Learn English with Nani/ Speaking
A.
Speaking:
1.
Introduction:
"Speaking is a productive aural/oral skill and it consists of
producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning" David Nunan.
Speaking is a vital skill for all language
learners of all types since it goes along with communication. It is one of the
basic elements for humanity to stay in tune and have a mutual contact.
Intelligibility is certainly important and that is the aim of
speaking, i.e., to have people interact and understand each other.
Aiming to speak clear and good English is the
purpose of this article. Down below you should find brilliant ideas and
worthy pieces of advice to carry on learning English and speak English well.
2.
What is speaking?
To become a good learner of English, you should
work on four skills respectively listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In
the last article we have spoken in detail about listening and how can we
practice listening well. Go to this link to read about listening if you haven’t.
To speak means to produce sounds. These sounds
should be agreed amongst a group of people where each sound or a collection of
sounds has a meaning to reveal. To have people understand each other,
interlocutors (listeners and speakers in a conversation) should use a language,
which is understood and meaningful to reach the aim of communication that is to
send and receive the message.
3.
What discourages me to speak?
As you tend to speak, many problems come to
confront your will. Here are some of the problems English language learners
would like to go over.
a.
Glossophobia (fear of public
speaking):
When it comes to conversations in English or
discussing topics with friends using English as an instrument, you find it
challenging to speak and express your views English.
b.
Lack of vocabulary:
Sometimes our main problem, when we speak, is the lack
of vocabulary, we find difficulties to find the right words to express our
ideas.
c.
Incorrect pronunciation:
As we are non-native speakers of the language, our
pronunciation sometimes sounds strange especially if we are new to the
language.
d.
Fewer occasions to practice:
All foreign language learners are motivated to
speak and have conversations with some friends. The main issue taking place, in this case, is the lack of opportunities to practice. Learners of English find
themselves in a less supportive environment for English clubs and associations.
4.
How can I practice speaking
English?
You are a fan of English, aren’t you?
I tried to collect for you some of the main and brilliant
ideas to speak English better and ameliorate your level of speaking skill.
a.
Read Aloud:
Extensive reading has a sophisticating impact on
communication skills. As we have noted in the last article about listening, beginner learners should get their ears accustomed to the sounds and chain of
sounds in a word. Similarly, to speak well we need first to get our vocal
apparatus familiar with the sound articulations and manners of sound production
in English.
b.
Talk to yourself:
Another good technique to become a good speaker
is to talk to yourself. Stand in front of the mirror and talk, this is very
helpful since it urges you to think of words that can express your ideas.
Talking to yourself means to discuss everything with yourself; for example,
discuss the problems you faced during your day, describe your best friend, talk
about your teacher, etc. Through this technique, you will be searching for
words that go along with the flow of ideas your brain is giving.
c.
Surround yourself with the
English Language:
As you want to have a good English that people
understand when you speak. You should surround yourself with English. This doesn’t
mean to deny your culture or your language, but to consider some time for
yourself learning English and practicing it. If you live in the city center,
you can go to join clubs of English and events where English is dominating.
Provided that you live in the countryside,
you can surround yourself with English online through watching Tedx videos on
YouTube and using video chat apps that are available for free on Play Store.
It is crucially important to do this so that you feel alright when it comes to
speak or have discussions with some friends. Link yourself to English and try
to schedule a good amount of time to watch movies and listen to native speakers
and more importantly to speak and make mistakes, from mistakes you will learn
and fix your problems to become a better speaker.
d.
Make sure to listen as well as
speak:
To become a good speaker, you need to be a good
listener. Speaking goes along with listening and so as you listen to native
speakers try imitating them and record your voice to compare it with the native speaker's voice.
It is good as well to attend activities where people discuss and talk about
topics in English; even though you find difficulties using the language, it is
enough to stay and listen and accumulation of listening to friends talking in
English reinforces you to speak the language.
e.
Improve your pronunciation:
To speak means to send a message and so as you
fail to articulate sounds well the other side of the conversation will find it
hard to get your message. Pronunciation is crucially an important component in
speaking and the English language itself. In English, there is a remarking
difference from the graphemes (letters) and phonemes (sounds). Native speakers
are the reference for good articulation regardless of any particular accent. As
a foreign language learner, it is useful to imitate native speakers and listen
to a variety of accents.
f.
Think in English:
This is quite devoted to high-level learners of
English but it is worth to try. Thinking in English helps learners to become
more fluent speakers since the process of speaking happens spontaneously
without translating the expressions in your mind. Thinking in English will help
you speak with low-pressure and much confidence. That is to say, this stage
assures your high level.
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