ABSTRACT It is said that students learn better when they are

 UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
ABSTRACT
It is said that students learn better when they are actively
involved into the teaching learning process and this assumption
is generally true if we want students to develop their speaking
ability in the classroom. As we know, developing the speaking
ability is not just a matter that can be done by students through
memorizations; instead it requires students get involved into
activities that motivate them to speak English in a natural and
free way. Getting students to speak English is not sometimes
easy for some teachers since there can be some factors that
can be affecting the students’ speaking ability. It is for this
reason, that this work analyses effective strategies of getting
students to start talking and analyses the importance of creating
interesting and meaningful activities, so that teachers can make
use of them in their classrooms as well as ways of motivating
students to speak. Finally, some classroom speaking activities
have been designed according to the students’ interest and
needs in order to promote real communication among them. On
the whole, it is to be hoped that this work helps teachers realize
that by creating engaging activities, their students will be eager
to communicate in English without feeling uncomfortable in front
of the class.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 1 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Key Words: Spoken language, classroom speaking activities,
strategies of getting students to talk, motivation, teacher´s role,
tasks, feedback.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 2 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................................9
CHAPTER I …....................................................................11
Diagnosis................................................................................11
1.1 Description of the Problem.........................................11
1.2 Justification and Importance.............................................12
1.3 General Objective.......................................................13
1.3.1Specific Objectives...........................................................13
1.4. Methodology.....................................................................13
1.5. Theoretical Framework.....................................................14
CHAPTER II .....................................................................17
Speaking..................................................................................17
2.1 What does Speaking involve?.....................................17
2.2 Functions of Speaking.....................................................18
2.2.1Talk as Interaction............................................................18
2.2.2Talk as Transaction....................................................19
2.2.3Talk as Performance..................................................20
CHAPTER III .....................................................................21
Getting students to speak English in the class..................21
3.1 Why do not students speak English in class?................21
3.2 Strategies for getting student…......................................22
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 3 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
3.3 How to motivate students to speak English.......................24
3.3.1 Atmosphere..............................................................25
3.3.2 Tasks.......................................................................25
3.3.3 Teacher’s Role.........................................................26
3.3.4 Feedback..................................................................27
CHAPTER IV....................................................................28
Classroom Speaking Activities........................................28
4.1 Communicative Activities...............................................28
4.1.1 Childhood Memories – Brainstorming Activity.................29
4.1.2 Famous People – Information Gap Activity.....................32
4.1.3 Likes and Dislikes – Warming Up Activity.......................36
4.1.4 Helpful Advice – Problem Solving Activity.....................39
4.1.5 Vacations - Discussion Activity....................................42
4.1.6 At the Swimming Pool – Spot the difference Puzzle
Activity…………………………………………………………..….44
4.1.7 That sounds Fantastic – Questioning Activity...............48
4.1.8 People Bingo – Game Activity..................................50
4.1.9 Making an Appointment – Role Play.........................53
4.1.10 Story Two Happy men – Jigsaw Activity......................56
CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................59
RECOMMENDATIO................................................................60
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................61
ANNEXES............................................................................63
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 4 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA
EDUCACIÓN
“SPEAKING ACTIVITES WHICH ENHANCE
COMMUNICATION IN THE 5TH YEAR OF MANUEL J.
CALLE HIGH SCHOOL”
Trabajo Académico Integrador previo
a la obtención de Título de
Licenciada en Ciencias de la
Educación en la Especialización de
Lengua y Literatura Inglesa.
AUTORA: Myriam Romero Pineda
DIRECTORA: Master. Susana Calle
Cuenca-Ecuador
2008
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 5 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
All opinions and remarks in this work are under the
author’s responsibility:
Myriam Romero Pineda
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 6 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
DEDICATED TO
To God for giving me strength and comfort in
those moments when I needed it.
With special love to my parents:
Rosita and Carlos.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 7 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
I want to express my sincere gratitude to
Master. Susana Calle, who has been my
director in this project and has given me a lot of
suggestions all the time.
I would also like to extend my hearty thanks to
the authorities of Manuel J. Calle High School
for allowing me to conduct my research in their
institution.
Finally, I have to thank my family and my friends
for
their
continuous
support
encouragement.
INTRODUCTION
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 8 ‐ and
UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
This work is written above all for teachers who have
motivated students and want their students to communicate in
English from the beginning of the lesson through to the end.
As we know, speaking has always been a major focus of
language teaching and in the near future speaking will be even
more important than now since it is an indispensable tool as a
means of communication. However, it has been a big problem
for some teachers to develop the students’ speaking ability and
most of them feel that there is no way to get students to speak
English. Obviously, there can be several reasons for this
problem, but I firmly believe that it is necessary and possible to
improve our students’ speaking ability.
When we teach English as a foreign language we do not get
our students to simply repeat what we, as teachers say, we
want our students to perform oral tasks with real motivation.
When we give them a purpose, spoken activities are much
more rewarding and engaging.
Finally, I hoped that this work will bring some ideas on the
issue of teaching speaking. Teachers must be aware that the
best way of learning the English language is by using it. It is for
this reason, that it is fundamental to get our students talk
English as much as possible in the classroom. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to try to examine some strategies that
allow students to start talking in the classroom as well as to
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 9 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
design effective classroom speaking activities that help them to
improve their speaking ability.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 10 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
CHAPTER I
1. DIAGNOSIS
1.1. Description of the Problem
As teachers of English, we must face many difficulties in the
teaching learning process. In the case of Manuel J. Calle High
School, I have noticed that students have problems when they
have to speak English; however, I find students have a strong
desire to speak, but most of them are reluctant to speak it.
