Speaking (productive skill)

subskills

• making use of grammar, vocabulary and functions

• making use of register to speak appropriately

• using features of connected speech

• using body language

• producing different text types

• oral fluency (speaking at a normal speed, with little hesitation, repetition or self-correction, and with smooth use of connected speech)

• using interactive strategies (ways of keeping people interested and involved in what we are saying)

interactive strategies

gestures, eye contact, facial expressions and movement,

functions

clarifying our meaning (e.g. 'I mean .. .', 'What I'm frying to say is .. .'), asking for opinions (e.g. 'What do you think?'), agreeing (e.g. 'Yes, that's right')

turn-taking

all the features of connected speech (intonation, word and sentence stress, accurate individual
sounds, linking and contractions)

Fluency, accuracy and appropriacy

formality or informality

text types

conversations, discussions or telephone
calls, giving presentations, telling stories

All these text types have different features

They involve using different functions, different levels of formality, different amounts of speaking, different amounts of interaction, different structures and vocabulary

interactive speaking (e.g. conversations, discussions), speaking at length (e.g. presentations, giving points of view, etc.).

controlled practice activities

drills, repetition and
saying things learnt by heart (things that are memorised).

Fluency activities

information-gap activities, problem solving, project work,
discussions, explaining solutions

silent period

Classroom activities

Practice activities or tasks in which learners have opportunities to use the new language - these activities may move from controlled to freer activities or a teacher may choose to do them in the opposite order, depending on the class and learning context

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Lead-in: an introduction to the topic of the lesson plus activities including a
focus on the new language