The Press Newspaper. How do you teach speaking?

Ceri Jones on TEACHING SPEAKING ONLINE page 10

Jade Blue on USING ROLE MODELS IN ELT page 8

The Press HOW DO YOU

TEACH SPEAKING? The ability to speak confidently and authentically is an essential life skill. In fact, many students measure their progress in language learning through their confidence to speak spontaneously in ‘real world’ situations. Do language educators put the same importance on teaching this skill? How do teachers feel about teaching it?

We reveal the results of our global teaching speaking survey on page 6.

“ We cannot say we know English if w e cannot speak it.”

Teacher, Indonesia

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Editor's Note Caroline Thiriau

As a publisher, my job is incredibly varied, from choosing designs for book covers to preparing financials for a new publication to researching the latest EdTech developments and developing new materials with authors. However, by far my favourite part of the job is the time I spend with teachers and students hearing about their experiences teaching and learning English. During recent research sessions, I was really struck by the deep insecurity students feel about speaking and how they measure their progress in English through their speaking ability, regardless of other forms of assessment.

So, we felt this was an interesting area to explore further. Our aim with this paper is to provide a selection of research insights, expert tips and ideas to inspire you to help learners improve this critical skill.

Highlights

5 FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL SPEAKING PRACTICE Caroline Thiriau

Associate Business Unit Director

Global Teaching Speaking Survey page 6 Discover how educators around the world approach teaching speaking with the results from our global survey.

What scares you more? Mark Ibbotson page 5 Mark shares a relatable personal experience where his fear of speaking held him back.

Current insights into motivation and speaking Dr Claire Dembry page 9 Find out all about the latest research into student motivation and speaking, and how you can bring the findings into your teaching.

Variety is the key to motivation James Freeman page 11 James suggests a number of activities to create a safe, encouraging environment and get your students speaking confidently.

“Students need continuous discussion, group collaboration, critical thinking and to voice their opinion.”

Teacher, Egypt

Many students measure their progress in English through their confidence and ability to speak spontaneously when faced with situations in the ‘real world’, such as, helping a tourist with directions in the street or greeting a colleague from overseas at work.

If the student struggles, they feel that they have made no progress in English despite studying for many years.

In the classroom, however, it can be difficult to get students to actively participate in the speaking practice activities which are designed to prepare them for such situations. So, as educators we are faced with a paradox: students measure their own progress through their comfort level/ability to speak but can be reluctant to do the very thing that will help them improve – speaking practice.

Typical blockers for participation in speaking practice in class are factors like fear of judgement from peers and/or the teacher, lack of confidence, embarrassment, and inability to formulate ideas in English on the spot.

What can we do to help students overcome this anxiety?

Research tells us that students learn better in contexts where they feel confident, motivated, supported and able to experiment with language (Dornyei, 2005). So, in order to give students the best chance of success in developing their speaking, we need to create safe speaking environments. We can do this by combining five key elements:

1 Time How often do we find that speaking practice has to be squeezed in at the end of the lesson, or in between other parts of the syllabus which have

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Five tips from five experts LOUISA KIWANA

Senior Product Marketing Manager In an evening of conversation at a Cambridge college, we caught up with some ELT teaching experts to get their top tips for creating a safe environment when teaching speaking.

1 Ben Goldstein: Champion conversation in the classroom “You don’t have to stick to prescribed speaking tasks. Allow time for more chat, informal conversation and incidental learning, students will feel safer in such an environment.”

2 Ceri Jones: Speak through scaffolding “Encourage learners to build on each other’s development in order to get the right words out by working through various phrases until they crack it. And when do they do, celebrate these moments of breakthrough.”

3 Kathryn O’Dell: Make speaking activities felt and not forced

taken priority, such as grammar, vocabulary, reading skills? The result can be that speaking practice is rushed with little time for students to formulate and express their ideas or receive feedback. Is it possible to dedicate more time to speaking in the syllabus and in the classroom?

Research tells us that students learn better in contexts where they feel confident, motivated, supported and able to experiment with language.

