Davlatboyeva Adiba

Teaching speaking by speech activities is an effective way to improve learners’ oral
communication skills.

Oral communication is a vital component of language
learning, as it allows learners to communicate their ideas and thoughts to others in a
clear and effective manner. Speech activities provide learners with the opportunity
to practice their speaking skills in a supportive and engaging environment, helping
them to build confidence and improve their communication abilities.
Key words: fluency, accuracy, comprehension, opportunities, merits, demerits,
learners, educational aspect, role-play, debates, Image description.
INTRODUCTION:
Speaking is an essential component of language proficiency and is an integral part
of communication. The ability to convey ideas, express opinions, and interact with
others verbally is crucial in many aspects of life, from social interactions to
professional settings. Therefore, it is vital for language teachers to provide learners
with opportunities to practice and improve their oral communication skills. One
effective way to achieve this is through speech activities.
Speech activities are interactive and engaging tasks that require learners to use their
speaking skills to complete a task or achieve a goal. They can be used in various
contexts, from the classroom to online learning, and can be adapted to suit the level
and needs of the learners. Speech activities can help learners develop their
confidence, fluency, accuracy, and communicative competence.
One of the most effective speech activities for teaching speaking is role-play. In roleplay activities, learners act out a given scenario or situation, using language
appropriate to the context. For example, learners may role-play a conversation
between a customer and a salesperson in a store, or a dialogue between a doctor and
a patient in a hospital. Role-play activities provide learners with an opportunity to
practice their speaking skills in a realistic and context-specific setting, helping them
to develop their language fluency and accuracy.
Another effective speech activity is debate. Debates require learners to argue for or
against a particular topic, using persuasive language and appropriate vocabulary. For
example, learners may debate the merits of renewable energy sources versus fossil
fuels or the importance of physical education in schools. Debates provide learners
with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills and build their confidence
in expressing their opinions.
How to prepare speaking activities?
The first thing to consider when preparing any spontaneous speaking exercise is that
it is vital to ensure that the target language should always be used whenever possible.
It is important that educators are consistent and rigorous in reinforcing this
expectation, otherwise students will take the opportunity to lapse into their native
language.
All of the below activities have two key elements – production and review. Of
course, encouraging creative language production is at the heart of building
spontaneous speaking skills. But it is also vitally important that students are given
time to reflect and review their recorded speech (and that of their peers) and to
critically evaluate where improvements can be made.
Of course, do also take the time to tailor these activities to the language abilities of
each student. All of them can be tailored to be as easy or as challenging as students
need. Importantly, Sanako Connect makes it easy for educators to distribute specific
resources to students and can also allocate students into conversation pairs or groups.
Image description
This is an easy and straightforward activity to get things started and to build learners’
confidence. All you need is at least one good-quality image – it could be one that
you’ve found to illustrate a theme or one that a student has provided. Of course,
multiple images could be used to test particular skills or vocabulary.
Using Sanako Connect, the image can be shared with all students, who then record
themselves responding to questions / stimulus that you have provided. As above,
students play back and review their responses and you can store them in Connect for
review at a later stage. It is clearly advisable that a wide range of image types and
subjects are shown to students, so that they are unable to predict what might come
next.
This activity allows students at all skill levels to participate. Beginners can simply
describe what they see (e.g. a red house, a field of yellow flowers) whereas stronger
learners could be asked to describe how the picture makes them feel or what point
they think the artist / photographer is trying to convey.
Listen & Repeat
These exercises are great ways to introduce different speaking and intonation
patterns to your students. As the name suggests, they rely on imitation which is the
way we learn almost everything.
For this exercise, the educator simply needs to create some audio content themselves
or use an existing video/audio clip. Students listen to that content and then record
themselves trying to reproduce it as accurately as possible. Using Connect the
recording can either be done in advance and then shared with students, or it can be
done live. All you need is a list of words or sentences that are relevant to the lesson
on hand. Perhaps the most crucial part of the lesson is to give students the chance to
listen to and review their own imitation. After all students have recorded their
responses, the educator can use Connect to play back the files to each individual
student simultaneously. Or the student can access their own recordings to listen to
at their own pace and in their own time. They’ve already developed some important
muscle memory in forming the key words and phrases in the target language – now
it’s time to review their own speech against the original audio to see what they can
do even better next time.
Presentations are another useful speech activity for teaching speaking. In
presentation activities, learners present information on a topic to their classmates,
using appropriate language and visual aids. For example, learners may give a
presentation on the history of their hometown or the benefits of a healthy diet.
Presentation activities provide learners with an opportunity to practice their speaking
skills in a structured and organized manner, helping them to develop their ability to
communicate complex ideas in a clear and concise way.
Discussions are also effective speech activities for teaching speaking. Discussions
require learners to engage in a conversation about a given topic, using appropriate
language and communication strategies. For example, learners may discuss the
benefits and drawbacks of social media or the impact of climate change on the
environment. Discussion activities provide learners with an opportunity to practice
their communication skills in a group setting, helping them to develop their ability
to express their ideas and opinions in a collaborative and respectful manner.
Finally, storytelling is a valuable speech activity for teaching speaking. In
storytelling activities, learners tell a story or anecdote, using descriptive language
and appropriate vocabulary. For example, learners may tell a personal story about a
memorable experience they had or a folk tale from their culture. Storytelling
activities provide learners with an opportunity to practice their storytelling skills and
develop their ability to engage and entertain an audience.
In conclusion, speech activities are an effective way to improve learners’ oral
communication skills. Role-play, debate, presentation, discussion, and storytelling
activities provide learners with a range of opportunities to practice their speaking
skills in engaging and supportive settings. By incorporating these activities into their
teaching, language educators can help learners build confidence, develop their
communication abilities, and ultimately achieve greater language fluency and
accuracy.
References:
1. https://sanako.com/4-activities-to-build-your-students-spontaneousspeaking-skills
2. https://www.teachingexpertise.com/classroom-ideas/elementary-speakingactivities
3. Bailey, Kathleen. 2003. Practical English Language Teaching: First Edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.\
4. Nunan,David. 2003. Practical English Language Teaching. New York:
McGraw-Hill Company inc.
5. Harmer, Jeremy. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
Edinburg: Pearson Education Limited
6. Schneider,P. 1993. Developing Fluency with Pair Taping. JALT Journal 15

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Republic of Karakalpakstan/Beruniy region
Davlatboyeva Adiba Maxmud qizi
66-secondary school 10th grade
Email: [email protected]
Phone number:+998904219747

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