TASK 1 1.

0 Introduction Listening and speaking are two different skills that are necessary in order to teach English. Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear (cited from Wikipedia). Active speaking is the process of directing conversation on a specific agenda by asking questions and through the use of suggestive reasoning (Marsh,2009). So, listening and speaking are related to one another in order to build a good interaction in class. Pupils should practice to listen to get the idea and response by speaking. Here are some principles and guidelines to teach speaking in listening.

1.1

Principles and guidelines to teach listening The first principle and guideline to teach listening by Chitravelu (2005), is, a

teacher should make sure that pupils understand clearly on what they are going to listen. This is necessary in order to encourage pupil to have some views on the materials they are going to listen. For example, if the text is about Chinese culture, a teacher will tell pupils about the nationality so that pupils will have some views about their food, clothes and customs. Besides, a teacher can ask pupils to read up through the questions before they begin listening to get an idea (Chitravelu, 2005). In my opinion, this principle is very relevant because Malaysian pupils are encouraged to do skimming and scanning before they read as well as listening to get an idea for better understanding.

The second principle and guideline is, a teacher should practice using authentic language and context to enable pupils relate with their long term communicative goals (Brown,2001). Authentic language and context are real texts or contexts which are designed for native speakers for example when listening to English radio programme or English advertisement (Harmer, 1983). Based on this principle, in my opinion, if we refer to Malaysian context, pupil in rural area especially, would

probably not be able to handle genuinely authentic texts, but should nevertheless be given practice to listen to text that look authentic. I agree with Geddes (1981) as cited in Johnson & Morrow (1981) who had suggested using simulated authentic texts with dialogue materials which are incomplete speech that helps speaker to control language and link texts with specific tasks. Thus, pupils will become interested in what they are going to listen as the text is useful in a not necessarily interesting way.

The third principle and guideline is, as suggested by Chitravelu (2005), listening should not be played once only. I think pupils normally wanted to hear it again and pick up the things they missed the first time as claimed by Harmer (1998). In Malaysian context, this is very relevant because mostly pupils will not be so alert especially with the slang and English fluency. Playing back the tape for many times should be worthy if teacher set a purpose of listening. Pupils will listen to the tape for many times but with different purpose to answer a different task. For example, a teacher let pupils to listen to the first paragraph and begins asking a straightforward question on what the tape is all about or takes place. Then, a teacher will continue on the main information in detail with

some other questions or task. As a result, listening process will be easier as pupils can focus on the details of the tape one by one according to the task provided.

The fourth principle and guideline is, a teacher needs to consider the form of listeners response (Brown, 2001). They should be encouraged to respond to the content of a listening instead of the language as suggested by Harmer (1998) because, this is very important to assess how accurate and complete their listening has been. A teacher can evaluate whether pupils understand the tape that they have listened from their response. A short story, for instance, which have a particular genre and mood enable pupils to freely give their opinion and response about the character or the story. So, in order to cope with this principle, I think, a teacher needs to make sure they question pupils with some higher order thinking for example I think the writer is wrong because or I like the speaker because.. which is actually been agreed by Chitravelu (2005). So, in Malaysia, this principle is very relevant as it is already been used in school which helps pupils to think beyond in a creative way. In fact, some pupils can even give their own suggestion based on their prior knowledge for the listening lesson.

The fifth principle and guideline is, as put forward by Brown (2001), a teacher should encourage the development of listening strategies for example looking for keywords, looking for nonverbal cues to meaning, predicting a speakers purpose or guessing meaning to let them focus on the main idea only. By practising lot of listening activities, pupils will be more aware of what they are listening to. In Malaysia context,

from my opinion, this principle cannot be successfully applied because pupils normally refuse to spend more time on looking for keywords or cues instead of guessing meanings. For example, by guessing the meaning, the listening process will be easier because they could just ignore the words they do not understand rather than looking for keyword or cues. This is much related with Chitravelu (2005) ideas, that pupils will be more confident to do listening even though they do not completely understand the text but they still can carry out the task as long as they understand their task requirement.

