Spoken English Teaching in Middle Schools

I. Introduction：

As we know， the modern world is a united one， and all the countries are connected together. In order to develop its economy， many countries have been performing the policy of opening to the world. At the same time， every country must cooperate with others. English is the only language that is used throughout the world， and it is playing more and more important role in the world. A large number of people all over the world are learning English now. In our country， so do many people.

A new problem facing middle English teaching today is how to measure to strengthen the training， but on the whole， the students speaking ability is not improving quickly enough to meet the demands of changing condition of China， When asked which subject is the most important and most difficult， seven or eight out of ten will answer speaking is the most important and difficult.

This paper probes effective ways in teaching spoken english. It begins with an analysis of students’ learning problems and shows the students’ self-confidence， teachers’ support and help， and proper teaching methods are important factors for teaching quality and improving the spoken English.

II. The causes which affect students’ speaking ability

（1） Teaching in the improper way.

In the process of English teaching， the traditional teaching method of many teachers is to make the students first learn the alphabet and then pronounce the letters， then read a word and form sentences. Teachers often emphasize the importance of grammar， and they give many definitions， rules and explanations， they adopt a teacher-centred grammar-translation method， As English teachers， they completely don’t know how to cultivate students’ ability of communicative competence. The classroom activities lower students， interest and confidence as they struggle with grammatical rules and unrelated vocabulary in making sentences. Therefore it is not sufficient only to cultivate the ability to judge whether the sentence is grammatical or not and to meet the needs of examinations. It has led to a widespread failure.

（2） Learning in the improper way：

It is usually wrong to learn English words by noting Chinese characters or Pin Yin. For example， Thank you very much Is noted（三匹牛不如马骑）， what is this？（王七李死）and so on. We teachers do not pay attention to practicing speaking ability. The students are asked to learn the sentence structures and dialogues only by mechanical memorizing. However， rote memory is not desirable. If they have no good memory， are always forgetting about what they have learnt. English is a subject which is getting harder and harder.

（3） Psychological barriers：

The most important reason for poor oral English is that the students are not willing to talk， because they are afraid of failure， are afraid to be laughed at. They would rather not speak than speak wrongly. These are why some of students can not speak good English.

III.Qualified condition of speaking

Speaking is the highest demands for the students. It needs the speakers，comprehensive English knowledge. The speakers should have a large number of words， master accurate grammar knowledge and have a broad field of the background knowledge of culture.

（1） Vocabulary

The vocabulary is the basis of any kind of language. Without word， people can not express their opinion and can not communicate with each other. The number of words is one aspect of vocabulary， and the other aspect is the meaning of words. In English， every word has several meanings and the meanings are different. Some students know one or two meanings of the word， but they can not master all the meanings of the word， for example， the word “fine”. （1）V the court fined him$500.（2）adj， a very fine performance，（3）adv， that suits me fine. So it is important for the students to master the meanings of words completely. Only in this way can they improve their ability.

（2）Grammar

The aim to learn English is to learn speaking. But that does not mean the grammar is not important. On the contrary， mastering correct grammar is very necessary if the students want to speak English correctly. There are many grammar rules in English. Every rule has a certain meaning such as countable nouns， uncountable nouns， and so on.

（3） Background knowledge：

China has a long history of over 5000 years. And it has abundant cultural heritage. Chinese people have traditional ideas， The Englishmen and Americans are very different from the Chinese. Chinese people and English and American speakers may have different reactions. If a student does not know the difference between the east and the west， he can not speak correct English， and on the contrary， his oral English is only the Chinese English. Beside， the background knowledge is also very important. If an English learner wants to make his speech meaningful. He must know some background knowledge， if not， he does not know what to say while talking with others.

IV. The effective ways to get the students to talk

（1） The teachers create relaxed and warm atmosphere. I have mentioned the students who are afraid of talking in front of the students and the teachers. To overcome these barriers， teachers must first of all cultivate a relaxed， and warm atmosphere in their classrooms. To do this， teachers must be friendly， encouraging and patient. In order to encourage the students to talk， the teacher may use the method of asking some questions.

We can suppose that a teacher is having an oral class. But he finds that some students are passive and are afraid of being asked to talk. The teacher may use this method of asking questions to reduce the students’ pressure. For the different students， the teacher should ask different questions. For example， “how old are you？” and “where are you from？” the students should answer this kind of question with poor oral English.

“Would you like to introduce yourself？” “How do you like our school？” “Any problem did you meet？”

The better students should answer this kind of questions. But in order to encourage every student to speak， firstly， the teacher may ask all the students to answer the difficult questions and then ask some better students to answer. This method seems to be very simple， but it is useful for every student. For the students with poor oral English， they can make a breakthrough， and they will feel it is not difficult to talk. And for the better students， they also can get a chance to practice speaking.

（2） The teachers train students to say everything in English， make good use of every chance， and create English atmosphere and encourage the students to speak， the students’ oral ability will be improved quickly. Take an example， A teacher wants every student to introduce himself， first the teacher may introduce himself by using simple sentences， such as “I am …”；“my parents are…”“In the future， I want to…”after the teacher introduce himself. The students can use the similar structures to introduce themselves easily.

（3） The teachers who make use of the games and arouse the students' interest are the best teachers. The students will continue speaking English， if their interest can be stimulated. The English games are the best choice. There are three reasons for this： first， it can arouse the students， interest and enrich their knowledge； second， it can deepen students’ interest and enrich their knowledge； third， it can stimulate the students’ enthusiasm to speak English.

（4） Retelling

Retelling is the best way to practice speaking. It is a kind of practice that has a high demand for the students. If a student wants to retell a paragraph， he must be familiar with the content. He can has own order of the expression.

（5） Free talking with partners

We all know， English is a kind of a language， and the aim to learn English is to learn how to speak. The students may practice their oral English with their partner. When the partners are together， they can communicate with each other in English.

（6） Reading loudly

Reading is helpful to speaking.At the beginning of the speaking， it is very common that the students feel it is very difficult to open their mouths. Because they are afraid of failure， they do not have enough courage or confidence to talk. And speaking is very useful to the students， and it can cultivate their courage to talk.

There is another reason for the poor oral English. That is the students do not have many things to say. They often have the problem that when they are talking they do not know what they should say. If the students read a lot， they can get many things to talk. They can get knowledge by reading.

V.Conclusion

Speaking is the most important skill of all. Every one knows that the Language is used to communicate with each other. And English is also a kind of language. So the aim to learn English is to learn how to speak. With the development of the economy and society， the oral English is becoming more and more important. Though， to master oral English is not an easy thing. If the students want to speak well， they must master rich English language and insist on practicing. As English teachers， they should change their traditional ideas first because they play a leading role in teaching. The students are the main body of learning. So teacher should make the students a relaxed， harmonious atmosphere. Only in this way we can lay a good foundation for their further learning and use， and help them develop their English and communicative competence.