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Teaching speaking: Towards a holistic approach
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Anne Burns
School of Education,
University of New South Wales Australia,
Sydney, NSW 2025,
Australia
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Teaching speaking: Towards a holistic approach
Anne Burns, University of New South Wales, Australia
Introduction
English teachers often feel that speaking is one of the most challenging areas for students
learning English. Students may seem demotivated and reluctant to speak in class. There is no
doubt that teaching speaking is challenging because speaking is a complex skill that must be
acquired and practised over time. In this paper, I look at various aspects of speaking
including the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are all an important part of learning this
skill. I will also present a teaching speaking cycle that can be used for planning sequences of
speaking lessons. The goal of the cycle is to work on both accuracy and fluency and also to
get students to reflect on their learning. I will suggest some practical activities to illustrate
this cycle.
What’s involved in speaking?
Competent speakers of English must be able to handle several complex processes and skills
simultaneously, usually in real time, where they may not be able to plan in advance. This
requirement places numerous demands on speakers cognitively, socially and affectively.
Cognitive factors
From a cognitive point of view speakers must prepare conceptually for what they will say,
formulate utterances to express their ideas, and articulate them so that they are
comprehensible to others (Levelt, 1989). Conceptual preparation involves selecting a topic or
information, which will depend on the speaker’s background and world knowledge, and what
they can retrieve from their long-term memory. In rapid interactive speech, they must also
have access to responses that are relevant and appropriate to the ongoing interaction. Then,
these ideas must be formulated, mapped on to the specific grammar and vocabulary speakers
have available to them and strung together in speech that is appropriate to the situation.
Finally, speakers must have control of the sounds and intonation of the language such that
they can be understood by listeners.
These processes present considerable challenges for English language learners. First, they
may not have sufficient knowledge of the topic or the discourse structures which characterise
speech related to that topic. In this case teachers need to become aware of the learners’ needs,
and spend time preparing them and expanding their knowledge of the topic areas before
asking them to undertake a speaking task. Second, learners need to have access to the
grammar, vocabulary and discourse features that allow them to speak about the topic. It is
very important that they should be given opportunities to practise these features, particularly
those that create the main patterns (e.g. tenses, word families, discourse markers) of the
spoken text, before being asked to perform an individual speaking task. Attention also needs
to be paid to the learners’ ability to pronounce the words and expressions needed to articulate
what they will say, an area that is often particularly neglected in the teaching of speaking.
Teachers need to introduce students to both the segmental (phonemes, consonant and vowel
sounds, syllable stress) and the suprasegmental (intonation, linking, and word and utterance
stress) aspects of pronunciation, as well as features of appropriate voice quality (volume,
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prominence, breath control), and physical dimensions (eye movement, gesture) (see Burns &
Seidlhofer, 2012 for more discussion).
Another aspect of cognition is metacognition, which refers to speakers bringing into focus the
strategies they use for consciously thinking about the way they communicate (Vandergrift &
Goh, 2012). It is related to the knowledge they have concerning the process and products of
their speaking. Metacognitive awareness comprises three dimensions: metacogntive,
experience, metacognitive knowledge, and strategy use. Metacognitive experience refers to a
speaker’s awareness of a demand that is being placed upon them and how they could meet
that demand, if they are to continue to participate. For example, a speaker might think that
they know what to say but cannot bring the appropriate vocabulary to mind. In this case they
might realise they can manage the discourse by using circumlocution (expressing the idea
through other expressions that are available to them) or asking the interlocutor to repeat
something to buy time. Metacognitive knowledge is the self-knowledge one has about
speaking. It includes knowledge one has about oneself as a speaker (e.g., self-efficacy in
relation to the topic), knowledge about the speaking task and its purpose as well as the
cognitive, social and affective factors involved, and knowledge about strategies that are likely
to be effective in achieving the communicative goals. Finally, strategy use is, as the term
suggests, knowing how to plan, use, reflect on, and practise communication and discourse
strategies that will facilitate oral interaction, which are discussed in more detail in the next
section on social factors.
Metacognitive strategies are important in speaking development, as they are in language
learning in general. Successful learners think about their learning and consciously develop
ways to promote it (Alexander, 2008). Metacognitive development in learning is strongly
related to the notion of developing greater autonomy and becoming a reflective learner, and
also to greater motivation for learning. Teachers play an important part in supporting
metacognitive development. Learners need opportunities in class to think about why they are
developing their speaking skills in general and how that development might relate to their
overall second language acquisition. They can be given time to plan for speaking tasks, rather
than simply being asked to go ahead and perform them, and to think about the goals they
wish to achieve. They can also be encouraged to reflect on the feedback they receive, to
pinpoint the areas they need to improve, and to consider how they could go about making
these improvements.
