitative
In this task the learner is supposed to imitate the
teacher. He can simply imitate simple sentences and phrases said by the
teacher. This enables the learner to attain clarity and accuracy.
Ø Intensive
This also involves repetition of commands or requests.
This focuses on specific phonological and grammatical points.
Ø Responsive
This implies the responses produced by the learner. Yes
or no questions are example for this.
- Ø Transactional
This task suggests verbal transactions. Eg: Role- play,
debate etc.
Ø Interpersonal
This promotes the sociolinguistic aspect of the speaker.
Role-play, personal interview etc are examples.
Ø Extensive
This implies lengthy verbal expressions like speech, oral
reports etc.
These tasks can be used in both ways, independently or in
a sequence. The selection depends on the learner’s needs.
When presenting these tasks the teacher should inform the
students about the language function in the context. The teacher should also be
careful about not to overload the students with a lot of new materials and a
task over another. This may make the student tedious as well as they may get
distracted.
Sub Skills
- Ø Sound
To get a sound knowledge as well as fluency in English
the learner should have a deep knowledge in the sound system of English. The
English sound system consists of 12 vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants.
Diagrams, charts etc can be used as equipments to teach the sound system. The
teacher is advised to tell short stories and oral reports based on the age and
taste of the learners. It will help the students to learn and practice good
English with right pronunciation as well as to help them identify different
sounds.
Ø stress
Students should be made aware of the importance of stress
in practicing speech. Because it have the ability to change the meaning of a
word. A stress will help us to detect whether the word is a noun or an adverb.
- Ø Intonation
Intonation will influence the meaning as well as effect
of the utterance or speech.
Ø Rhythm
Rhythm is quite significant in speech. It has an
important role in delivering meaning to a sentence.
Ø Vocabulary
To attain fluency in speaking vocabulary is very
important. Reading short stories and other genres of literature will be helpful
in improving vocabulary.
Ø Grammar
A sound knowledge in basic grammar is essential to
achieve the quality of fluency in speaking. This helps the learner to arrange
and re-arrange the vocabulary he already knows, in an appropriate manner.
Proper pronunciation is very important in speech. For
students who learn English as their second language have great difficulty in
learning or practicing proper pronunciation. Practicing Received Pronunciation
(RP) is an effective remedy for this.
Teaching pronunciation can be made more easy by imitating
good models of speeches, songs etc. Listening to English movies and songs is
also effective. Educational games can also be used for the purpose.
Brain storming, role-play, storytelling, drama etc are
excellent speaking activities which can be easily conducted in class room set
ups.
Evaluating Speaking Skills
There are certain elements which we can use as criteria
to evaluate speaking skills. Some of them are listed below.
Ø Pronunciation
Based on one's pronunciation we can easily understand whether he is a native speaker or not.
It is one of the basic qualities one need to achieve in learning language.
Ø Lexis
Vocabulary or
lexis helps to detect the speaker's social status, locale and proficiency in language.
Ø Accuracy
Accuracy is a basic criteria in evaluating one’s speaking
skill. Grammar plays the crucial role here.
Ø Interaction
The ability to respond is checking here. One should be
able to listen to what others are saying or what is happening around and should
know to respond in the appropriate manner.
Ø Fluency
Fluency is judged on the base of the ease of
communication. Long gaps and pauses in one’s speech indicates the lack of
fluency.
These factors denote the totality of one’s speaking
ability. Based on these factors we can comprehend or evaluate one’s speaking
ability to some extent. Some barriers to attain speaking skills in classroom
context are listed below.
- Ø Large
classroom strength
- Ø Lack
of individual attention
- Ø Unavailability
or inaccessibility of language labs
- Ø The
general tendency to avoid learning new words
- Ø Teachers
are generally afraid that the process is time consuming
- Ø Writing
skill is given more importance than speaking
- Ø Lack
of trained teachers with fluency
- Ø Highly time consuming.
Hence they cannot fit in the syllabus
When it comes to the scoring procedures, we can depend
the five point rating scale adapted from Luoma. In this method each stage can be
matched to scores. The five-point rating scale is as below:-
Ø
- Effective communication and high competency in task performing
- Ø Generally
effective communication and competently performed task
- Ø Communication
can be said to be effective to some extent as well as somewhat effective
competence
- Ø Communication
generally not effective and generally poor task performance competency
- Ø Sheer
absence of effective communication at all as well visibly poor competency to
perform task
Analytic method of scoring procedures implies the
comparison of one’s performance with one another learner’s performance. Hence
it demands high competency in order to win or to achieve. One needs to excel to be successful. The level of intelligence is a
prominent factor in this method.
In contrast to the analytic scheme, the global impression
marking scheme does not judge one learner in relation to the performance of
other learners. This scheme sets specific classifications and searches for the
sparkle of excellence in every learner, by accepting him as a free person.
Individuality plays a vital role here. There is no necessary minimum in this
scheme.
Conclusion
Speaking as a part of our daily life is inevitable to
anybody except for those who are differently abled and use other means of expressions
to communicate. Therefore it is highly significant to acquire the skill of
speaking to survive as well as to excel. There are a lot of techniques
to attain the skill as well as barriers. But we can overcome the
hindrances and can master the skill by following some simple
techniques. By examining certain aspects we can evaluate the ability of
speaking too. Scoring procedures are also there in relation with evaluation.
Bibliography
Viswanath, Harsha; Sajitha(2014).English Language
Teaching Approaches And Skills. Dept of English, Milad-E-Sherief Memorial
College. Kerala
Dr.Sivarajan, K; T.V.Ramakrishnan, K.Mridula (2012).
English Language Education. Calicut University. Calicut
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