GLOTTODIDACTICA XXXVII (2011)

ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY PRESS POZNA

MAGDALENA ALEKSANDRZAK
Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

Problems and challenges in teaching and learning

speaking at advanced level

ABSTRACT. The article deals with the problems of teaching and learning speaking, in particular
those which are most relevant in the context of developing oral skills at the advanced level of
foreign language proficiency. The complex nature of spoken discourse must be taken into account
and reflected at each stage of the learning process. Thus, the article examines the difficulties con-
nected with choosing the appropriate framework and approach and discusses the typical patterns
of interaction in the foreign language classroom. It also examines forms of control and evaluation
and suggests some speaking activities which seem most suitable for advanced language learners in
the light of the above theoretical considerations.

KEYWORDS: speaking skill, genre, task, interaction, testing, evaluation.

1. GENERAL PROBLEMS IN TEACHING SPEAKING

The position of speaking in the hierarchy of language skills has evolved

over the centuries. Rather ignored in the Grammar Translation Method, it
became a primary skill in the Direct Method. Audiolingualism brought even
more focus on speaking, although the linguistic principle it was based on
viewed oral discourse as imitative routine behaviour in typical and predict-
able situations. The grammatical syllabus of the Cognitive Method incorpo-
rated activities in all language skills, attaching equal importance to each of
them. Finally, Communicative Language Teaching added a more realistic
dimension to teaching oral discourse by introducing numerous forms of
interaction to the classroom and practising the language in natural or proba-
ble situations which demanded defining of the discourse genre and the roles
of participants. Although the contribution of CLT to developing forms of
speaking practice in the language classroom can hardly be overestimated,

38 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

there is a growing tendency among researchers and practitioners to criticize

it for its insufficient recognition of the complexity of speaking as a psycho-
linguistic process and of placing too strong an emphasis on information gap
criterion as leading to artificial or impractical tasks (Dakowska 2005).
Nowadays, in spite of the inevitable criticism of available methods, tech-
niques or resources, speaking is generally perceived as the most fundamen-
tal skill to acquire. Since the onset of the communicative era it has been
treated as the ultimate goal of language training and its proper development
has become the focus of attention of both teachers and learners. However, it
is also a commonly recognized fact that achieving proficiency in foreign lan-
guage speaking in classroom conditions is not an easy task. Even advanced
learners often finish a language course with the conviction that they are not
sufficiently prepared for speaking beyond the classroom. This difficulty re-
sults basically from the character and inadequate frequency of speaking op-
portunities in the classroom in comparison to the abundance of natural va-
rieties and genres of oral communication. In fact, selecting the most
appropriate types of spoken discourse for classroom practice in a particular
language course is a very hard decision which, unfortunately, hardly ever
reflects the natural occurrence and distribution of communicative situations.
Additionally, an advanced language course should create optimal condi-
tions for developing learners sociocultural knowledge, that is the culturally
embedded rules of social behaviour (Thornbury 2007: 31) and their linguistic
knowledge, which includes discourse and speech act knowledge, and know-
ledge of the grammar, vocabulary and phonology of the target language. These
knowledge areas must then be appropriately activated in order to be made
available for use in regular speaking practice in the classroom and beyond.
Importantly, as far as the stages of mental processing involved in speak-
ing are concerned, there is not much difference between native and target
languages. Both combine the processes of conceptualizing, formulating, arti-
culating, self-monitoring and negotiating. Yet, the skill of speaking is not
automatically transferable from the speakers first language into the second
(Thornbury 2007). Even extensive knowledge of the target languages
grammar and vocabulary often presented by advanced students of foreign
language departments does not guarantee success in oral communication
when this knowledge is not properly integrated or accessed. Problems in
speaking may be additionally aggravated by excessive use of self-moni-
toring processes and a tendency to formulate utterances in the native lan-
guage first. These mental operations create obvious costs in terms of fluency
and may lead to producing artificial discourse.
Other problems that are commonly observed in the language classroom
are related to individual learners personalities and attitudes to the learning

 Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level 39

process and learning speaking in particular. They can be defined as follows

(Ur 1995: 121):
inhibition fear of making mistakes, losing face, criticism; shyness;
nothing to say learners have problems with finding motives to speak,
formulating opinions or relevant comments;
low or uneven participation often caused by the tendency of some
learners to dominate in the group;
mother-tongue use particularly common in less disciplined or less
motivated classes, learners find it easier or more natural to express
themselves in their native language.
As many teachers observations indicate, the above situations occur in
language classrooms regardless of the level of proficiency or the number of
students in the group. Moreover, every learner enters any learning and
communicative environment with his or her entire personality additionally
shaped by their prior learning and communicative experiences, both positive
and negative. This individual dimension is particularly noticeable among
older and more advanced learners who often have a good insight into the
nature of their individual difficulties, an accurate assessment of the skills
they have already developed and, consequently, clearly defined needs.

2. CHOOSING AN APPROACH

Designing a speaking syllabus depends on several factors, the most ob-

vious being the age and level of learners, the learning context and the aim of
teaching. First, it must be defined how much emphasis can be given to
speaking within a particular course and whether speaking is to be taught
separately or integrated with the teaching of other skills and areas of the
language. Secondly, it is essential to choose an approach which defines the
teaching procedure. The selection between a task-based approach, a genre-
based one or the combination of both types is the most crucial step in de-
signing the course as it influences all the elements of the learning process in
progress. Nevertheless, a modern multi-layered syllabus should specify the
target aspects of the speaking skill to be taught, as well as the grammar and
vocabulary components (Thornbury 2007).
A genre-based approach focuses on the notion of the communicative
situation which centres around a particular spoken genre or genres. Need-
less to say, the variety of types of communicative situations is virtually un-
limited. As a consequence, the teacher faces the necessity of deciding which
situations should be included in the language course he or she coordinates.
This selection, however well-thought-out it may be, is always connected

40 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

with eliminating or ignoring a number of relatively significant situations and

concentrating on those which seem most relevant to the particular learning
context. The next step is defining the most important parameters of the se-
lected situations, such as the topics, goals, discourse genres, social and cul-
tural norms. The actual teaching procedure starts from establishing the so-
cial purpose and cultural context of a given genre, later a typical example is
presented and analyzed, finally learners create their own samples of appro-
priate communicative events (Thornbury 2007: 121).
In contrast, a task-based approach stems from the general idea that
a language is best learned through using it, rather than learned and then
used (Thornbury 2007: 119). Consequently, it is believed that accuracy results
from fluency, in other words the need to communicate effectively leads to the
refinement of learning and language. A task-based syllabus, then, takes the
form of a sequence of integrated tasks which involve speaking and which
reflect the situations that learners are likely to meet in real circumstances.
Both approaches have their advantages and drawbacks. The task-based
approach has been criticized for giving priority to the process of using lan-
guage rather than focusing on the language that learners actually produce.
The genre-based approach has been considered inadequate as it relies too
heavily on imitating models and this is not necessarily the way in which
people communicate in real life. It seems, however, that more advanced
learners may benefit more from a genre-based framework since it emphasizes
the importance of social context, purpose, register and interlocutors expecta-
tions, that is the components of a communicative situation which are seldom
covered or analyzed in classrooms at lower levels of language proficiency.
It must be stressed that all oral discourse stems from a communicative
intention, that is the speaker has a defined aim which he or she wants to
achieve in a particular communicative situation. This situation may require
creative thinking and producing a highly personal individualized utterance
or relying on automatic reactions in accordance with established social and
cultural norms. Yet, in order to implement a communicative goal, a speaker
must enable the interlocutor to understand, interpret and evaluate the in-
formation being passed. Seen from such a perspective, speaking seems
a very complex activity which combines the processes of intending, plan-
ning, constructing and monitoring. Additionally, these operations have to be
executed in fractions of seconds according to the demands of communicative
fluency (Dakowska 2005: 233).
In the light of the above assumptions it may be claimed that ongoing
language performance is an extremely significant element in the process of
developing speaking skills. In other words, it seems obvious that in order to
learn to speak or develop this ability, learners have to speak. As Skehan
(1998) claims, a comprehension-based approach is not sufficient on its own,

 Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level 41

and relying on listening tasks as the only source of language input does not
guarantee success in language learning. He underlines the importance of
output, that is the actual practice of interactive speaking, and identifies the
roles it may play in interlanguage development (Skehan 1998: 1619):
to generate better input speaking is used as a signaling device to ob-
tain better input, it enables the negotiation for meaning in the form of
clarification requests and comprehension or confirmation checks;
to force syntactic processing being aware that they have to speak
makes learners more attentive to syntax while listening, as a result lis-
tening tasks become more effective for interlanguage development;
to test hypotheses it should not be assumed that the learner will indi-
vidually receive relevant information for the specific needs of his or
her interlanguage at the right moment, by speaking the learner controls
the present state of his interlanguage, tests hypotheses, takes risks and
looks for relevant feedback;
to develop automaticity to become effective as a speaker, the learner
needs to achieve a degree of ease and a natural level of speed and rhythm,
frequent speaking practice is the only way of acquiring such fluency;
to develop discourse skills speaking practice cannot focus only on
short turns but it should also give opportunities for taking part in ex-
tended discourse, this allows for developing discourse management
and turn-taking skills, which underlie the negotiation of meaning in
ongoing communication;
to develop a personal voice learners who rely exclusively on what
others say are not likely to develop a personal manner of speaking,
they are dependent on the meanings they are exposed to and cannot
steer conversations, each learner should learn how to meaningfully in-
fluence ongoing discourse and find ways of individual expression.
The above approach suggests that frequent and well-planned speaking
practice has a great impact on learners interlanguage development. However,
the question of whether it is a sufficient and efficient condition for language
learning still remains open for theoretical and practical consideration (Ske-
han 1998).

3. PATTERNS OF INTERACTION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

CLASSROOMS

In every foreign language classroom, language functions as the medium

through which teachers teach and students demonstrate what they have
learned (Johnson 1995). Teachers use the target language to control both the

42 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

content and the structure of classroom interactions, learners try to respond

to their teachers use of language. However, the overall picture of classroom
communication depends rather on the types of relationships between teach-
ers and learners, and the actual patterns of communication established and
maintained during regular lessons. Interestingly, these patterns are hardly
ever permanent, but they tend to be reconstructed and modified according
to the requirements of the ongoing learning process. This flexible nature of
classroom discourse creates the specific dynamics of classroom communica-
tion which, in spite of many similarities, are always unique and unpredictable.
In an attempt at constructing an integrated view of communication in
second language classrooms, Johnson (1995: 9) presents a framework which
may be used for analyzing and describing classroom interaction. The most
essential elements of the framework include:
forms of teachers control of classroom communication shaped most-
ly by their professional and practical knowledge;
students perceptions of these patterns norms and expectations based
on their previous learning experience, including preconceived notions
of appropriate classroom communication;
students use of the target language;
the extent to which the existing patterns of communication create op-
portunities for students to use the target language for learning.
Analysis of the above elements may prove particularly useful in teaching
speaking at advanced level as it allows for the adequate tailoring of the lan-
guage of instruction and introducing more elements of natural social dis-
course in a given learning context.
There are two basic types of interaction which may be observed in
second and foreign language classrooms: teacher-student and student-
student interaction. The most traditional version of teacher-student interac-
tion is illustrated by the so-called IRE model (teacher initiation, student re-
sponse, teachers evaluation of that response). However, the extent of
a teachers control over classroom communication may vary, connected with
the pedagogical purpose of the language course or lesson. The teacher usual-
ly relies on a variety of interactive questioning strategies but in less-tightly
controlled classes modifications in the IRE model are often observed and
learners can take on some part of this sequence. When learners take on all of
them (initiation, response, evaluation), the sequence is abandoned altogether
and the pattern changes into student-student interaction.
In general, student-student interaction is the dominant pattern of com-
munication in learner-centred classrooms, since it expands student talking
time and fosters student use of language for learning, as opposed to only
demonstrating what they have learnt. Working in groups on cooperative

 Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level 43

learning tasks produces many constructive student-student interactions

which, in turn, enhance learners educational achievement, aspirations, mo-
tivation, self-esteem, positive attitudes to learning (Webb 1982) and helps
develop social skills. Yet collaborative learning and speaking tasks may also
generate conflicts which are less likely to occur in teacher-centred classes,
where teacher-student interaction usually dominates. It must be stressed,
nevertheless, that a properly managed cognitive conflict in a group of learn-
ers can be constructive as students are exposed to contradictory viewpoints
and they have to reorganize their prior ideas and understandings (Cazden
1988). The amount of control that the teacher exerts over student-student
interaction may obviously vary but in the situation of cognitive conflict this
control should aim at establishing an appropriate climate for negotiation.
Thus, the atmosphere in the classroom should be rather cooperative than
competitive and students feelings should be dealt with as well as their dif-
fering perspectives (Johnson 1995).
It may be claimed that the student-student interaction practiced in dif-
ferent types of cooperative learning activities is particularly well-suited for
higher level students. Advanced and more mature learners are able to use
the target language both as a means (while implementing the task in
a group) and as an end (producing particular discourse pattern as an out-
come of a task). They may also use it for different social purposes according
to the demands of current circumstances in the classroom. In other words,
the fact that they have already learned a lot, allows them to practice even
more extensively and take advantage of every opportunity to communicate
in the target language without switching to the mother tongue.
To sum up, student-student interaction, in contrast to teacher-student
discourse, ensures optimal conditions for target language learning and use
as it opens a space for both meaning-focused and form-focused language
practice, enables learners to initiate interaction, control the topic and, last but
not least, challenges students to operate beyond their current level of lan-
guage proficiency by participation in the negotiation of meaning and per-
forming different language functions (Johnson 1995: 100).

4. SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT ADVANCED LEVEL

According to Thornbury (2007: 40), the process of developing speaking

skills consists of three stages:
awareness learners are made aware of features of target language
knowledge,

44 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

appropriation these features are integrated into their existing kno-

wledge-base,
autonomy learners develop the capacity to mobilize these features
under real-time conditions without assistance.
It seems that at the advanced level of foreign language proficiency stu-
dents and teachers efforts should be focused on the stage of appropriation
and its effective movement towards autonomy in target language use. For
that purpose they need a range of speaking tasks that encourage a consider-
able degree of independence by relying on extensive oral practice (treated as
a source of meaningful input and feedback) mainly in the form of student-
student interactions. The speaking activities presented below take into ac-
count the above assumptions.
Conversations in foreign language classrooms are considered to be not the
result of language learning but rather the context in which learning actually
occurs (Thornbury 2007). On the other hand, it is not easy to incorporate mean-
ingful conversational interactions into a planned lesson as casual conversa-
tion is, by its very nature, spontaneous and unstructured. It becomes easier
when conversation activities are based on a set of selected themes which are
previously negotiated with learners. Useful conversational routines (opening
and closing formulas, interrupting, asking for clarification) and helpful com-
munication strategies (paraphrasing and reformulating, using vague language
and hesitation fillers) should be taught and practiced beforehand to give stu-
dents the appropriate devices for successful communication but elements of
personalization should be given an equally important status. Conversation
activities may proceed from more controlled ones, in which the language is
limited by instructions, through awareness activities which make use of audio-
visual materials, fluency practice, to feedback sessions during which students
analyse their own interactions (Nolasco and Arthur 1987).
Interviews are demanding tasks in the sense that they require from the
interviewer some preparation in the form of research, the selection of rele-
vant questions and the prior analysis of native speaker interviews so as to
properly evaluate both the questions and the elicited information (Dakow-
ska 2005: 245).
A class survey is a version of a collaborative interview which, if properly
carried out, may engage a large group of students in a communicative task-
based activity. Learners prepare a set of survey-type questions connected
with a particular topic and they mill around in the classroom, asking the
questions and noting the answers. Next, they return to their original groups
to analyse the findings which are later reported to the class by a group spo-
kesperson. Finally, the class decides whether the original claim put forward
by the group is justified or not (Thornbury 2007: 83).

 Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level 45

Discussion is another popular and useful form of classroom interaction.

However, it must be stressed that the actual potential of this activity for de-
veloping an individual learners speaking ability can be implemented only
under certain conditions (Dakowska 2005: 245), particularly that:
the topic is controversial enough to open different perspectives and in-
terpretations,
learners participate in the choice of the topic and are given enough
communicative autonomy to be able to express their personal opinions
and ideas,
students are interested in the topic and their general knowledge is suf-
ficient enough to discuss it (this may require appropriate preparation
studying relevant sources and processing the teachers or peers input),
discussion is planned as a complex activity which combines working in
pairs or groups and open-class or panel forms of interaction.
A more formal version of discussion is referred to as debate. It involves
discussing a topic from two opposing points of view which are earlier as-
cribed to members of the debating teams (Dakowska 2005: 246). Additional-
ly, new points and arguments may emerge during the discussion. It is im-
portant that the arguments are logical and well-balanced and that they are
presented in accordance with the social and cultural norms of the target lan-
guage community.
Academic presentations (Thornbury 2007: 94) are particularly useful for
learners who study language for academic purposes and need practice in
giving presentations or conference papers. This activity should be preceded
by discussing the formal features of the genre and analyzing the specific
language patterns typical of each stage of an academic presentation. Watch-
ing model or authentic presentations before students actually start preparing
their own speeches should be treated as an important part of the activity, as
well as discussing the effectiveness of individual presentations (reactions of
the audience, delivery style, time management) afterwards.
Other activities that advanced students may benefit from include: story-
telling, jokes and anecdotes which are common ingredients of causal con-
versations and drama, role-play and simulation activities (Thornbury 2007).
They greatly expand the scope of registers and social roles that learners may
encounter in the classroom (for example, by introducing simulated inter-
actions with total strangers or face-threatening speech acts). The perception
and reception of such tasks, however, may by different in different students
and they depend to some extent on the personality of the individual learner.
To conclude, it must be remembered that each speaking task needs to be
productive, purposeful, interactive, challenging, safe and authentic (Thorn-
bury 2007: 90) if it is intended to ensure optimal conditions for effective and
autonomous language use.

