Learning a second language implies mastering four basic skills which can be divided in two major categories: Receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (writing and speaking). Most of our students coincide on the latter being the most difficult to develop, but why?
- It requires self-confidence
- Students accumulate a lot of `up-in-the-head´ knowledge (grammar and vocabulary learnt by heart) but then realize they cannot use it to communicate.
- Frequent pauses and inaccuracies may lead to a communication breakdown
- Mother tongue interferences may be present.
In Cambridge Institute we work to effectively make students improve their speaking skills.
How to get students speaking in class
We put an effort on building our students´ motivation. Spontaneous and voluntary participations are frequent when the speaking task centers on a relevant and interesting topic. It is paramount to keep students motivated, in other words, if they feel that they want to say something, their contributions will be likely to happen.
The importance of gaining self-confidence:
This might be one of the most difficult goals to achieve as a student as they may tend to be nervous about trying to say things; partly because they might be afraid of making a fool of themselves in front of their classmates. This confidence can be built up by setting tasks in which these students may feel safe. It means, creating activities based on topics in which they do not feel under pressure. Some of these are:
- Talking about plans (weekend, holidays…)
- Pair-working
- Choosing trending topics.
- Learning by heart useful chunks of language.
Staging a discussion
Our teachers sequence their speaking lessons respecting the following plan:
- Framing: A good introduction to the lesson will lead to an effective student´ performance
- Setting the task: clear and concise instructions are essential.
- Planning speaking: we arrange our students either in pairs or small groups.
- Doing the task: our teachers passively supervise the activity by monitoring discretely.
- Feedback: this is done by the teacher at the end of the task. It is crucial to be impersonal as pointing out students´ mistakes might discourage them.
Correction
It is difficult to know what and when to correct but, is it important to correct every mistake a student makes when speaking? The answer is no.
It is more than obvious that correction is essential to avoid errors fossilization but correcting every mistake a student makes might lead to a confidence loss. According to experts, this correction must be done afterwards to maintain the natural flow of conversation.
Criteria to assess speaking
This might be one of the most challenging tasks, however, the university of Cambridge agrees on different criteria to successfully assess speaking. These criteria may vary depending on the level but the main four pillars are:
- Grammar and vocabulary
- Discourse management
- Pronunciation
- Interactive communication
Cambridge Institute has successfully trained and taught thousands of students, join us and learn to speak English.