Distinction in speaking - an achievable result in foreign language exams

“You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.” Geoffrey Willans

The increasingly globalized world we live in makes many students aware of the significance of learning foreign languages. Monolingualism is no longer an option. Speaking a foreign language accurately, and faultlessly is an incredibly powerful asset nowadays. However, mastering speaking skills is quite burdensome for many students who prepare for a language exam. 

The question then arises: How to achieve accuracy and fluency in Speaking? The answer is not original at all: practice. The Speaking skill while learning a foreign language, as one might assume, is probably the most demanding one, and it requires a strategic approach in order to reach desired results. It is an active skill in comparison with reading or writing. Therefore, foreign language teachers must make sure they provide a massive speaking input in class and expose students to as much content as possible, whether it is comprehensible or incomprehensible. Both play their part in achieving good results. In fact, it is the fundamental ingredient in order to succeed in mastering Speaking and obtaining confidence. Additionally, it is absolutely essential to vary the methods and again, to constantly keep practicing.

Obviously, the speaking input must also be a meaningful one, that is, the topics must be understandable for the students. Moreover, in order to increase effectiveness, a teacher should refer to students’ emotions when discussing various contents and relate them to students’ interests.

In this article, I would like to share some guidelines and steps I took in order to prepare my AS Level students for the Speaking Paper for the German Language Exam.

When I received the Exam results, and all of my students got Distinctions in Speaking, I could not express in words the pride I felt for them.  It proved they were highly prepared for this challenging part of the exam and the created strategy met the expectations. The students confessed at the beginning of the course that the Speaking Paper was the one they feared most.  Little did they know back then that after the exam they would claim that it had not been that difficult, and eventually, their result would be with Distinction in Speaking. 

The starting point to success is, as one would expect, motivation on the part of the students. Motivation to achieve one’s objectives in mastering the speaking skill, is undoubtedly, the crucial factor on the way to triumph and is an impactful catalyst in the process of learning. 

Needless to say, we did an immense variety of speaking activities in class, using the traditional methods, to exemplify just a few, debating, dialogues, and speaking in teams. Still, I would like to draw attention to some activities, which, to my mind, played a predominant role in achieving excellent results in Speaking. One of the most efficient methods for achieving confidence and fluency, in my perspective, is listening to podcasts in the target language, while having the transcripts in front and then discussing them as a group, identifying the incomprehensible vocabulary, and subsequently, retelling the highlights as part of the homework. It is foremost to choose relevant topics, connected with the contents of the student’s book and the chapter you teach at the moment. I have created a strategy while working with podcasts. 

Step one: retelling what you have heard and read

Retelling is a far-reaching method, it boosts the students’ confidence because they retell at their own pace.  Throughout the course, they speed up their fluency. Again, it is essential to choose meaningful content, the one that surprises the students, and interests them, because eventually, they memorize easier the content if they find it captivating. It might seem like a burden at the beginning, but later on, the students feel the difference and gain long-awaited confidence in speaking.  

Step two: make your own podcast and share it 

Choose a topic related to the content, search for information, structure it, and record yourself while reading. The students can record their voices as many times as they want until they achieve the desired result, then they send the recording to the teacher and eventually, the students listen to it all together in class, while the teacher projects the transcript on the board. 

At B2 Level, according to the curriculum, we already read books in original. How can reading improve Speaking skills? Firstly, it should be noted that besides increasing familiarity with comprehensive and incomprehensive vocabulary, reading impacts many aspects of how we express ourselves. While reading literature in the original language, we come across a huge variety of expressions, and linguistic and grammatical structures which consequently, improve our intuitive understanding. It goes without saying that the reading is followed by a deep analysis of the plot, the characters, and the message of the book. If you’re lucky, you might also find digital interactive exercises based on the book. 

Watching films in the target language is another method on the path of developing speaking skills. The decisive factor is hearing native speakers, copying their pronunciation, and intonation, but above all, the students are exposed to authentic vocabulary, colloquial words, and slang. After watching the film, the students can be involved in a variety of activities, specifically, describing characters, analyzing the plot, the actions, and thinking of another ending. Watching a film is entertaining and reduces the anxiety of speaking in the target language, which makes it easier to express your thoughts. Isn’t it the objective of any language teacher? To make your students speak the target language freely?

Further, I would like to refer to another activity, which I am convinced, helped my students boost their confidence in Speaking. I organized an activity, to which I invited a group of university students, who study German Philology. If you plan this activity, make certain you choose a topic that would prompt the students to speak as much as possible. For instance, my topic was: “Is the Internet a curse or a blessing?” The main purpose was to offer my students a chance to communicate in the German language with another audience, not to seek perfection all the time and be afraid of every grammatical error. All these impede fluency. 

Similar to the activity mentioned above, I organized an interdisciplinary class. Even though my colleague did not speak the target language, the students played the role of translators, English-German and vice versa, which, clearly, was a challenge, but without a doubt deepened their confidence, which later led to fantastic results in the Speaking Paper. 

As follows, I would like to enumerate the methods, which, from my perspective, not only increase Speaking skills but also boost confidence when expressing oneself in a foreign language:

• Podcasts in the original language

• Reading in the original language

• Retelling what you heard and read

• Watching films in the original language

• Changing the audience for communication

• Translating

I truly hope that the above-mentioned strategies will be useful for those who struggle with improving their Speaking skills in a foreign language.

 

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