I applied a survey to students of the 5th year in the Chemical
Biologist Specialization. They are 40 students of whom twenty
eight are girls and eighteen are boys. The results show that
there are many reasons why they do not speak English in class.
One of the main reasons of their reluctance of speaking is due
to their lacking of speaking practice that they had in previous
years. They have been accustomed to just listen to their
teachers who are still using traditional methodology, leading
students to memorization of conversations, and teaching them
just grammatical rules instead of providing them a chance to
practice speaking based on real-life situations.
Moreover, because of a great number of students in the high
school, they have to be taught in large classes. Of course this is
not suitable for language teaching, and it is not easy teachers
get their students to speak in class since it would be very noisy
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 11 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
and they may distract each other’s attention. Sometimes the
classes can be out of control, especially when instructions for
the tasks are not given clearly, so students do not know what
the activity is about and end into talking something else in their
mother tongue.
For these reasons, teachers must look for activities to
encourage and motivate students to speak English even if they
have a great number of students in their classrooms. Of course,
everything will not be easy at the beginning, but we should take
positive attitude towards the problems and try to overcome
them to reach our goals.
1.2. Justification and importance
Speaking is an important part of second language learning
and teaching. In spite of its importance, for many years,
teaching speaking had been seen as a very difficult skill and
some teachers thought that the best way to develop students’
speaking ability was just through the use of grammatical
structures and memorization of conversations. However,
today’s world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should
improve students’ communicative skills through engaging
activities because only in that way students can express what
they really want to say.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 12 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Getting students to speak English in the classroom is one of
the biggest challenges of teaching. For this reason, I have
considered this study of great importance since, as teachers,
we must face this situation in our classroom.
As I mentioned before, due to various reasons and being
influenced by the traditional method, students’ speaking ability
is poor. Therefore, by doing this work I will try to show that
using interesting activities and useful material, students will be
able to speak actively, willingly and naturally without feeling shy
and nervous.
1.3. General objective
Taking into account the above background, it is my purpose, by
developing this work, to achieve the following goal:
ƒ To enable students to communicate in English.
1.3.1 Specific objectives
ƒ To help students improve their speaking ability in the
classroom.
ƒ To encourage and motivate students to speak English in
classroom.
ƒ To create classroom speaking activities to get students to
start talking.
1.4. Methodology:
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 13 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
The present work will be described by means of a
descriptive investigation, that is, I will make use of appropriate
books, magazines and the Internet. Also, I will use the Empiric
Method in which I will apply a survey to students and teachers
of the high school in order to know how they develop the
speaking skill in the classroom. The English area counts with
five teachers and there are 40 students in the fifth level which is
going to be the purpose of my work.
1.5. Theoretical framework
This work is based on the Constructivist Theory, specifically
Piaget and Vygotsky`s theories. As we know, the constructivist
theory is divided into Cognitive and Social constructivism.
Cognitive constructivism is based on the work of developmental
psychologist Jean Piaget (Williams and Burden 21). These
authors assume that Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
suggests that humans can not be given information that they
automatically understand and use; humans must construct their
own knowledge (22-23). It means that knowledge is not a thing
that can be just given by the teacher to the students; rather,
knowledge is constructed by students through an active, and a
mental process of development.
The role of the teacher and the classroom environment are
important parts of Piaget’s theory (Schreiber 6-7). The role of
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 14 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
the teacher is to provide a classroom full of interesting things to
encourage students to construct their own knowledge and to
have the ability to explore it. The classroom must give the
students the opportunity to construct knowledge through their
own experiences.
With respect to Social constructivism, it is a theory
developed by the psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Williams and
Burden 40). Vygotsky’s theory is very similar to Piaget’s
assumptions about how students learn; however, Vygotsky puts
more emphasis on the social context of learning. Students in a
social constructivist classroom create reality during their
interactions with others and the environment. They are actively
engaged in activities with their classmates and the teacher who
is also participating with them in creating reality, or coming to a
shared understanding. The teacher acts as a collaborator who
helps students develop their understanding and learning. The
teacher may encourage them to work in groups and support
them with encouragement and advice.
According to these theories, I can say that classrooms
activities that focus on speaking promote not only constructivist
thoughts, but also important connections between teachers and
students.
Authentic
student-student
and
student-teacher
conversation is very useful in a constructivism classroom
because it fosters classroom interactions between them.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 15 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Besides, constructivism promotes social and communication
skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes
collaboration and exchange of ideas. Therefore, this theoretical
framework will help me to know what speaking activities I need
to create so that my students can learn how to express their
ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on speaking activities
effectively.
On the whole, creating classroom speaking activities based
on constructivism I will encourage my students to an active and
meaningful learning, and also they will enjoy learning since they
are going to be actively involved in all activities, rather than
being passive listeners.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 16 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
CHAPTER II
2. SPEAKING
2.1. What does speaking involve?
Speaking is perhaps the most important skill of human
communication, and because we use it all the time, we do not
often stop to examine the process involved on it. According to
Chaney, “Speaking is the process of building and sharing
meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a
variety of contexts” (13). Analyzing this definition, I can say that
speaking is a productive aural skill because unlike reading or
writing speaking happens in real time, that is, the person we
are talking to is listening and waiting to take his/her own turn to
speak in which the message is temporary and its reception is
usually immediate (Bailey 123). Being able to speak English is
clearly important for students because just in that way they will
be able to express their ideas and opinions in order to achieve
a particular end. In addition, speaking demands a great effort
for students since they must not just learn how to articulate
words, but they must organize their thoughts in a meaningful
and logical sequence.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 17 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
2.2. Functions of speaking
In order to design speaking activities, teachers must be
aware of the different functions the spoken language performs,
so that teachers can focus their activities on one of them.