2 Immersive speaking activities Cognitively-engaging, collaborative tasks involving problem-solving, decision-making and/or the creation of a piece of work, in which every student contributes to the final result, can improve learner engagement and confidence. In a language learning context, speaking activities with these traits can relieve some of the anxiety around speaking practice because producing the language is not an end in itself but, rather, the ‘tool’ used to achieve the collaborative goal.

3 Engaging, relevant topics We all know that it is difficult to formulate ideas about a topic you know or care little about.

Engagement with speaking activities is more likely when materials connect to the learner’s experiences and background knowledge (Meltzer

& Hamann, 2004). However, it can be difficult to find topics that suit our classes, especially when students have such wide-ranging interests. Can we flip this around and involve the students more in selecting topics for discussion?

4 Positive peer interaction Classes are rarely homogenous in terms of level and personality types, which is what makes them fun to teach, right? For students, peer pressure can be a cause for anxiety. For example, students may feel embarrassed to speak in front of stronger students. Conversely stronger students may not see the value in practising speaking with weaker students. Can we turn peer pressure into peer support and create an atmosphere in which learners encourage each other, where they feel comfortable trying out new language, experimenting with new forms and making mistakes? What can we do to foster a learning environment where classmates respect and value each other’s contribution, and create a cohesive learner group?

5 Supportive feedback: If students are reluctant to speak because they are afraid of looking or sounding silly, of making mistakes and of being judged, can we make feedback less about error correction and more about support and encouragement? Can we take the fear out of feedback by creating environments in which experimenting with language is encouraged and ‘errors’ are opportunities to learn?

In this paper, we will be exploring some of these topics and more.

More tips and insights on creating safe speaking environments can be found on the World of Better Learning: cambridge.org/safespeaking

“If students feel like talking, they’re going to speak. Create a balance between spontaneous activities and time for preparation, all supported by interesting and relevant topics that they’ll naturally want to talk about.”

4 Leslie Hendra: Get them absorbed in the task, not the talking “Pair and group work helps to normalise the sound of talking in the classroom so students don't feel like they're the focus of attention. Before you know it, they’re throwing themselves into activities and talking without even knowing it, not worried about how they sound to their peers or teachers.”

5 Mark Ibbotson: Maintain a calm, relaxed and judgement free atmosphere “Create a relaxed friendly atmosphere and remind learners that the class is a no judgement zone. Simply reminding students of this relaxes them and encourages compassion in the classroom.”

The full recording of the event can be viewed at: cambridge.org/ safespeaking

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MULTILINGUALISM ON THE PITCH: In conversation with Petr Čech Petr Čech is a professional footballer from the Czech Republic and goalkeeper for English Premier League club Arsenal. He is a former captain of the Czech Republic national team and has previously played for Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, Rennes and Chelsea.

Petr’s native language is Czech, however, he has been passionate about language learning throughout his whole life. He learnt German and English whilst at school, and at the age of 20, he moved to France to join the Rennes football team, where he learnt French – he has since also spent time mastering Spanish.

We understand that you can speak English, German and French. How did you go about learning each?

When I started going to school, the first language I learnt was German. Although this is the language I have been learning the longest, I haven’t used it much in the last few years. When I was in high school I started learning English as my second foreign language, but my level of English at that time was very average.

Then, for my career, I moved to France – before moving there I couldn’t say a word in French, however, being a goalkeeper requires good communication skills so I took a very intensive course. I had lessons after every training session for about three or four weeks, I then continued weekly lessons for two to three months. As I like learning languages, three years ago I decided to pick up Spanish as it seemed to be the language that was missing. I have a lot of teammates who speak Spanish so it’s been great to get to understand them.

How proficient are you in each?

I can read and write in all the languages I have learnt. Even if you can speak a language very well, at times you will need to be able to write and an understanding of grammar is very important – when you know how to read and write in a language I think it becomes easier to speak it as well.

Did you enjoy learning them?

I love learning new languages! With French it was a little rushed because I had about two weeks before the season started and I had to learn at least basic French so that I could communicate with my team mates. It was a bit stressful, but once I started getting the language in my head, I was able to start using it and I quickly improved. You get a real sense of accomplishment and happiness when you can move forward and improve.

What was your motivation for learning?

