Teaching Oral Skills Communicatively | Page 45

a. roles: These, according to Nation (1989: 24) refer to features which govern the learners’ participation in the activity and affect both the learning goals and the participation in an activity. The adoption of roles by the students helps them use language which simulates to ‘real life’ situations while their engagement in realistic situations increases their motivation. In addition, it creates a new teaching situation as the traditional teacher-student(s) interaction (lockstep) gives its way to group work and pair work activities which are multiply beneficial for the students. Long and Porter (1985: 208) stress that group work increases both the quantity and quality of talk while Ur (1981: 7) points out that the context of small groups helps students who are shy express themselves more freely. According to Brown and Yule (1983: 34) in small groups the speaker’s ‘communicative stress’ decreases and students feel more comfortable in producing what they have to say. Finally, Fisher (1993:164) stresses that the interaction between students releases them from the control of the teacher and allows students use language as a genuine attempt to solve problems rather than a means to demonstrate their learning. b. Outcomes: Nation (1989: 25) stresses that a clear outcome: “… can increase interest in the activity by giving learners a purpose.” Moreover, a purposeful use of language can help students realize it as a tool for communication. Ur (1980: 5) stresses that: “One does not speak for the sake of speaking but because one has something to say.” Finally, an outcome can guarantee that the communication during the activity has been effective giving valuable feedback both to students and to the teacher. Littlewood (1981: 90-91) stresses that feedback should focus on communicative criteria, and “…may be intrinsic to the task: successful completion of the task is itself an indication that communication has been effective.” c. Procedure: According to Nation (1989: 26) a procedure: “… divides the speaking activity into steps. It increases the amount of speaking involved in the activity and in some cases makes sure that each learner in the group will participate in the activity.” This is especially useful in the case of monolingual students who have the tendency to use their first language to communicate during the activity. West (2000, Unit 3: 44) suggests that a procedure from pairwork activities to whole class