According to Jack Richards, the speaking skill can be classified
into three talks: talk as interaction, talk as transaction and talk
as performance (2).
2.2.1. Talk as Interaction
Interactional talk is when people communicate with others
for
social
maintaining
purposes.
social
It
includes
relationships;
both
it
is
establishing
and
more
and
fluid
unpredictable. It can include many topics, but most important of
all, this type of talk focuses on the speakers and their social
needs rather than on the message. The main features of talk as
interaction are:
- It creates social interaction.
- It faces the needs of the speakers.
- It uses formal or casual language.
- It reflects degrees of politeness.
- It uses generic words and it is jointly constructed.
- It uses conversational conventions, that is, norms or rules
established by a society.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 18 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
- It uses registers (unwritten rules than are followed when
speaking English)
According to Jack Richards talk as interaction involves the
following skills (3):
- Opening and closing conversations.
- Choosing appropriate topics.
- Turn- taking.
- Interrupting.
2.2.2. Talk as Transaction
Talk as transaction pays more attention on the message that
it is conveyed. This kind of talk makes people exchange
information in order to accomplish something, for example,
when a person asks someone for a direction on the street. Also,
it includes the exchange of goods and services such as
ordering a meal. The main features of talk as transaction are:
(Richards 4)
- It focuses on the message.
- It employs communication strategies.
- Frequent
questions,
repetitions
and
comprehension
checks are used.
- Negotiation and digression sometimes occur.
- Linguistic accuracy is not important.
Some skills involve in talk as transaction are the following:
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 19 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
- Explaining/describing.
- Agreeing/disagreeing.
- Asking/questioning.
- Confirming information.
- Making suggestions.
- Making comparisons.
2.2.3. Talk as performance
Talk as performance has to do with public talk. Its main
function is to transmit information in front of an audience
(Richards 4-5). An example of this type of talk could be giving a
class report about a project. Talk as performance has the
following features:
- It gives emphasis to the message and audience.
- Language is more formal.
-
Linguistic accuracy is very important.
- It is in the form of a monolog.
- It reflects organization and sequence.
The skills involved in this type of talk are:
- Using an appropriate format.
- Presenting information in an appropriate sequence.
- Using appropriate vocabulary.
- Creating an effect on the audience.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 20 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
CHAPTER III
3. GETTING STUDENTS TO SPEAK ENGLISH IN THE
CLASS
3.1. Why do not students speak English in class?
Speaking is an active process which involves students’
participation; however, what happens if the students do not
want to speak English? For some teachers this situation can be
very disappointing and de-motivating, but teachers should also
take into account that there could be some factors that may
affect students’ speaking English in class. In this chapter, it is
my attempt to discuss some of the most important reasons for
the students’ reluctance to speak. In order to know these
reasons, I carried out a students’ poll and according to the
results, students do not speak English because of the following
reasons:
First, students say that activities are boring and because of
that fact they do not feel the necessity of speaking English.
Speaking activities are not related to their interest and as a
result, they get easily de-motivated.
Second, students are reluctant to speak English because
they do not know suitable words to express themselves. The
vocabulary of the students is limited, so they tend to have the
same conversation over and over.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 21 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Third, students do not speak English because they are afraid
of making mistakes. Sometimes, students make mistakes
because they are shy and nervous. The worst thing is that, they
feel uncomfortable speaking loudly in front of the class since
they think that their classmates may laugh of them.
Finally, the most important reason why students do not
speak English has to do with the fact that students do not have
the enough speaking practice. Teachers talk most of the time
without giving them any chance to practice the language. Also, I
have to mention that teachers sometimes use unsuitable and
passive methodology. As a result, students get bored and lose
interest in learning.
In spite of these difficulties, teachers should insist students
to speak English. At first, many students will think that speaking
English in the class is not necessary, but soon they will
understand that the more they practice it, the more they will
improve the speaking ability.
3.2. STRATEGIES FOR GETTING STUDENTS TO TALK
Getting students to talk may be difficult, but not impossible. It
is the teachers’ task to create good strategies that encourage
students to start talking English in the classroom.
The following strategies that I will describe in this section
have been a result of my experience as a teacher, and as a
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 22 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
student because during my career I have seen how my English
teachers use these strategies.
• Focus on engaging topics. - It means that teachers have
to select topics and activities that students find interesting
and useful. Students usually like to talk about such topics
as: movie stars, songs, music, magazines sports, etc.
• Present yourself as an English Speaker. - Teachers
should
begin
to
establish
a
setting
for
genuine
communication in English by speaking only in English to
students from the very first day of class. Teachers must
force themselves to speak English. It is also very
important to make teachers’ expectations clear to the
students.
• Learn the Students’ names. - Teachers should know the
students’ names so that when teachers see one of the
students speaking in Spanish, teachers can tell students
that in an English class, speaking Spanish is not allowed.
This should be said in a friendly way.
• Teach students classroom language from the beginning. Students should be taught useful classroom language.
Such expressions as: May I come in? How do you spell...?
What does........mean? , etc. Teachers should encourage
students to practice these expressions not just to use with
the teacher, but to use with each other as well.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 23 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
• Break the silence or fear of the students. - Teachers can
start the class with a short conversation or warm up
activity. By doing this, teachers can help students relax
and give them a sense that English can be used for real
communication.
