The development of oral dialogical speech skill

Управление образования города Астаны

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По теме:The Development of Oral Dialogical Speech Skill.

Августовская конференция

Подготовил: Бекпау А.К.

г. Astana 2013

The Development of Oral Dialogical Speech Skill.

Introduction

Chapter I. Theoretical foundations of teaching speaking pupils of junior form

1.1 The most common difficulties in auding and speaking

1.2 Сommunicative skill

1.3 Linguistic characteristics of speech

1.4 Prepared and unprepared speech

1.5. Mistakes and how to correct them

Chapter II. Speaking in teaching practice

2.1 Dialogical speech and oral exercises

2.2 Techniques the teacher uses to develop hearing .

2.3 Techniques the teacher uses for teaching speaking

Conclusion

List of literature

Introduction

Our work is devoted to the method of teaching the speech. But for the beginning let’s examine what is speech.

Language came into life as a means of communication. It exists and is alive only through speech. When we speak about teaching a foreign language, we first of all have in mind teaching it as a means of communication.

Speaking exists in two forms: dialogue and monologue.

The aim of our work is:

to observe the speech as a bilateral process;

to give the basic notions of the speech;

to make an examples of exercises in of speaking and hearing.

The paper consists of introduction and two chapters followed by conclusion. The first chapter is about the most common difficulties in auding and speaking a foreign language. Also it consists of psychological and linguistic characteristics of the speech. Further we find differences between prepared and unprepared speech and in this chapter we learn to find mistakes of pupils and how to correct them. In the second chapter are given the exercises, which help the teachers to obtain results in teaching speech.

Chapter I. Theoretical foundations of teaching speaking pupils of junior form

1.1 The most common difficulties in auding and speaking

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.

The content of the material also influences comprehension. The following factors should be taken into consideration when selecting the material for auding:

The topic of communication: whether it is within the ability of the pupils to understand, and what difficulties pupils will come across (proper names, geographical names, terminology, etc).

The form of communication: whether the text is a dialogue or a monologue. Monologic speech is easier for the learners, therefore, it is preferable for developing pupils' ability to aud.

The presence or the absence of the speaker. The most favorable condition is when pupils can see the speaker as is the case when the teacher speaks to them in a foreign language. The most unfavorable condition for auding is listening and comprehending a dialogue, when pupils cannot see the speakers and do not take part in the conversation.

The voice of the speaker also influences pupils' comprehension. Pupils who get used to the teacher's voice can easily understand him, but they cannot understand other people speaking the same language.

Consequently, in teaching listening comprehension the teacher should bear in mind all the difficulties pupils encounter when auding in a foreign language.

1.2 Сommunicative skill

Oral speech in the classroom should be always stimulated and encouraged. Sometimes during our lessons we try to develop communicative skills through the exercises directed to memorizing and grinding the words, paradigms and grammar rules but we also should pay attention to training the components of communication, not only by translating some speech patterns from one language to another. For developing spontaneous communicative skill students need a series of synthetic exercises which can reproduce communicative model in the required situation or context.

Communication activities give students practice in using the language under controlled conditions. These activities develop fluency. To help students to speak on different topics, teachers may give them topical patterns if it is necessary, so all the students can be involved into conversation, especially in mixed ability groups. Then they can transfer the patterns on their topics.

To teach dialogical speech is difficult as a dialogue needs alternate use of students’ abilities to understand the speaker and then to express their own thoughts and ideas.

Dialogue plays a central role because it is a medium through which participants are able to share their conceptions, verify or test their understanding, and identify areas of common knowledge or of difference.

A skillful teacher has a repertoire of dialogical strategies from which to draw, and is creative and flexible in shifting from approach to approach with different students, different circumstances, and different subject matters. Dialogical speech as one of the forms of speech communication is the important point while teaching English at school.

1.3 Linguistic characteristics of speech

Oral language as compared to written language is more flexible. It is relatively free and is characterized by some peculiarities in vocabulary and grammar. Taking into consideration, however, the] conditions in which the foreign language is taught in schools, we cannot teach pupils colloquial English. We teach them Standard English as spoken on the radio, TV, etc. There is a great variety of dialogue structures. Here are the principal :

1. Question — response.

— Hello. What's your name?

— Ann. What's yours?

— My name is Williams

2. Statement — statement.

— I'd like to know when he is going to come and see us.

That's difficult to say. He is always promising but never comes.

It's because he is very busy.

That's right. He works hard.

In school teaching only one structure of dialogue is usually used, i.e., question — response. More than that, pupils' dialogues are artificial and they lack, as a rule, all the peculiarities mentioned above.

In teaching dialogue in schools it is necessary to take into account these peculiarities and give pupils pattern dialogues to show what real dialogues look like.

1.4 Prepared and unprepared speech

Pupils' speech in both forms may be of two kinds: prepared and unprepared. It is considered prepared when the pupil has been given time enough to think over its content and form. He can speak on the subject following the plan made either independently at home or in class under the teacher's supervision. His speech will be more or less correct and sufficiently fluent since plenty of preliminary exercises had been done before.

