Techniques the teacher uses for teaching speaking

 

There are two forms of speaking: monologue and dialogue. Since each form has its peculiarities we should speak of teaching monologue and teaching dialogue separately.

In teaching monologue we can easily distinguish three stages according to the levels which constitute the ability to speak: (1) the statement level; (2) the utterance level; (3) the discourse level.

1. No speech is possible until pupils learn how to make up sentences in the foreign language and how to make statements. To develop pupils' skills in making statements the following procedure may be suggested:

Pupils are given sentence patterns to assimilate in connection with situations.

The sentence pattern is filled with different words. Thus pupils can express various thoughts. For example:

I can see a....

P u p i l 1: I can see a blackboard.

P u p i 1 2: I can see a picture.

P u p i l 3: I can see a map, etc.

I am fond of...

P u p i l 1: I am fond of music.

P u p i 1 2: I am fond of    classical music.

P u p i 1 3: I am fond of pop music, etc.

We are proud of...

P u p i l 1: We are proud of our country.

P u p i 1 2: We are proud of our sportsmen.

P u p i 1 3: We are proud of our school, etc.

Pupils are invited to perform various drill exercises within the sentence patterns given:

— substitution: I have a book (a pen);

— extention: I have an interesting book,

I have an interesting book at home;

— transformation: He has a book,

He has no book;

— completion: If I have time I’ll....

Pattern practice, of course, makes no pretence of being communication. However, pattern practice for communication is what playing scales and arpeggios is to a musician. Each pattern will have to be repeated many times with a great variety of changes in its contents until the pattern becomes a habit.

Pupils make statements of their own in connection with the situations suggested by the teacher.

Give it a name.

Teacher: We write with it.

Pupil: It is a pencil (pen).

Make statements on the picture.

Teacher (silently points to the picture of a cat)

P u p i l 1: This is a cat.

P u p i l 2: This is a black cat.

Say the opposite.

Teacher: I live in Gorky Street.

Pupil: I do not live in Gorky Street,

Teacher (pointing to the boy): He likes to play hockey.

Pupil:    I don't like to play hockey.

When pupils are able to make statements in the foreign language within grammar and vocabulary they have assimilated their speech may be more complicated. They should learn to combine statements of various sentence patterns in a logical sequence.

2. Pupils are taught how to use different sentence patterns in an utterance about an object, a subject offered. First they are to follow a model, and then they do it without any help.

Teacher: Say a few words about it. (He points to an object.)

Pupil:    This is a pencil.

The pencil is green. 

It is on the table. I like the pencil.

Or Teacher points to a boy.

Pupil: This is a boy. His name is Sasha. He lives in Gagarin Street.

Get information and sum up what you have learnt from your classmates.

Teacher: She cut her finger.

Pupil:    Who cut her finger?

Class:     Ann.

— When did she cut it?

— Yesterday.

— What did she cut it with?

— With a knife.

— Why did she cut her finger?

— Because the knife was sharp.

Pupil: Yesterday Ann cut her finger. She cut it with a knife. The knife was sharp.

This exercise is useful both for developing dialogic and monologic speech.

Therefore the pupil's utterance involves-2—4 sentences which logically follow one another. At this stage pupils learn to express their thoughts, their attitude to what they say using various sentence patterns. Thus they learn how to put several sentences together in one utterance about a subject, an object, etc.

3. After pupils have learned how to say a few sentences in connection with a situation they are prepared for speaking at discourse level. Free speech is possible provided pupils have acquired habits and skills in making statements and in combining them in a logical sequence. At this level pupils are asked to speak on a picture, a set of pictures, a film-strip, a film, comment on a text they have read or heard, make up a story of their own; of course, this being done within the language material (grammar and vocabulary) pupils have assimilated. To help pupils to speak the teacher supplies them with " what to speak about". The devices used for the purpose are: visual aids which can stimulate the pupil's speaking through visual perception of the subject to be spoken about, including a text read; audio aids which can stimulate the pupil's speaking through auditory perception of a stimulus; audio-visual aids when pupils can see and hear what to speak about.[8]

The three stages in developing pupils' speaking should take place throughout the whole course of instruction, i. e., in junior, intermediate, and senior forms. The amount of exercises at each level, however, must be different. In junior forms statement level is of greater importance as a teaching point.

Rule for the teacher: In teaching monologue instruct pupils how to make statements first, then how to combine various sentences in one utterance and, finally, how to speak on a suggested topic.

We have already spoken about the linguistic characteristics of dialogue. Some more should be said about its structure.