• Methodology is very important. - It is very important for
teachers to adopt as many ways as possible to let
students to practice English in class. I think that the
success of this teaching strategy is due mainly to the fact
that students can choose what they want to talk about in
class.
3.3. How to motivate students to speak English
Motivation plays an important role in language learning. It is
one of the key factors that influence the success of failure of
learning a second language. In the same way, if teachers do
not give students a chance to practice the speaking skill,
students will get de- motivated and lose interest in learning.
Therefore, how to motivate students to speak English carries
out a challenging task for teachers. As teachers of English, we
know that making classes more interesting should be taken into
account because it is of great help for students to learn the
language successfully. From my teaching experience at the
Manuel J Calle high school, I have also noticed that the
students’ motivation can be influenced by the following aspects
such as: environment, tasks, teachers’ role and feed back.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 24 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
3.3.1. Atmosphere
Establishing a good atmosphere inside the classroom is very
essential, even more if we want students to speak English in a
relaxed and natural way. For example, in order to reduce
students’ nervousness and anxiety it could be a good idea to
arrange the seats of the classroom in a circle or in groups with
the students facing each other not in rows and lines. So
teachers should try to build an atmosphere where students do
not feel shy, where they will freely raise their hands to ask
questions and where they will express their own opinions.
3.3.2. Tasks
According to Jane Willis “a task is a goal oriented activity in
which learners use language to achieve a real outcome” (53).
Keeping this definition in mind, I can say that the students’
motivation depends in great part on the tasks that teachers
want students to perform in class. It is well known that when
students engage with tasks as problem solving or role plays,
they find themselves under a situation in which they are highly
motivated. They have less anxiety and fear and they are well
prepared to
participate in classroom interactions with the highest selfesteem and self-confidence, so it is the teachers’ responsibility
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 25 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
to adapt or even design challenging and different tasks that
motivate students.
3.3.3. Teachers’ Role
Teachers play an important role on students’ motivation. It is
said that a student’s success or failure is in their hands, but
there are some teachers that think that motivating students is
not one of their responsibilities; however, I firmly believe that
teachers hold a major responsibility on how and why students
learn since they are supposed to transmit not only the
knowledge, but also they know their students’ abilities to make
that knowledge transferable. In speaking activities, traditionally,
teachers acted as controllers who stood in front of the class,
talking most of the time and students just listened. There was
no time for them to talk at all, but now this situation has
changed and teachers are taking the roles of facilitators.
Therefore, if teachers want to motivate students to speak
English, they should let their students to practice it more in
class, by selecting topics that engage students’ attention. This
will arouse their interest to speak and help them more easily to
master this skill.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 26 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
3.3.4. Feedback
Feedback is another element which has an impact on
students’ motivation. It is the process of telling students how
well they are doing in a speaking activity and helping them
improve their performance (Harmer 238). Teachers can give
feedback immediately, during an activity or at the end of it. In
speaking practice, however, it is recommended giving feedback
to students at the end of it (Harmer 94). Sometimes, many
teachers assume that correcting students’ mistakes when they
are speaking is a good idea in order to help them improve their
speaking ability; however, by providing them that kind of
feedback, teachers are just making students lose interest and
become completely de-motivated. We, as teachers, should pay
more attention on the kind of feedback we give to our students.
In addition, by using feedback we have the possibility to reward
and correct our students without demoralizing them as well as
to encourage them to develop themselves and get more
involved in speaking activities.
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 27 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
CHAPTER IV
4. CLASSROOM SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
4.1. Communicative Activities
When we talk about communicative activities, we mean
activities that provide students opportunities to practice the
language that they have learnt in the classroom. In these
activities, students communicate more freely because they
have a reason for speaking. They must work together in order
to complete a task or solve a problem. They can ask for or give
real information of their classmates. Furthermore, research on
second language acquisition suggests that more learning takes
place when students are engaged in relevant activities within a
dynamic learning environment. (Moss-Feldman, 2002)
In general, it is my attempt through this chapter to contribute
with activities that promote more communication among my
students. The following activities are designed to be lively,
interactive and fun; but most important of all is to make students
feel more relaxed when they have to speak in front of their
classmates.
In order to enable students to communicate in English, I
have used the following speaking activities in my classroom:
• Brainstorming Activity
• Information Gap Activity
Myriam Romero Pineda
‐ 28 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
• Warming up Activity
• Problem Solving Activity
• Discussion Activity
• Spot the difference Puzzle
• Questioning Activity
• Game Activity
• Role Play Activity
• Jigsaw Activity
4.1.1. ACTIVITY ONE
Skill: Speaking
Topic: Childhood Memories
Objective: to ask for and share personal information.
Language: Past Simple Tense, regular and irregular verbs,
used to.
Activity Type: Brainstorming
Description:
Brainstorming is an activity in which students can produce as
many ideas as possible either individually, in pairs or small
groups within a specified period of time. This is a useful activity
because it allows students to talk freely and quickly without
being criticized for their ideas. Also, this activity is interesting for
them because it serves to make them remember funny things
that they used to do before. In addition, they practice
vocabulary because they are familiarized with the subtopics in
Myriam Romero Pineda
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FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
the word map and they are also able to describe each other
their childhood memories. The best thing of all is that they can
make a contrast between their childhood and the life that they
have now.
Procedure:
• First, write on the blackboard the topic “Childhood
Memories” and ask students to link other related words to
it. They mention six words that could be related with the
topic as in the below word map.
• Second, ask students to copy the word map in a separate
piece of paper with the six categories.
• Third, put students in pairs and they give as many ideas as
possible in order to complete each category of the word
map.
