Concepts for Teaching Speaking in L2 Language Classroom获奖科研报告

ConceptsforTeachingSpeakinginL2LanguageClassroom获奖科研报告

Abstract：Teachersmaybepresentingvariousspeakingactivitiesintheclassroom，whilesuchactivitiesmayamountto‘doingspeaking’ratherthan‘teachingspeaking’.Thisarticlereviewssomeimportantconceptsforteachingspeakingfromatheoreticalperspective，includingthedirectandindirectapproach，discourseanalysisandinterculturalconsiderations，basedonwhichteacherscanplantasksandactivitiesthataddressmethodsofteachingspeakingsoastoscaffoldstudents’learning.

KeyWords：Speaking；discourse；cooperativeprinciple；intercultural

Introduction

Whileteachersmaybepresentingvariousspeakingactivitiesintheclassroom，suchactivitiesmayamountto‘doingspeaking’ratherthan‘teachingspeaking’.AccordingtoNunan（1989），twomajorcurrentshavearouseddebatesontheteachingoforalskills：thefirstisonthedevelopmentforaccurateproductionofformswhilethesecondfocusesonachievingfluencythroughcommunication.Accuracypracticefocusesonthelanguageelements，suchasphonology，grammar，structureanddiscourse；whilefluencyfocusesmuchonlearners’usingnewitemsinmorenaturalcommunications（Brown，2000）.InordertoacquireaccuracyandfluencyinL2languageteaching，teachersneedtohaveacomprehensiveconsiderationofcomekeyconceptsregardingteachingspeaking.

Direct&Indirectapproach

Twomajorapproachescategorizedas‘direct’and‘indirect’relatetotheapproachesandactivitiessupportingthedevelopmentoforalskills.Directapproach，focusingonform，dealswithspecificelementsofcommunicativeability；whileindirectapproach，emphasizinguse，focusesontasksthatmediatethroughlanguage，negotiationandthesharingofinformationtoenhancelearnerautonomy（Burns，1998）.Accordingtodirectapproach，teachersmightincludepatterndrillsinthespeakingclassroomtodevelopenablingskillsthatcanfurtherdevelopstudents’awareness.Inindirectapproach，some“real-life”（Nunan，1989）activitiesmightbepracticedinspeakingclassroom，suchasdiscussionandroleplay.

Discourseperspective

Althoughthesetwoapproachesconstituteaconceptualmap，moreextensiveresearcheshavebeencarriedouttoviewtheteachingofspeakingfromadiscourseperspective.Someworkexaminestheimplementationofspeakingtasksintermsoffluency，andaccuracy.Pre-taskplanningwouldhelplearners’oralproductionwithregardtofluencyinparticular.Theyalsofindthatonlineplanninghaspositiveeffectonaccuracyandteachersaresupposedtoplaytheroleofprovidingscaffoldingtohelplearnersdeveloptheiroralcompetence.Thereareagrowingnumberofpeopleholdingtheideathatconversationanalysiswouldbeaneffectivemeansofunderstandingandimprovingspeakinginpedagogicalcontext.Burns（2001）attemptstoshowshowdiscourse-basedconceptionsoflanguagecanbeaframeworkoftheteachingofspeakingandarguesthattheapproachbasedondiscoursecouldbeanessentialdirectionforthefuturelanguageteachingpedagogy.

Cooperativeprinciple

Pragmatics，thestudyoflanguageincommunication，examinesthemeaningascommunicatedbythespeakerandinterpretedbythelistener；itisthestudyoftherelationshipbetweenlinguisticformsandtheusersoftheform（Brown&Yule，2000）i.e.therelationshipbetweensentencesandcontextsandsituationtheyareused.Theimportanceofpragmatictheoriesinlanguagelearningandteachingliedintwoaspects：thedivergenceoffunctionandformrequiresteachingtoextendform；thelinkingofformtofunctionhelpslearnerstoexplorewithinadiscourse（Cook，1989）.

Itisproposedthatallspeakers，nomatterwhattheirculturalbackgroundis，adheretotheprinciplethatgovernstheconversation--co-operativeprincipletermedbyGrice.Weallassumethattheparticipantsofaconversationwillcooperatewitheachotherwhentheyareinvolvedin.Thecooperativeprincipleisbasedonfourconversationalmaxims：themaximofquality，themaximofquantity，themaximofrelationandthemaximofmanner..

Interculturalcharacteristics

Besidesthelanguageelements，manyinterculturalcharacteristicsalsoneedtobeconsideredinteachingspeaking.Culture，anall-pervasivefactor，isdeeplyembeddedinlanguagebutnoteasilytobenoticed，analyzedandtaught（Crozet&Liddicoat，1999）.EvenfortheEnglishlearnerswhosecommunicativecompetenceisdistinguishing，culturalfactorswillprobablyrestricttheircommunicationandsetupbarriersfortheirunderstandingoftheoutsideworld.Asaresult，itisurgentforteacherstomergecultureintocommunicativeclassroomsoastobridgelanguageandculture.Meanwhile，languageteachersneedtogetridofthemisrepresentedforeignculturesprovidedbystereotypesandconstructedasmonolithicratherthanadynamicentitysoastofollowanewperspective（Guest，2002）.

Conclusion

Aspragmaticsinterprethowpeoplecreatemeaningandmakesenseofwhatissaidinparticularcircumstances（Cook，1989），teachersaresupposedtobeawarethatlanguageteachingmustgobeyondtheteachingofform.Inclassroompractice，teachersshouldprovidemoreauthenticmaterialstostudentsinordertoenhancetheirunderstandingofwhatitwouldbelikeinrealsituationandhowtobehaveandtalkappropriatelyaswellasinformatively.

References

[1].Brown，G.&Yule，G.（2000）.Teachingthespokenlan