UNIT 7

ORAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE:

THE COMPLEXITY OF UNDERSTANDING THE GENERAL MEANING WITHIN AN
ORAL INTERACTION:
FROM HEARING TO ACTIVE, SELECTIVE AURAL UNDERSTANDING;
SPEAKING:
FROM IMITATION TO FREE PRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION

THE

COMPLEXITY

OF

UNDERSTANDING

THE

GENERAL

MEANING

WITHIN AN ORAL INTERACTION

FROM HEARING TO ACTIVE AND SELECTIVE LISTENING

Intensive Listening.

Extensive Listening.

Planning a Listening Activity.

SPEAKING: FROM IMITATIVE REPETITION TO FREE PRODUCTION

Introducing the Word

Understanding the Meaning and Function of the Word

Controlled Practice of the Word

Free Production of the Word

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION.
For many hundreds of thousands of years human language was transmitted and
developed entirely as spoken means of communication.
Using a foreign language effectively requires having a number of different abilities.
Linguists have identified four major abilities, which are called linguistic skills. They
are: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
When someone learns a language, he has to develop all four skills: reading and listening
as receptive/passive and writing/speaking as productive /active. The teaching of four
skills should be interrelated in order to students have the opportunity to practice all
four in any one lesson wherever is possible.
I will start by looking at the development of receptive skills as that are the first to
develop, because the opportunity to make mistakes is reduced.
This is a logical starting point, as both first and second language learners discover the
meaning of words aurally before they produce them themselves.
This unit is about oral foreign language, in other words: speech. For this reason we are
going to concentrate on two of the above skills: listening and speaking.
THE COMPLEXITY OF UNDERSTANDING THE GENERAL MEANING WITHIN AN
ORAL INTERACTION
When we speak, even native speakers may not be able to understand all of the words
that are used. This means that what we actually do is to just extract the general
meaning.
We will take into account to just get the general meaning:
Vocabulary
Grammar
Concentration levels
Ability to deduce meaning.
Confidence
The teacher must assure that the students are given as many communicative tasks as
possible in order for them to have the access to the chance to practise.
It is only through practice that they will be able to overcome the difficulties that can
arise when trying to follow a conversation. This is where skimming activities are used.
Skimming activities are designed in order to extract global information, and would be
used while listening.

FROM HEARING TO ACTIVE AND SELECTIVE LISTENING.

Although the first skill that a learner practises is listening, this is the most difficult
for the student because he spends time decipher and unknown word missing the
followings, affecting his overall comprehension of the message. This is at the heart of
the differences between hearing and listening.
Hearing is the act of recognising words and sentences that carry a certain meaning.
Listening implies not only understanding the meaning of words and sentences, but also
understanding how they relate to all that has been said before; recognising the
function of these sentences in an interaction, in other words, their communicative
value. We can say that hearing is passive and that listening is active.
There are some stages in the listening process:

Identify the phonic and syntactic patterning: recognise the familiar

elements.

Identify and select them without retention: listening for pleasure with
no questions to be answered.

Identification and guided selection with short term retention: they are
given a prior indication of what they are going to listen.

Identification and selection with long term retention demonstrate their

comprehension developing activities which require the use of the material
previously learnt.

INTENSIVE LISTENING.
This is focused on the students ability to understand specific points in a text.
There are many techniques that may be employed here, but one of the most common is
that of drills. A drill is when the teacher makes the students repeat certain parts of
the sentence or words so that they can practice the stress, rhythm and intonation.
This can be done by the teacher using either front chaining or back chaining. This is
where the sentence is broken down into component parts; which the students repeat
back to the teacher a bit at a time.
This is not genuine and the student is not hearing the words correctly or naturally, but
that allows both the students and the teacher to focus on a particular element of
language.

EXTENSIVE LISTENING.
Here the student is presented with language that he may have come across previously
in the controlled atmosphere of the classroom (e.g. course books) in a much more
natural way, through the use of tapes with native speakers. The language may be a
little more natural than a drill, but it is still not authentic as the actors who speak on
the tapes speak much slower than an English person would do in a real conversation. As
they will have had exposure to a major part of the language they should be able to
deduce the meaning of new words through the context.
Let us now look at some of the factors that we should take into account when we are
planning a listening activity.
PLANNING A LISTENING ACTIVITY
The first thing to take into consideration is whether or not the listening activity is
going to be part of a language lesson, or if it is going to constitute a language lesson in
itself. It is preferable if the listening activity is integrated with the other skills
because a whole session on listening does not really give the students the opportunity
to practise the production of the vocabulary that they will hear.
The level of the class clearly should be taken into consideration, as well as their level
of maturity.
Within this area we have also to think about the value of the task. Does it fit in with
the teaching programme? Does it clearly focus on the skills that we have been
teaching? Is it interesting?
Once you have decided on the material that you are going to use, you have to make
sure that you are prepared.
1. Listen to the tape.
2. Check the tape recorder.
3. Think about the supplement materials.
4. Think about how to arrange the classroom.
5. Think about how to organise the activities.

