Speaking as a Language Skill The Way to Increase Speaking Skill Ability

3. SPEAKING AS A LANGUAGE SKILLS

3.1 Speaking as a Language Skill

Speaking is language skills which use to communicate indirectly, by face to face with others. Pinker’s the Language Instinct 1994: 15 in Brown, 2000: 5 a sophisticated statement such as: Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed with out awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual and its distinct from more general abilities to process information or behave intelligently. Using language effectively is a key to successful communication. Like your delivery style, your language should be natural and concise. Language is the primary vehicle to achieve that goal. Frederick Beuchner in Byrns 1997: 220 describes the importance of language this way: Words have color, depth, texture of their own, and power to evoke vastly more than they mean; words can be used to make things clear, make things vivid, make things interesting, and make things happen inside the one who reads them or hears them. Byrns 1997: 220 states that “Your language is your signature and reveals much about your character, values, attitudes, knowledge, and motivation. Language is the primary channel for communicating ideas. Your language tells who you are”. A person who uses language poorly may be revealing a lack of Universitas Sumatera Utara education. Use language that is natural to you. Using language effectively means using words that convey your meaning.

3.2 The Way to Increase Speaking Skill Ability

The beginning speaker is concerned with what she or he is going to say. There are many questions to ask yourself: What is my passion? How do we learn to do this? How do we take baby steps to truly train our ears to hear, to really hear? Good in speaking is not born with the ability to speak effectively; develop the ability to speak well as the result of commitment and hard work. The key to success in speaking is practice. The more you prepare, the more proficient, relaxed and confident you will become. One of the best ways to show that you understand something is to be able to explain it in your own words. When you translate the ideas of another into your own vocabulary, it will be easier to understand and remember. If you are not sure ATTITUDES EDUCATION MOTIVATION BACKGROUND WORDS VALUES KNOWLEDGE Universitas Sumatera Utara about how word is spelled, write it phonetically. You can check the spelling later when you expand your notes. Koch 2004: 166 explains that “unless the listener understands the message, communication does not take place. If you want to be understood, articulate your words carefully and pronounce them correctly. Speak with adequate volume and emphasize important points so that the other members of the group know exactly where you stand”. People tend to adequate the ability to speak well with the ability to think well. Remember, every time you speak you are communicating something about who you are to others. If you want to learn how to become a speaker, you would do well to learn from the best. After you learn from the best, do not stop educating yourself. The best speaker is who continue to improve their craft. You have to do the same thing. To speak well is to communicate well. Speaking comes naturally to human beings. Most children when they reach the age where they can talk, will start to progress from their babbling to childish bantering to speaking and then to talking, talking and talking non-stop. The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively bur say nothing anonymous. Many of people have some difficulty knowing what to say when we meet new people or talk with people we do not know well. Fortunately, there are specific strategies that we can use when we want to start, continue, or end. Fragiadakis 2000: 43-53 describes the specific strategies:  Analyze your participation in a group discussion. By doing this regularly, Universitas Sumatera Utara You will insight into how you communicate in a group and, as a result, make more conscious efforts to improve your interactive communication skills. Analyze whether in a discussion you:  Made an effort to check that others understood what you said  Gave explanations, definitions, and examples when necessary  Asked for clarification when you did not understand  Paraphrased what others said to find out if you understood correctly encouraged others to speak  Analyze your strengths and weaknesses as a language learner to help you focus on how to improve your language learning. It is not enough to realize that you got an answer right or wrong. Try to understand why you were able to do well or why you did not succeed  Develop an organized, systematic approach to learning vocabulary. Glossaries and vocabulary lists by themselves are not adequate study aids for acquiring new vocabulary. One method is to create vocabulary study cards that allow you to categorize, label, personalize, and apply new words. Whether speaking in formal or formal situations, we often make a point or explain something by telling a story about something that happened to us or to someone we know, or by using an example from something we have read.  Use your background knowledge to guess the meanings as unfamiliar phrases. Think about the meanings of the individual words in a phrase, and also consider the context in which a phrase is used. Universitas Sumatera Utara  Ask native English speakers to explain idioms and other expressions that you do not understand. This will not help you learn the expressions, but it will also give you more opportunities to speak English with native speaking. If you do not understand an explanation, ask for a sample sentence with the expression. You might also ask about what age group commonly uses the expression and how to pronounce certain words.  Choose a user-friendly English – English dictionary, and then be an active user of it. Some dictionaries are easier to use than others, so find one that works to you. If you have an English – English dictionary that you find easy to easy, you will be more likely to consult it often.  Record yourself speaking as a way to get self – feedback on content and delivery of your presentations. This will help you focus on areas you need to improve.  Keep track of when, where, and how much you use English by using an English Use Record. This will help you find ways to maximize your opportunities to use the language skills that you want to improve most.  Become a more active and supportive member of your discussion group. Try to find a balance in the way you participate in a discussion rather than being to quite too dominant.  Imitate clear native – speaker models to practice and improve your pronunciation. You might want to choose one character from a television program that you would like to imitate. Universitas Sumatera Utara  Develop the ability to monitor your pronunciation as you speak. This will help you to speak English more clearly. To do this you will need to speak slowly and carefully, and self – correct when possible. The more you do this, the more you will “self – monitor” eventually improve your pronunciation. Speaking is not talking down to people. Speaking is not a one-way street. To be able to touch another person’s heart, mind and soul, we need to pause after we speak to allow the other person to speak. But speaking is only one part of the human equation. The other part is listening. To speak well and connect to the other party is also to listen well. Be attractive and accessible to all. Speaking is not lecturing. Universitas Sumatera Utara

4. KINDS OF SPEAKING