Ensure that you select topics that are interesting and relevant to your learners as a way to increase their motivation to talk. This does not mean that you have to choose controversial topics, which students may feel uncomfortable or reluctant to talk about. Instead, choose things which are important in your learners’ daily lives or part of their life experiences.
With this in mind, wherever possible, approach your teaching materials with a critical eye, and look for ways you might adapt, omit, or supplement coursebook activities to make them more relevant to your students. If you can create interest and personalize your teaching materials, your lessons will be more meaningful, and the likelihood is that they will be memorable.
Many speaking activities are unsuccessful or do not realize their full potential because learners are not clear about what they are supposed to do. Giving vague or general instructions, such as ‘discuss X for a few minutes and then report back’ makes the task very open-ended, and learners will be slow to start speaking and may quickly run out of things to say.
Setting tasks with clear, specific outcomes provides a better structure for learning, e.g. ‘Find three differences between your picture and your partner’s picture’ or ‘Read the story and discuss what you think will happen next’ or ‘Ask your partner five questions about her family’. This kind of instruction works well because learners know exactly what they have to do and when they have finished.
Give your students appropriate language support to ensure they have the means to complete the task. For example, do some practice activities before a free speaking task; do plenty of repetition of key phrases; build up a ‘class answer’ on the board for the students to refer to; or provide cues or prompt words on the board.
If a task is too difficult, students will be disheartened and reluctant to participate; if it is too easy, they will be bored. Getting the right level for your students is often a question of judging how much language support and practice is required to challenge but not discourage them.
If students have access to some of the key phrases or vocabulary they need, they can approach the speaking task feeling supported and confident, rather than anxious that they don’t have the means even to get started.
Allowing students to confer is a key part of increasing ‘student talking time’ and decreasing ‘teacher talking time’. Rather than nominating one person to answer a question or give feedback in front of the whole class, you could ask students to talk to a partner first. This increases the number of students talking at any one time, and avoids shining a spotlight on a learner who may not know the answer or who feels embarrassed to speak in front of their peers. By monitoring discreetly and listening as the students talk together, you can check that everyone is participating and encourage or help those who need more support.
Try different ways of working to increase the amount of speaking time in class. Even if your classroom has a fixed layout, students can practise speaking with the person sitting on either side of them, and the person in front and behind. In more flexible classroom formats, students can work in pairs, groups, teams, or table groups. By having the class working simultaneously in this way, participation is increased, student talking time increases, and you are free to monitor and provide support as needed.
Devote enough time in class to speaking activities so that students are regularly required to talk and it becomes a normal part of your lessons. This will indicate to your students that speaking in English is an important part of the programme. When you’re planning your lessons, make sure that you allow sufficient time for speaking activities, not just five minutes at the end of a lesson.
It is also important to seize opportunities to include everyday English in your interactions with your students. You can use the time at the beginning and end of a lesson as your students enter and exit for everyday chat, such as How are you today?, How was your weekend?, What are you going to do next?, What are you planning to do after school today? This enables everyday topics and expressions to become familiar and internalized.
In some situations, allowing students ‘thinking time’ before they speak can be helpful. Letting students practise their answers in pairs or groups before trying it out with a new partner or group means that they won’t feel they are approaching a task unprepared. This has implications for your lesson planning, and you will need to allow enough time for students to be able to practise and repeat tasks.
It is important not to over-correct students during speaking activities. Try to create a supportive atmosphere and good rapport in your classes. This will encourage students to speak without worrying about making mistakes. You should also encourage a positive attitude to mistakes – they are an opportunity to learn and improve.
Delayed error correction is an effective way to handle errors in a free speaking activity, and should go alongside praise and feedback on what the learners did well.
All speaking tasks should have a feedback stage, so that the students are made aware of the value of what they have done.
Aim to use a variety of communicative activities to expose your learners to different types of speaking practice. This can include role-play, memorized dialogues, mix-and-mingle activities, discussions, guessing games, information gap, board games, competitions, competitive timed practice activities, cooperative problem-solving, brainstorming tasks, and project work. By using a wide range of student-centred speaking activities, their interest and motivation is maintained, and you are able to cater for the range of learning preferences within your group.
It is always a good idea to prepare speaking activities carefully before the lesson, and evaluate how successful they have been after the lesson. Preparing a task thoroughly before the lesson will help to increase the chances of success, which will be motivating for you and your students.
In general, if a task is simple to prepare and run, it probably has a greater chance of success. If the task has lengthy or complicated instructions, students may fail to grasp what is required or be unable to do the activity at all.
If a task requires a lot of preparation, try to re-use or adapt it for other classes, so that you get the most out of it. If a task required a lot of preparation but only produced limited practice, it’s a good idea to review what went wrong, what you might do differently next time, and reflect on if you can revise it, or simply decide not to use it again.
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