SPEAKING

SPEAKING

Speaking is essentially considered to be the most effective skill when it comes to communication. Probably, this is one skill along with listening that we exercise the most. It is also a difficult skill to acquire when a language other than our mother tongue is concerned. There are some other major skills and some sub skills that should be paid attention to in order to develop this skill.
Acquisition of a language cannot be complete unless one is able to speak in that language proficiently. Most English learners find themselves more at ease with reading and writing than speaking.

Speaking features in the second place amongst the four language skills. It is a productive skill, unlike
listening, which is receptive. Thus, it is a difficult skill to acquire especially while learning a language other than your mother tongue. However, with right practice and improvement of the key areas related to speaking, it can be easily acquired.

This skill, also known as Oral Communication skill, is often considered to be the most important skill in language learning (though it is to be remembered that equal importance should be given to all the four skills). Speaking is closely related to listening . You learn to speak a language by listening to the language. So in order to develop speaking skill you will have to be a good listener. Reading and writing in English also contributes to developing your speaking skills.

Out of the four language skills, speaking and writing are productive skills while listening and reading are receptive skills. In speaking and writing you have a message, and a sender and a receiver of the
message. In the case of speaking the sender is the speaker and the receiver is the listener. While in the
case of written communication, the sender is the writer and the receiver is the recipient of the written
product. Some people think that writing is more difficult than speaking. However, this is not true.

Speaking is as challenging as writing. The most important characteristic in case of speaking is that you do not get enough time to organise your thoughts. The listener cannot wait for you to organise your thoughts and then speak. You have to speak fluently, without unnecessary pauses. This makes speaking a challenging task. There are instances of English learners being good at writing but not as fluent in speaking. They can write something correctly, but when they are asked to say the same thing they may falter. Of course, there are specific areas that need to be dealt with for developing your writing skills as well.

Coming back to speaking, this is a slightly difficult skill especially for learners in India as far as speaking English is concerned. You will not find too many people in India who can speak fluent English in the early stages of learning this language, unless they have a good exposure to English (spoken in schools, at home, in social circles etc).

To become proficient in speaking English we need to understand the problem areas and then identify
ways in which we can address those areas.

1. Articulation: Your ability to articulate your thoughts and ideas clearly in unambiguous terms.

2. Pronunciation and diction: The way you pronounce the words in sentence.

3. Use of the right words: Your ability to use the right words to convey your message without fumbling.

4. Pause and emphasis for effect (to convey or emphasize the meaning): Your ability to use
significant pauses and emphasis, especially in public speaking, to gain the audience's attention.

5. Accent: The accent in which you speak. For English, it is advisable that you use a neutral
accent, that is, without interference of your mother tongue. Do not try to imitate an accent blindly. This hampers your ability to speak fluently as you tend to focus more on getting the accent right instead of focusing on what you have to say.