1.2

Principles and guidelines to teach speaking The first principle and guideline to teach speaking is, a teacher should provide

intrinsically motivating technique (Brown, 20071). The main thing that a teacher needs to consider is, their pupils background when trying to design a speaking activity. So, a teacher has to prepare an activity that suit the pupils interest and their need for knowledge. This is very important, to reduce pupils anxiety to speak (Chitravelu, 2005). It can be done, by asking pupils to talk about what they want or able to talk to. Thus, pupils will be motivated to speak in other situations. Mostly, Malaysian pupils are doubt to speak because they are afraid on grammars mistake and some of them are shy to speak English openly. So, by applying this principle, they will be more motivated and confident to speak if the speaking activity designed can cope with their culture background.

The second principle and guideline is, a teacher should carefully balance between accuracy and fluency (Chitravelu, 2005) .Tracey (2005) has explained that accuracy is the extent to which students speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language. Meanwhile, fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc. I think this principle is rather challenging to the teacher because it puts a teacher under a dilemma. This is because, a teacher cannot overemphasized on either accuracy or fluency. If a teacher always correct pupils errors, pupil will lose confidence to practice the language thus affect the development of fluency. However, if a teacher ignores the error that pupils have made, pupils will be encouraged to use the wrong form of language (Chitravelu, 2005). So, the best way to balance between accuracy and fluency is, a teacher should be a good model to pupils to speak English in an acceptable way so that pupil habitually listen to good English and develop feel for good pronunciation and intonation especially in Malaysian context.

The third principle and guideline from Harmer (2001), is a teacher should combine speaking with listening activities. For example, a teacher can begin the lesson with listening activity before continuing with spoken communication activity. Listening and speaking skill cannot be separated easily because they help pupils for better learning in interaction. By combining these two skills, a teacher can check whether pupils understand what his or her friend understand when pupils were given opportunity to clarify their understanding, share knowledge and confirming their

understanding (Tracey, 2005). This principle is relevant in Malaysia, however, a teacher

should begin from easier to more difficult task. For example, a teacher prepares a short text for pupils to listen and ask them to share their understanding based on what they have heard. Then, after that, a teacher will slowly prepare some more difficult text for pupils to listen to and discuss. This is very important to reduce pupils anxiety and promote speaking in an interesting way.

The fourth principle and guideline is, a teacher should encourage the use of authentic language in meaning contexts (Brown, 2001). I think it is necessary to provide an authentic opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge in the classroom by focusing on practical language skill as suggested by Oura (2001). Here, I agree that pupils automatically will learn the ability to answer questions on the spot, as well as to ask in-depth questions about an issue as an implication from the theory. So, in the long run, pupils will gain greater confidence to use English language to speak in their daily life. In Malaysia, teachers in urban areas for example can access authentic materials from English language newspapers and magazines, and even from popular music on the radio. Bazo (2002), said, in primary schools two main types of speaking activities are used. The first type, songs, chants, and poems, encourages pupils to mimic the model they hear on the cassette which helps pupils to master the sounds, rhythms, and intonation of the English language through simple reproduction. The games and pair work activities on the other hand, encourage the pupils to begin to manipulate the language by presenting them with a certain amount of choice, albeit within a fairly controlled situation. So, by these two main types of activities, I believe, pupils will be

become more attracted to learn by giving their fully attention in class and apply the skills effectively.

The fifth principle and guideline is, a teacher should encourage the development of speaking strategies (Brown, 2001). Speaking strategies are one of socio affective strategies for example asking for clarification, using fillers and using mime are necessary for accomplishing oral communication oral. For example, a teacher provides a speaking situation that pupils need to ask for a direction. Here, pupils will use lots of fillers, asking for clarification, using conversation maintenance cues and so on. O'Malley & Chamot, 1990,as cited in Chou( 2004) says that socio affective strategies are the strategies that help learners regulate and control emotions, motivations, and attitudes towards learning, as well as help learners learn through contact and interaction with others. This principle encourages pupils to manipulate language and express themselves in more personal way. So, I think, pupils can practice to be fluent in English with the help of speaking strategies when they tend to be familiar with the strategies used.

1.3

Conclusion

In conclusion, to teach listening and speaking need more practice and creative activities. This is very necessary to ensure pupils interest and fully involvement in the classroom. Listening process will not be affective if the pupils are not encouraged to speak and respond to what they have heard. Chou (2004), said that in speaking,

encouraging oneself with a reward when performing well in speaking English, and asking questions in English can effectively help learners to stimulate their motivation to master English-speaking competence. Even in listening, a teachers praise helps pupils to be confident and be relaxed while listening.