TEACHING AND ASSESMENT OF THE MACRO SKILLS

MODULE 1:

The Hows and Whys of Teaching Speaking in the English

Classrooms
COMPETENCY # 1

MA. AIZA O. PENTECOSTES

Instructor
 OVERVIEW

This module will walk you through language teaching which covers the four macro skills needed for
communicating, speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In this particular lesson we will be discussing the
important concepts surrounding teaching speaking skill in an English classroom.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completing the module you are expected to;

 Define Speaking;
 Explain why developing speaking skills is important
 Determine the goals and techniques for teaching and speaking;
 Explain the strategies for developing speaking skills;

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Macro skills - Macro skills refer to the primary, key, main, and largest skill set relative to a particular
context. It is commonly referred to in English language. The four macro skills are
reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
Morphosyntax- the study of the morphological and syntactic properties of linguistic or grammatical
units.
Pragmalinguistic-  the study of features of language use related to speakers' knowledge of the
structure and expressive resources of the language itself rather than of the social
context.
Prosody- the patterns of stress and intonation in language.

CONTEXT

 Speaking is a complex process that involves simultaneous attention to content, vocabulary, discourse,
information structuring, morphosyntax, sound system, prosody, and pragmalinguistic features (Hinkel,
2006).
 It runs in a continuum from the immediate and most familiar to decontextualized and more formal
situations. It has also been observed that formal oral communication shares similar features with written
communication (CelceMurcia & Olshtain, 2000).
 Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal
symbols, in a variety of symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney, 1998)
 Why teach speaking?

Did you  Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued
 English language teachers have continued to teach speaking as just a repetition of
know that?
drills or memorization of dialogues.
Many language
learners regard
speaking ability
as a measure of
knowing a
No No
language. They
communication interaction
regard speaking
as the most
important skills No
they can acquire information
and they assess Exchange
their progress in
terms of their No No negation
accomplishments transaction
in spoken
communication.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTION # 1 (5 points)

What character should a good speaker possess? ________________________________________

(An answer sheet is provided at the end of the module)

RATIONALE OF TEACHING SPEAKING

Today’s world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve student’s communicative skills, only in
that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each
communicative circumstance.

What is “Teaching Speaking”?

Teaching speaking is to teach our learners to;

 Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

 Use word and sentence’ stress, intonation, patterns, and the rhythm of the second language.
 Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject
matter.
 Organize their thoughts into meaningful and logical sequence
 Use language as a means of expressing values and judgements.
  Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses which is called fluency. (Nunan, 2003)

STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTION # 2 (5 points)

What do students need to talk fluently?
1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________

(An answer sheet is provided at the end of the module)

How do we teach speaking?

(Strategies, Methods, and Techniques Defined)

Meaning/
Context Materials
Function
 Provide authentic practices that prepares the students for rea-life communication situations.
 Develop the student’s ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are
appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable (that is, comprehensible) pronunciation.
 Teach vocabulary
 Teach grammar
 Teach pronunciation/intonation
Equip them with what they need to speak confidently and fluently.

Get Real!
Teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication,
authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language. This can occur when students
collaborate in groups to achieve a goal tot to complete a task.

Language experts have organized oral skills into four distinctive types.

TYPES OF CLASS ACTIVITIES:

Drills and Linguistically structured Performance activities

activities
Student preapres himself
Teacher provide a particular beforehand and delivers a message
structure and the students practice it
to the group.
by repeating it.
Eg. Answering a phone call Eg. Speech delivery

Participation activities Observation activities

Students participate in communicative Students observe something, writes
activity in natural setting a brief summary and present his
Eg. Discussion findings in the class
 Other classroom activities that promotes speaking

