Teaching speaking

2019

To be able to communicate fluently in a foreign language is the number one goal for many language learners. However, it seems that the teaching of oral skills in language classrooms does not have an important role. There are many reasons: the higher status of written language, teaching to the tests (of written language), teaching the textbook (with emphasis on written language), and lack of knowledge of how to teach speaking. The purpose of the article is to discuss the issue of how foreign language (FL) speaking can be taught based on 1) how speaking is learned and 2) how speaking proficiency is defined. More specifically, 1) How do learning theories translate into teaching speaking at cla…