My motivation… The first, German, I had to learn in school. 60% of the Czech Republic is bordered by Germany, and a bit of Austria, so I thought it would make sense to learn the language closest to me. I chose English as my second language because everybody uses English. The whole world literally speaks English and so it’s very useful! I knew if I wanted to progress in my career, speaking languages helps because it eases the settling into a new country, and a new team.

When I came to France I had no other option, I had to speak French because there were about three people in the whole club who could speak English well and that I could communicate with – which wasn’t good! I understood that the best way to settle in and understand what’s going on, and to perform well, was to master the language.

I took very intensive lessons, and obviously my motivation was to speak the language as fast as possible, and facilitate my life in a new country.

I would say that my motivation to speak Spanish was so that I could speak to everybody in the dressing room in their native language – to understand everybody, and to understand their culture. I think once you understand a language, you understand the culture surrounding it as well.

Which language is your favourite? Why is it?

My favourite language, actually, is Czech, just because it’s so colourful. We have so many combinations, words and expressions. I have to say there are a lot of things which you can say in Czech, but you cannot really translate, because the meaning would make no sense. When you read a book in Czech it is so colourful and you can express yourself in so many different ways.

It is very interesting.

During your career you have been lucky enough to see the world, either as part of your national team at World Cup tournaments or with Chelsea and Arsenal – has your ability to speak different languages helped you on your travels? If so, how?

When we travel anywhere around the world, when not everybody knows one language, you can just use another, and you always find a way to speak with people. You feel a kind of freedom because, wherever you go, you know that you will be able to communicate somehow.

When you are on the pitch or at the training ground do you tend to speak English with other players or different languages for different players?

I speak all my languages basically every day with the people in the dressing room and it’s a pleasure to be able to do so. On the pitch, if it’s a group of players I’m trying to communicate with, then I use English because you need to make sure everyone understands what you are saying. But if it’s for one player I try to use their native language, so that there is no problem with communication.

I believe that if you are someone who has just come to the country and you are not familiar with all the football terms, in the heat of the moment and under pressure you might not get what your teammate is asking for. So to avoid confusion, I try to give the order in the native language of each player. This helps to make them feel comfortable and means they don’t have to translate anything. Some people have the level of English so it doesn’t really matter, but with others it’s easier for them when they hear it in their native language.

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Have there been any differences between language used at Chelsea and Arsenal?

English is the main language in English football, and everyone should respect that. Obviously it’s easier to communicate when you choose one language so at Chelsea, and Arsenal, its English.

Nonetheless, when you have groups of players from the same country they will speak their native language, and so, in both the Arsenal and Chelsea dressing rooms, there is a lot of Spanish and French spoken. Now at Arsenal, we have a lot of German speaking players, which is good for me because I can practice my German which I haven’t used for a long time!

Off the field, has there ever been an occasion when you have faced a language barrier? If so, what?

If you go to places where few people speak English, you'll hit a barrier. You have to explain with your hands, in like a kind of sign language, exactly what you want. It’s rare you will go to a place and face this issue, but I think that, having learned all these languages, there is always a way that someone understands at least something a little bit.

I would say that there are languages which come into groups together, so sometimes even saying it in your own language, you can find a way to communicate and speak with people. It’s very surprising.

When you were growing up, did you have a favourite language teacher? If so, why?

My favourite language teacher was my French teacher Manuella, and it was because she made classes fun. We played kind of role games where you had to play a different character and basically use the group of words we were learning about. We cut pictures and items from magazines and it was really helpful to see the visual of words, and how they are written.

That was fun and I think I learn better like this. When I learnt Spanish myself I used this method because I think it really helps.

Are there any other languages you want to learn? If so, why?

Well there are so many languages in the world!

I don’t know, maybe one day I’ll learn Chinese or Japanese or Arabic, or one language that is really exotic to us Europeans! Maybe one day – let’s see!

For more perspectives on the importance of language learning in different high-profile professions, visit cambridge.org/experiences

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What scares you more... speaking in L2 or a jujitsu fight?

Mark Ibbotson

English Teacher and Author

For me, the word ‘safe’ brings back memories.

Before I came into ELT, I spent the early part of my career working on construction sites; statistically, one of the most unsafe places to work. With people working at dizzy heights, down deep holes, and with hazardous equipment ranging from blowtorches to bulldozers, there was danger everywhere. So, managing safety was a very serious business – and enforcing safe working practices amid the rough and tumble of a construction site often had me standing in the mud doing some very straight talking.

