Give some instruction or training in discussion skills. If the task is based on group discussion then include instructions about participation when introducing it. For example, tell learners to make sure that everyone in the group contributes to the discussion, appoint a chairperson etc.
Keep students speaking the target language. The best way to keep students speaking the target language is simply to be there yourself as much as possible, reminding them and modeling the language use yourself.
Activity 5 Question What are some of the problems in getting learners to talk in the classroom? Perhaps think back to your experiences as either learner or teacher. Now look at Box 9.2, and see if any of the problems I have come across in my teaching are the same as yours.
BOX 9.2: PROBLEMS WITH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Inhibition. Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts.
Nothing to say.Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
Low or uneven participation. Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard; and in a large group this means that each one will have only very little talking time. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners
to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all.
Mother-tongue use.In classes where all, or a number of, the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use it: because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign language, and because they feel less 'exposed' if they are speaking their mother tongue. If they are talking in small groups it can be quite difficult to get some classes - particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones - to keep to the target language.
