Mastering the Art of Teaching Speaking Skills

• Speaking is the act of making vocal sounds and conveying information.
• Lack of opportunity to speak in the language classroom can lead to demotivation and loss of interest in learning.
• Six categories of classroom speaking performance include imitative, intensive, responsive, transactional, interpersonal, and extensive.
• Principles for teaching speaking skills include focusing on both fluency and accuracy, providing intrinsically motivating techniques, encouraging the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts, providing appropriate feedback and correction, capitalizing on the natural link between speaking and listening, giving students opportunities to initiate oral communication, and encouraging the development of speaking strategies.
• Speaking is an interactive process that involves producing and receiving information.
• The form and meaning of speaking are dependent on the context in which it occurs.
• Speaking lessons can follow a pattern of preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension.
• Accuracy and fluency are both important in teaching speaking skills.
• Authentic language and meaningful contexts should be used to encourage speaking.
• Students should be given opportunities to initiate oral communication and develop their own speaking strategies.
• Language focus activities should be brief.
• Keep them simple and focused on one point at a time.
• Limit language focus activities to phonological, morphological, or syntactic points.
• Ensure that language focus activities ultimately lead to communicative goals.
• References include H. Douglas Brown (2007), Burns & Joyce (1997), and Carter & McCarthy (1995).
• The text provides a general outline of a speaking lesson.
• Language focus activities should only take a few minutes of class time.
• The activities should be designed to support communicative goals.
• Phonological, morphological, and syntactic points should be the focus of language activities.
• The goal of language focus activities is to support communicative competence.

Test your knowledge on teaching speaking skills with this quiz! From the principles of teaching speaking to the different categories of classroom speaking performance, this quiz covers it all. See how well you understand the importance of accuracy and fluency in teaching speaking skills, the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts, and the role of language focus activities in supporting communicative goals. With references to renowned authors in the field, this quiz will challenge your understanding of teaching speaking skills and help you improve your language teaching techniques.