Is there really that much fear in speaking practice?

Against that background, how do I feel about the idea of ‘safe speaking environments’?

Isn’t it a bit of an exaggeration to suggest that speaking practice needs to be ‘safe’ – and to suggest that talking in a classroom can engender fear? To answer that, let me share a more recent experience with you.

I do judo and jujitsu, which are popular sports in France, where I live. More often than not, I find myself toe-to-toe with people who are a lot better than I am. But I’ve only ever bottled out of one situation at the judo club. Now, before I go any further, I should say that I’ve lived in France for 20 years, so I’m fluent in the language. But I’m not used to speaking French in front of large groups of people. So when we came to a point in the judo-club meeting where there was something I wanted to say, at the last second I shied away from raising my hand.

Why? Because I was self-conscious about the fact that people I didn’t know (mostly parents

of young club members) would notice that I wasn’t a native French speaker. Now let’s be clear, nobody would have judged me negatively.

On the contrary, I couldn’t have been among friendlier people, but I still baulked at the idea of drawing attention to myself in front of all those people. So there I was, in the bizarre situation of being more scared of speaking than I typically am about being thrown halfway across the room.

What can teachers do to help learners?

If this is how I felt after 20 years’ living in France, imagine how most learners feel.

Speaking up in the presence of other students can be pretty daunting and it’s a phenomenon that extends far beyond the language classroom.

I can remember guys from my construction days who walked and talked like gorillas out on site – but when they sat in a meeting room with a dozen or so people, they would be as timid as mice.

Which brings me to my point. I think we seriously underestimate how intimidated many learners are about speaking. Equally, we overestimate their ability to somehow ‘get over it’. So, as educators, I think it’s crucial for us to recognize that the fear of speaking is not just a touchy-feely side issue. It’s a fundamental obstacle to learning. To overcome it, we need to take decisive action by adopting approaches that will help learners feel safe and comfortable about speaking. Only then can they practise speaking effectively and make noticeable progress, so that they can answer that classic question – “Do you speak English?” – with a confident “Yes”.

“Our curriculum does not promote a friendly environment to teach speaking.”

Teacher, Malaysia

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TEACHING SPEAKING IN ELT

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We know that many students measure their progress in language learning through their confidence to speak spontaneously in ‘real world’ situations, but how do teachers feel about teaching speaking?

Over 700 teachers gave us their views on how they approach teaching speaking skills.

4 OUT OF 5

TEACHERS Place high importance on providing feedback after speaking tasks

68%

ROLE PLAYS

64%

DISCUSSIONS

51%

PRESENTATIONS

TOP 3 SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN CLASS

“The most difficult task is overcoming mental barriers to speaking.”

Teacher, Bulgaria

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SHYNESS

AND FEAR OF EMBARRASSMENT

(IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE)

SKILLS RANK

are common reasons for students not to participate in speaking activities

7%

READING

8%

WRITING

10 % LISTENING

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70% SPEAKING

HALF

OF TEACHERS Choose topics outside of their coursebook if they feel it’s more relevant to their students

“It’s difficult to provide learners with interesting or stimulating topics.”

Teacher trainer, Mexico

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USING ROLE MODELS TO MOTIVATE LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN ELT Jade Blue

English Language Teacher and Trainer

Some years ago I started going to evening classes to learn German.

In the early stages of my studies, I frequently thought of two German speakers who I aspired to be like in my language ability.

The first, Bettina, is a native German speaker in her fifties whose English level at the time was only elementary. She was always patient and generous in her efforts to converse with me, despite my low level of German. But I longed to have the language resources that she did as a native speaker. You’d think this might have motivated me to invest more in my German language studies, but sadly not.

The second person I aspired to be like was Izzy, a fellow student in the evening class I was attending. While grouped in the same level as I, Izzy’s vocabulary range and language knowledge were a little more advanced than mine. I always chose to sit next to her in the lessons, worked hard to keep up, and outside of class would invest extra time into studying. In this sense, although a lower level learner like myself, Izzy had far more of a practical influence on my engagement with both the language and, perhaps more importantly, my learning.

