Reasons behind students' poor speaking skills
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From my viewpoint as a teacher and as a researcher, the
following are among these reasons of why students tend to bepassive listeners rather than active learnersin the
oral English class
1. Lack of confidence
2. The psychological pressure of making mistakes in
the presence of their classmates
3. The feeling of having nothing to say on the subject
4. Lack of appropriate language
5. lack of practice in conventions of
conversational interaction
When you ask your students to speak, they
themselves have many worries, like
1. What if my vocabulary or grammar is
not as good as his/hers?
2. What if I can not think of anything to say?
3. What if I can not find the proper word?
4. What if I look silly or sound dumb?
5. What if the teacher and everyone in the
class are judging me?
6. In short …….. what if I fail?
There is another reason, as I think, that cause students'
inhibition to speak. This reason is our community culture
In our schools, students are usually taught to be
quiet and respectfully listen to the teacher
However, this is not what we want to teach students
We want them to ask for help if they do not understand
We want them express themselves and exchange
their ideas freely without worry
Actually, we can do this if we provide our students
with appropriate activities and games
that make them want to speak
Now, let me ask you
What are these activities and games that can
contribute to the solution of this problem?
I wait your suggestions
I think that to encourage your students to speak you should touch their daily life , their interests , their hobbies , their thoughts , and their environment
also we can give them the chance to say whatever they want
and express themselves freely
i sometimes allow my naughty students to waste time but in English
i allow them to speak in English
to play in English [/B
we strugle inside our classes to
be creative as much as we can
thank you very much
Good suggestion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your suggestion makes me call you
a humanistic teacher - from the Humanistic
Approach – This means that you care about
your students, their interests, feelings, likes,
and dislikes
You treat them as human beings not like
pots in which you put your knowledge
One way to be a humanistic teacher is to use humanistic activities, like ICE BREAKING
activities through which you break the ice
between you and your students
You can use them from the first lesson
Instead revising or presenting a new lesson,
provide them with one of these activities
For example:
Fill in the gaps, then complete the boxes above:
W ………. is my friend. He likes traveling to E …….
L ……… . is his favourite drink. He likes c …………
But dislikes o …….. . M ………. Are among his
favourite too. He has two e ……. With beans for
breakfast everyday. He loves b …….., a ……….
and c …………, however, he has never in the
k ………….
The answer:
WELCOME BACK
Of course, there are many ice breaking activities
I wait your suggestions
Another Ice Breaking Activity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another activity that can break the ice between
the students and their teacher especially at the
beginning of the year is called
Interest Pie
It provides opportunities for students to
review the language vocab
and structures previously taught,
to express likes/dislikes
as well as to talk to each other about
themselves
Instructions
The teacher asks Ss to draw a pie on a sheet of
paper
Next, Ss should divide the pie into several slices
and write a word related to thing that they are
very interested in
The width of each slice depends on the
importance each student gives to the thing
Ss pin the piece of paper on the front of their
shirt or dress
Finally, in Paris, they talk to each other about
the information they see in their partner's pie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From my viewpoint as a teacher and as a researcher, the
following are among these reasons of why students tend to bepassive listeners rather than active learnersin the
oral English class
1. Lack of confidence
2. The psychological pressure of making mistakes in
the presence of their classmates
3. The feeling of having nothing to say on the subject
4. Lack of appropriate language
5. lack of practice in conventions of
conversational interaction
When you ask your students to speak, they
themselves have many worries, like
1. What if my vocabulary or grammar is
not as good as his/hers?
2. What if I can not think of anything to say?
3. What if I can not find the proper word?
4. What if I look silly or sound dumb?
5. What if the teacher and everyone in the
class are judging me?
6. In short …….. what if I fail?
There is another reason, as I think, that cause students'
inhibition to speak. This reason is our community culture
In our schools, students are usually taught to be
quiet and respectfully listen to the teacher
However, this is not what we want to teach students
We want them to ask for help if they do not understand
We want them express themselves and exchange
their ideas freely without worry
Actually, we can do this if we provide our students
with appropriate activities and games
that make them want to speak
Now, let me ask you
What are these activities and games that can
contribute to the solution of this problem?
I wait your suggestions
I think that to encourage your students to speak you should touch their daily life , their interests , their hobbies , their thoughts , and their environment
also we can give them the chance to say whatever they want
and express themselves freely
i sometimes allow my naughty students to waste time but in English
i allow them to speak in English
to play in English [/B
we strugle inside our classes to
be creative as much as we can
thank you very much
Good suggestion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your suggestion makes me call you
a humanistic teacher - from the Humanistic
Approach – This means that you care about
your students, their interests, feelings, likes,
and dislikes
You treat them as human beings not like
pots in which you put your knowledge
One way to be a humanistic teacher is to use humanistic activities, like ICE BREAKING
activities through which you break the ice
between you and your students
You can use them from the first lesson
Instead revising or presenting a new lesson,
provide them with one of these activities
For example:
Fill in the gaps, then complete the boxes above:
W ………. is my friend. He likes traveling to E …….
L ……… . is his favourite drink. He likes c …………
But dislikes o …….. . M ………. Are among his
favourite too. He has two e ……. With beans for
breakfast everyday. He loves b …….., a ……….
and c …………, however, he has never in the
k ………….
The answer:
WELCOME BACK
Of course, there are many ice breaking activities
I wait your suggestions
Another Ice Breaking Activity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another activity that can break the ice between
the students and their teacher especially at the
beginning of the year is called
Interest Pie
It provides opportunities for students to
review the language vocab
and structures previously taught,
to express likes/dislikes
as well as to talk to each other about
themselves
Instructions
The teacher asks Ss to draw a pie on a sheet of
paper
Next, Ss should divide the pie into several slices
and write a word related to thing that they are
very interested in
The width of each slice depends on the
importance each student gives to the thing
Ss pin the piece of paper on the front of their
shirt or dress
Finally, in Paris, they talk to each other about
the information they see in their partner's pie
