A study on developing speaking skill

Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing specific language Items recently Introduced, sometimes In combination with previously learned Items. In communicative output, the learners' main purpose is to complete a task, such as obtaining information, developing a travel plan, or creating a video. In a balanced activities approach, the teacher uses a variety of activities from these different categories of input and output. Learners at all proficiency levels, including beginners, benefit from this variety; It Is more motivating, and it is also more likely to result In effective language learning.Children who have difficulties In communicating with others can find school, and the world at large, very frustrating and frightening. Roughly a ratter of a million children have a speech and language impairment.

Pupils in this category may have difficulties in the following areas: The production of speech - some children understand what is said to them, but are unable to use words to make themselves understood. They may have difficulty In making the words and Joining them together, in the right order (sequencing) to make complex sentences. This may indicate a problem with short-term memory.Understanding and responding to the verbal communication of others.

Being able to put thoughts and ideas into words. Schools often give extra support to children with communication difficulties, spending time on a regular basis to provide opportunities for practicing speaking . Activities can include: Chanting nursery rhymes and (action) songs: for older children, use age-appropriate limericks and funny rhymes, play reading and short poems. Structured talk using sentence completion: 'My name ' I like to..

. ', 'My favorite xx is . ', 'I'm good at..

. ', 'l can see...

Passing a feely bag: children describe what they can feel inside the bag and others have to guess what it is; or two pupils sit back to sack and one describes a picture which the other has to draw. Games: such as 'l went to the shop and I bought... ' Re-telling a story: using puppets can be a good idea and sequence cards can help children to sort out an appropriate order of events. Discussion: use a story to prompt discussion of issues such as bullying, encouraging pupils to share their experiences, offer each other support and develop problem solving strategies.

Each course in English, whether it is general English or Academic English, propagates the urgency and the dedication to improving the communicative impotence of the students. However, it is a proven fact that what is being advocated in the name of communicative competence is simply the teaching and to some extent the learning of writing in English. Reading and listening also find a place, though negligible, in the language classroom. But, Speaking as a skill is never presented, practiced or produced in the language classroom.Joanna Baker and Heather Western in their Work Essential Speaking Skills: A Handbook for English Language Teachers have rightly pointed out that "Many teachers worldwide have to mainly each grammar and vocabulary because these areas are tested in the examinations.

This means that speaking is a neglected language skill in classrooms. Students may have a good knowledge of grammar and a wide vocabulary, they can use this knowledge to pass exam. But they find it more difficult to speak English outside classroom. The research of Matt Main and Nit Pillar reports the pedagogical base, methods, tools and results of teaching speaking to a sample of 20 students who are doing their Bachelor of Commerce, from Gujarat University. Grammatical rules and regulations, not only an over emphasis on the form but a ore organic manner of using these grammatical structures to use language in real life situations (Richards 1985, Homes 1971).

Numerous attempts have been made to categorize the functions of speaking in human interaction.Brown and Yule (1983) made and interesting distinction by classifying speech in following three categories: Talk as Interaction Talk as Transaction Talk as Performance Talk as Interaction has a social purpose. It focuses more on speakers than the message (Egg: Small talk, choosing topic, reacting to others, recounting personal experience etc). Talk as transaction focuses more on the message and involves two types of talk: One where focus is on exchange of information, what is said and achieved.Second where the focus is on obtaining goods/services. Some of the examples of talk as transaction are classroom discussions, group discussions, making a telephone call, obtaining flight information, asking someone for directions on the street, ordering food at a restaurant.

Talk as Performance focuses more on form and accuracy of message and the Audience. Talk as performance is Judged on the basis of he effect/impact on listeners. It is more of a monologue. It is predictable and closer to written language.

E. G. : Welcome speech, giving a lecture, a report etc. Out of the three types of speaking mentioned above, it has to be noticed that the interaction and performance can only be suitable if the learners have had some prior training in the use of language.

At entry level students will not be able to display or use talk in the form of a performance or as interaction for social purpose because it requires sustained production of grammatically correct sentences with highly intellectualized vocabulary.Hence for beginners of language use, it would be advisable to take talk as transaction where a particular need, arising from a particular context, is being fulfilled with the aid of talk. Oral production or speaking can also be categorized as Intensive (Brown, 2004). 'Intensive speaking is the production of short stretches of oral language designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical or phonological relations. ' (Brown, 2004). The emphasis, in this type of speaking, is in the production of smaller sentences with emitted vocabulary so as to communicate effectively with the other.

Thus, speaking, can be defined as a transactional skill which employs short and limited language functions, related to a particular situation, with an aim to successfully exchange information to achieve a desired result. As per their study many of the participants failed to complete the task and were not able to display skilled use of vocabulary. The researchers taught the use of specific others. After the classroom activities, where multiple rounds of intensive speaking skill were restricted by the students with the help of the researchers another test was conducted of the same manner.However, this time the students performed better than before. Each member of the team, who was nominated, was able to convey the directions effectively using short and simple sentences.

The researchers also found that the students were far more involved during the tests, because they were able to see the real time significance of the conducted activity. Works Cited Baker, J. , & Western, H. (2003). Essential Speaking Skills: A Handbook for English Language Teachers. New York: Continuum.

Brown, D. (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices.