Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and
therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as
Nunan (1991) wrote, "success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a
conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to
speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may
soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right
activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising
general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and
dynamic place to be.

Speaking is fundamental to human communication

Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that
with how much written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of?
In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers
still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring
speaking and listening skills. Do you think this is a good balance? If the goal of your
language course is truly to enable your students to communicate in English, then
speaking skills should be taught and practised in the language classroom.

Dealing with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom
Students won't talk or say anything
One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from
there. If the problem is cultural, that is in your culture it is unusual for students to
talk out loud in class, or if students feel really shy about talking in front of other
students then one way to go about breaking this cultural barrier is to create and
establish your own classroom culture where speaking out loud in English is the norm.
One way to do this is to distinguish your classroom from other classrooms in your
school by arranging the classroom desks differently, in groups instead of lines etc. or
by decorating the walls in English language and culture posters. From day one teach
your students classroom language and keep on teaching it and encourage your
students to ask for things and to ask questions in English. Giving positive feedback
also helps to encourage and relax shy students to speak more. Another way to get
students motivated to speak more is to allocate a percentage of their final grade to
speaking skills and let the students know they are being assessed continually on
their speaking practice in class throughout the term.

A completely different reason for student silence may simply be that the class
activities are boring or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting
communicative speaking activities are not quite as interesting or as communicative
as we think they are and all the students are really required to do is answer 'yes' or
'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse talking noisily in their
L1. So maybe you need to take a closer look at the type of speaking activities you
are using and see if they really capture student interest and create a real need for
communication.

Another way to encourage your students to speak in English is simply to speak in

English yourself as much as possible in class. If you are shy about speaking in
English, how can you expect your students to overcome their fears about speaking
English? Don't worry if you are not completely fluent or don't have that elusive
perfect native accent, as Swain (1985) wrote "We learn to speak by speaking" and
that goes for teachers as well as students. The more you practise the more you will
improve your own oral skills as well as help your students improve theirs.

When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own
language.
Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students?
Make sure you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to
complete the task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1,
likewise if the task is too easy they may get bored and revertWhy should we teach
speaking skills in the classroom?
Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and
therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as
Nunan (1991) wrote, "success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a
conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to
speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may
soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right
activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising
general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and
dynamic place to be.

Speaking is fundamental to human communication

Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that
with how much written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of?
In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers
still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring
speaking and listening skills. Do you think this is a good balance? If the goal of your
language course is truly to enable your students to communicate in English, then
speaking skills should be taught and practised in the language classroom.

Dealing with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom
Students won't talk or say anything
One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from
there. If the problem is cultural, that is in your culture it is unusual for students to
talk out loud in class, or if students feel really shy about talking in front of other
students then one way to go about breaking this cultural barrier is to create and
establish your own classroom culture where speaking out loud in English is the norm.
One way to do this is to distinguish your classroom from other classrooms in your
school by arranging the classroom desks differently, in groups instead of lines etc. or
by decorating the walls in English language and culture posters. From day one teach
your students classroom language and keep on teaching it and encourage your
students to ask for things and to ask questions in English. Giving positive feedback
also helps to encourage and relax shy students to speak more. Another way to get
students motivated to speak more is to allocate a percentage of their final grade to
speaking skills and let the students know they are being assessed continually on
their speaking practice in class throughout the term.

A completely different reason for student silence may simply be that the class
activities are boring or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting
communicative speaking activities are not quite as interesting or as communicative
as we think they are and all the students are really required to do is answer 'yes' or
'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse talking noisily in their
L1. So maybe you need to take a closer look at the type of speaking activities you
are using and see if they really capture student interest and create a real need for
communication.

Another way to encourage your students to speak in English is simply to speak in

English yourself as much as possible in class. If you are shy about speaking in
English, how can you expect your students to overcome their fears about speaking
English? Don't worry if you are not completely fluent or don't have that elusive
perfect native accent, as Swain (1985) wrote "We learn to speak by speaking" and
that goes for teachers as well as students. The more you practise the more you will
improve your own oral skills as well as help your students improve theirs.

When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own
language.
Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students?
Make sure you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to
complete the task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1,
likewise if the task is too easy they may get bored and revert to their L1. Also, be
aware of the fact that some students especially beginners, will often use their L1 as
an emotional support at first, translating everything word for word to check they
have understood the task before attempting to speak. In the case of these students
simply be patient as most likely once their confidence grows in using English their
dependence on using their L1 will begin to disappear.

Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting? If students do
not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, you can be sure it
won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

Was the timing of the activity good? The timing of a speaking activity in a class can
be crucial sometimes. How many teachers have discovered that their speaking
activity ended up as a continuation of the students break-time gossip conducted in
the L1? After break-time, why not try giving students an activity to calm them down
and make them focus before attempting speaking activities that involve groups or
pair work. Another way to discourage students speaking in their L1 is to walk around
the classroom monitoring their participation and giving support and help to students
as they need it. If certain students persist in speaking in the L1 then perhaps you
should ask them to stay behind after class and speak to them individually and
explain to them the importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel
comfortable speaking in English in the class. Maybe they just need some extra
reassurance or they don't like working with certain students or there is some other
problem that you can help them to resolve.

