How to Make Sure Your Students Hate Speaking
Three practices that discourage speaking proficiency - and how to avoid them.
“If I get a different partner, or if my partner says something we didn’t practice, the whole thing will fall apart.”
“Yo Nes-Si-See-Toh Un-As Man-Zan-Ahs”.
“Yo Qui-Er-O Un Bis-Tek Tam-Bee-En”.
“Moo-Chas Gra-See-As, Señor. Adiós.”
My daughter was robotically reciting in Spanish, over and over. When I asked why, she explained that she had a test tomorrow; she would have to demonstrate an impromptu conversation in front of the class. She and a classmate had agreed to volunteer together in the hopes that they could simply recite their memorized, prepared dialogue.
“So, do you feel like you could actually use your Spanish to ask for groceries?, I asked.
“Not a chance!” Maggie moaned. “If I get a different partner, or if my partner says something we didn’t practice, the whole thing will fall apart.”
Like many students, Maggie was terrified of speaking Spanish. She was practicing, and had even developed some coping techniques. Unfortunately, these techniques were counterproductive; they were convincing her she actually couldn’t use her language skills in real life. While her class obviously had some elements of speaking instruction, I believe some of these classroom practices actually contributed to Maggie’s sense of inability.
All of this got me thinking about….
How to make sure your students hate speaking
Discouraging Practice 1: Keep all speaking highly scripted
Provide highly-directive, fill in the blank scripts. Students can change out nouns to make the conversation their own.
Solution: Provide appropriate scaffolding for substantive speaking practice
Even novice speakers can practice legitimate interpersonal communication. The key is appropriate scaffolding. Too much scaffolding results in scripted dialogues like the one my daughter was trying to memorize. Memorizing scripts has some value; it can help improve pronunciation and speech fluidity. However, it is not authentic communication and therefore doesn’t teach students to negotiate meaning within the target language. Worse, when their main mode of practice is memorized conversations, language learners may conclude they are not able to express their own unique thoughts.
Likewise, too little scaffolding is not effective in helping students improve their speaking skills. Giving general instructions such as “Talk about your family.” or “Pretend you’re ordering in a restaurant” often results in a bit of halfhearted mumbling as students struggle to compose meaningful utterances.
Providing an appropriate level of scaffolding solves both of these problems, allowing learners to express independent thoughts within structured boundaries. Examples of scaffolded activities include:
Skits: Have students write and perform a short skit on an assigned topic. Give some guidelines like “everyone must speak at least 3 times / everyone must ask at least one question / one person is really angry and one person is out of money.” This type of guidance pushes students to put together unique phrases on their own.
“Usually by the end (of speed dating), I’m a lot more comfortable. I can say whatever I want to say.”
Speed Dating Questions: Provide each student with a question in the target language, or have them write their own. Organize the class in two lines so each student is facing a partner. Students must ask and answer each others’ questions within a specified time frame (60-90 seconds is about right for novice speakers). When time is up, one line moves forward so kids have a new partner; then repeat. Have kids practice with six or eight partners. Speed dating is a great format for practicing the same speech skills multiple times.
My favorite tools for scaffolding interpersonal speaking are Conversation Templates. Find more about this resource at the links below:
Teaching Interpersonal Speaking blog post
Writing and Using Conversation Templates for Interpersonal Speaking blog post.
and my entire collection of leveled Conversation Templates!
Click for a free sample Conversation Template
In addition to scaffolding speaking tasks, you can help students experience success with thoughtful speaking instruction. I like to have students practice the same oral exercise several times (perhaps with different partners). In between attempts, I pause to allow students to ask questions and to provide instruction on challenging vocabulary and structures. Sometimes as I’m circulating I’ll hear kids making mistakes or searching for specific words; I like to take notes and provide instruction on this content in between attempts. This instructional period is also a great chance for kids to learn and incorporate exclamations, slang, and casual expressions. Having students attempt the activity both before and after this instruction provides an advanced organizer and application of new content, and at the end of the exercise students can see measurable progress in their level of comfort and achievement. This is tremendously motivating!
For more ideas on speaking instruction, check out my blog on 4 Activities for Teaching Circumlocution.
Discouraging Practice 2: Be sure all speaking is high-stakes
Assess students for a grade every time they speak. Only allow one attempt, and place a high value on perfection. Take off points for every pronunciation and grammar error. Send the message that students should speak perfectly - or else!