Basically, you will probably need to have three different types of activity:

Pre-listening. To arouse the students interest in the tape that they are going
to hear, as well as preparing them mentally for the tasks that they will have to
perform.
Here, the teacher must to personalize a context, elicit previous knowledge,
provide motivation and interest, build up a picture of useful background
knowledge and introduce useful words, structures and concepts.

During-listening: will probably use two forms of activity:

Listening for global understanding (Skimming)
E.g. True/false questions to answer, to fill in items that they hear on
the tape on a drawing that they are given in advance.
Listening for specific understanding (Scanning)
E.g. Put in order a series if pictures that follow the tape.
Other activities that may be used, according to the level of the student
are:
Gap filling.
Labelling.
Correcting errors in a text related to the tape.
Drawing a picture.

Post-listening: can be used as a means of checking the student understands of

the tape, correcting the task performed and extending the students knowledge.
E.g. to work together to complete a chart that asks for information contained
on the tape, to continue from where the tape left off as a form of role play...

Other skills could be incorporated here like worksheet practising the writing and
reading skills.
Through these kinds of follow up activities the teacher can not only revise and
reinforce key vocabulary/structures, but he also has the opportunity to practise
pronunciation, stress, rhythm, etc. with the students.
The next topic that is to be discussed in this unit will be speaking.

SPEAKING: FROM IMITATIVE REPETITION TO AUTONOMOUS PRODUCTION.

When we first start to talk in our native language, we do so by imitating what
our parents and those around us say. The words that a child will first use are also the
words that can be the most useful to him. This is clearly a defence mechanism to
enable the child to be capable of surviving.
When we learn a foreign language, again we would begin by imitating what we
hear. When we learn a new word in the foreign language, we can translate it so that we
know what it means. This is different to when we learnt our native tongue, because
every time that we learnt a word, we had to try to discover what it meant.
What we need to take into account in the classroom, is that it is desirable for
the students to have the chance to move from imitating the word to producing it in as
short a time as possible. For this reason, the teacher has to plan a lesson so that the
students can learn a word, know how it is written and pronounced, know how it is used
in a sentence, and know how to make sure that the students have the confidence to
produce it naturally in a communicative situation.
The stages that a teacher should follow when he is introducing a child to a new part of
language are the following:
Introducing the word
Understanding the meaning and function of the word
Controlled practice of the word
Free production of the word
Let us begin with the introduction of the word:

INTRODUCING THE WORD

There is little value in teaching a new word or phrase that is completely isolated.
The teacher must build up some kind of context, either through games, drawings, a
story, etc. For this reason a lead-in stage (otherwise known as a warm-up) can be used.
This stage should be fun and interactive.
The kinds of activities that could be used include the following:

ELICITING:
Here the teacher tries to encourage the students to produce the word without
it being pre-taught.
BRAINSTORMING:
Here the teacher will encourage the students to shout out as many examples as
they know of a given topic.
FLASHCARDS OR REALIA:
The teacher can bring in pictures that relate to the items that he wishes to
teach, or he may bring in real examples of the items themselves.
UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OR FUNCTION OF A WORD
The main objective is that the student can understand the meaning and the function
of the item being taught, as well as the spelling, the pronunciation and the appropriate
usage.
We may wish to do this under a linguistic setting. Here the new word or phrase is
presented to the students by the teacher, within the linguistic context that the
language is used, e.g. the words or phrases surrounding it.
T
The other way that the teacher may choose is the Situational Setting. Here the
students are introduced to the new language in accordance with the situation that it is
normally found in, for example: how much is it? Being taught in the context of
shopping. This is one of the preferred methods.
Other examples of exercises that can be done at this stage include:

PRODUCE A MODEL SENTENCE:

Here the students are given the word or phrase in connection with an
example that they can refer back to at will in order to have a point of reference when
doubts occur.
CHECK UNDERSTANDING:
This can be done by asking for examples, getting students to place the word
in context, etc.