A dialogue consists of a series of lead-response units. The significant feature of a lead-response unit is that the response part may, and usually does, serve in its own turn as a fresh inducement leading to further verbal exchanges, i. e., lead ► response     ► inducement ► response. A response unit is a unit of speech between two pauses. It may consist of more than one sentence. But the most characteristic feature of a dialogue is that the lead-response units are closely connected and dependent on each other. The lead is relatively free, while the response depends on the first and does not exist without it.

— Where is the book?

— There, on the shelf.

In teaching dialogue we should use pattern dialogues as they involve all features which characterize this form of speech.

There are three stages in learning a dialogue: (1) receptive; (2) reproductive; (3) constructive (creative).

1. Pupils " receive" the dialogue by ear first. They listen to the dialogue recorded or reproduced by the teacher. The teacher helps pupils in comprehension of the dialogue using a picture or pictures to illustrate its contents. They listen to the dialogue a second time and then read it silently for better understanding, paying attention to the intonation. They may listen to the dialogue and read it again, if necessary.

2. Pupils enact the pattern dialogue. We may distinguish three kinds of reproduction:

Immediate. Pupils reproduce the dialogue in imitation of the speaker or the teacher while listening to it or just after they have heard it. The teacher checks the pupils' pronunciation and intonation in particular. The pupils are asked to learn the dialogue by heart for homework.

Delayed. After pupils have learned the dialogue at home, they enact the pattern dialogue in persons. Before calling on pupils it is recommended that they should listen to the pattern dialogue recorded again to remind them of how it " sounds".

Modified. Pupils enact the dialogue with some modifications in its contents. They change some elements in it. The more elements (main words and phrases) they change in the pattern the better they assimilate the structure of the dialogue:

— Will you help me, sonny?

— What shall I do, Mother?

— Will you bring me a pail of water?

— Certainly I will.

The use of pictures may be helpful. Besides pupils use their own experience while selecting the words for substitutions.

The work should not be done mechanically. Pupils should speak on the situation. As a result of this work pupils master the structure of the pattern dialogue (not only the contents), i. e., they can use it as a model for making up dialogues of their own, that is why pattern dialogues should be carefully selected.

The first two stages aim at storing up patterns in pupils' memory for expressing themselves in different situations, of course within the topics and linguistic material the syllabus sets for each form.

3. Pupils make up dialogues of their own. They are given a picture or a verbal situation to talk about. This is possible provided pupils have a stock of patterns, a certain number of phrases for starting a conversation, joining in, etc. They should use those lead-response units they have learned in connection with the situation suggested for a conversation.

At the third stage the choice of stimuli is of great importance, as very often pupils cannot think what to say, though they know how to say this or that. Therefore audio-visual aids should be extensively utilized.

Rule for the teacher: In teaching dialogue use pattern dialogues; make sure that your pupils go through the three stages from receptive through reproductive to creative, supply them with the subject to talk about.

In teaching speaking the problem is what form of speech to begin with, and what should be the relationship between monologue and dialogue. This problem may be solved in different ways. Some methodologists give preference to dialogic speech in teaching beginners, and they suggest that pupils learn first how to ask and answer questions which is mostly characteristic of a dialogue, and how to make up a short dialogue following a model. Others prefer monologic speech as a starting point. Pupils are taught how to make statements, how to combine several sentences into one utterance in connection with an object or a situation offered.[7]

These approaches to the problem are reflected in school textbooks now in use. A. D.Starkov and R. R. Dixon in their textbooks prefer to begin with dialogic speech. They start by teaching pupils how to ask various types of questions. For example:

The book is on the desk.

The book isn't under the desk.

Is the book on the desk? Yes, it is. (No, it isn't.)

Is the book on the desk or under it? It's on the desk.

Where’s the book? It’s on the desk. (Fifth Form English. Teacher's Book.)

S. K. Folomkina and E. I. Kaar give preference to developing pupils' monologic speech. For example:

I see a pen.

I see a desk.

Pete sees a desk and a pen.

As to the relationship between monologue and dialogue, it should vary from stage to stage in teaching speaking in schools. In the junior stage (5—6 forms) dialogic speech, the time which allows the teacher to introduce new material and consolidate it in conversation, must prevail. In the intermediate stage (7—8 forms) dialogue and monologue must be on an equal footing.

In the senior stage (9—10 forms) monologic speech must prevail since pupils take part in discussion and, therefore, express their thoughts in connection with a problem or retell a text read or heard. To sum it up both forms of speech (monologue and dialogue) should be developed side by side with preference for the one which is more important for pupils' progress in learning a foreign language at a certain stage.