The mental image I had of myself successfully communicating in German was in part inspired

by Bettina and Izzy as role models. This mental image is referred to as the ‘ideal L2 self’, which relates to a learner’s sense of identity in the second language and refers to a ‘desirable selfimage of the kind of L2 user that one would

ideally like to be in the future’ (Dörnyei & Ryan 2015:87). Dörnyei’s theory of motivation describes the ideal L2 self as a powerful motivator in learning.

In creating visions of their ideal L2 selves, learners may identify other speakers as a source of inspiration and as linguistic role models – in my case Bettina and Izzy. In observing these other speakers, learners may then incorporate aspects of their performance into their own desired ideal L2 selves. However, in order for them to become successful motivational tools, the ideal L2 self must be plausible. What the learner hopes to achieve in terms of language development must be realistic in order to be of practical use.

My interactions with Bettina certainly inspired me to be more creative in my attempts to explain what I wanted to say, and so had a very positive impact on my communicative competence, but in aspiring to be like her as a language speaker, I was setting myself an unrealistic target. Although I enjoyed our conversations, I often tired quickly, and felt daunted by how far I was from where I wanted to be, linguistically. The gap between where I was at and my perception of her was so great, it was barely worth trying to close it.

Current insights into student motivation and speaking AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. CLAIRE DEMBRY Louisa Kiwana chats to Dr Claire Dembry, the Principal Research Manager in ELT at Cambridge University Press, to get to the heart of what we know about student motivation and the most effective way to help learners overcome the confidence barriers hindering their progress.

To begin, could you tell us a little about what you do?

I’m the Principal Research Manager in ELT and my work centres on research to inform our books, courses, and materials. A large part of this is language research but we also have a growing interest in pedagogical research.

This includes summarising current research in the field in ways that are useful for materials development, but we also conduct empirical research on teachers and students to find out what’s happening in classrooms and what we can do better.

How much of your work includes research into speaking skills?

We work on spoken language quite a lot. One project we worked on was with Nottingham University, aimed at getting a better understanding of learner perceptions of a ‘successful’ speaker of English (role models) and how their ideas of speaking successfully could impact their motivation. This study came about after we analysed over 14,000 responses from a survey asking language learners questions about self-motivation, such as, ‘Who’s your role model and why?’ as well as questions on demotivation, such as, ‘what do you find hard?’

A large proportion said that speaking was the most difficult part of their English language learning. In fact, the combined number of other difficulties cited was fewer than the learners’ issues with speaking! So it seemed obvious further investigation into this topic was needed.

Izzy, however, proved a more plausible model.

A non-native speaker like myself, she inspired more confidence in me, and it wasn’t unrealistic to suppose that my linguistic capabilities could become more like hers. As well as language ability and nationality, Izzy was also closer to me than Bettina in terms of age and interests. I saw her more regularly, and she lived closer (in the same city as opposed to another country).

While my respect and admiration for Izzy made her a role-model, it is these other factors in common that made Izzy a ‘near-peer’ role model. As researcher Leigh Clarke states, in language learning, ‘near-peer role models can provide tangible examples of successful second language (L2) speakers for learners with similar backgrounds. They can represent more realistic, achievable and believable targets than native speakers who speak a learner’s target language as their first language (L1) or mother tongue.’

So what are the implications of this for classroom practice? As teachers, encouraging learners to identify near-peer role models has the potential to both empower the learner and to contribute to more effective acquisition of language.

Why do you think learners find speaking so difficult? How can we support students to minimise that feeling?

While conducting the research, we found that a lot of learners were having difficulty expressing themselves. For learners, speaking is important and is often how they judge their own level or ability. We know that to get better they need to practice, but students often have reservations about speaking in English which prevents them doing so. It can be a bit of a catch twenty-two. We therefore need to understand how we can best help students become more confident, so they can allow themselves to improve. For materials development, it’s about how we can make speaking practice feel less scary and empower students to take control of their progress. In other words, we have to help students feel safe, which will encourage them to practice more.

You also mentioned your research looked at English language role models… what does this mean?

