2. The Goal of Speaking
The goal of a speaking component in language class is to encourage the acquisition of communication skills and to foster real communication in and out
of the classroom. Burkhart suggests that “to help students develop communicative
efficiency in speaking, instructors can use a balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output, an
d communicative output.”
25
It follows then that the objectives for developing oral fluency will address this goal
by setting for specific content, activities, and methods which foster communication.
Moreover, the goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency. Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their
current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the
social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.
3. Activities to Promote Speaking
According to McDonough and Shaw, there are some activities which are used in the classroom to promote the development of speaking skills in the
learner, they are:
26
a. Communication game
Speaking activities based on games are often a useful way of giving students valuable practice. Game-based activities can involve practice oral
strategies such as describing, predicting, simplifying, asking for feedback, through activities such as filling in questionnaires and guessing unknown information.
b. Information gap
Many speaking skills materials start from the premise that a communicative purpose can be established in the classroom by means of the
25
Grace Stovall Burkhart, Spoken Language: What It Is and How to Teach It Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1998
http:www.nclrc.orgessentialsspeaking spindex.htm
26
McDonough and Shaw, Materials and Methods in ELT, p. 143
information gap. Information gap activities is the activity where two speakers who have different bits information share the information they had to complete the
whole picture of that particular situation.
c. Role playsimulation
One way of getting students to speak in different social contexts and assume varied social roles is to use role-play activities in the classroom. Role play
is the activity where the students play the role to stimulate a particular situation in the real world. This is one way of getting students to speak in different social
context and to assume varied social roles. In this activity, each student has a role and they have to speak and act depends on their role in particular situation.
d. Story telling
Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates. Story
telling fosters creative thinking. It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a
story has to have. Students also can tell riddles or jokes. For instance, at the very beginning of each class session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short
riddles or jokes as an opening. In this way, not only will the teacher address students‟ speaking ability, but also get the attention of the class.
e. Discussion
After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons. The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find
solutions in their discussion groups. Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher. In this way, the discussion
points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things.
27
27
Hayriye Kayi
,
Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language Nevada: University of Nevada, Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XII, No. 11, November
2006, p. 1. From: http:iteslj.orgarticlesKayi-Teaching
speaking.html.
According to Harmer, the following activities are helpful in getting students to practice „speaking-as-a-skill‟:
28
- Information gap activities
- Telling stories
- Favorite objects
- Meeting and greeting
- Survey
- Famous people
- Students presentations
- Discussion
- Competition
- Role-play
4. The Problems in Speaking Activities
According to Ur, there are some problems in speaking activities in the classroom, as follow:
a. Inhibition. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in
foreign language in the classroom: worried about making mistakes, shy and fear.
b. Nothing to say. Learners often complain that they can‟t think of anything
to say: in other word they can‟t express themselves. c.
Low or uneven participation. Learners can‟t participate well because they only get very little time to talk. It is caused by some learners to dominate,
while others speak very little or not at all. d.
Mother tongue use. When the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use it because it is easier and doesn‟t make them feel
unnatural to speak to one another.
29
28
Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English Oxford: Pearson Education Limited, 2007, p. 129
29
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, p. 56
Kategori