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FEATURES OF TEACHING SPEAKING IN ENGLISH FOR STUDENTS OF 8th-
9
th GRADES
Ryskulova A.N.
Turkistan
,
Kazakhstan
English teacher of IT-lyceum-school № 23 named after Zh. Tashenov
e-mail:
ryskulova-1984@bk.ru
Speaking English is one of the important skills necessary for successful
communication [1, p. 46]. Education at any age is inextricably linked with the age
characteristics of students. Understanding what a teenager feels and needs will make his
learning more effective. However, today there are no works that would conduct a
comprehensive comparison of the age of a teenager and methods of teaching English
speaking that are effective for this age.
The purpose of this article is to identify the features of teaching English speaking
to students in grades 8–9.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
– determine the age characteristics of students in grades 8–9;
– study effective methods of teaching speaking English;
– analyze the interests of students in grades 8–9 in relation to English classes
(questionnaire);
– draw a parallel between the age characteristics of students in grades 8–9 and
effective ways of teaching them to speak English.
So, speaking as a type of speech activity, first of all, relies on language as a means
of communication, and communication, in turn, is the leading activity of adolescents.
That is why the selected age period (8th–9th grades) is motivationally suitable for
learning to speak English. By combining the age-related need of adolescents to
communicate with peers with teaching them the ability to communicate with classmates
in English, we can increase the interest of adolescents in learning the language.
The emotional factor in learning can play a key role at the initial stage; it is at the
very beginning that the teacher’s task is to instill interest in the subject and create
motivation to learn the language [2, p. 169].
This age period is also important because at this age numerous qualitative changes
occur in the worldview of adolescents, which lead to changes in previous characteristics,
interests and relationships. It is during this period that an interest in learning a language
can be instilled in the child, if this has not been done previously. Also during this period,
the teenager becomes quite sensitive to criticism, so awareness of one’s own ability to
speak a foreign language will add to the child’s self-confidence and the desire to further
develop in this direction. If we miss this stage in the life of a teenager, then we will see
the opposite picture: dislike of a foreign language due to complexes caused by the child’s
failures in learning English.
However, the turning point in how teenagers perceive the world around them also
leads to them becoming more aggressive and stubborn. Therefore, the process of learning
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to speak at this age should be presented in such a way that the child perceives it as
something exciting. For example, the process of learning to speak can be presented not
just in the form of a boring lesson, but using the following methods, each of which can
make the lesson more lively and attractive.
1. Discussion. This task, as part of the educational process, has many options for
implementation: a discussion can consist of exchanging views on a particular situation,
expressing an attitude towards a piece of text read or listened to, as well as jointly
searching for answers to a particular problem, etc. In During the discussion, any
controversial issues are discussed; for this, students are divided into groups of 3–5
people. This task provides an opportunity for all participants in the discussion to express
their opinions. This type of lesson helps students develop the ability to make quick
decisions and develop critical thinking. Such activities, according to G. Jacobs,
encourage students to master oral language skills, since the mutual dependence that joint
activities require will lead to more communication between students, as they will have to
exchange information and advice in order to achieve success in achieving your goals [3,
p. 56].
2. Role-playing games. This type of lesson is where students must present
themselves in different social contexts and play different social roles. In order for
students to begin completing the task, the teacher must introduce guidelines: what role
each student has, how they feel about the problem being discussed, how they feel, etc.
3. Simulation models. This activity is essentially the same as role-playing games,
but is more complex and their thoughtful form. In order to create the most realistic
situation in the lesson, a variety of objects and auxiliary materials on the topic of the
lesson are used.
4. Information gaps. This type of activity involves pair work in class. Students
have a certain amount of information that they share with each other. During the
exchange of this information, various problems should be solved or collection of
information. Both participants in the dialogue are equally important, since only together
they will be able to most accurately and completely recreate the information provided to
them.
5. Brainstorming. This type of lesson involves learning to produce ideas on a given
topic in a strictly limited period of time. This type of lesson is most often used for groups
of participants, but is also applicable for each student individually.
6. Interview. This type of activity involves students conducting fictitious
interviews on selected topics with various people. For this purpose, students
independently draw up a plan and a list of questions that they want to ask in an interview.
The teacher only sets the topic of the interview.
7. Completing the story. This is quite an interesting and productive type of
activity. The teacher reads the story, deliberately not voicing its ending, stopping just
before the denouement. Next, he invites each student to come up with their own version
of the ending.
