How to improve your speaking

WHAT DOES SPEAKING ENTAIL?

Speaking in a foreign language has been considered the most challenging and
complex of the four language skills. That is because the speaking process
occurs in real time. The speaker should master in both micro skills concerning
speech elements such as the pronunciation of phonemes, correct placement
of and intonation, use of formal and informal expressions and non-linguistic
elements such as gestures and body language, facial expression and their
tremendous variation of interpretations cross culturally. This is because
speaking is often an anxiety-provoking issue.

Let’s look at the speaking process in more detail. It entails two aspects:

Speaking with fluency and speaking with accuracy.

We all know people who seem to have a special gift when communicating in a
second language: they speak fluently, without pausing, and can convey their
message efficiently. We say that these people are fluent.

Others do not seem to speak so fluently but pay more attention to saying
things with the correct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. That is, they
master the accuracy of the language when speaking.

Let’s review:

Fluency: the act of speaking in a clear and confident manner, without

stopping too much and communicating the intended message.

Accuracy: Speak with the correct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Lastly, it should not be forgotten that accuracy and fluency are not
contradictory, because they affect each other, and are mutually supporting.
Accuracy brings fluency and fluency brings further accuracy (Willerman, 2011).
Here are a few tips on how to improve them.
Advice to improve your fluency

• Learn English through your favourite subjects. Read about topics that
interest you, your hobbies, participate in forums, etc. You will learn without
realising it and enjoy the process.

• Practice as much as you can. A little bit everyday, at least. Read, write,
listen and talk. Learning will be more effective if you practice often and
regularly.

• Do not feel embarrassed when someone points out a mistake. Take it as an

opportunity to learn..

• Use compensation strategies when talking. If you feel that you are stuck
and cannot find the words to convey what you want to say, do not give up,
but find ways of dealing with the situation:

Use other words

Have a dictionary app and use it
Use mimics or drawing

But never give up. Remember that the main purpose is to keep the
communication going and for you to keep learning.

• Think in English. If you want to speak fluent English, you have to learn
to "think" in English. At first it will be hard, even strange, but soon it will
become a habit.

• Speak English as much as you can. With your friends, your family, your
colleagues. It is quite likely that they too are interested in improving
as much as you are.
Advice to improve your accuracy

A learner might be fluent (make their meaning clear) but not accurate (make a
lot of mistakes).

Language manipulation activities can help develop accuracy. These include

controlled practice, drills, the study and application of grammar rules, and
activities that help students to 'notice' their own mistakes. There is no way
around it: vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation need to be practised. Here
are a few tips to make that process a little bit more enjoyable and hopefully
efficient.

• Learn a few words every day. To increase your vocabulary, start with the
words that are most familiar to you but that you don’t know the meaning of.
Use them in order for them to become part of your working memory.

• Form sentences with each new word you learn, and most importantly, try to
make use of them speaking.

• Ask people to correct you. This is the most effective way of improving
your accuracy.

• Use what you have just learned, be it grammar, vocabulary, or

pronunciation. This will help you assimilate the new elements.

• Start writing a journal about your personal experiences in English. Write

a little every day and re-read it. If you prefer, you can record it on your
computer or on your mobile.

• Say new words and phrases aloud, both to help commit them to
memory and to practise pronunciation.

• Record yourself on tape to develop accuracy (e.g. giving a spontaneous

talk about yourself, what you have done this week, or on a specialised topic
you've been researching). Then, replay it and critically analyse the
recording. Note mistakes in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and
 hesitations. Afterwards, find out how to say what you wanted to say better.
You can use a program like Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

• Practise mimicking intonation patterns and varying sentence stress in the

target language to familiarise yourself with these aspects of speaking and to
develop your confidence.

• Use the phonetic script in a print or electronic dictionary to practise the

exact pronunciation of new phrases and words in the language you are
learning. Then, where available, compare your pronunciation with the
recorded pronunciations in an electronic dictionary or pronunciation
package.

WEBSITES TO PRACTICE YOUR SPEAKING

If you want to practice your accuracy, refer to the documents to improve your
grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

However, If you want to get some practice with native speakers here are some
ideas:

You can join online communities where you can exchange languages:

http:// Spoken or written exchange. It is a

www.openlanguageexchange.com/
http://www.language-
exchanges.org/es
user- friendly page and the registration
process is quick and easy.
This page is powered by Skype. It also
has a section that allows users to create
a blog.

http://www.sharedtalk.com/ Allows both text conversations and voice

conversations.

http://www.busuu.com/enc/help One of the most complete language

exchange with a more intuitive design
pages.
Other similar initiatives are:

http://www.conversationexchange.com/index.php?lg=es
http://www.babelyou.com/es
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/