Conclusion

 

Having made our work we come to conclusion, that auding or listening and comprehension are difficult for learners because they should discriminate speech sounds quickly, retain them while hearing a word, a phrase, or a sentence and recognize this as a sense unit. Pupils can easily and naturally do this in their own language and they cannot do this in a foreign language when they start learning the language. Pupils are very slow in grasping what they hear because they are conscious of the linguistic forms they perceive by the ear. This results in misunderstanding or a complete failure of understanding.

When auding a foreign language pupils should be very attentive and think hard. They should strain their memory and will power to keep the sequence of sounds they hear and to decode it. Not all the pupils can cope with the difficulties entailed. The teacher should help them by making this work easier and more interesting.

Speech is a process of communication by means of language. Oral exercises are quite indispensable to developing speech. However, they only prepare pupils for speaking and cannot be considered to be “speech” as some teachers are apt to think and who are often satisfied with oral exercises which pupils perform following the model; they seldom use stimuli for developing pupils' auding and speaking in the target language.

In conclusion it should be said that prepared and unprepared speech must be developed simultaneously from the very beginning. The relationship between prepared and unprepared speech should very depending on the stage of learning the language. In the junior stage prepared speech takes the lead, while in the senior stage unprepared speech should prevail.

List of literature

1. Anitchkov I., SaakyantsV. Methods of teaching English. Moscow, 1966.- 248p.

2. Harner Jeremy. The practice of English language teaching. L. - New York,
1991.-296p.

3. Potter Mike. International issues. Teacher's book. L., 1991.- 125p.

4. Rogova G. Methods of teaching English. Leningrad, 1975.- 312p.

5. Бугаев Н.И. Обучение – это общение.// Народное образование Якутии- 1992 №2 с.37-49

6. Загвязинский В.И. Методология и методика дидактических исследований.- М: Педагогика, 1982

7. Зимняя И. А. Психологическая характеристика слушания и говорения как видов речевой деятельности. – «Иностранные языки в школе», 1973

8. Маслыко Е. А. Настольная книга преподавателя иностранного языка: Справочное пособие.- Мн.: Высшая школа, 1999.

 

List of Vocabulary

1. arpeggios- последовательное исполнение звуков аккорда

2. arranging- приводить в порядок; расставлять

3. aud- аудировать

4. audience- публика; зрители

5. audio-visual aids- аудиовизуальные средства обучения

6. close-to-real situations- близкие к реальности ситуации

7. complete failure- полный провал

8. conversational tags- обрывки речи

9. Delayed- отложенный, отсроченный

10. drilling pronunciation- отработанное произношение

11. postpositions- помещение, расположение позади

12. Ensure conditions- гарантированные условия

13. eye-learners- ученики с визуальной памятью

14. exactness- точность; аккуратность, пунктуальность

15. feed back- заднее содержание

16. flexible- гибкий; гнущийся; мягкий, эластичный

17. fluency- плавность; беглость

18. Free speech- свободная речь

19. grammar exercises – упражнения на грамматику

20. Immediate- прямой, непосредственный

21. interpreter- переводчик

22. interlocutor- собеседник

23. lead-response units-приемистая единица

24. Linguistic peculiarities- лингвистическая особенность

25. logical sequence- логическая последовательность

26. manifold repetitions- многократные репетиции

27. mechanical drill exercises- механически отработанные упражнения

28. methodologists- методисты

 

29. misuse a preposition- неправильно использованный предлог

30. Modified- усовершенствованный

31. native speakers- носитель языка

32. plenty of preliminary exercises- достаток подготовки

33. preference- предпочтение; преимущество

34. prevail- восторжествовать, одержать победу; достичь цели

35. pupils' errors- заблуждения ученика

36. pupils' skills- навык ученика

37. rearranging- перестройка; реконфигурация

38. reception- приём, получение, принятие

39. reproduction- воспроизведение, размножение; репродуцирование

40. senior stage- старшие классы

41. stock of patterns- запас образцов

42. syllabus- программа (курса, лекций и т. д.)

43. target language- цель языка

44. time-consuming- отнимающий много времени, связанный с тратой времени; трудоёмкий (о работе, занятии и т. п.)

45. teacher's disposal- расположение учителя

46. teacher's supervision- надзор учителя

47. to " accumulate" - аккумулировать, накапливать;

48. undue talkativeness- чрезмерная болтливость

49. utterance- выражение в словах, произнесение

50. Visual " props" - зрительная опора

 

⇐ Предыдущая1234

Поделиться: