Second edition

Read these tips and tick the о nes which a re most importa n l for yon.
• Speaking involves a range of different subskills. Learners can benefit from practice in each of these to develop their speaking. We can help our learners get this practice by focusing regularly on particular aspects of speaking, e.g. fluency, pronunciation, register, grammatical accuracy, body language, interactive strategies, interactive speaking (e.g. conversations, discussions), speaking at length (e.g. presentations, giving points of view, etc.).
ф In many classrooms, controlled practice activities (activities in which the learners are required to repeatedly use the language that they have just been taught) make up a large part of speaking practice. These activities include drills, repetition and saying things learnt by heart (things that are memorised). They focus on accuracy in speaking by helping students to use grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation


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correctly. They can motivate learners by giving them confidence that what they ■■■■■are- saying is right; Controlled practice■■'activities'■provide'' useful, if limited, preparation for speaking, as they do not give practice in fluency, interaction or successfully communicating a message.
© Fluency activities allow learners to choose the language they use to speak. They include tasks such as information-gap activities, problem solving, project work, discussions, explaining solutions. All these tasks involve learners in communicating new information with one another. As they speak, learners need to try to get their message across to one another. These activities give learners the opportunity to practise communication, interaction and fluency.
ф Pair and group work increase the opportunity for communication in the classroom as more people speak than if just one learner is speaking to the teacher while the rest of the class listens. In bigger classes, and in. classes that are not used to working in pairs and groups, the teacher may need to introduce these activities carefully to make sure learners see the point of them and make good use of them.
© In controlled practice activities, the teacher usually corrects learners' accuracy, as accuracy is the purpose of these activities. In fluency activities it is advisable not to correct learners immediately. In this way learners are given the opportunity to focus on communicating their message. The teacher can note down mistakes and work on them with the class after the activity.
• Because speaking is such a complex skill, learners in the classroom may need a lot of help in preparing for speaking, e.g. practice of necessary vocabulary, time to organise their ideas and what they want to say, practice in pronouncing new words and expressions, practice in carrying out a task, before they speak freely. Or teachers may prefer to ask learners to carry out tasks and then focus on language problems afterwards. Some experts believe that focusing on language after rather than before a task makes learners more interested in learning about the language, as it helps them see the purpose of focusing on the language.
© Learners, especially beginners and children, may need time to take in and process ail the new language they hear before they produce it in speaking. In some classrooms, especially primary ones, learners are allowed a silent period at the beginning of a course, so that they have time to listen to and process the language first.
ф The activities in a speaking lesson often follow this pattern:

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