8. Description from pictures. The teacher provides the students with one or more
pictures, and the students need to describe what they see in the picture or write a story
based on these pictures. It is important to note that these tasks seem interesting to
teenagers only if the lesson itself is carried out creatively, and the approach to the tasks
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also attracts children’s attention. For example, if the textbook is given a complex text and
students need to complete this story, then they are more likely to find a translation of the
exercise on the Internet, where they can also find ending options. It will be much more
interesting if the teacher, together with the students, watches an excerpt from a modern
film that is popular among teenagers, and invites them to come up with their own ending
to the excerpt they watched.
We identified the interest of teenagers specifically in films through a survey
among students in grades 8–9 (14–15 years old).
The results of the survey showed that among students of the selected age group,
the greatest preference is given to films. They were chosen by 80 % of respondents, that
is, 48 students. A total of 60 people took part in the survey: 32 8th grade students and 28
9th grade students. At the same time, all 60 students noted that at the moment, during
English classes, teachers never showed them films and that this would make the lesson
much more interesting.
In Fig. 1 presents the respondents’ answers regarding what type of activity seems
most interesting to them to carry out as part of English lessons
Figure survey results
Figure 2. Results of a survey of students in grades 8–9
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Age characteristics, as well as interests inherent in a given age, suggest the
creation of such a program for teaching speaking in English language, which would
involve students in the process as much as possible and at the same time take a minimum
of time outside of school. This point is also especially important due to the fact that
teenagers of 14–15 years old, like Kalachnikova R.S. Peculiarities tend to have a rather
negative attitude towards homework and often do not complete it at all. By taking these
factors into account, it is possible to create an effective teaching program without the
gaps that may arise if part of the class does home exercises and others do not. So, it
seems more appropriate here to work that the teacher could fully control, namely, work in
the classroom: watching an excerpt from a modern film and a creative task for it to
develop the skills of speaking in English.
When teaching speaking to students in grades 8–9, you should also take into
account the fact that the speaking process consists of three stages.
At the first stage, speech programming is carried out, that is, the construction of
the semantic backbone of a speech utterance is carried out - the teenager formulates what
he wants to say. For this purpose, he selects information that is significant, in his opinion,
and eliminates unnecessary information. In order for a student to be able to achieve this
stage of speaking when it comes to the English language, it is necessary to provide him
with the necessary stock of English words and expressions. That is why before watching
the film it is advisable to provide students with new words and work with them. They can
be discussed with the teacher so that children can pronounce them correctly; compose
phrases or dialogues with them so that they can also correctly use them in speech.
At the second stage, the syntactic structure of the sentence is constructed. The
student thinks over the general structure of the phrase, its grammatical form. That is why
it is important to spend time on English grammar in every lesson so that students are able
to correctly combine words into sentences and sentences into text.
And finally, at the third stage, pronunciation and voicing of speech occurs. This
stage involves teaching students not only the correct pronunciation of individual words,
but also the intonation structure of the entire sentence. This is important, since errors
associated with the pronunciation of words, phonetic errors lead to misunderstanding of
the statement on the part of both the listener and the speaker, and therefore make
communication problematic, and sometimes even impossible [4, p. 233].
While working through each of the presented stages, it is also necessary Keep in
mind that at the age of 14–15 years, teenage boys and teenage girls also behave
differently. Boys are less sociable therefore; you shouldn’t underestimate them because
they are not so detailed build sentences like girls. Also, teenagers at this age love to argue
and seek justice. For these purposes, tasks such as “discussion”, “role-playing games”,
“simulation models”, where students, for example, can act out a “for or against” situation,
dividing into two groups, and try to defend their position in a planned situation, one way
or another related to the watched excerpt from the film[5]. For example, imagine that
they are on the television program “Let Them Talk” discussing the decision or action of
the main character - while someone supports his actions, and someone condemns him.
Thus, for effective teaching of speaking in English to students in grades 8–9, it is
necessary to take into account the age characteristics of the selected group of children.
The study of this issue showed that at 14–15 years old teenagers need to create a situation
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of success in the learning process, motivate them, make the learning process interesting,
select effective exercises taking into account the purpose of the lesson and the age of the
students.
The presented results will make it possible to create an effective program for
teaching English speaking to students in grades 8–9 using films and practical tasks for
them.
REFERENCES:
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2. Popov A.V. Development of speaking skills in schoolchildren in grades 8–9 with
teaching English in individual lessons // News of the Institute of Pedagogy and
Psychology of Education. 2020. №1. P. 168-172.
3. Vorobyova A.I. Development of oral speech skills through role-playing games in
foreign language lessons // International Student Scientific Bulletin. 2019. №. 3. P. 56.
4. Chugunova E.I. Phonetic systems of the language and pronunciation difficulties
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modern conditions: materials of the International. scientific-method.conf. Karavaevo:
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5. Thornbury, S., 2007. How to Teach Speaking. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.Ur,
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