Speaking involves the vocalized production of language in real time through the use of the speech organs. It is the hardest of the four language skills due to the limited time for planning. Speaking requires conceptualizing ideas, formulating them syntactically and lexically, articulating sounds, self-monitoring, and employing fluency strategies like pausing, fillers and prefabricated language chunks. Fluency depends on factors like number of syllables between pauses and use of strategies rather than constructing utterances from scratch. Speaking also involves turn-taking rules and knowledge of genres, contexts, paralinguistics and sociocultural norms.

1. Speaking
Definition

2. What is Speaking?
• Speech is the vocalized form of human
communication
• Speech production takes places in real time
and it is linear, i.e. utterance by utterance.
• Planning is severly limited, therefore, it is the
hardest of all four skills.

3. Coceptualization and Formulation
Conceptualization
Discourse type
Topic
Purpose
Formulation
Making strategic
choices: syntax,
vocabulary
Beginning,
middle and end

4. ! Note that:
• In English, utterances tend to have a two-part
structure:
Topic + comment

5. Articulation
• It involves the use of the organs of speech to
produce sounds.
• Sounds are produced in a continuous stream,
some sounds merge with others. Handbag,
baked beans
• Continual changes in loudness, pitch direction,
tempo and pausing serve to organize the
sounds into meaninful words and utterances.
• Proficients speakers produce 15 phonemes a
second.

6. Self-monitoring & repair
• It is a process that happens concurrently with
the stages of conceptualization, formulation
and articulation.
• Self-monitoring may result in a slowing down,
pausing and backtracking or rephrasing of an
utterance.

7. Automaticity
Conceptualizing
Formulating
Articulating
Monitoring

8. Use of
prefabricated
chunks
Add-on
strategies
(chaining
together of
short phrases)
Fluency
Mean that a speaker’s attentional
resources are thinly streched

9. ! Note that:
Being under pressure or tired will affect a
speaker’s performance

10. ! Note that:
• Speaking is like any other skill such as driving
or playing a musical instrument: the more you
practice, the more likely you are to be able to
chunk small units into larger ones.

11. Fluency
• Is fluency the ability to speak fast?
• It’s not only about speed, but pausing is
equally important.
• However, frequent pausing is a sure sign of a
struggling speaker.
• Natural sounding pauses| are those that occur
at the ontersection of clauses, | or after groups
of words that form a meaningful unit.|

12. Fluency
Another factor in the
perception of fluency is the
lenght of the run (number of
syllables between pauses)
Race-callers and auctioners
rather than constructing
from scratch,use
prefabricated chunks
Pause fillers: uh, um, er
Repeats
• Long runs
• Use of
prefabricated
chunks
• Production
strategies

13. Interaction and turn-taking
• Sometimes, a face-to-face dialogue is involved
in speaking.
• Turn-taking is negotiated because speakers
are familiar with the rules and skills of turn-
taking. Two rules are to be followed:
 Long silences are to be avoided
 Listen when other speakers are speaking

14. Discourse markers
• That reminds me. (I’m continuing with the same topic)
• By the way… (I’m indicating a topic change)
• Well, anyway.. (I’m returning to the topic)
• Like I say… (I’m repeating what I said before)
• Yes, but.. (I’m indicating a difference of opinion)
• Yes, no I know.. (I’m indicating agreement with a negative
idea)
• Uh-huh… (I’m listening)

15. Paralinguistics and sociocultural
knowledge

16. Genre knowledge
By its purpose:
• Transactional: for the purpose of conveying or exchanging
specific information
• Interpersonal: For the purpose of maintaining social
relationships
By its interaction:
• Non-inteactive or interactive
By its planning:
• Planned or unplanned

17. Genre knowledge
PURPOSE PARTICIPATION PLANNING
Airport
anouncements
Transactional non-interactive planned
Sports
commentary
Transactional non-interactive Unplanned
Job interview Transactional Interactive (partly) planned
Service
encounter
Transactional Interactive Unplanned
Joke telling Interpersonal (partly)
interactive
(partly) planned
Leaving a voice-
mail message
Transactional or
interpersonal
non-interactive Unplanned
Casual
conversation
interpersonal interactive Unplanned

18. The difference between written and
spoken discourse

19. Dell Hymes:
Speaking
Proficiency
Grammatical
competence
Sociolinguistic
competence
Discourse
competence
Strategic
competence