Of course pupils should memorize words, word combinations, phrases, sentence patterns, and texts to "accumulate" the material and still it is only a prerequisite. The main objective of the learner is to be able to use the linguistic material to express his thoughts. This is ensured by the pupil's ability to arrange and rearrange in his own way the material stored up in his memory. The pupil's speech is considered unprepared when, without any previous preparation, he can do the following:

— Speak on the text read. For example, pupils have read two or three chapters of "William". The teacher asks a pupil to give its short summary or to tell the class the contents of the chapters as if the other pupils have not read them.

— Speak on the text heard. For example, pupils listened to the text "Great Britain" (there is a map of Great Britain on the wall). The teacher asks them (in turn) to come up to the map and speak on Great Britain. While speaking pupils can use the information they have just received or appeal to their knowledge about the country.

— Discuss a problem or problems touched upon in the text read or heard. For example, pupils read about education in Great Britain. After the teacher makes sure that his pupils understand the text and have a certain idea of the system of education in Great Britain, he arranges a discussion on the problem. He asks his pupils to compare the system of education in Great Britain and in our country. The teacher stimulates pupils' speech either by questions or through wrong statements.

There are, of course, other techniques for stimulating pupils' unprepared speech. The teacher chooses the techniques most suitable for his pupils since he knows their aptitudes, their progress in the language, the time he has at his disposal for developing speaking skills, the concrete material at which pupils are working.

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 vary 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.

1.5 Mistakes and how to correct them

There is a great variety of techniques at the teacher's disposal. He selects the one that is most suitable for the occasion.

1. If a pupil makes a mistake in something which is familiar to him, it is preferable to correct it at once. But in order not to confuse the pupil and stop his narration the teacher helps the child with the correct version.

Pupil: My mother get up at 7 o'clock.

Teacher: I see, your mother gets up earlier than you.

Pupil: Yes, my mother gets up at 7.

2. If a pupil makes a mistake in something

which he has not learned yet the teacher corrects his mistakes after he has finished speaking.

Pupil: She first visited us in 1960.

She is a good friend of ours since.

The teacher gives the correct sentence: She has been a good friend of ours since.

If many pupils make the same mistakes, for instance, in prepositions (go in instead of go to), articles (the Moscow instead of Moscow, or Volga instead of the Volga), in tense forms (the Present Continuous instead of the Present Indefinite) the teacher makes note of them and gets the pupils to perform drill exercises after answering questions.

The teacher should not emphasize incorrect forms in any way or they will be memorized along with the correct ones, for instance: Books is. Do you say "books is"? You shouldn't say "books is". What should you say?

Chapter II. Speaking in teaching practice

2.1 Dialogical speech and oral exercises

We must distinguish speech and oral exercises for they are often mixed up by the teacher.

Speech is a process of communication by means of language. For example, (1) a pupil tells the class a story about something which once happened to him; (2) the teacher asks questions on the story read by the pupils at home and starts a discussion; (3) pupils speak on the pictures suggested by the teacher, each tries to say what others have not mentioned; (4) pupils listen to the story and get some new information from the text; (5) they see a sound film and learn about something new from it, etc.

Oral exercises are used for the pupils to assimilate phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary. They are mostly drill exercises and the teacher turns to them whenever he works at enriching pupils' knowledge in vocabulary and grammar, at improving pupils' pronunciation, etc. For example, reciting a rhyme or a poem is considered to be an excellent oral exercise for drilling pronunciation and for developing speech habits. Making up sentences following the model is an excellent oral exercise for fixing a sentence pattern and words which fit the pattern in the pupils' mind. Making statements with the words or phrases the teacher gives is another valuable oral exercise which allows the teacher to retain them in his pupils' memory through manifold repetitions.

In order to get a better understanding of what speech is we are to consider the psychological and linguistic characteristics of speech.

2.2 Techniques the teacher uses to develop hearing

To fulfil the task the teacher must train his pupils in listening comprehension beginning with the first lesson and throughout the whole period of instruction. These are the techniques the teacher uses for the purpose:

1. The teacher uses the foreign language:

(a) when giving the class instructions;

(b) when presenting new language material (words, sentence patterns);

(c) when checking pupils' comprehension;

(d) when consolidating the material presented;

(e) when checking pupils' assimilation of the language material covered.

These are the cases when the target language is used as a means of communication and a means of teaching. Conducting a lesson in a foreign language gives the teacher an opportunity to develop pupils' abilities in hearing; to train them in listening to him attentively during the lesson; to demonstrate the language as a means of communication; to provide favorable conditions for the assimilation of the language; to perfect his own speaking skills; to keep his own speech under control, i. e., to keep himself from undue talkativeness.

Skills in hearing must be built up gradually. The teacher begins with a story containing 3—4 sentences. He uses pictures, gestures to help pupils to understand it. Gradually he can take longer sections and faster speeds with less visual help and in more difficult language. The teacher must bear in mind that careful grading in all these ways is of the utmost importance. Texts, stories to be read or recorded should be interesting and fairly easy.

2.3 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.

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

Pattern practice, of course, makes no pretence of being communication. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In conclusion it should be said that prepared and unprepared oral 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

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

Harner Jeremy. The practice of English language teaching. L. - New York,

1991.-296p.

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

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

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

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

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

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