Activity 6 Follow-up Consider what you might do in the classroom in order to overcome each of discussion the problems described in Box 9.2. You may wish to supplement your ideas with those suggested below. What the teacher can do to help to solve some of the problems 1. Use group work This increases the sheer amount of learner talk going on in a limited period of time and also lowers the inhibitions of learners who are unwilling to speak in front of the full class. It is true that group work means the teacher cannot supervise all learner speech, so that not all utterances will be correct, and learners may occasionally slip into their native language; nevertheless, even taking into consideration occasional mistakes and mother-tongue use, the amount of time remaining for positive, useful oral practice is still likely to be far more than in the full-class set-up.
2.Base the activity on easy language In general, the level of language needed for a discussion should be lower than that used in intensive language-learning activities in the same class: it should be easily recalled and produced by the participants, so that they can speak fluently
PRACTICAL LESSON # 8 Psychological and linguistic characteristics of speech
Questions for discussion: Characteristics of a successful speaking activity Activity 1. Work in groups and work out your own characteristics of a successful speaking activity.
Now you can compare your finding with those given by P.Ur. p.120 Box 9.1
What is the teacher’s aim in a speaking activity? The teacher should teach:
to express intentions
to transfer information
to establish / maintain relations
to speak in situations of :
social aspect
cultural aspect
general context
P.Ur p. 123 Box 9.3
Activity 2.Work in groups of four. Choose one observer in each group. Do both activities, one after the other. The observer should keep an eye on how things are going: how much people are talking, the kind of language they are using, how interested and motivated they are.
Activity 3. Now compare both activities. Which was more successful in producing, good oral fluency practice? Can you give a reason why? Was it the topic? The task? The organization?
The main differences between the two activities is that the first is topic – based and the second one is task – based.
Topic. A good topic is one to which learners can relate using ideas from their own experience and knowledge, the ‘ability-grouping’ topic is appropriate for most schoolchildren. It should also represent a controversy, in which participants are likely to be fairy divided. Some questions or suggested lines of thought can help to stimulate discussion. A topic-centred discussion can be done as a formal debate, where the topic is discussed and finally voted on by all.
Activity 4. A task is goal-oriented; it requires the group or pair to achieve an objective that is usually expressed by an observable result, such as brief notes or lists, a rearrangement of jumbled items, a drawing, and a summary. Within the task you often find instructions such as ‘reach a consensus’, or ‘find out everyone’s opinion’.