1. Discussion -A discussion can be held for various reasons, it may aim to arrive at conclusions,
share an idea about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups. It is essential that
the purpose of the discussion is set by the teacher beforehand.
2. Role Play - The teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they
think or feel.
3. Simulations - Simulations are very similar to role play but what makes simulations
different than role-play is that they are more elaborate. For instance, a student act as a
president and wears a suit to deliver his speech. Such activities motivate the students and
increase the self-confidence of hesitant students.
4. Information Gap- This is a pair activity wherein the students are able to exchange
information. Each can share the information they have that their partners don’t. These
activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target
language.
5. Brainstorming - on a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending
on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate
ideas quickly and freely.
6. Story telling- Students can briefly summarize a story or a tale they heard from
somebody beforehand.
They may create/imagine their own stories to tell their classmates.
Story telling fosters creative thinking. It also helps students’ express ideas in a format of
beginning, developing, ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have.
7. Interviews- Students can conduct interviews on selected topic with various people.
Conducting interview gives students opportunity to practice their speaking ability not only in
class but also outside and help them become socialized.
8. Story Completion- This is a very engaging activity wherein the teacher starts to tell a story
then lets the students narrate from the point where the teacher or the previous students
stop. This gives the students a freedom to add characters, change the plot and become for
creative and imaginative.
9. Picture narrating- Students are asked to tell a story taking place in the sequential pictures
by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a rubric.
10. Speeches - Students are asked to prepare an elaborate speech about a certain topic or
subject. STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTION #3 (5 points)

Why do teachers need to focus on the speaking skills of the students? _____________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

(Answer sheet is provided at the end of the module)

 SUMMARY/ HIGHLIGHTS

 Many students equate speaking a language as knowing the language, therefore students tend to think that them
knowing the language is enough to be able to speak it fluently.
 Speaking means conveying the message through the mouth. This skill is also called “oral skill” or “communicative
skill”.
 To develop this skill, the student needs intensive practice. Speaking practice is usually done in pair or group
work.
 Providing authentic, real-life and meaningful classroom activities effectively develops students speaking skills.

EVALUATION (10 points)

1. What type of speaking activity is this? Student A: You are boarding the bus. Ask the driver to take your hotel.
Student B: You stop to pick up a business traveler. Help the traveler find the right route.
a. discussion
b. simulation
c. role-play
2. Which role is the teacher playing here? The teacher listens to the students having a group discussion, and
takes note of the sample language to go over later.
a. learner
b. mentor
c. assessor
3. When setting up a group discussion in the classroom it is a good idea to
a. vary group sizes from time to time
b. keep friends together whenever possible
c. choose a narrowed down topic for the students
4. ______ is the flow and efficiency with which you express your ideas.
a. accuracy
b. fluency
c. appropriateness
5- 10. Being culturally appropriate in communicating means
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES
Celce, Murcia M. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed) USA, heinle & Heinle. 2001
Padilla, Mely M, et. Al. Speech for Effective Communication
www.teachingenglish.org.uk
www.study.com
TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT OF THE MACRO SKILLS
ANSWER SHEET #1

Name of Student:
Score:
Course and Year:
Contact Number: Date:

STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (10%)

SAQ # 1 (5 points)

What characters should a good speaker possess?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

SAQ #2 (5 points)

What do students need to talk fluently?

1. _____________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________

5. _____________________________________________________

SAQ # 3 (5 points)

Why do teachers need to focus on the speaking skills of the students? _____________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

EVALUATION (20%)

1. What type of speaking activity is this? Student A: You are boarding the bus. Ask the driver to take your hotel.
Student B: You stop to pick up a business traveler. Help the traveler find the right route.
a. discussion
b. simulation
c. role-play
2. Which role is the teacher playing here? The teacher listens to the students having a group discussion, and
takes note of the sample language to go over later.
a. learner
 b. mentor
c. assessor
3. When setting up a group discussion in the classroom it is a good idea to
a. vary group sizes from time to time
b. keep friends together whenever possible
c. choose a narrowed down topic for the students
4. ______ is the flow and efficiency with which you express your ideas.
a. accuracy
b. fluency
c. appropriateness

5- 10. Being culturally appropriate in communicating means

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________