Developing productive skills in the English language classroom

Seminar plan:

• Productive language skills;

• Challenges in writing and speaking

• Support our students need;

• How to solve problems in developing productive skills;

• Types of activities;

• Teachers’ and students’ attitude to mistakes in speaking and writing.

Language Skills

• Receptive skills – where meaning is extracted from discourse (Reading and Listening)

• Productive skills – where students have to produce language themselves (Speaking and Writing)

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“Thinking is the activity I love best and writing to me is simply thinking

through my fingers” – Isaac Asimov.

Ask your colleagues:• Get at least three different examples of the things

that they have written in the last two weeks, • Most of the people actually do very little writing in

day-to-day life;• sms, emails, brief notes to family / friends or

colleagues, • lesson plans, answers on question forms, etc.• Why people write all these things, what is the

reason for writing?

Writing is…

…a meaningful activity where the primary purpose is communication with the reader.

Why use writing in class?

Give as many reasons for teaching writing in class as you can think of.

• Reinforcement;• Language development;• Learning style;• Writing as a skill;• Specific needs (e.g. exam preparation);• (?) A break for a teacher.

Teaching writing

Writing practice Written production

The technical skills of writing:

• Spelling;• Punctuation;• Sentence formation;• Paragraphs and texts;• Different types of writing

(formal and informal letters; reports);

• etc.

The content and communication skills of writing:

• Selection and organisation of ideas in the text;

• Clarity of presentation;• Reader consideration;• Reference to other texts;• etc.

Why writing is difficult?

• Psychological problems:We are required to write on our own, without the possibility of interaction or the benefit of immediate feedback

• Linguistic problems:The language used in written language is different in most ways from the language used in speech

• Cognitive problems:Students have to organise thoughts on paper, for reasons that may not immediately be apparent (tasks imposed by the teacher, for homework, for exam, but most probably not for any personal reason).

Group work• Three groups (primary, secondary and

teens-young adults)

• In each group think of two - three main challenges which students of this age group face in writing;

• in a quick discussion share your ideas of how you can support your students.

• Be ready to present your ideas in 2 minutes.

Primary school students

Writing is boring

• Spelling game

• Guess a word and write

• Writing

(labeling) game

Add meaning and give examples

Add meaning, give examples and personalise

Grammar and writing

Speaking

Talk to your partner...

…and describe what is in the room using lots of prepositions of place

…and describe one of your friends. Make sure you use at least five

adjectives of personality

…about something interesting or amusing that has happened to you

in your work as a teacher

The nature of communication.

When two people are engaged in talking to each other we can be sure that they are doing so for good reasons. What are they?

• They want to say something.• They want to listen to something.• They have some communicative purpose.

They process a variety of language appropriate for the purpose of the conversation

What do we Need to Communicate Effectively?

Linguistic competenceGrammar, lexis, phonology

Communicative CompetenceInteractional Skills

Interest in / knowledge of topicA Goal / Reason for speaking

Preparation time

What types of speaking do your students practice in class?

Spoken Practice

The Speaking Skill

Controlled Practice of Specific Grammar /

Structures / Lexis

‘Everyday Life’ Communication

Talk to your partner...

…and describe what is in the room using lots of prepositions of place

…and describe one of your friends. Make sure you use at least five

adjectives of personality

…about something interesting or amusing that has happened to you

in your work as a teacher

What students are afraid of?

• making grammar mistakes (from over-correction?)

• appearing foolish

• sounding strange or foreign

• not having enough vocabulary

•not knowing what to say

As a result,

• they speak hesitantly

• there are long pauses

• they struggle for vocabulary

• often give up

The monolingual challenge

• Not enough exposure

• Not enough practice;

• Not confident enough to say something in front of other students in class;

What if my students don’t speak in English?

3 Steps to Communicative Success in English

1. Speak in any language

2. Task in any language, result in English

3. Everything in English

Problem can be solved by:

• Motivation through topic;

• Motivation through activity;

• Motivation through the right level of challenge;

• Classroom interaction / Pair and Group work activities;

• Real communicative tasks

Success factors

exposure

motivationconfidence

speaking practice

atmosphere

Learning to speak

• PPP model is useful for lower levels

1.presentation stage – listening/teacher modelling

2.practice stage - accuracy work – a controlled framework - importance of repetition + on-

the-spot error correction

3.Personalisation / Production – students’ performance.

e.g. Stoytelling

Story telling in the primary classroom

• Give examples of that work in your classroom.

Pre-teach:

• Grass – long wavy grass• A river – a deep cold river• Mud – thick oozy mud• A forest – a big dark forest• A snowstorm – a swirling whirling snowstorm• A cave – a narrow gloomy cave• One shiny wet nose• Two big furry ears• Two big goggly eyes

Pre-teach:• Over

• Under

• Through

• Back through

Grasslong wavy grass

Swishy! Swashy!

A riverA deep cold river

Splash! Splosh!

Mud. Thick oozy mud

Squelch! Squerch!

A forest, a big dark forest

Stumble! Trip!

A snowstorm. A swirling whirling snowstorm

Hooo! Wooo!

A cave. A narrow gloomy cave

Tip Toe! Tip Toe!

What’s that?

• One shiny wet nose

• Two big furry ears

• Two big goggly eyes

• It’s a bear!!!

Back through the cave

Tip Toe! Tip Toe!

Back through the snowstorm

Hooo! Wooo! Hooo! Wooo!

Back through the forest

Stumble! Trip! Stumble! Trip!

Back through the river

Splash! Splosh! Splash! Splosh!

Back through the mud

Squelch! Squerch! Squelch! Squerch!

Back through the grass

Swishy! Swashy! Swishy! Swashy!

Get to our front door

Open the door

Up the stairs

Top! Top! Top! Top!

Oh, we forgot to shut the door!

Top! Top! Top! Top!

Down the stairs

Shut the door!

BOOOM!

Up the stairs

Top! Top! Top! Top!

Into the bedroom

Into the bed

Under the covers

I’m not going to a bear hunt again

Storytelling

Interactive activities:

• Questionnaires

• Picture / map discriptions

All we need to make students speak in the classroom:

• Interesting and relevant subject;• Students’ background knowledge about the

topic;• Motivation, students’ feeling that they really want

to say something about it;• Strategies and tips as a tool and support.

Round up• the tasks need to be challenging and motivating

so that the learners want to communicate their thoughts

• important to have a balance between accuracy and fluency

• Correction• the aim is to develop the learners’ confidence• To develop their speaking skills and their

confidence, students must be given as much opportunity to speak as possible.

Thank you!