Introduction to Part II
Speaking is considered as the most difficult skill for a learner to master. This
is due partly to a learner’s natural inhibition to be exposed and partly to the way
speaking is practiced within a classroom context. Research has shown not only that
student’s talking time (STT) is quite limited, especially when the lesson is done in
lockstep, but also that the role of students is restricted to a mere respondent of the
teacher’s questions. It is very rare that the student is allowed to take the floor in order
to initiate something.
The aim of this part is to cater for the above problems in order to improve the
teaching of speaking to primary students and it is organized in two sections. Section I
is theoretical, presenting the main principles that should be involved in the teaching of
speaking. Section II is an attempt to put theory into practice by presenting two lessons
which were prepared according to the criteria presented in section I.
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