Current Trend in Teaching Listening and Speaking by Jack C Richards.

Summary
This article discusses about the current trend and highlighted some of the most important terminology
that is used in the current teaching listening and speaking. Acquiring good listening and speaking skills
are deemed to be very essential for all second language learners. Teacher need to be well equip with
the all the knowledge and methodology to teach and delivers their lesson effectively.
Today English language is the language of the world, it belongs to the international commodity and it
is valued to be very important for everyone who lives in the international atmosphere. Teachers are no
longer required to immerse themselves in the British or American culture or be an expert on their
literature, in order to become a good teacher. Traditinionally learners are expected to speak like the
native speakers therefore learners that were the original goal of learning English. However, this
concept is no longer relevant in the age of globalization. Varieties of English such as Filipina English
and Singapore English are now slowly being established. This is the result of indigenization of the
language transfer itself. With these learners no longer need to mimic the pronunciations of the native
speakers but learners of second language only need to maintain phonological core through
implementing phonological syllabus. This would allow phonological intelligibility but not to diminish
the influence of the mother tongue.
In early 1970s listening skill was hardly mentioned in journals; however things have change
dramatically now. Listening skill now plays important roles in education system that it was
incorporated in some of the universities entrance exam. Listening in 1990 focuses on discriminating
sound, deducing meaning, predicting content, noting contradictions, inadequate information,
ambiguities and differentiating between fact and opinion. Model from psychological field were also
used such as the bottom up processing and top down processing. It was summarized that in the current
methodology listener materials must be wide range, schema-building should precede listening,
strategies in materials, learners opportunity, learners must know what they are listening for and why
and active roles in listening task.
Speaking has always been the major focus in language teaching, and it went through a lot changes in
the past decades. Before teaching speaking was more on repeating after the teacher, reciting a
memorized dialogues in a another words the lesson was very rigid and it was not in a real world
environment. This was until the emergence of the construct of communicative competence and
proficiency in the 1980s which causes a major shift in the syllabus and methodology of speaking.
Fluency became the major goal in speaking and many methods were brought out to ensure fluency is
acquired. Communication strategies and negotiation of meaning became a very essential to the

development of oral skill. Proficiency movement in 1990s allow teacher to navigate through the
teaching process by using descriptions band on the proficiency level.
In conclusion, both listening and speaking have come a long way and went through various changes
and will continue to develop as we advance toward the future. Everyday there a new methods and
theory to be tested and it is all for the goodness of improving learners language acquisition.