It’s actually a theory that comes from sports psychology, where effectively, if you visualize yourself winning the race before you start, it’s been shown to have a positive outcome on your performance. We wondered whether we could apply that idea to language learning; could learner perceptions of a ‘successful’ speaker of

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Cut out and keep Phonemic spellings which are very different from normal spellings Some phonemic spellings are surprisingly different from normal spellings.

For example, in phonemic spelling, quick is /kwɪk/. Can you find all the words in this wordsearch? The words are horizontal → or vertical ↓ .

Use all the letters.

THINGS WE CAN DO IN THE CLASSROOM: • Talk to our learners about the principles of nearpeer role models.

• Encourage learners to think about their peers as role models.

• Ask learners to describe their peers and aspects of their language ability that they admire.

• Discuss how learners could go about developing these aspects themselves.

Further Reading Dörnyei, Z. & Ryan, S. (2015). The Psychology of the Language Learner Revisited. Oxon: Routledge. p93.

Dörnyei, Z. and Ushioda, E. eds., (2009).

Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (Vol. 36). Multilingual Matters.

Murphey, T., (1998). Motivating with near peer role models. On JALT97: Trends & Transitions, pp.201-205.

English positively impact their motivation?

This links to much of the work that people such as Zoltán Dörnyei at Nottingham University are doing, which focuses on getting learners to reflect on their goals and aims, and how they could achieve them. In essence, we wanted to find out about our learners’ ‘ideal L2 self’; who it was and what it looked like.

So, if that's something students can do to improve speaking, what about teachers, how can they help to optimise their learners’ speaking skills?

I think that comes back to this idea of making students feel safe in the classroom, because we know that students can be afraid of speaking in front of others. Teachers could help by encouraging learners to reflect on their progress and build the idea of their ‘ideal L2 self’. Similarly, creating an environment in the classroom that makes students feel safe to try using new language. Encouraging learners to speak more, be comfortable making mistakes and to improve their speaking overall is something teachers can really impact. Also, setting aside more time for students to actually speak and use the language in the classroom could help students get closer and closer to achieving their goals.

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Copyright English Pronunciation in Use, M. Hancock, 2012

Thousands of experiences, insights, ideas and resources for language teachers.

Be part of it cambridge.org/wobl

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class we’ll have a mixture of different attitudes and we need to cater to them all. For example, we can use the chat box to clarify instructions, hands-up icons to make sure everyone’s on track, images and icons on the screen to back up our instructions and support our tasks.

On the whole I think we need to stage things more carefully and pace things a little bit more slowly so that everyone knows what’s happening when and why. With the right tasks, and the right level of support I think students really enjoy and appreciate the chance to practise speaking online. I think they find it satisfying and motivating and it adds an extra dimension to the speaking skill – one that’s becoming more and more useful in the world beyond the classroom too.

Tips for teaching speaking online

Ceri Jones Teacher Trainer and Author

How is teaching speaking different in an online environment to a face-to-face classroom?

The obvious difference is the physical presence of course. Being together in the same room, face-to-face is obviously easier in a lot of ways.

It’s easier for the teacher to see what’s going on, feel the atmosphere in the room, monitor body language, engagement, attention as well as the language task at hand. And I think a lot of students may feel that they have more support in a face-to-face classroom and possibly more of a feeling of being part of something bigger, hearing the buzz of chat from other groups in the room for example. I think anyone who’s taught online will say that there are lots of ways of building rapport, monitoring students’ participation and engagement, giving feedback and so on, just as you would face-to-face. And there are advantages to an online classroom too.

You don’t have to travel to get there, you can join from home, the office, wherever you have a good internet connection. Often this means that students actually feel more relaxed and at ease. And obviously this can help in speaking tasks too.

The biggest advantage I think is the recordings.

Live online classes are usually recorded so both teachers and students can go back and watch and listen to the interaction again. This is great for feedback, consolidation and correction.

And something that doesn’t usually happen in face-to-face classrooms. I think it really helps with speaking. Students become more aware of themselves as speakers and once they overcome the initial shyness it really helps them monitor their progress. As a teacher it’s really useful too. It means that during the lesson I can concentrate on supporting the task, maintaining engagement and participation, making sure everyone’s getting a fair chance to speak without worrying too much about correcting errors or grading performance. The recording allows me to concentrate on evaluating the output later

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and makes it much easier to give targeted, personalised feedback.

