2. This Presentation
• Part one: What is speaking?
• Part two: How do you teach conversation?
• Part three: How is speaking (often) evaluated?
• Part four: Ideas to take away.
7. “It [speaking] is the skill by which
they [learners] are most frequently
judged … It is the vehicle par
excellence of social solidarity, of
social ranking, of professional
advancement and of business.”
Martin Bygate (1987), p. vii
9. How much time do you spend in
each of these genres?
Participant Question
10. Characteristics of Conversation
Genuine conversation is characterized by the uneven
distribution of information, the negotiation of meaning,
… topic nomination and negotiation by more than one
speaker, and the right of interlocutors to decide
whether to contribute to an interaction or not. In other
words, in genuine communication, decisions about who
says what to whom and when are up for grabs.
Nunan (1987), p.137
11. Characteristics of Conversation
• It is not primarily necessitated by a practical task.
• Any unequal power of participants is partially
suspended.
• The number of participants is quite small
• Turns are quite short
• Talk is primarily for the participants and not for an
outside audience.
Cook (1989), p. 56
12. Characteristics of Interviews
• Pre-planned, highly structured with time limits
• Often rehearsed
• Uneven distribution of speakership rights
• Topic controlled by task and/or examiner
• Roles are (mostly) adhered to
• Language is formal/neutral
• Structure is Q/A adjacency pair
15. Creating a Venue for Conversation
• The classroom must be reconfigured as a
social rather than institutional psychological
space
• The learners must orient to a social rather
than institutional English language identity
• The learners must be made aware of the
purposes of the above
• The leaners must be afforded TIME to do so
16. Creating a Venue for Conversation
Video Removed
for
Student Privacy
18. Common Forms of Evaluation
• Written tests
• Presentations
• Task observations, e.g. role plays
• Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI)
19. Written Tests
Positives
• Easy to evaluate large groups of students
• Student know what to do
Negatives
• Not speaking
• Often receptive skills not productive and/or
linguistic knowledge
20. Written Test Example
• Before (1)________ down for a nap, the boy
(2) _________ down the book.
A: Lie
B: Lay
C: Laid
D: Lay
E: Laying
F: Lying
22. Video of a Student Presentation
Video Removed
Please see:
https://youtu.be/yRap1RlLMA0
23. Task Observations, a.k.a. Role-plays
Positives
• Concrete outcomes, i.e. did they accomplish
the task?
Negatives
• Usually transactional in nature
• Dependent on partner’s ability
• Dependent on knowledge of the context
24. Issue with Role-plays
“Role-playing ability can be compared with
acting ability, and of course not everyone is a
good actor. Nor is being a good actor equivalent
to being a good communicator. Furthermore,
role playing is a specialized kind of acting,
requiring ad-libbing ability. Not every good actor
is a good ad-libber.”
van Lier (1989), p. 502
25. Video of a Student Role-play
Video Removed
Please see:
https://youtu.be/pqoI7TlxKCE
26. Oral Proficiency Interviews
Positives:
• Students produce lots of language (ideally)
Negatives:
• Minor speaking genre
• Highly structured with time limits
• Controlled by interviewer
• One-sided interaction
33. Speaking Genres
• Just as teaching poetry doesn’t prepare a
student to write a business letter, teaching a
student how to give a presentation doesn’t
prepare him/her to have a conversation.
• The same for reading, writing, listening,
grammar, vocabulary, etc.
35. Suggestions for teaching
• Make conversation (real conversation) a
priority
• Raise student awareness of aspects of a good
conversationalist
• Correct bad conversation behaviors
• Teach conversation/communication skills
• Teach interactive skills
37. Suggestions for evaluation
• Make sure your evaluation matches classroom
realities.
• If you have a fixed evaluation method, include
classroom activities to match the evaluation.