• Then, tell them to choose at least three words from the
word map and ask each other questions about the things
they do and did not use to when they were children.
• Finally, students describe each other their childhood
memories.
Myriam Romero Pineda
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FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
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Favorite TV Program .......................................
....................................... Physical Appearance ..........................................
..........................................
..........................................
....
Hobbies .....................................
.....................................
................................. Childhood
Memories
Games ........................................
........................................
...................................... Pets .........................................
.........................................
...................................... Favorite Food ............................................
............................................
.......................................... ‐ 32 ‐ 4.1.2. ACTIVITY TWO
Skill: Speaking - Listening
Topic: Famous People
Objective: to find out personal information about famous
people.
Language: WH- Questions, Present Simple.
Activity Type: Information Gap Activity
Description:
An Information Gap means information which one person
has and the other does not have, so there is a reason to talk
and ask.
This type of activity helps to promote real communication
among students as well as practice vocabulary, and structure of
sentences which have already been acquired. Also, this activity
allows students to increase their motivation because the
information they have each other is related to famous people,
and they love to talk about their favorite singers.
An important aspect that I have to mention with respect to
this activity is that I adapted it from the original book because it
was not interesting for the students, the topic was boring and
instead of exchanging information about famous people, it had
information about unknown people.
Procedure:
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• First, put students into pairs and make a copy of the
worksheet for every pair of students.
• Second, divide each pair in Student A and Student B and
give each student their corresponding worksheets.
• Then, students ask each other questions in order to find
the missing information on their worksheets.
• Finally, when students finish completing the missing
information, they are able to make an oral presentation
about their favorite singer or movie actor.
(Activity adapted from Watcyn-Jones Peter 74)
Student A
Work with a partner. Ask and answer questions to fill in the
missing information about the following famous people.
Name
Angelina
Jolie
Date of
4 June 1975
Leonardo
D’Caprio
Shakira
Daddy
Yankee
2
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Birth
February
1977
Birthplace Los Angles,
California
Los
Angeles,
California
Age
31
Married or
31
single
married
none
Mirredys
Single
Wife/Husb Brad Pit
and
Gonzalez
Number of
none
none
three
children
Profession Actress
songwriter
singer
Hobbies
Hair
dancing
poems
reading
brown
Eyes
Height
writing
curly
blue
5’7’’
6’
reggae
brown
brown
5’10’’
Student B
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Work with a partner. Ask and answer questions to fill in the
missing information about the following famous people.
Name
Angelina
Jolie
Leonardo
D’Caprio
Shakira
Daddy
Yankee
Date of
11
3 February
Birth
Novembe
1977
r 1974
Birthplace
Age
33
Married or
married
Barranquilla,
Rio Piedras,
Colombia
Puerto Rico
34
single
Single
Wife/Husb
Antonio de la
and
Rua
Number of
four
children
Profession
Hobbies
actor
singer
aviation,
children
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Hair
dirty
blonde
Eyes
blue
black
Height
5’2’’
4.1.3. ACTIVITY THREE
Skill: Speaking
Topic: Likes and Dislikes
Objective: to express a preference for one or another thing.
Language: Comparative adjectives, expressing preferences.
I would rather...than...
I prefer...to...
I like...more than...
I don’t like... as much as...
Activity Type: Warming up Activity
Description:
Warm ups activities are designed to break the ice among
students and they are very useful in order to make students feel
more comfortable when they have to speak in front of the class.
I adapted this activity from the original book because it
seemed to me that it did not catch the students’ attention. It was
more like a drill which practiced just the grammatical structure.
So I made this activity more attractive. I used pictures related to
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topics that they liked to talk and these pictures stimulated them
to talk with self-confidence and they felt comfortable and
relaxed when they had to explain the reasons about their
choices.
Procedure:
• This activity can be applied in pairs or groups.
• Give each pair a set of pictures face down on the table.
• Ask students to take it in turns to turn over a card and
express a preference.
• Tell them that they have to explain why they choose one or
the other card.
Activity adapted from: (Ponce et al.115)
Pictures Sets
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SIDAD DE CU
UENCA
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F
LETRAS Y CIENCIAS
C
D
DE LA EDUC
CACIÓN
4.1.4. ACTIV
VITY FOUR
Skill:: Speakiing - Listening
Topic
c: Helpfful Advicce
Objec
ctive: to
o ask forr and givve advic
ce to som
me prob
blems.
Lang
guage: Modal
M
Verb.
W Questions, Should/S
WhS
Shouldn
n’t
Activ
vity Type: Probllem-Solvving
Desc
cription::
Prroblem solving
s
is an acctivity in which studentss are given a
situattion and a problem and they mu
ust find a solutio
on.
Byy using this kin
nd of acctivity, students
s
s interacct each other
and use
u the languag
ge theyy have le
earned. It is a great activity
becau
use tea
achers can
c
writte in sm
mall pie
eces of paper some
proble
ems wh
hich are related to problems tha
at stude
ents may
y face
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in their lives, so they have to think very carefully the kind of
advice that they are going to say to their partners. Some
students are very creative at the moment of giving the advice.
Procedure:
• First, put students in groups of five and give each group
five problem strips.
• Second, ask each student to describe their problem and
suggest ways of solving it. Students by talking each other
have to come to an agreement in their groups to see if it is
the appropriate advice to give.
• Finally, ask students to share the best advice they
received.
Problem Strips
1. I am always very tired and sometimes I fall asleep in school.
What should I do?
2. I shouted my mother this morning. What should I do?
3. I have an important exam, but I feel very nervous. What
should I do?
