Speaking -Simin Saatian

Speaking

 Speaking in a second language (L2) has been considered the most challenging of the four skills given the fact that it involves a complex process of constructing meaning (Celce-Murcia and Olshtain 2000). This process requires

 speakers to make decisions about why, how and when to communicate depending on the cultural and social context in which the speaking act occurs (Burns and Seidlhofer 2002).

   Approaches to learning and teaching speaking 

 1-Speaking within an environmentalist approach the field of language learning was influenced by environmentalist ideas that paid attention to the learning process as being conditioned by the external environment rather than by human internal mental processes. Moreover, mastering a series of structures in a linear way was paramount (see Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor this volume). Within such an approach, the primacy of speaking was obvious since it was assumed that language was primarily an oral phenomenon. Thus, learning to speak a language, in a similar way to any other type of learning, followed a stimulus- response-reinforcement pattern which involved constant practice and the formation of good habits (Burns and Joyce 1997).

 2-Speaking within an innatist approach

 the previous view of learning to speak as a mechanical process consisting in the oral repetition of grammatical structures was challenged by Chomsky’s (1957, 1965) theory of language development. His assumption that children are born with an innate potential for language acquisition was the basis for the innatist approach to language learning (see Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor this volume).

 This language ability was possibly due to the fact that speakers had internalized a system of rules which could be transformed into new structures by applying a series of cognitive strategies. Given this process, speakers’ role changed from merely receiving input and repeating it, as was the view in the environmentalist approach, to actively thinking how to produce language.

3- Speaking within an interactionist approach

 important shifts in the field of language learning took place under the influence of interactionist ideas that  emphasized the role of the linguistic environment in interaction with the innate capacity for language development (see Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor this volume).Drawing on the discipline of cognitive psychology, Levelt (1989) proposed a model of speech production whose basic assumption concerned the fact that messages were  “planned.” Thus, in order to be able to produce oral language, speakers had to construct a plan on the basis of four major processes: 1)  conceptualization , which involves the selection of the message content on the basis of the situational context and the particular purpose to be achieved; 2)  formulation  , which implies accessing, sequencing and choosing words and phrases to express the intended message appropriately; 3)  articulation  , which concerns the motor control of the articulatory organs to execute the planned message; and 4)  monitoring  , which allows speakers to actively identify and correct mistakes if necessary.

