Speaking Skills

Speech is a gift of nature; it

distinguishes man from other
living beings.

‘the thinking human being not able

to express himself stands at the
same level as those who cannot
think’- Pericles
 What is Speaking?

• The process of building and sharing meaning through the use

of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a variety of contexts

• Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning

that involves producing, receiving and processing information

• The action of conveying information or expressing one's

feelings in speech.
 Speaking Effectively

Speaking in such a way that your message is clearly heard and,

acted upon.

Speaking is one of your

most important possessions
to getting yourself, your
company and your ideas
into the marketplace.

The more persuasive and

effective your speaking
skills the more effective
you will be.
 Aspects of Effective Speaking

Choice of Words
• It is vital to choose the words carefully, especially you are making an important point.
• Your audience
• Shorter sentences
• Simple Sentences

Voice
• Volume *Clarity *Variety
• Pitch *Good Pronunciation

Body Language
 Sounds in English

There are 44 sounds in English

Consonant •/p/ as in pen

Sounds •/b/ as in ball
•/k/ as in cat
24
Vowel
•Pure Vowels: 12
Sounds •Diphthongs: 08
20
http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/interactive_phonemic_chart/
Sub-skills of Speaking

1. Pronunciation

2. Stress

3. Intonation
1. Pronunciation

/prəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/

Engineering

/ɛndʒɪˈnɪərɪŋ/
 Stress

Stress in linguistics is the emphasis that is given to a

particular word in a sentence or syllable in a word.

For exa: Communication /kəˌmjunəˈkeɪʃn/

I aspire to be a good engineer.

My communication skills are excellent.

There are two types of stress:

Word Stress
Here, the prominence is given on
the syllable of a word

Engineer
/ɛndʒɪˈnɪə/
To Stress Not to stress
Content words Function words
Nouns, verbs, adjective & adverbs Articles, prepositions, pronouns,
conjunctions

Negative words Possessive adjectives

(not, never, neither etc)
modals (should, could, might, etc., but
not will or can)
yes, no, and auxiliary verbs in short
answers (e.g., Yes, she does.)
(my, your, his, her, etc.)
Be verb (am, is, are, was, were, etc.)
Auxiliary verbs (be, have, do in two-part
verbs or questions)

quantifiers the modals will and be going to

(some, many, no, all, one, two, three, etc.
)

Wh-Question words the modal can

(what, where, when, why, how, etc.)
 Change in stress changes the meaning of the utterance

For example:
1. I never told this, somebody else may have
1.I never told you she stole my heart
2. That information never came
2.I never told you she stole my heart
3. I never explicitly said it
3.I never told you she stole my heart

4. I told somebody else

4.I never told you she stole my heart

5. Someone stole it not her specifically

5.I never told you she stole my heart

6.I never told you she stole my heart 6. I never said she stole it, she may have tossed
it.
7. She may have stolen someone else’s heart
7.I never told you she stole my heart

8.I never told you she stole my heart 8. She may have stolen something else
 Tone Group

A group of words forming a distinctive unit in an utterance

 Intonation

Variation in speech: It is primarily a matter of variation in

the pitch level of the voice

It describes how the voice rises and falls in speech

In addition, the voice tends to rise, fall or remain flat depending

on the meaning or feeling we want to convey (surprise, anger,
interest, boredom, gratitude, etc.).

For exa: That's just what I ↘need! Are you ➚mad?

 Falling (➘) Rising (➚)

Rising-Falling Falling-Rising
(➚➘) (➘➚)
 The pitch of the voice falls at the
Falling (➘)
end of the sentence.

When to use?

Statements I would like to work for ↘Microsoft.

Commands Show me what you’ve ↘written.

Wh- questions Where do you ↘work?

Exclamations What a resourceful ↘talk!

 The pitch of the voice rises
Rising (➚) at the end of a sentence.

Yes/no Questions May I borrow your ➚dictionary?

Do you speak ➚ English?

Questions tags that show We've met already, ➚haven't we?

uncertainty and require an
answer You're a new student ➚aren't you?
Rising-Falling (➚➘)

The intonation rises and then falls.

Choices Lists Unfinished thoughts Conditional sentences

Does he speak ➚German or ➘French?

I like ➚Math, Physics, Mechanics and ➘Chemistry.

Do you like my poster presentation? Well, the ➚title is ➘ nice…

If he ➚calls, ask him to leave a ➘message.

Falling-Rising (➘➚)

The voice falls and rises usually within one word.

Hesitation/reluctance Politeness-Doubt-Uncertainty

You didn't see him on Monday? I don't quite ➘re➚member ...

Should we ➘cop➚y the list?