Social factors
Apart from cognitive demands in speaking, speakers must also be able to handle the social
and pragmatic aspects of oral communication, which is where genre knowledge, sensitivity to
register, and discourse and pragmatic abilities come into play.
Spoken language is produced for a purpose and therefore is functional in fulfilling speakers’
everyday transactional and interactional goals. Transactional goals are those where speakers
need to negotiate goods and services, while interpersonal goals are related to managing and
maintaining social relationships. From a cultural point of view, in relation to these goals,
speakers need to understand and use the range of genres (or culturally patterned stages in
discourse) to achieve transactional or interpersonal interactions in ways that their
interlocutors can recognise and follow. Examples of transactional spoken genres are ordering
a meal in a restaurant, consulting a doctor, or making inquiries about a course, while
interpersonal genres involve casual conversations, where telling a story, recounting an
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unusual event or discussing one’s views or opinions are common. For each of these types of
interaction, speakers must know the expected stages of the genre. To consult a doctor
typically involves greetings, followed by explanation of the symptoms, followed by
examination, followed by diagnosis of the problem, followed by prognosis about what should
occur next, followed by a closing of the consultation. To have a discussion with other
speakers involves first raising the topic, followed by presenting different points of view for or
against the main proposition, followed by some kind of summing up or evaluation of one’s
eventual position on the topic.
Apart from having genre knowledge, which is related to the way spoken texts unfold and can
be expressed at each stage, speakers also need to be able to engage appropriately with a vast
number of interlocutors. These other speakers range from those with close relationships to
them, such as family members, those they meet regularly or intermittently and with whom
they have various forms of relationships, such as workmates or family doctors, and those they
encounter randomly, and will maybe never meet again, such as service providers in shops or
people chatting to them in the next seat on a train.
In engaging orally with all these other speakers, people need to be sensitive to the kinds of
registers that are appropriate culturally and socially in communicating effectively with them.
By register is meant sensitivity to what they know and what they think the other speakers
know about topics they are discussing, their sense of the interpersonal expectations of other
speakers, and their closeness or distance in context from the topics they are discussing. All of
these dimensions affect the specific ways that the cognitive factors of conceptual preparation,
formulation, and articulation come into play and what will then eventually emerge as the
spoken texts speakers produce, using the linguistic knowledge they have available.
In addition, speakers must manage rapidly unfolding discourse by inferring or interpreting
speakers’ meanings and making relevant and appropriate responses. To do so they need to
understand the roles particular utterances play (e.g., signals that attempts are being made to
close down conversation) and use appropriate principles of politeness and cooperation to
avoid communication breakdowns and save face. They must also be sensitive to when to take
turns and when to initiate new topics, and must show that they are following what other
speakers say by providing feedback (e.g., right, ok) and showing interest (e.g., really! that’s
amazing, oh no).
These are all multiple and complex social demands, so activities that helps students practise
some of these social dimensions of spoken language should be built into classroom activities.
For example, teachers can give students practice in producing a particular type of genre, such
as giving instructions, or telling a personal story. The teacher can brainstorm with students
what they already know about how the particular genre they need to perform is structured
(drawing also on knowledge of first or other languages). They can then construct an example
of this genre together (e.g., if you wanted to tell a story about x what would you say first?) so
that students gain a sense of how the genre develops. The teacher can next point out
particular grammatical patterns related to that genre (e.g., for stories you need to identify
who, what, when and where, or stories are told using the past tense). As well, they can get
students to brainstorm and practise the particular vocabulary and expresssions that would be
needed in that genre at its different stages (e.g., stories need time markers, such as once upon
a time, then, a few days later, and so on; they often include evaluative adjectives such as
wicked, beautiful, handsome, disastrous, which express judgements).
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Teachers can also introduce the concept of register, enabling students to play with ideas about
how they would construct a genre to show their knowledge of the topic (e.g., using technical
terms rather than everyday terms to describe the methods for a science experiment), their
relationship to the other speakers (e.g., having a discussion with a family member as opposed
to a stranger), or how language choices might change according to how close or distant from
the action a speaker is (e.g., retelling a personal incident orally versus writing about that
incident). Similarly, teachers and students can brainstorm what they might say to get a turn in
a conversation, to interrupt someone, to interpret and respond to a particular utterance (e.g.
it’s getting late; it’s going to rain), and to make an appropriate response.