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4. My mother does not like my girlfriend/boyfriend. What should
I do?
5. I can not dance very well. What should I do?
6. I like my couple, but I do not feel I love him/her. What should
I do?
7. I am invited to a party, but I do not want to go. What should I
do?
8. I have a good job, but I spend too much money. What should
I do?
9. I forgot my English homework at home and my teacher will
be angry.
What should I do?
10. I saw my best friend’s girlfriend/boyfriend with another
girl/boy in the park.
What should I do?
11. I can speak English very well. What should I do?
12. My sister always wears my clothes, but she does not ask
my permission.
What should I do?
13. I have fever and a headache. What should I do?
14. I found a wallet with money and credit cards. What should I
do?
15. I am in love with my best friend’s bride/groom. What
should I do?
16. I feel lonely. What should I do?
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17. Today it is my father’s birthday, but I forgot to buy him a
present and the stores are closed. What should I do?
4.1.5. ACTIVITY FIVE
Skill: Speaking
Topic: Vacations
Objective: to ask for and give reasons, agreeing and
disagreeing.
Language: WH-Questions, Yes/No Questions, Present Simple
Tense.
Activity Type: Discussion Activity
Description:
This kind of activity requires students to put a certain number
of items from a given list into an order of importance or
preference. This rearranging phase is usually followed by a
discussion where students defend or explain their choices in
pairs or small groups.
A discussion activity is very important in getting students to
talk because through it students can share ideas. It helps
students to foster critical thinking and quick decision making,
and students learn how to express and justify themselves in
polite ways while disagreeing with others.
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I also adapted this activity from the original book because it
did not promote any discussion among students. In this activity,
students just had to classify the items according to some
headings. It emphasized more the writing skill and how to write
correctly some words.
When I applied this activity, I could notice that my students
liked it because it led them to question their own decisions and
increase their tolerance and understanding. They had also the
opportunity to practice interactive language.
Procedure:
• Tell students that imagine a situation in which they are
going to the beach this weekend, but tell them that they
need to carry some things that they may find useful.
• In order to make more engaging the activity give them a
copy of some pictures related to beach items and ask
them to write individually next to each item a number from
1 to 10 according to their opinion. Number 1 is the most
important, number 2 is the second most important and
number 10 is the least important.
• Then, put students into pairs and tell them that they have
to compare their results and see the most interesting
similarities and differences. Students have to say the
reasons why they choose those items.
List of items used
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night dress
jeans
hat
poncho
radio
sandals
shorts
sun block
glasses
T-shirt
toothbrush
umbrella
water
chocolates
swim bat
make up
(Activity adapted from Watcyn and Howard 73)
4.1.6. ACTIVITY SIX
Skill: Speaking - Listening
Topic: At the Swimming Pool
Objective: to find out what the differences are by talking to
each other.
Language: Present Progressive Tense. WH- Questions.
There is/There are
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Prepositions of place
Type of Activity: Spot the difference puzzle.
Description:
Spot the difference puzzle activities can be used where
there are 2 pictures identical except for some differences.
These activities increase students’ motivation and allow a lot of
participation.
I chose this kind of activity because I have seen among
my students a lot of interest in finding differences between text,
drawings etc. They really enjoy doing this activity and at the
same time, they practice much useful language. By talking each
other, they are able to find the differences between the pictures.
Procedure:
• Divide the class into pairs. One student is Student A and
the other one is Student B.
• Give each student a picture and ask them not to show their
pictures to each other.
• Tell students that they have to find twenty differences
between picture A and picture B.
• Students describe their pictures and ask questions to find
the differences.
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• Finally, ask students how many differences they have
found, and ask for a few examples.
(Activity taken from Abbs et al. 92)
Student A
Look carefully at this picture of people on the beach. Your
partner also has a picture, but there are 20 differences. Talk to
your partner to find the differences and note them down. Do not
let your partner see your picture.
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Student B
Look carefully at this picture of people on the beach. Your
partner also has a picture, but there are 20 differences. Talk to
your partner to find the differences and note them down. Do not
let your partner see your picture.
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4.1.7. ACTIVITY SEVEN
Skill: Speaking-Writing
Topic: That sounds Fantastic!
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Objective: to getting to know each other
Language: If Clauses/Second Conditional Sentences
Type of Activity: Questioning Activity
Description:
Questioning activities are used mainly to getting students to
know
each
other.
These
activities
focus
on
students
themselves, their attitudes and values. As soon as students are
able to produce Yes/No Questions and WH Questions, most of
these activities can be used.
This activity helps students interact each other since they use
their imagination to say what they would do in certain situations.
It is terrific because when they get involved in the activity, they
can express what they really feel.
Procedure:
• Apply this activity in pairs and give each student a copy of
the activity.
• Tell students that they have to decide what they would do
in certain situations and to guess about what they think
their partner would do in the same situation.
• Students write what they would do in a certain situation in
the first column.
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• Then, students write in the second column what they think
their partners would do in the same situation.
• Finally, students by asking each other compare their
answers and discuss any different answers.
That Sounds Fantastic!
What would you do if...?
Me
Your Partner
1. You were the President of
Ecuador?
2. You were a delicious apple?
3. You were a famous movie
star?
4. You saw your best friend’s
boyfriend/girlfriend with
someone else?
5. You saw a student cheating
on an exam?
6. You found a wallet with a lot
of money in the street?
7. Your parents do not let you
to watch your favorite
program?
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8. You won the lottery?
9. You were invited to Daddy
Yankee’s mansion?
