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Communication between humans is an extremely complex and ever-changing phenomenon, but there are certain generalisations that we can make about the majority of communicative events and these will have particular relevance for the learning and teaching of languages.
Learning to speak a foreign language is much more complex than knowing its grammatical and semantic rules. It involves both command of certain skills and several different types of knowledge. Richards (2005: p. 204) states that learners must acquire the knowledge of how native speakers use the language in a context of structured interpersonal exchange, in which many factors interact.
Learners should use language in a way to achieve an objective and this objective should be the most important of the communication. They select from their language store. Speakers have an infinite capacity to create new sentences. In order to achieve this communicative purpose they will select the language they think is appropriate for this purpose.
If students have a purpose to speak, their attention should be centred on the content of what is being said (or written) and not the language form which is being used. However, the students will have to deal with a variety of language rather than just grammatical construction. So while students are involved in communicative activities the teacher should not intervene (fluency is more important than accuracy at this stage).
Ten helpful tips to make our students speak more effectively:
Teach specific strategies to facilitate their efforts to speak effectively.
Work on pronunciation, but do not demand a native-speaker pronunciation
The primary emphasis on pronunciation is on stress and intonation.
Avoid topics they are not familiar with in their mother tongue
Give them time
Monitor properly
Be sensitive when correcting oral mistakes and point out good correct spoken language and praise the SS
pre-teach vocabulary : elicit possible words, predict ( KEL – know, expect, learn) and check meaning and understanding of vocabulary.
Avoid topics they are not familiar with in their mother tongue
Give them time
It might not be that easy, but it is not impossible to provide students with spontaneous language for classroom use. With teachers’ guidance, it is possible to devise techniques to make students produce spontaneous – authentic – language, even at an elementary level.