Affective factors
Affective factors refer to people’s feeling, emotions or psychological reactions to particular
social situations. In relation to speaking, these factors can be seen as relating to two aspects:
the individual and the relational. Moreover, affective development in humans is closely
linked with cognitive development and therefore, the two cannot be easily separated from
each other (Arnold, 1999).
Individual affect involves psychological aspects related to personality factors such as
motivation, anxiety, or self-esteem. Motivational aspects involve a speaker’s interest in the
topic and their motivation to contribute to it. In some circumstances speakers may feel
anxious or nervous about the situation in which they are speaking or about the people who are
their interlocutors. They may also be concerned about how their utterances will be evaluated
by others. Relational factors concern speakers’ sense of how they are positioned socially in
the interaction. They include aspects such as a speaker’s sense of their relationship with their
interlocutor (intimate, close, neutral, distant), and the emotions they might bring to that
relationship (love/warmth, neutral, dislike/antagonism). In some social or cultural
circumstances, people may feel more comfortable about speaking when they can
communicate with those of the same gender.
When it comes to learning to speak in a second or other language, it is inevitable that
additional stress is common for many learners. One very widespread issue that teachers need
to take into account in language classrooms is anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986),
which arises mainly because speaking involves the need for rapid and spontaneous interaction
and may also be unpredictable. While learner anxiety is understandable, teachers can help to
offset its effects. First of all, teachers can acknowledge that reluctance to speak may not be
related to a lack of motivation on the part of learners. They can discuss the inevitability of
experiencing anxiety when speaking with their learners, share their own experiences and
emotions in this regard, and ask learners to suggest their own ideas for reducing anxiety.
They can also explain to learners that errors are an unavoidable aspect of learning to speak a
new language, and a sign, in fact, of language development. Then, teachers can also create a
non-threatening environment where learners are praised for their efforts to speak rather than
(negatively) evaluated for their errors. They can also be praised for creative or unanticipated
responses to questions or tasks, that do not follow the patterns or expectations of the textbook
they are using, but are still relevant and appropriate.
This kind of classroom atmosphere can encourage risk-taking which has shown to be a
positive aspect of language development (Gass & Selinker, 2008). Another approach is to
enable students to speak in situations that feel ‘safer’ or more comfortable for them, such as
in group or pair work, rather than in front of the whole class. Teachers can also guide
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students through explicit cycles of teaching about and through speaking, such as the cycle
suggested in the next section of this paper, so that their skills and confidence to communicate
effectively are gradually built up and supported through effective feedback. Through such
approaches teachers are likely to find that their students’ motivation to speak is likely to
increase.
Towards a holistic speaking classroom: A suggested approach
In the previous sections I laid out some of the factors involved in speaking together with
some of the implications for learning and for teaching practice. In this section, I will suggest
an approach developed by Goh and Burns (2012) that aims to bring some of these factors
together and to provide an explicit and systematic framework for teaching speaking.
The framework consists of a teaching speaking cycle that includes seven stages (see Figure
1). These stages cover the steps in a process that does not necessarily equate to one step for
each lesson but can be used flexibly by teachers according to the needs of their learners. For
each stage in the cycle, I provide or discuss some example activities. Again, the activities can
be adapted to suit learner ages, needs and the goals of the speaking course.
Figure 1: The Teaching Speaking Cycle
Stage 1
The first stage aims to develop students’ metacognitive awareness, either about second
language speaking and their overall language development, or about preparing for a particular
task or text. Figure 2 illustrates a task for the first aim, while Figure 3 provides an example
for the second.
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Think about your experiences of learning to speak a second language
Thinking about your own learning helps you to have better control over how you learn to
speak and also to become a more independent learner. To help you get started, think of short
responses to the questions and discuss them with a partner.
1. When did you begin to learn to speak English? What were the main reasons for
starting at this time?
2. What did you like most about learning English? What do you dislike?
3. How would you describe your speaking ability right now? What would you like to
improve in particular?
4. Do you feel nervous or anxious when you speak English? If so, what would help you
feel less anxious?
5. What particular features of speaking in English have you noticed are different from
when you speak in your own language?
