Teaching speaking skills to secondary-school EFL students

Tratar, Teja (author), Skela, Janez (mentor)

Learning English as a foreign language equips students with skills that broaden their horizons, encourage personal and professional growth, and contribute to interculturality. Teaching English as a foreign language can be challenging, especially when teaching speaking skills. While all language skills (listening, reading, writing) are important, speaking is often the goal of language learners as it empowers them for life. Therefore, creating a positive and stimulating learning environment is one of the main factors in teaching speaking. Namely, when developing speaking ability, students often face many problems, such as fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence, nervousness, peer pressure, lack of opportunities to speak and negative past experiences. In overcoming such difficulties, teachers can help their students gradually overcome their fears and become more confident and skilled English speakers. For the teaching of speaking skills in English as a foreign language to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to choose appropriate activities, as these directly affect the engagement, motivation, skill development and overall learning experience of the students. This MA dissertation introduces the theoretical explanation of what speaking is, how one should teach it and practical activities for teaching speaking skills to a foreign language class or with English as a foreign language. As part of the empirical part of the master's thesis, a questionnaire was distributed to students from one of the Slovenian secondary schools. We wanted to find out whether the students think they have enough opportunities to speak in English lessons, how comfortable they feel in class, and which topics they find the most interesting.

• Language: English
• Keywords: English as a foreign language (EFL), speaking competence, teaching speaking skills, speaking activities, secondary-school students
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2023
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-152663
• Publication date in RUL: 03.12.2023

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Poučevanje govornih spretnosti pri angleščini kot tujem jeziku v srednji šoli

Abstract

Učenje angleščine kot tujega jezika učence opremi s pomembnimi veščinami, ki razširijo njihova obzorja, spodbudijo osebno in poklicno rast ter pripomorejo k medkulturnosti. Poučevanje angleščine kot tujega jezika je lahko zelo zahtevno, še zlasti ko gre za poučevanje govornih spretnosti. Medtem ko so vse jezikovne spretnosti (poslušanje, branje, pisanje) pomembne, je govorjenje pogosto glavni cilj učencev jezikov, saj jih opolnomoči za življenje. Zato je ustvarjanje pozitivnega in spodbudnega učnega okolja eden izmed glavnih dejavnikov pri poučevanju govora. Učenci se namreč pri razvijanju govorne zmožnosti pogosto soočajo s številnimi težavami, kot so strah pred napakami, pomanjkanje zaupanja, živčnost, pritisk vrstnikov, pomanjkanje priložnosti za govor in negativne pretekle izkušnje. Pri premagovanju tovrstnih težav jim lahko učitelji pomagamo, da postopoma premagajo strah in postanejo samozavestnejši in spretnejši govorci angleščine. Da bi bilo poučevanje govornih spretnosti v angleščini kot tujem jeziku čim bolj učinkovito, je potrebno izbrati ustrezne dejavnosti, saj le-te neposredno vplivajo na zavzetost, motivacijo, razvoj spretnosti in splošno učno izkušnjo učencev. Pričujoče magistrsko delo vsebuje teoretično razlago govorne zmožnosti, kako jo poučevati in praktične dejavnosti za poučevanje govornih spretnosti v tujejezikovnem razredu oz. pri angleščini kot tujem jeziku. V okviru empiričenga dela magistrske naloge je bil dijakom z ene od slovenskih srednjih šol razdeljen vprašalnik, s katerim smo želeli ugotoviti, ali učenci menijo, da imajo pri pouku angleščine dovolj priložnosti za govorjenje, kako prijetno se počutijo v razredu, in katere teme se jim zdijo najbolj zanimive.

• Keywords: angleščina kot tuji jezik, govorna zmožnost, poučevanje govornih spretnosti, govorne dejavnosti, srednješolci