“Debating and discussing as methods of enhancing pupils’ speaking skills”

Насимуллина Жаныл Кайсагалиевна

учитель английского языка

ОСШ имени Маншук Маметовой

п.Сайхин, Бокейординский район ЗКО

“Debating and discussing as methods of enhancing pupils’ speaking skills”

Introduction

For centuries the ability to speak foreign language has constructed the very essence of a person’s intelligence and intellectuality. The goal of today’s education system is to educate highly intelligent as well as intellectually- minded specialists empowered by highly competitive knowledge and effective practical skills. In linguistic sense, students must acquire excellent communication skills in order to be able to integrate into the globalizing market with no or few language constrains.

English language today in addition to being an effective means of international communication is becoming a learning tool. The importance of the English language is naturally very great. English is the language not only of England but of the extensive colonies associated in the British Empire, and it is the language of the United States. Spoken by nearly 200 million people, it is in the number who speak it the largest of the occidental languages. English-speaking people constitute about one-tenth of the world’s population.

That’s why President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called Kazakhstan citizens to learn three languages - Kazakh, Russian and English."Knowledge of three languages should become a standard practice for us. We are teaching (these languages to) our children starting from their first year at school," he said. He said that there were 3500 foreign companies in Kazakhstan and the local citizens needed English to communicate with them and use the equipment they bring into the country.

Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication. For schools the question of how to increase communicative competence was and tends to be the most crucial one.

The modern world of media, mass communication, and Internet demands good knowledge of English, especially of spoken English. Nevertheless, most pupils are not able to communicate in English fluently for many reasons. The present study is devoted to the research of the issue of speaking skills of today's pupils and to the existing methods of enhancing speaking skills of elementary pupils.

The aim of this article is to define the strengths and weaknesses of speaking skills of today's pupils and to demonstrate the possibilities of enhancement of the speaking skills of students learning English.

2. Literature review

Existing literature deals with three main topics: speaking skills of today's pupils, existing methods of enhancing speaking skills of pupils, and ways to overcome the language barrier.

2.1. Speaking skills of today's pupils

Speaking is considered to be one of the four macro skills necessary for effective communication in any language according to most research, particularly when speakers are not using their mother tongue. As English is universally used as a means of communication, especially on the Internet, English speaking skills should be developed along with the other skills so that these integrated skills will enhance communication competence.

In Kazakhstan, like in many other countries, the problem of speaking skills is crucial. A number of researchers investigated this field and came to the conclusion about pupils ' low level of speaking ability and their inability to speak confidently and fluently.

Recently, MacIntyre (2007) drew attention to the learner's decision to voluntarily speak the language when the opportunity arises, even as basic language skills are being acquired. Nevertheless, despite the emphasis on communication in modern language pedagogy and the well-accepted view that learners require practice in speaking in order to learn ( MacIntyre, 2003), some language learners habitually choose to remain silent.

In general, the problems of pupils related to learning to speak can be divided into four main groups:

1. Students feel shy speaking English because they are afraid of making mistakes. It is usually seen at the initial level as they are afraid of being criticized by teachers and other students.

2. Working in pairs (or groups), students often begin to use their native language.

3. Students don’t have enough information on the topics discussed even in their native language.

4. Students feel a lack of linguistic and verbal resources for solving the given task. In that case the teacher should create a friendly atmosphere of collaboration so that students will not be afraid of admitting their mistakes and will accept criticism.

Analyzing the topic of speaking skills, it becomes clear that speaking skills of most pupils are insufficiently developed. It is a real problem in school and it should be solved by the use of different methods of enhancing speaking skills.

2.2. Existing methods of enhancing speaking skills of students

Every teacher chooses a definite set of methods of enhancing students' speaking skills. Nowadays it is possible to use traditional and modern technologies either separately or in integration. Internet communication tools have begun to be used in education, especially in English language teaching. New technologies are supplementing traditional English teaching methods.

English has become easier to learn than ever before with the availability of many sources to help people learn in an effortless and enjoyable way. Web-based learning is one of the fastest growing areas in education. It is widely accepted that advances in information technology and new developments in pedagogy provide opportunities to create well-designed, learner-centered, interactive, affordable, efficient, and flexible e-learning environments (Khan, 2005). For this reason, it could be suggested that internet-surfing is an alternative way to study English. Web-based technologies and useful Internet sites provide various new possibilities and latest trends for teachers and learners. Today it has become possible to enhance speaking skills with the help of tools such as Skype, e-mail, blogs, chats, and mobile devices.

To build effective communication skills students must learn to:

1. communicate using digital media and environments to support personal and group learning.

2. share information efficiently and effectively using appropriate digital media and environments.

3. communicate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively to different audiences using various media and formats.