Figure 2: Raising awareness about speaking and language development
It is likely that the task above would be introduced at the beginning of a course or unit of
work.Teachers can revisit this kind of reflection task and change it according to their
evaluation of the students’ metacognitive progress. The next task, in Figure 3, prompts
learners to activate their existing knowledge about a specific task and the features of the
spoken text or genre they will be producing.
Think ahead about the speaking task
In the speaking task that you will be doing, you will choose one of the topics listed below and
speak about it for two minutes with your group members. What will you say about your
topic? How will you organise the information? Prepare for this task by writing down your
points or ideas.
1) Retell your most interesting (or scary) experience.
2) Compare a place you like with another that you dislike.
3) Narrate your favourite childhood story.
Figure 3: Activating prior knowledge of a spoken text and task
The tasks in this stage can be done individually, in pairs, or groups. Learners could respond
in writing or orally, using either English or their first language, since the aim here is to reflect
on learning and not to practise the language. This stage can be done relatively quickly as part
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of a lesson that goes on to introduce the task, or more extensively to prepare for a further
lesson in a unit of work.
Stage 2
The next stage provides input and guides and scaffolds the learners’ gradual progress towards
the task. Scaffolding involves “help which will enable [learners] to accomplish a task which
they would not have been quite able to manage on their own” with the expert guidance of
those with more knowledge or competence (Maybin, Mercer & Steirer, 1992, p.188). One
important type of scaffolding is making sure learners are equipped with sufficient knowledge
of the topic, which may mean spending time to research it, find relevant content, or listen to
how others discuss the topic. Another type of support is vocabulary knowledge, and practice
of the grammatical and pronunciation patterns needed to achieve the task. Teachers could
also explain to learners how they themselves would go about planning a similar task and what
kind of language they would use. Figure 4 provides an example task, that involves reflection
and writing, for participating in a discussion.
Plan for content and participation in a discussion
In this task you will be discussing The best movie I have ever seen. The following questions
will help you plan what to say during the discussion. Write down your answers after each
question.
1. Which movie will you choose? Jot down three reasons for your choice.
2. When you give your reasons, what phrases or expressions will help you to present
your views?
3. What would you say to members in your group, if they:
a) Disagree with you
b) Support your views
c) Do not explain their views clearly
Figure 4: Planning for participating in a discussion
These types of questions can help learners think about the demands of the task, and prepare
language and discourse stratagies they can use for completing it. The teacher can modify the
task to focus on areas that he or she has noticed as particularly challenging for the learners.
Stage 3
At this stage the teacher organises the learners to perform the task with whatever linguistic
resources, cognitive strategies, and discourse knowledge they have available to them. In other
words, this stage encourages and rewards fluency, which should now be somewhat easier for
learners because of their preparation in Stage 2. Typically at this stage learners will speak in
pairs or small groups, and the teacher will circulate to notice both problems but also examples
of effective interaction, which can then be discussed with the whole class to provide
formative feedback. This kind of teacher noticing is an essential part of the cycle as it
provides the basis for Stage 4.
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Stage 4
After learners have had a chance to practise the task in Stage 3, the focus then changes to
providing explicit attention to the language, pronunciation, and discourse management skills
and strategies the students used. In many speaking classrooms this stage is often given scant
attention, because the focus is on language production. As a result, learners receive little
scaffolding to help them develop their speaking abilities further. Stage 4 switches the focus
from fluency to accuracy by going back over various parts of the task and getting the students
to notice and analyse errors. For example, the teacher could write down or give oral examples
of errors heard during the group work and ask learners to discuss how to improve them and
share their ideas. The teacher could also play the learners a recording of competent speakers
(e.g,. English language teaching colleagues) conducting a similar discussion and ask them to
listen for new or different expressions they could use. Some teachers have also made
productive use of technology which allows learners to record themselves as they speak and
get interactive feedback from the teacher or peers (see for example, Herhily & Pottage,
2013). After learners have noticed and analysed errors in their oral performance, they can
then practise parts of the text again, or focus on using particular expressions (e.g., formulaic,
or ‘set’ expressions) or discourse strategies (e.g., introducing a new point in the discussion).
