DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR SPEAKING SKILLS

TRENDS IN
MATERIALS FOR
SPEAKING SKILLS
Trends in material design progress in parallel
with trends in methodology like the activities in
course books are precisely where principle and
practice are brought together.

Materials published have been a clear

indicators of how the key principles of
communicative approaches are incorporated
into speaking activities.
 The classroom environment is often not
heterogeneous but mixed to some degree in
linguistic proficiency, interpersonal skill, age,
academic background, gender, personality,
language aptitude, learning style and other
factors.
One major concern of language
materials is the capability of catering
for the diversity of needs which exists
in most language classrooms.
 Examples of
Materials for
Speaking Skills
STREAMLINE ENGLISH

A Nice Flat: students are asked to describe a

room from a given picture. There is no freedom
of choice and hardly any peer interaction
involved in this task since all information comes
directly from the same visual. Every learner
performs the same role.
INTERCHANGE

Same or Different?: students are provided

with several sets of pictures depicting different
object items and invited to discover how these
items differ by asking each other questions.
This activity utilizes the decoding and
encoding of information gaps.
LANGUAGE IN USE

Talking about Places: invites learners to look

at a picture of 5 different doors and imagine
the rooms behind them. Besides providing
freedom of choice, this material takes learners
beyond the level of information gap and
opinion gap.
These examples are found in many course books
which demonstrates a shift from mechanical
rehearsal of language structure to more interactive
exchange of factual information and another shift
from interactive exchange of factual information to
more dynamic processing of personal opinions.
 A Proposed
Framework For
Developing Materials
For Spoken Language
5 recommendations/guidelines in developing
materials for Speaking Skills

•Conceptualizing learner’s needs

•Translating needs to subject matter and
communication situations
•Identifying verbal communication strategies
•Utilizing verbal sources from real life
•Designing skill-acquiring activities
Additional techniques for teaching Speaking Skills
1. ESL teachers should create a classroom
environment where students can have real life
communication, authentic activities and
meaningful tasks.
2. Conducting group discussion in an effective way
3. Role play
4. Story telling
5. Students can conduct interviews with various
people
THANK YOU