10. You saw an UFO landing
by your house?
11. You discovered that your
best friend had stolen your cell
phone?
12. The clerk of a store gave
you so much change?
4.1.8. ACTIVITY EIGHT
Skill: Speaking
Topic: People Bingo
Objective: to walk around the classroom and talk to as many
as possible.
Language: Present Perfect tense
WH- Questions, Yes/No Questions
Type of Activity: Game Activity
Description:
Games are very useful in order to develop speaking
activities since they promote natural communication and
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interaction among students. They provide a context and a
purpose for using language.
This
kind
of
activity
makes
students
to
increase
considerably their participation. By doing this game, you can
see their enthusiasm and involvement into the activity. It is for
this reason that I chose this activity. Of course this People
Bingo is not the typical Bingo students are accustomed to play,
instead I carry out this game with some variations. I used
pictures to enhance their interest so that students can ask
questions about the pictures to their classmates and they can
complete the Bingo table as quickly as possible.
Procedure:
• Organize students in groups of five-eight students.
• Give everyone in each group a copy of the activity and
allow a few minutes for them to look through the
pictures
• Tell students that they are going to find a classmate to
fit each of the categories and ask him/her to sign his/her
name in the appropriate blank.
• Explain them that just one person has to sign his/her
name only twice.
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• The game proceeds until a student has filled every
picture with his/her classmate’s name, in which case
he/she has to shout Bingo!
• When students have finished, students guess how many
people in the group have ever done the various things
and report it to the rest of the class.
People Bingo
......................
.........
.......................
........
.......................
.......
........................
......
.......................
...................... ....................... .........
........
.........
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........................
...................... .......................
.........
.......
.........
........................
......................
.......................
.......
.........
........
4.1.9. ACTIVITY NINE
Skill: Speaking - Listening
Topic: Making an Appointment
Objective: to give an opportunity for the students to use the
language of suggestions, apologizing, agreeing and disagreeing
an appointment.
Language: Review vocabulary associated with health problems
and questions about personal information.
Type of Activity: Role Play
Description:
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Role-Play activities are those in which students take the role
of different participants in a situation and act out what may
typically happen in the situation.
This kind of activity helps students to create a good
atmosphere that allows them to make mistakes without fear of
embarrassment. Also, this activity contributes to their selfconfidence and their motivation to learn more.
On the whole, by performing this Role Play, students have
the opportunity to improve their speaking ability. They practice
the language that they have already learnt, but most important
of all, they enjoy themselves the activity since they have to act
out the different roles in front of their classmates.
Procedure:
• Organize the class in groups of three students.
• Assign students the different roles. Student A is the doctor
and Student B is the patient, and Student C is the
receptionist.
• Provide them some cued dialogues and make sure
students understand the useful language.
• Allow students some time to create a dialogue for the
situation
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• Remind students to use some expressions from the Useful
language box.
• Finally, students perform the role play.
Activity taken from (Ponce et al. 28)
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Useful Language
Receptionist:
Patient:
May I help you?
Hello. This
is...
How about...on...?
Good
morning/afternoon...
What is the problem?
I would like
to...
I have...
Doctor:
Apologising:
Good morning/afternoon...
I am very sorry...
What
can
I
do
for
you?
Agreeing:
What is the matter?
I can make
(time/day)
How about...on...?
Suggesting:
Tell me about your...
How about
(time/day)
You should...
Role Cards
Student A
You are a doctor and you work in Santa Ines Hospital. You
can use the patient information form to ask questions. Give the
patient some advice to his/her illnesses.
Student B
You are the patient and you need to see the doctor because
you are not feeling well. You telephone at the doctor’s office
and make an appointment to see the doctor. Help the
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receptionist to fill out the information form.
Student C
You are the receptionist and you make an appointment for
the patient. You must fill out the information form.
PATIENT INFORMATION FORM
Name:……………………………………………………….
Address:…………………………………………………………..
Phone Number:…………………………………………………….
Time of Appointment:……………………………
Medical Problem:.....................................................................
4.1.10. ACTIVITY TEN
Skill: Speaking
Topic: Story: Two Happy Men
Objective: to describe pictures in order to put in order a story.
Language: Simple past tense, Word Order, Review Vocabulary
Type of Activity: Jigsaw Activity
Description:
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A Jigsaw activity is a more elaborate information gap activity
that can be done with several students. In a jigsaw activity each
student has one or a few pieces of the puzzle, and the students
must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture.
In this case, I used a set of pictures that told a story. This
activity provides motivation by giving students a reason to
communicate since they need their partner’s information to
finish the activity. Besides, it involves speaking and group work
which means that students get more time speaking and allows
students to work in a collaborative way since they have to
interact each other in order to reconstruct the story.
Procedure:
• Divide the class in groups of nine students.
• Give each member of the group a picture in jumbled order
and ask students to describe their pictures to their
classmates in the group. One important thing is that
students do not have to show each other their pictures.
• Finally, students decide on the content of the story and tell
the story in the correct order.
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C
D
DE LA EDUC
CACIÓN
Picture Sets
P
S
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Pictures taken from (Heyer, 34-35)
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CONCLUSIONS
As a conclusion, I can say it is essential that teachers pay a
lot of attention to the type of speaking activities that they give to
their students, that is, they must create interesting and
meaningful classroom speaking activities.
It is important to provide students with a variety of speaking
activities because a variety of speaking activities will enable
them to overcome different situations and it will help them keep
a high motivation.
Teachers must use appropriate strategies, so that English
classes become interesting and useful for the students.
