Concepts for Teaching Speaking in L2 Language Classroom

DING Peng

Abstract：Teachers may be presenting various speaking activities in the classroom，while such activities may amount to ‘doing speaking’ rather than ‘teaching speaking’.This article reviews some important concepts for teaching speaking from a theoretical perspective，including the direct and indirect approach，discourse analysis and intercultural considerations，based on which teachers can plan tasks and activities that address methods of teaching speaking so as to scaffold students’ learning.

Key Words：Speaking；discourse；cooperative principle；intercultural

Introduction

While teachers may be presenting various speaking activities in the classroom，such activities may amount to ‘doing speaking’ rather than ‘teaching speaking’.According to Nunan（1989），two major currents have aroused debates on the teaching of oral skills：the first is on the development for accurate production of forms while the second focuses on achieving fluency through communication.Accuracy practice focuses on the language elements，such as phonology，grammar，structure and discourse；while fluency focuses much on learners’ using new items in more natural communications（Brown，2000）.In order to acquire accuracy and fluency in L2 language teaching，teachers need to have a comprehensive consideration of come key concepts regarding teaching speaking.

Direct & Indirect approach

Two major approaches categorized as ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ relate to the approaches and activities supporting the development of oral skills.Direct approach，focusing on form，deals with specific elements of communicative ability；while indirect approach，emphasizing use，focuses on tasks that mediate through language，negotiation and the sharing of information to enhance learner autonomy（Burns，1998）.According to direct approach，teachers might include pattern drills in the speaking classroom to develop enabling skills that can further develop students’ awareness.In indirect approach，some “real-life”（Nunan，1989）activities might be practiced in speaking classroom，such as discussion and role play.

Discourse perspective

Although these two approaches constitute a conceptual map，more extensive researches have been carried out to view the teaching of speaking from a discourse perspective.Some work examines the implementation of speaking tasks in terms of fluency，and accuracy.Pre-task planning would help learners’ oral production with regard to fluency in particular.They also find that online planning has positive effect on accuracy and teachers are supposed to play the role of providing scaffolding to help learners develop their oral competence.There are a growing number of people holding the idea that conversation analysis would be an effective means of understanding and improving speaking in pedagogical context.Burns（2001）attempts to shows how discourse-based conceptions of language can be a framework of the teaching of speaking and argues that the approach based on discourse could be an essential direction for the future language teaching pedagogy.

Cooperative principle

Pragmatics，the study of language in communication，examines the meaning as communicated by the speaker and interpreted by the listener；it is the study of the relationship between linguistic forms and the users of the form（Brown &Yule，2000）i.e.the relationship between sentences and contexts and situation they are used.The importance of pragmatic theories in language learning and teaching lied in two aspects：the divergence of function and form requires teaching to extend form；the linking of form to function helps learners to explore within a discourse（Cook，1989）.

It is proposed that all speakers，no matter what their cultural background is，adhere to the principle that governs the conversation-- co-operative principle termed by Grice.We all assume that the participants of a conversation will cooperate with each other when they are involved in.The cooperative principle is based on four conversational maxims：the maxim of quality，the maxim of quantity，the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner..

Intercultural characteristics

Besides the language elements，many intercultural characteristics also need to be considered in teaching speaking.Culture，an all-pervasive factor，is deeply embedded in language but not easily to be noticed，analyzed and taught（Crozet & Liddicoat，1999）.Even for the English learners whose communicative competence is distinguishing，cultural factors will probably restrict their communication and set up barriers for their understanding of the outside world.As a result，it is urgent for teachers to merge culture into communicative classroom so as to bridge language and culture.Meanwhile，language teachers need to get rid of the misrepresented foreign cultures provided by stereotypes and constructed as monolithic rather than a dynamic entity so as to follow a new perspective（Guest，2002）.

Conclusion

As pragmatics interpret how people create meaning and make sense of what is said in particular circumstances（Cook，1989），teachers are supposed to be aware that language teaching must go beyond the teaching of form.In classroom practice，teachers should provide more authentic materials to students in order to enhance their understanding of what it would be like in real situation and how to behave and talk appropriately as well as informatively.

References

[1].Brown，G.& Yule，G.（2000）.Teaching the spoken language.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

[2].Cook，G.（1989）.Discourse.Oxford：Oxford University Press.

[3].McCarthy，M.（1998）.Spoken language and applied linguistics.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

（作者單位：School of Foreign Languages，Shandong University of Technology）