Stage 5
This stage addresses the need to provide learners with further practice, which is an essential
part of the systematic process adopted in this cycle. Having focused on accuracy and explicit
attention to language and discourse features in Stage 4, the learners are now in a much better
position to try the task again. At this point, teachers could keep to a similar kind of task (e.g.,
a discussion, a story) but vary the topic or ask learners to choose their own topics within the
same genre. They should now be better equipped to plan for producing a spoken task and also
for performing it with greater fluency and accuracy. In addition, the cognitive demands in
completing this kind of the task should be reduced. Repetition of this kind also builds learner
confidence and reduces anxiety. To scaffold learning further, another option is to break the
task down so that they perform only part of it, which might be less stressful for some
learners. The teacher can then provide more feedback, and further opportunities for the
learners to practise again.
Stage 6
Once the learners have had sufficient opportunities to practise the same or a similar task, the
teacher can direct their attention back to reflecting on their learning. Not only does this stage
allow for reflection on how they performed in the task itself, it can also heighten their
awareness of the need to monitor their own progress and work towards greater learner
autonomy. This stage encourages them to self-regulate their learning through evaluating the
preceding stages. The activities at this stage can be carried out individually or learners can
work in pairs or small groups which can also reduce anxiety and stress about their
performance. Activities can focus on such areas as the demands of the task, the strategies
used, dimensions that show improvement or plans for working further on specific vocabulary
or grammatical features. Learners could carry out these kinds of reflection activities as part of
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an ongoing learning journal they keep to record their developments in speaking. Figure 5
shows the kinds of prompts that can be used to guide reflection activities in this stage.
My reflections Your partner/teacher’s response
1) In this week’s lessons, I learnt to do the
following in spoken English:
2) I also learnt to use the following useful
expressions that can help me speak more
effectively:
3) This is how I feel about my learning this
week:
(Put a tick√ next to the sentence that best
describes how you feel right now)
a) I am confident I can do this again ( )
b) b) I am not very confident I can do
this again ( )
c) c) I am still unsure about what I have
to say and do in such a task ( )
Figure 5: Reflecting on learning about speaking
Stage 7
The final stage of the cycle is where the teacher provides feedback on the learners’ overall
performance. This stage is assisted by the learners’ own reflections in Stage 6, which can
help the teacher monitor what they perceive and how they feel about their own progress. This
stage could also involve peer feedback rather than teacher feedback and can be provided in a
form that suits the needs of the class and of the individual learners. Comments could be
provided in relation to the learners’ responses to a checklist (as in Figure 5) or could take
another form such as teacher comments on overall grades, exchanges of reflections with other
learners with comments on each other’s progress, or feedback on a speaking task that the
teacher and/or other learners have observed.
In short, the teaching speaking cycle is a framework that aims to provide a principled
approach based on the factors related to speaking that were described in the first half of this
paper. It offers a systematic way to sequence and conduct learning activities that supports
learners’ development of the ability to manage the cognitive, linguistic, social and affective
aspects of speaking. It can be used for planning individual units of work or can be
incorporated into an existing syllabus or prescribed teaching materials.
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Conclusion
In this paper, I have argued that speaking is a very complex skill and have outlined some of
the key factors, processes and strategies involved in being a competent speaker. I have also
argued that speaking needs to be taught explicitly, and not just ‘done’ in language classrooms
without teacher scaffolding that helps learners achieve the tasks they encounter effectively.
As part of the discussion, I have also pointed out some specific ways for teachers to support
learners who face the challenge of learning to speak another language. To complement this
discussion I have presented a teaching speaking cycle that can be used flexibly and that takes
into account the different roles played by teachers and learners at different stages, the impact
of affective facors, particularly anxiety, on learning to speak, a focus on the development of
both fluency and accuracy, attention to specific language features that characterise different
spoken genres, the importance of pre-task planning and task repetition, opportunities to
develop metacognitive stratagies and ways to reflect on learning processes to develop
motivation and learner autonomy. A very important aspect of this cycle is that it focuses on
how learners can receive finely-tuned input but also timely support when it is needed.
Speaking is a skill that is highly valued by both teachers and learners. Therefore, it is not
sufficient in language classrooms that learners are simply given tasks for speaking and
expected to perform them without adequate support. Speaking development requires
intervention and guidance on the part of the teacher, as this discussion has aimed to show. It
is hoped that these ideas provide teachers with a basis for reflecting on current practices but
also for expanding them for the benefit of themselves and their learners.
Biodata
Anne Burns is Professor of TESOL in the School of Education, University of New South
Wales, Australia, where she supervises doctoral students from many different parts of the
world. She is also a Professor Emerita at Aston University, Birmingham UK, and an
Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney. She has researched and published
extensively in the areas of action research, second language teacher education, and the
teaching of speaking.
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