Once we are content that the students have a rudimentary knowledge of the chosen
language item we can move onto the next stage:
CONTROLLED PRACTICE OF THE WORD
This is self explanatory. The students need to practice the language so that they feel
comfortable with it, and the teacher is satisfied that they are aware of its
significance.
The teacher will begin by showing the pronunciation of the word to the students. Then
Choral and Individual Repetition can be used to test the students ability to produce
the sound. Choral Repetition is the imitation of the sound by the whole class together,
and then the teacher can select several students to produce the sound individually.
Once the teacher is satisfied that the students can produce the sound correctly, he
can move onto giving the students practice in its use. They should be given a task that
will encourage them to produce the word or phrase as naturally as possible.
At this stage it is important that the students have a reasonably high level of
accuracy. If mistakes are allowed to continue at this point then they will be harder to
overcome later. This means that the teacher has to carefully monitor the students,
and be prepared to correct where necessary.

FREE PRODUCTION OF THE WORD

This is the ultimate aim of the teacher. The students must be able to use the language
freely, accurately and appropriately, with the correct pronunciation. If the students
cannot do this, then they havent learnt the word.
Often, students who perform well in the guided practice have problems when they
have to produce the words naturally. This may be a result of lack of confidence, but
whatever the reason, the teacher must be aware that it can happen, and be prepared
to encourage and motivate students who have problems at this stage, designing
activities that cover as wide a range of speech functions as possible.
Activities that could be used include:

GETTING STUDENTS TO SHARE EXPERIENCES:

Here the students work in pairs or groups to talk about themselves and things
that they do or have done.
TALKING ABOUT LIKES AND DISLIKES
The students have to compare their personal preferences.
FINDING OUT ABOUT EACH OTHER.
The students are encouraged to find out about each other by asking a series of
questions.
STORY CONSTRUCTION.
The students work in groups to invent or complete a story on a subject that is
chosen by the teacher. This is a creative activity that has something concrete at the
end of it - the students are able to see the fruits of their labours.
SIMULATION AND ROLE PLAY.
The students are placed in groups and have to act out a given situation. The
advantage of this activity is that the students have the chance to use the language as
naturally as is possible in a classroom.
Whatever activity the teacher chooses, it must be designed to fit in with not only that
which he has taught, but it should also be at a level that is attainable for the
students, so that they can perform it successfully. This will lead to a greater
confidence and so to a greater level of motivation.

CONCLUSION
And to sum up, in this unit we have dealt with the oral skills (listening and
speaking), which, in the Foreign Language Area curriculum, are stressed over the
written skills (reading and writing) in order to develop the communicative competence.
Secondly we have given some guidelines in order to make a proper planning and also we
have suggest some of the activities we can do when teaching both skills to increase
the students motivation and confidence to communicate himself in a free way.
REFERENCES
1. The information we will use has been taken from a variety of sources, including
Second Language Acquisition by Ellis and works by Baugh and Cable.
2. Cf. Ogden, Charles K. (1934), The System of Basic English , New York: Harcourt,
Brace & Co., and Templer, Bill (2005), Towards a Peoples English: Back to
BASIC in EIL, Humanising Language Teaching September 2005.
3. ^ Cf. van Ek, J.A. / Alexander, L.G. (1980), Threshold Level English, Oxford:
4.

5.

6.

7.

Pergamon.
^ Cf. Grzega, Joachim (2005), "Reflection on Concepts of English for Europe:
British English, American English, Euro-English, Global English", Journal for
EuroLinguistiX 2: 44-64, and Grzega, Joachim (2005), Towards Global English
via Basic Global English (BGE): Socioeconomic and Pedagogic Ideas for a
European and Global Language (with Didactic Examples for Native Speakers of
German), Journal for EuroLinguistiX 2: 65-164.
^ Cf. Quirk, Randolph (1981), International Communication and the Concept of
Nuclear English, in: Smith, Larry E. (ed.), English for Cross-Cultural
Communication, 151-165, London: Macmillan, and Stein, Gabriele (1979), Nuclear
English: Reflections on the Structure of Its Vocabulary, Poetica (Tokyo) 10:
64-76.
^ Sources for this are found at the university websites. Given that there are
thousands of tertiary institutions that accept one or more of these for
entrance requirements, they simply can not be footnoted individually here
^ "TESOL Certificates. Teaching or Deceiving the EFL/ESL Teaching
Profession" by Tom Davidson, March 2008 volume 2 TESOL Law Journal