TESL -120 Unit 1 reflection - How to teach Speaking


During the first unit of this course, we discussed the importance of speaking and how to teach speaking as well as the importance of how to give feedback. It is important to take into consideration both the learner and how they learn or approach learning when it comes to teaching them or giving them feedback.

How to teach speaking?

There are many different types of knowledge that go into speaking and having conversations. According to Thornbury's book How to Teach Speaking (2005), there are two main categories that play a role in speaking, extralinguistic knowledge and linguistic knowledge (p.11).  Extralinguistic knowledge is knowledge that is separate from language that impacts speaking (p.11). For example, it can include cultural knowledge, the importance of context, and the speaker's familiarity with both topics and other speakers (p.11). Linguistic knowledge focuses more on the language itself. Knowledge of genre, participation, and planning are examples of linguistic knowledge (p.14). Genre is the question of purpose and why are we talking to a person (p.14). Are we speaking to have a conversation or are we talking with a purpose? Participation is the difference between non-interactive, like a radio show host, or interactive, which would be a conversation between people (p.14). Planning questions whether the conversation/speech was prepared ahead of time or not? We can also take note of ones discourse knowledge such as discourse markers, specific sayings, vocabulary, and the specific choice of words (p.15-16,22-23). When thinking about the efficiency and competency of a speaker, it is important to take note of Grice's 4 maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner (p.18).

References:
Thornbury, S. (2005). How to Teach Speaking, Chapter 2: What Speakers Know, pp.11-26. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

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