When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose
control of the classroom
First of all separate the two points a noisy classroom and an out-of-control
classroom. A classroom full of students talking and interacting in English, even if it is
noisy, is exactly what you want. Maybe you just feel like you are losing control
because the class is suddenly student centred and not teacher centred. This is an
important issue to consider. Learner-centred classrooms where learners do the
talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative
resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning
than teacher-centred classes (Long & Richards 1987). Nevertheless, many
classrooms all over the world continue to be teacher centred, so the question you
have to ask yourself is, how learner centred is my classroom?

Losing control of the classroom, on the other hand, is a different issue. Once again
walking around and monitoring the students as they are working in groups can help,
as you can naturally move over to the part of the classroom where the noise is
coming from and calm the rogue students down and focus them back on the task
without disrupting the rest of the students who are working well in their groups. If
students really get too rowdy then simply change the pace of the class and type of
activity to a more controlled task, for example a focus on form or writing task where
students have to work in silence individually. Once the students have calmed down
you can return to the original or another interactive group activity.

Conclusion
These are just some of the problems that teachers with large classes face when
teaching speaking activities in the classroom. These problems are not new nor are
the solutions offered above. Teachers all over the world continue to face the same
hurdles, but any teacher who has overcome these difficulties and now has a large
class of energetic students talking and working in English in groups together will tell
you it is worth all the trial and error and effort at the outset. If you believe in the
importance of teaching speaking skills in the classroom but are having difficulties
making speaking activities work in your classroom why not contact your local
teaching associations or branch of TESOL. Maybe they run workshops for teaching
speaking skills, or maybe they can put you in contact with other teachers in similar
situations but with more experience teaching speaking skills who will be willing to
share their experiences with you. Why should we teach speaking skills in the
classroom?
Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and
therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as
Nunan (1991) wrote, "success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a
conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to
speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may
soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right
activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising
general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and
dynamic place to be.

Speaking is fundamental to human communication

Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that
with how much written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of?
In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers
still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring
speaking and listening skills. Do you think this is a good balance? If the goal of your
language course is truly to enable your students to communicate in English, then
speaking skills should be taught and practised in the language classroom.

Dealing with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom
Students won't talk or say anything
One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from
there. If the problem is cultural, that is in your culture it is unusual for students to
talk out loud in class, or if students feel really shy about talking in front of other
students then one way to go about breaking this cultural barrier is to create and
establish your own classroom culture where speaking out loud in English is the norm.
One way to do this is to distinguish your classroom from other classrooms in your
school by arranging the classroom desks differently, in groups instead of lines etc. or
by decorating the walls in English language and culture posters. From day one teach
your students classroom language and keep on teaching it and encourage your
students to ask for things and to ask questions in English. Giving positive feedback
also helps to encourage and relax shy students to speak more. Another way to get
students motivated to speak more is to allocate a percentage of their final grade to
speaking skills and let the students know they are being assessed continually on
their speaking practice in class throughout the term.

A completely different reason for student silence may simply be that the class
activities are boring or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting
communicative speaking activities are not quite as interesting or as communicative
as we think they are and all the students are really required to do is answer 'yes' or
'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse talking noisily in their
L1. So maybe you need to take a closer look at the type of speaking activities you
are using and see if they really capture student interest and create a real need for
communication.
Another way to encourage your students to speak in English is simply to speak in
English yourself as much as possible in class. If you are shy about speaking in
English, how can you expect your students to overcome their fears about speaking
English? Don't worry if you are not completely fluent or don't have that elusive
perfect native accent, as Swain (1985) wrote "We learn to speak by speaking" and
that goes for teachers as well as students. The more you practise the more you will
improve your own oral skills as well as help your students improve theirs.

When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own
language.
Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students?
Make sure you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to
complete the task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1,
likewise if the task is too easy they may get bored and revert to their L1. Also, be
aware of the fact that some students especially beginners, will often use their L1 as
an emotional support at first, translating everything word for word to check they
have understood the task before attempting to speak. In the case of these students
simply be patient as most likely once their confidence grows in using English their
dependence on using their L1 will begin to disappear.

Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting? If students do
not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, you can be sure it
won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

Was the timing of the activity good? The timing of a speaking activity in a class can
be crucial sometimes. How many teachers have discovered that their speaking
activity ended up as a continuation of the students break-time gossip conducted in
the L1? After break-time, why not try giving students an activity to calm them down
and make them focus before attempting speaking activities that involve groups or
pair work. Another way to discourage students speaking in their L1 is to walk around
the classroom monitoring their participation and giving support and help to students
as they need it. If certain students persist in speaking in the L1 then perhaps you
should ask them to stay behind after class and speak to them individually and
explain to them the importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel
comfortable speaking in English in the class. Maybe they just need some extra
reassurance or they don't like working with certain students or there is some other
problem that you can help them to resolve.

When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose
control of the classroom
First of all separate the two points a noisy classroom and an out-of-control
classroom. A classroom full of students talking and interacting in English, even if it is
noisy, is exactly what you want. Maybe you just feel like you are losing control
because the class is suddenly student centred and not teacher centred. This is an
important issue to consider. Learner-centred classrooms where learners do the
talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative
resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning
than teacher-centred classes (Long & Richards 1987). Nevertheless, many
classrooms all over the world continue to be teacher centred, so the question you
have to ask yourself is, how learner centred is my classroom?

Losing control of the classroom, on the other hand, is a different issue. Once again
walking around and monitoring the students as they are working in groups can help,
as you can naturally move over to the part of the classroom where the noise is
coming from and calm the rogue students down and focus them back on the task
without disrupting the rest of the students who are working well in their groups. If
students really get too rowdy then simply change the pace of the class and type of
activity to a more controlled task, for example a focus on form or writing task where
students have to work in silence individually. Once the students have calmed down
you can return to the original or another interactive group activity.

Conclusion
These are just some of the problems that teachers with large classes face when
teaching speaking activities in the classroom. These problems are not new nor are
the solutions offered above. Teachers all over the world continue to face the same
hurdles, but any teacher who has overcome these difficulties and now has a large
class of energetic students talking and working in English in groups together will tell
you it is worth all the trial and error and effort at the outset. If you believe in the
importance of teaching speaking skills in the classroom but are having difficulties
making speaking activities work in your classroom why not contact your local
teaching associations or branch of TESOL. Maybe they run workshops for teaching
speaking skills, or maybe they can put you in contact with other teachers in similar
situations but with more experience teaching speaking skills who will be willing to
share their experiences with you. to their L1. Also, be aware of the fact that some
students especially beginners, will often use their L1 as an emotional support at first,
translating everything word for word to check they have understood the task before
attempting to speak. In the case of these students simply be patient as most likely
once their confidence grows in using English their dependence on using their L1 will
begin to disappear.

Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting? If students do
not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, you can be sure it
won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

Was the timing of the activity good? The timing of a speaking activity in a class can
be crucial sometimes. How many teachers have discovered that their speaking
activity ended up as a continuation of the students break-time gossip conducted in
the L1? After break-time, why not try giving students an activity to calm them down
and make them focus before attempting speaking activities that involve groups or
pair work. Another way to discourage students speaking in their L1 is to walk around
the classroom monitoring their participation and giving support and help to students
as they need it. If certain students persist in speaking in the L1 then perhaps you
should ask them to stay behind after class and speak to them individually and
explain to them the importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel
comfortable speaking in English in the class. Maybe they just need some extra
reassurance or they don't like working with certain students or there is some other
problem that you can help them to resolve.

When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose
control of the classroom
First of all separate the two points a noisy classroom and an out-of-control
classroom. A classroom full of students talking and interacting in English, even if it is
noisy, is exactly what you want. Maybe you just feel like you are losing control
because the class is suddenly student centred and not teacher centred. This is an
important issue to consider. Learner-centred classrooms where learners do the
talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative
resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning
than teacher-centred classes (Long & Richards 1987). Nevertheless, many
classrooms all over the world continue to be teacher centred, so the question you
have to ask yourself is, how learner centred is my classroom?

Losing control of the classroom, on the other hand, is a different issue. Once again
walking around and monitoring the students as they are working in groups can help,
as you can naturally move over to the part of the classroom where the noise is
coming from and calm the rogue students down and focus them back on the task
without disrupting the rest of the students who are working well in their groups. If
students really get too rowdy then simply change the pace of the class and type of
activity to a more controlled task, for example a focus on form or writing task where
students have to work in silence individually. Once the students have calmed down
you can return to the original or another interactive group activity.

Conclusion
These are just some of the problems that teachers with large classes face when
teaching speaking activities in the classroom. These problems are not new nor are
the solutions offered above. Teachers all over the world continue to face the same
hurdles, but any teacher who has overcome these difficulties and now has a large
class of energetic students talking and working in English in groups together will tell
you it is worth all the trial and error and effort at the outset. If you believe in the
importance of teaching speaking skills in the classroom but are having difficulties
making speaking activities work in your classroom why not contact your local
teaching associations or branch of TESOL. Maybe they run workshops for teaching
speaking skills, or maybe they can put you in contact with other teachers in similar
situations but with more experience teaching speaking skills who will be willing to
share their experiences with you.