Solution: Lots of Low-stakes Practice (with accountability)
Developing a culture of low-stakes, regular practice is very helpful in developing students’ speaking skills. Give frequent, scaffolded speaking activities, and put accountability systems in place to encourage kids to do their best. Some techniques for encouraging accountability include:
Appeal to students directly. Talk to kids about the value of oral practice, and why challenging themselves to stay in the target language is worthwhile. Some percentage of students will buy in to the vision of improving their own proficiency, and this internal motivation is more powerful than any grade or incentive system you can implement!
“I like it when it’s a small group and she comes around and checks on us, and that way people actually speak.”
Call on students to demonstrate for the class after they’ve practiced in pairs. Tell students this is a possibility; knowing they may have to perform for their peers motivates many kids to do their best. As I circulate in the classroom while students practice, I may pause and work with individuals (providing either correction or extension of skills we’re practicing). Then I’ll tell that student, “I’m going to call on you to share this with the class at the end. Get ready!” Note: this technique works best when you have established a warm classroom community; read how in my blog posts 6 Strategies for Creating a Classroom Community and Practical Ways to Create a Classroom Community. Also, be alert to individual students’ needs. For a handful of students, the fear of public performance becomes debilitating and is counterproductive. Find other ways of motivating these individuals.
Self assessment. Following the speaking exercise, have students complete an exit ticket such as the following:
I spoke only French during this activity. Yes Partially No
The middle choice is key here; students who spoke some English are more likely to choose ‘partially’ than to circle ‘no’. This gives me a sense for students’ level of effort and gives them some agency in assessing themselves against the expectation.
Points systems. Some teachers have success in using points-based incentive systems to encourage target-language speaking (awarding points when kids stay in the target language and deducting for English). Personally, I find the record-keeping required by this approach interferes with my ability to coach students as they work, and I worry that the approach reinforces purely external motivation. I prefer using accountability systems focused on self-assessment and the end product.
“It’s stressful when you get one chance at it, and if you make a mistake, you get significant points off.”
Multiple attempts / one grade. After students practice several different speaking activities, have them choose their best one to record or perform for a grade. This provides voice and choice and maintains large amounts of practice while reducing your grading load.
Discouraging Practice 3: Presenting in Front of the Class
Have students give prepared, high-stakes presentations in front of the class for a grade.
Solution: Recordings and Gallery Walks
In section 2, I recommended having students demonstrate short oral exchanges for their peers following in-class practice. However, I very rarely have students prepare long presentations to perform in front of the class for a grade. There are several reasons to avoid this practice:
“Doing full class presentations is really really boring, because 30 people presenting one after the other… you just zone out.”
Research shows an inverse relationship between stress and target language speech. For many students, standing in front of the classroom alone and speaking is about the most stressful situation they can imagine. (read more in my blog post on 5 Language Learning Fears).
It’s boring. Listening to 22 of your peers stumble through a speech is not fun.
It’s not an efficient use of class time. Getting through all these presentations usually takes a couple of class periods. Aside from their own 5 minutes on the spot, each student sits passively as their peers present. Very little learning takes place.
It doesn’t mirror a realistic target language environment. Even in presentational speaking, kids are more likely to have one-on-one or small group exchanges in the target language than a large group presentation.
Instead of full-class presentations, consider having students make recordings of their speaking. Advantages of this approach include:
Students can practice and record more than once. This is reassuring, especially for beginners.
You and your students can access the recording multiple times for assessment, feedback, and measuring growth.
Pull up presentation recordings on laptops, distribute around the classroom, and have students visit a specified number of their classmates’ recordings while completing a simple listening task. This “gallery walk” approach gives students autonomy, allows you to eliminate bad examples or pull in good examples from other classes, and introduces a kinesthetic / movement based element into the listening activity.
Click to read 5 Language Learning Fears
Visit my blog post on 5 Language Learning Fears for a more in-depth discussion of recordings and gallery walks.
Remember Maggie and her robotic, memorized Spanish dialogue? After a semester of memorizing syllables, I’m happy to report she got a fabulous teacher who created challenging opportunities for real target-language communication. Maggie began to see herself as an actual Spanish speaker and, when Sra. P. encouraged her to continue studying Spanish…. She did!
Our classroom practices make a difference!
Have you seen classroom practices impact student motivation? Share in the comments!