Everything depends on our ability to be creative and to use modern teaching methods. The following is a suggested list of such activities:

- Reading aloud

- Discussion of topic assigned by teacher

- Debates

- Group presentations on a completed project

- Picture description

- Storytelling

- Role play

We can choose any methods because all of them help to develop speaking skills. It is possible to use them in integration or separately to get positive results.

One of the methods that best meet the learner’s needs and demands is a debating technology.

It is an innovated learning style and method of teaching that best meet the learners needs and demands. The approach is relatively new in the sense that it became more or less widespread in Kazakhstan in the beginning of the 21^st century.

As the learning style this method can be attributed to “task –based learning and teaching”(Edwards.C and J.willis, 2005), in which the we of independent communication tasks is the central focus for language learning and teaching. In debating method the focus is on learning through doing: learning struggle to comprehend and obtain knowledge through an addition independent study of a given topic.

Language learning with debate as a final stage of topic study makes complex reading, listening, writing and speaking tasks. The debating method encourages learners for a more conscious, independent language study and increases their overall language competence. This method also allows teachers to check pupils’ progress and measure the ultimate result of his\ her work.

The issue of discussion is always has been taking certain place in the society, in history, in literature, and, certainly, in pedagogics.

In pedagogics the discussing method was used by pedagogues in different times:

1. The method of Socrates or the method of leading question- maiyevtika.

2. Pedagogic of freedom of L.N.Tolstoi, which he implemented in Yasnopolynskaya School of Peasant children.

3. Pedagogic of V.F.Shatalov. his famous lessons of Open Thought.

4. Sh.A.Amanashvili, a prime school pedagogue, used elements of discussion in his practice.

We can give many examples. When we can use the method of discussion? DM we used when it is required to find and actualize the significant problem in the consciousness of the pupils. It may be spontaneous or specially organized.

The preporation of discussion requires time, reviewing of lot of literature such as educational, encyclopedic periodical press and all this leads to development of cognitive interest of pupils. At our lesson we introduce the elements of discussion that start from: I think so…., in my opinion…, I would like to say…

It is evident that foreign Russian and Kazakh authors have many common views on the problem of enhancing speaking skills of modern students. In general, to improve the speaking ability of students, the following steps should be taken:

1. place more emphasis on the quality of study books,

2. give enough time to speaking and phonetic drill of students,

3. no scolding but rather providing a friendly environment,

4. use practical and applicable strategies by teachers for students while speaking in English most of the time,

5. develop boldness and confidence in students to ask questions of their teachers,

6. awards and motivation for students,

7. arrange various activities and balance in the courses with respect to literature and language.

If teachers take these rules into consideration and try to use them in their work, they will be able to build communicative competence of speakers and improve their speaking ability.

Analyzing all the existing methods of enhancing speaking skills of today's pupils it became clear that those methods are not as difficult as they seem to be and every teacher can choose those that she considers more appropriate for her students according to their level of knowledge of English. 2.3. Ways of overcoming the language barrier

During our research we found out that the main reason for poor speaking skills of pupils was their reluctance to communicate for many reasons, including psychological discomfort and fear of making mistakes.

Some teachers allege that the language barrier does not exist, or that it was created by people. That’s why any person who begins to learn a foreign language should not think about any possible mistakes and misunderstandings. Everything depends on the ability to concentrate on the material and being a good listener. So, at the initial level one should listen and repeat as much as it’s possible. The best way to express one's thoughts is by simple words and phrases. One can train the ability to understand the gist of speech using key words. More than that, it’s more important to discuss interesting topics. And, of course, the conditions of communication should be comfortable.

Sometimes, to overcome the language barrier, it is necessary to use fairy-tales, poems, jokes, or to become a part of a situation where one should speak only the foreign language.

3. Conclusion

We discussed the issues of communicative competence, methods of enhancing oral communication, motivation and ways of overcoming the language barrier.

So, the aim of this article: “Debating and discussing as methods of enhancing pupils’ speaking skills” was achieved as we proved that the integrated use of modern techniques may lead to the improvement of communicative competence. Learning English by using new methods in education makes students willing to learn the language, develop their ability to speak fluently, and help them overcome the language barrier.

The findings from this study also show that the main reason of poor speaking skills of pupils is their unwillingness to communicate due to many factors. We can conclude the main suggestion is to overcome the language barrier. Only then will it be possible for the pupil to be a fluent speaker and not to be afraid of communicating in any situation.

References

1. “Methods of Enhancing Speaking Skills of Elementary Level Students” by Yulia Morozova \Institute of Fundamental Education, Ural Federal University B.N. Yeltsin 
Yekaterinburg,Russia\

2. “Alternative Pedagogic Technologies” by G.K.selevko. Moscow, Research Institute of School Technoligies,2005.
3. “Educational discussion is a way to stimulate the cognitive interest” by A.A.Vasilieva \ELKO Educational Center\-2006

4. “Debating method as a means of building up language skills” by S.A.Yeshengalieva \Kazakh- British Technical University, Almaty 2012\