Developing Speaking Proficiency

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Developing Speaking Proficiency

• Dr. Peterson

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Purposeful Oral Language Activities

• Show-and-tell
• Oral reports and demonstrations
• Interviewing
• Conversations
• Recitations
• Discussions
• Debates

• Brainstorming
• Story reading/storytelling
• Readers Theatre
• Choral Reading/Speaking
• Creative Dramatics
• Miniperformances

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Show-and-Tell

• One of the earliest forms of public speaking
• Share time
• Planning and management needed
• Rules/guidelines to consider
• What are the rules or guidelines that should be
  considered for show-and-tell?

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Show-and-Tell

• Rules to consider
• Choose a topic of interest to share when it is
  your turn.
• Plan what you are going to say ahead of time.
• Share your topic briefly and ask for questions or
  comments.
• Answer questions and let the next person have a
  turn.
• Dont interrupt when another student is speaking.
  Wait until the classmate pauses or asks for
  questions and comments to speak.
• Listen carefully to the speaker so you will be
  able to make good comments or ask good questions.
• Talk about the good parts of the presentation
  when you make comments.

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Oral Reports

• Typically based on research students have
  conducted
• Sometimes based on personal experience
• Book reports can be a special type of oral report
• What are some guidelines for oral reports,
  speakers and/or the audience?

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Oral Reports

• Guidelines for speakers
• Look at the audience
• Avoid saying um, uh, and ah between words
  and sentences
• Speak in a natural voice
• Make the presentation interesting (use props if
  appropriate)
• Be brief
• Stand up straight
• Keep your hands out of your pockets

• Guidelines for the audience
• Pay close attention
• Use all of your good listening skills
• Be ready to ask questions of the speaker

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Demonstrations

• Shows audience how to do something
• Requires research and planning
• Gathering materials
• Sequence is critical
• Face the audience throughout the demonstration
• What factors should be considered when evaluating
  demonstrations?

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Demonstrations

• Factors to evaluate
• Topic
• Organization of material
• Purpose
• Content
• Clarity of central thought

• Use of language
• Delivery
• Eye contact
• Fluency
• Voice control
• Pronunciation
• Articulation
• Wording
• Movement
• Gestures
• Interaction with audience

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Interviews

• Use to obtain information related to a specific
  project.
• Requires the use of speaking and listening
• Have a plan in mind
• Establish purpose
• Select person to interview
• Arrange an appointment with the person
• Plan a series of open-ended questions (avoid
  yes/no questions)
• Rehearse the interview process with another
  student or adult
• Refer to questions during interview but consider
  impromptu questions
• Take notes or audio/video tape
• Thank the person interviewed

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Holding Conversations

• Most casual and natural form of oral expression
• Is there time for this in elementary school?

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Encourage Conversations

• Create conversation centers in the classroom
  that include materials/objects that students can
  use to stimulate conversation.

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Grand Conversations

• Students share their personal response to a text
  or piece of literature
• What they liked/disliked
• Personal reactions
• Connections between text and own lives
• Teachers participate but act as interested
  participants, not leaders
• Conduct whole group or small group

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Grand Conversations

• Children spend more time sharing thoughts
  regarding characters, plot, theme rather than on
  the authors craft.
• Authors Craft includes
• Structure of book
• Arrangement of text and illustrations
• Use of repetitive or figurative language

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Recitations

• Students give brief answers to questions
  primarily to test their knowledge of factual
  material.
• Somewhat like an interrogation
• Teacher asks known-answer questions

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Discussions

• Teacher-student interaction
• Student-student interaction
• Research indicates that discussion is a more
  viable instructional strategy than recitation
• Discussions similar to conversations, but more
  tightly focused
• What are some discussion guidelines to consider?

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Discussions

• Guidelines to consider
• Stay on topic
• Express complete thoughts
• Share information
• Offer reasons for their positions
• Everyone should have a turn to express their
  thoughts
• Consider changing their minds when faced with
  convincing evidence from other participants

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Panel Discussions

• Panelists- students who are prepared to speak on
  issues related to a certain topic
• Moderator- opens the discussion with an
  introductory statement and calls on panelists to
  speak
• Audience- can pose questions at the end to the
  panelists

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Panel Discussion Benefits

• Integrates the use of reference skills
• Demonstrate knowledge of content
• Reinforces effective speaking

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Debates

• Consists of two teams that represent opposing
  sides of a position.
• Present arguments for or against the issue
• Time allotted for rebuttal
• Representative from each team sumarizes the
  teams position
• If members of the audience are to judge the
  debate criteria must be established in advance

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Debates in the Classroom

• Students could take stands for or against
• Characters choices in literature
• Childrens books and censorship
• School policies/Educational policies
• Current events

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Brainstorming

• Encourages imagination and creative thinking
• Procedure for brainstorming in the classroom
• Think of as many ideas as you can related to your
  topic.
• Listen to what others say and build on their
  ideas.
• Think of original and unusual ideas.
• Speak one at a time.
• Do not criticize anyones ideas.

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Story Reading Story Telling

• Good vehicles for working on voice control
• Pitch, tempo, and volume
• Focus on eye contact
• Readers Theatre a popular method
• Special form of oral interpretation of literature
• Students read a script for an audience
• Locate scripts with much dialogue and strong
  characterization
• Material should be relatively easy for
  participants to read so they can concentrate on
  the character interpretation

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Choral Reading or Speaking

• Oral interpretation of literature
• Two or more voices speak as one
• Major purpose of choral reading is enjoyment
• Great for shy students

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Several Types of Choral Speaking

• Refrain
• Adult presents the major portion of the poem or
  story and the students repeat the chorus or
  refrain together.
• Line-a-Child/Group
• One child/group begins by reciting the first line
• Another child/group recites the next line
• Arrangement continues throughout the poem or story

• Antiphonal/Dialogue
• Alternate parts are recited by different groups
  such as boys vs. girls, high vs. low voices, or
  locations of students in the classroom
• Cumulative
• One group recites the first verse
• Another group joins in on the second verse
• Additional groups join with each new verse until
  everyone is speaking

Unison- entire class says the selection together
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Creative Dramatics

• Spontaneous acting out of a situations or stories
  without scripts or prompts
• Focus is the process of dramatization rather than
  product
• Act out situations that may occur in real life

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Puppetry

• Helpful for shy students
• Makes many children less self-conscious
• Practice both dialogue and hand movements
• Voice projection particularly important

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Mini-performances

• Researchers developed this technique primarily
  for at-risk students can be used with all
  children as well
• Incorporates literature, drama, music, and
  movement
• Closely related to creative dramatics
• Familiar stories are reenacted
• Difference is mini-performances use a script,
  minimal props and costumes, and a practiced
  performance is given to an audience
• Students adapt a story to make it fit the needs
  of the group
• Can change gender of characters, have two
  students play the same character, change animal
  characters into other animals, etc.
• Decide where music should be incorporated
• Could write their own song or dialogue
• Main story line is kept, students develop
  dialogue in their own words
• Adult is narrator and fills in parts of the story
  that are not dialogue
• Teacher serves as a scribe and writes the script
  as it is developed
• Students take script home to practice or have
  adults assist them with the reading