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This unit discussed methods and techniques for teaching the two productive skills: speaking and writing.
Activities usually involve either accuracy or fluency. They are both equally important and each is used in a different stage of the lesson. Accuracy activities focus on the correctness of the language produced and they check the students' ability to understand and use the language. Whereas fluency activities are more concerned with the flow of the language and communication, it allows students to be creative and experiment with the language.
There are different types of speaking activities:
1)Controlled activities: They are accuracy based activities controlled by the teacher, such as drilling and prompting.
2)Guided activities: They are accuracy based but they are more creative than controlled ones, such as guided role play and model dialogues.
3)Creative communication: The are fluency-based activities where the language isn't controlled by the teacher, these activities include role play, simulations, debates, discussions, communication games, and information gap.
Sometimes students may be discouraged from speaking. This can be caused by many reasons:
1)They may have low self-esteem
2)They may be afraid of making mistakes
3)They may be intimidated by their peers
4)They may have gone through to an unsuccessful previous learning experience
5)The topic may be boring
6)Cultural reasons
The teacher should try to encourage students to speak. Some of the techniques that can help him to do so are:
1)Encouraging pair and group work
2)performing many controlled and guided activities before fluency activities
3)Give the students enough time to think about what they are going to say
4)Use interesting topics
In order to organize a creative speaking activity, there is a guideline that the teacher can follow:
Before the lesson:
a)The teacher must decide his aims
b)He should try to predict what problems that the student may have and whether they have the necessary language to do this activity or not
c)He should plan how much time is needed for the activity
d)He must prepare teaching-aids
During the lesson:
1)The teacher is supposed to generate students' interest in the topic.
2)He has to give clear instructions and make sure that the students understand what they should do.
3)He can remind students of vocabulary related to the topic
4)He should give the students enough time to prepare themselves
5)He shouldn't interrupt the activity unless it is necessary
6)He shouldn't correct the students until the activity has finished and he should avoid overcorrecting
After the activity
1)Praise the class for how well they communicated and focus on what they managed to do instead of pointing out what they couldn't do
2)Discuss individual mistakes in private and address common mistakes in other lessons.
There are many factors that should be considered when teaching writing such as, grammar, spelling, punctuation, correct use of vocabulary, and handwriting.
The teacher should give the students the chance to practice with different layouts.