Of course, there are challenges for online teachers too. Probably one of the greatest challenges is making sure everyone is happy with the technical side of the classroom.

Things like making sure their audio and video is working, that they can navigate the classroom, know where the chat box is, how to raise their hand etc. It’s worth dedicating time at the beginning of a course to make sure everything’s working as smoothly as possible.

Most of our online students these days have had experience of online communication either at work or socially. They’re used to video chats and live text messaging. These are the main tools in any online speaking activity. A lot of online classrooms will also have breakout rooms, which allow small groups of students to work independently on a task before reporting back to the whole class.

Our recent survey on teaching speaking concluded that students are often too embarrassed to participate in speaking in the classroom. Is that carried through to the online environment? Or are there typically fewer barriers?

I think the psychological factors that make students reticent to participate in speaking tasks in a face-to-face classroom are pretty much the same online. For some students, communicating online might be more dauting than for others. They may not be used to extended communication online, they might be worried that they won’t understand or be understood, they may get flustered with the technology if they’re not used to it. Likewise, some students actually find that it’s a safer space for speaking. It can feel more intimate, even more informal. If they’re participating from home, this can help. They feel more comfortable and more confident. I guess the important thing is for us as teachers to be aware that in any

What types of speaking activities have you found worked well / less well in an online environment?

I think clarity and simplicity are really important. And staging. So, I always like to start off with simple brainstorming exercises, maybe with students typing their answers in the chat box, or writing them on a share whiteboard on the screen. Quick word games are useful too, things like finding words in a word square and then asking students to make up sentences or definitions for those words.

It’s also important to give students thinking time first, and maybe to offer a model answer yourself before nominating students to answer specific questions. Discussion questions work well in breakout rooms too, especially if you ask students to make notes of their answers and report back on them at the end of the activity.

Tasks like: find three things your group like to do at the weekend / you all did last weekend / you’re all planning to do over the holiday are very simple tasks which work well in the breakout rooms. I like image-based activities too. For example, I may share a photo from my weekend or holiday and ask the students to ask me questions about it and then ask them to share a photo and talk about that. Posters of movies, covers of books, images of famous cities and landmarks, these are all great for scaffolding and stimulating conversation too. I prefer to ask students to make recordings of presentations and share those in a forum for discussion. I think live online classroom time should be used as much as possible for short exchanges where everyone can take part.

Are there any additional considerations for the teacher in preparing / planning speaking practice online?

Managing the conversation equitably is one of the most difficult challenges. It’s important to have clear protocols for turn-taking (maybe using the chat box or the hands-up icon) and to keep a track of who has and hasn’t spoken.

So it’s important to plan tasks where everyone has a chance to say something, and that they’re not all repeating the same thing, so tasks with a personal element are really useful, where there are no right and wrong answers, but everyone brings something new to the activity.

Also, tasks that keep the listeners tuned in are really important. For example, you could have a circular story-telling task where one student starts then hands on to another and so on, and everyone has to be paying attention in case they’re called next. A good trick is to call on someone different to summarise what has been said every minute or so to keep everyone on their toes. I think one of the most important things to remember is that you need to balance variety, planning three or four different tasks per lesson, with simplicity; don’t try and pack too much into one class. And remember to make the most of the screen to support all stages of the lesson. Have a welcome screen for the beginning, and a thank you screen at the end.

Use images, icons, tables and illustrations to support your instructions and tasks. Prepare all of this beforehand and then the lesson will flow easily, leaving you free to monitor and manage the conversations.

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Variety is the key to motivating speaking activities James Freeman

Academic Consultant, Ecuador

Wouldn’t it be great if you had to tell a class that the lesson is over but your students practically ignored you (in a good way!) and continued speaking enthusiastically in English?

The topic of communicating in English is probably one that I encounter the most when meeting and working with teachers across all education sectors. This question of how do I get my students to readily speak in English and feel confident about it is something that most teachers would like the secret formula to. There are things, as educators, we can do to create a more conducive environment where students get so immersed in an English speaking activity that the learning part becomes almost incidental.

Having taught students of all ages across three different continents, here are some simple yet effective approaches I’ve used to encourage students to feel safe in the environment they’re communicating English in.