Speaking
activities
improve
the
atmosphere
in
the
classroom; pair and group dynamics help to build a good
relationship between students and teachers.
Speaking activities are also very useful to identify students'
strengths and weaknesses.
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Finally, the most important aspect of getting students to
speak English is to give them as many opportunities as possible
to practice it in the classroom.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I recommend teachers to make use of these speaking
activities into their classrooms and I suggest them to be open
minded to overcome any difficulty, the change is in our hands in
order to make our classes more enjoyable in which students
can be more creative and express what they want to say.
I also suggest teachers to use group work because it
enables students to talk a lot and increases the time for each
student to practice the language. Group work helps students
avoid making a fun of somebody in front of a whole class, and
thus it makes students courageous to speak.
In short, whatever strategy is chosen by teachers in order to
get their students to speak English, teachers should be careful
not to correct students’ mistakes too frequently. Being
interrupted and corrected makes students hesitant and insecure
in their talking when they should really be practicing
communication.
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WORKS CITED
Abbs, Brian, Barker Chris, and Freebairn Ingrid. PostCards 2.
Pearson Education,
Inc. 2003.
Bailey M., Kathleen. Issues in Teaching Speaking Skills to Adult
ESOL Learners
18
Apr2008.
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/comings_ch
5.pdf
Chaney, A. L., and T. L Burk. Teaching Oral Comunication in
Grades K-8. Boston:
Allyn&Bacon, 1998.
Harmer J and Wesley A. How to Teach English. Longman
Limited, 1998.
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
London: Longman,
1991.
Heyer Sandra. Samples from True Stories in the News.
Longman, 1987.
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Moss,D., & Ross-Feldman,L. Second Language Acquisition in
Adults: From
Research
to
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2008
<www.cal.org/caela/digests/SLA.htm>
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Proyecto CRADLE.
2000.
Richards, C. Jack. Developing Classroom Speaking Activities:
From Theory to
Practice.
18
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2008.
<www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/developingclassroom-speaking-activities.pdf>
Schreiber James. Learning Theories: A Comparison for
Business Education. 4 Mar
2008.
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ories%20
Schreiber%20 Draft%2010%2024%2002.htm>
Watcyn-Jones Peter. Grammar Games and Activities for
Teachers. Penguin Books.
1995.
Watcyn-Jones Peter and Howard Deidre. Pair Work 1. New
Edition. Penguin English
2002.
‐ 67 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Williams M and R. L Burden. Psychology for Language
Teachers: A Social
Constructivist Approach. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Willis, Jane. A Framework for Task-Based Learning. Longman,
1996.
Colegio Experimental Manuel J Calle
5th Year Student
Poll
Please answer this questionnaire.
1. Do you like English?
Yes
No
2. Do you speak English in class?
Yes
No
3. Do you feel relaxed when you speak English in class?
Yes
No
4. Does your teacher motivate you to speak English?
Yes
No
5. Does the material help you to speak English?
Yes
No
6. Do you think you practice the speaking skills in class?
Yes
No
7. How do you practice more the oral skill?
Individually
In pairs
In groups
8. How are your English classes?
‐ 68 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
dynamic
boring
interesting
9. Why do not you speak English in class?
boring activities
lack of vocabulary
fear of making mistakes
poor pronunciation
poor grammar
limited speaking practice
Thanks for your cooperation!
‐ 69 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
ENGLISH TEACHERS
POLL
Please read each of the following questions and answer them according to your
reality and experience as a teacher.
1. Do you teach Speaking skills in the classroom?
Yes
No
2. Do you think your students like speaking English?
Yes
No
3. Do you motivate your students to speak English?
Yes
No
4. Do you involve your students in speaking activities?
Yes
No
5. Do you talk more than they do?
Yes
No
7. What language do your students use to communicate in class?
English
Spanish
8. What is the best way to practice the oral skill in class?
Individual
In pairs
In groups
9. Do you use extra material to help your students to communicate?
Yes
No
Thanks for your cooperation!
‐ 70 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
RESULTS
STUDENTS POLL
Do you like English?
25%
Yes
No
75%
Do you speak English in class ?
38%
Yes
No
62%
Do you feel relaxed when you speak
English in class?
20%
Yes
No
80%
‐ 71 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Does your teacher motivate you to speak
English?
11%
Yes
No
89%
Does the material help you to speak
English?
13%
Yes
No
87%
Do you think you practice the speaking
skills in class?
28%
Yes
No
72%
‐ 72 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
How do you practice more the oral skill?
25%
27%
Individually
In pairs
In groups
48%
How are your English classes?
23%
55%
dynamic
boring
22%
‐ 73 ‐ interesting
UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Why do not students speak English?
boring activities
poor grammar
16%
23%
fear of making mistakes
7%
poor pronunciation
19%
21%
lack of vocabulary
14%
limited speaking practice
RESULTS
TEACHERS’ POLL
Do you teach speaking skills in the
classrrom?
0
Yes
No
100%
‐ 74 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
Do you think your students like
speaking English?
42%
58%
Yes
No
Do you motivate your students to speak
English?
0
Yes
No
100%
‐ 75 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
0
Do you involve your students in
speaking activities?
Yes
No
100%
Do you talk more than they do?
15%
Yes
No
85%
What language your students use to
communicate in class?
42%
English
Spanish
86%
‐ 76 ‐ UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
What is the best way to practice the
oral skill in class?
1%
28%
Individual
In pairs
71%
In groups
Do you use extra material to help your
students to communicate?
29%
Yes
71%
‐ 77 ‐ No
UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA, LETRAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
‐ 78 ‐