Republic of uzbekistan fergana state university

The aim of the work: Speaking defined as a skill The tendency to define speaking as a skill surges from dividing the language into the elements that conform the usual contents of language teaching (Cameron, 2001). This tendency has made common to consider language as a linguistic system or a group of skills. Most of teachers can accept this division maybe influenced by the National Standards of Competences that separately include competences in each skill taken for grant that teachers are free to integrate them in effective ways. Nonetheless, Cameron (2001) affirms that this division of language into the 4 skills is not logical nor appropriate because teachers commonly add grammar, vocabulary and phonology to the 4 skills, although some syllabuses have turned into elements such as topics, functions and notions to describe how language is used in communication rather than merely regarding it as a set of skills. Based on this perception of language this author explains that:

For young learners, spoken language is the medium through which the new language is encountered, understood, practiced and learnt. Rather than oral skills being simply one aspect of learning language, the spoken form in the young learner`s classroom acts as the prime source and site of language learning [...] New language is orally introduced, orally and aurally understood, and finally orally practiced and automatized (Cameron, 2001, p18).

It is clear in this point how the simplistic definition of speaking as a skill can be complemented with a wider vision of it as a discursive skill to interact in the foreign language. The focus on form or linguistic approaches to teach speaking can be communicatively enriched with an opened door to situations where meaning is negotiated and interaction are primarily influenced by contextual aspects.