• For class debates, why not create a rap battle setting? Set the topic, groups prepare their sentences, play a mid-tempo hip hop beat and have teams challenge each other lyrically.

• Use learning apps in class. For example, with the Cambridge English Quiz Your English app split the class into four groups and have them play against each other by connecting one device to the screen so the whole class can see and predict (using future tenses) who will win the next round.

ELT author and international teacher trainer Kathryn O’Dell said it simply during the recent Let’s Talk Speaking panel event, “If students feel like talking, they’re going to speak.” The more we can provide a fully immersive environment for our students to operate in, communicating in English will seem less intimidating and become more of a need to connect with their peers through common interests and goals, which will ultimately serve them beyond the four walls of the classroom.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What activities have you done in order to get students talking more in English?

• Working with social media savvy students. Technology’s deepening connectivity to peoples’ lives means teachers have extra tools to play with. You could select

Recommended Teacher Development Titles Translation and Own-language Activities Translation and Own-language Activities provides structured, practical advice and guidance for using students’ own languages within the ELT classroom. Taking into account both the growing interest and concerns about use of translation in English lessons, the book presents effective ways of integrating carefully chosen activities, covering themes such as tools, language skills, language focus and techniques. The practical activities range from using bilingual dictionaries to translating long texts, with a number of tasks drawing on easy-to-use web tools. The book also considers the relationship between translation and intercultural understanding.

• Provides a practical basis for using translation in the ELT classroom.

• Includes activities which make use of technology, drawing on a range of different tools.

• Incorporates easy-to-use translation technology that is available to teachers and learners both inside and outside the classroom.

• Discusses multilingual classrooms, as well as monolingual ones, at a range of ages and levels.

ISBN 978 0521 149846

ISBN 978 1107 684676

Translation and Own-language Activities

Put the student in the driving seat Let your students take the lead in what is spoken about during a lesson. This, of course, takes into account the level and maturity of a group but it’s good to make students become responsible learners whatever their language proficiency may be. For example, once a week the class would nominate two or three different students to bring in something interesting they had seen online and prepare a short explanation of it, along with some questions to ask their fellow peers, which in turn creates a great

Bringing in that added twist I’m continually seeking ways to expand speaking activities in the class so that they don’t fall into an overly predictable format. Here are some quick ideas:

a strong visual, have students create memes to then post on the class’ social media group page. In the next lesson, the class looks over each one, discusses and votes for their favourite.

Philip Kerr

Make it personal Course books nowadays are good at starting a unit off with a type of activity or series of questions in order for students to personalise the topic to their situation. But what about the teacher bringing in their personal stories as a way of opening up students’ curiosity? I remember with a group of learners we were focusing on writing music reviews. As I had worked extensively in the music industry before, I gave a mini presentation of my life as a DJ and artist manager. The lesson soon took a life of its own where the questions kept on coming (in English) like ‘what was like it performing at music festivals?’ or ‘how did it feel knowing that thousands were listening to you present on radio?’ (I used to do a Sunday morning show on UK digital station BBC 1xtra).

Instead of purposefully setting up questions for students to ask, my personal story I shared was authentic and appealing enough for students to voluntarily ask questions and want to know more.

lesson warmer fully designed by the students themselves. For more assessment-focused tasks, create student-friendly rubrics and have them give each other feedback after a speaking activity.

Discussions and More Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers Series Editor Scott Thornbury

A revised and updated edition of Discussions that Work

Penny Ur

ISBN 978 1107 628809

Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom

Classroom Management Techniques

Teaching Speaking A Holistic Approach

Zoltan Dörnyei

Jim Scrivener

Christine C. M. Goh, Anne Burns

9780521793773

9780521741859

9781107648333

Visit cambridge.org/professionaldevelopment to browse the full range of resources for teachers

Discussions and More

Oral Fluency Practice in the Classroom 2nd Edition

Penny Ur 9781107442757

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EVOLVE is a general English course that gets students speaking with confidence. This student-centered course covers all skills and focuses on the most effective and efficient ways to progress in English. cambridge.org/evolve

STUDENT EBOOKS FOR ALL LEVELS, NOW AVAILABLE.