46 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

5. PROBLEMS OF EVALUATION

Testing the oral proficiency of foreign language students is a complex

task which may cause considerable problems at any stage of the process. The
difficulties concern not only the choice of the appropriate elicitation tech-
nique and form of assessment, but they may also emerge while designing or
administering the test. Practitioners and researchers are divided in their opi-
nions as to the validity of oral testing and put forward arguments for and
against it. The most common arguments in favour of testing oral fluency are
as follows (Ur 1995: 134):
Each general language test should include all aspects and areas of the
language, therefore it should include speaking;
Speaking is generally considered to be the most important language
skill, that is why it should take priority in any language test;
An oral proficiency test at the end of the course will guarantee that
teachers and students devote more time to speaking practice during
the course (the washback effect), otherwise a tendency to neglect ex-
tensive speaking practice or not to give it enough time and effort can
be observed;
There are many students who speak well but write badly, a test based
on writing may discriminate such learners and their overall assessment
will not reflect their actual skills and abilities.
However, there are also numerous convincing arguments against oral
testing (Ur 1995: 134):
Designing valid and reliable tests that make learners improvise speech
in the target language is very difficult,
Speech is very difficult to assess quickly and objectively, recordings
can be made but this form of evaluation is extremely time-consuming
and it does not guarantee objectivity;
There is a problem of finding the right balance between accuracy and
fluency testing. It is often not clear what criteria should be selected for
assessment of the speaking skill or which should be given priority and
why;
Even a well-balanced selection of a set of criteria does not mean that
testers will apply them in an identical manner, consistent and objective
assessment may be extremely difficult to reach;
Oral testing is a very time-consuming procedure, students are tested
individually or in pairs in real time, educational institutions have prob-
lems with ensuring the adequate amount of time for every student to
be tested appropriately.

 Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level 47

The above arguments show that an assessment of learners speaking

skills is a very complicated process which involves taking many binding
decisions as early as at the stage of planning the language course. Yet, de-
spite all the difficulties, oral testing procedures constitute an important part
of overall student evaluation in most institutional language courses. Testing
may in fact be the starting point of the course (placement tests) and usually
occurs at the end of it, too (achievement tests). There are also tests adminis-
tered at various times during the course which are meant to measure student
progress. Oral testing is practically implemented by means of the following
spoken test types (Thornbury 2007: 126):
Interviews learners are interviewed individually or in pairs but the
formal nature of such interviews hardly ever allows for testing infor-
mal, conversational speaking styles and affects the interviewees per-
formance (the interviewer is also the assessor).
Live monologues students present a talk or presentation on a pre-
selected topic. The interviewer effect is then eliminated but the test
provides rather restricted information on the speakers actual skill as it
does not check students ability to handle a casual conversation.
Recorded monologues or dialogues they are less stressful than live
performance and give examiners more opportunities to work out con-
sistent and possibly more objective assessment.
Role-plays this test format may be particularly reliable if it matches
the needs of learners and aims of the language course, however the in-
fluence of the interlocutor on the performance of the testee is hard to
predict and control.
Collaborative tasks and discussions learners act as themselves, but
similarly to role-plays, the testee is influenced by the interlocutor or in-
terlocutors, the test enables examiners to assess learners interactive
skills and their ability to express personal views.
Deciding on the particular spoken test format entails choosing the rele-
vant set of assessment criteria. There are two basic types of scoring em-
ployed in oral testing. Holistic scoring reflects the overall impression the
learner made on examiners and it takes the form of a single score, therefore
it is often used in informal testing of individual progress. Analytic scoring is
more time-consuming as it involves giving a separate score for different as-
pects of the learners performance. As a result it takes longer but offers
a more complete, varied and, consequently, more reliable picture of stu-
dents skills. For these reasons it is more valuable in terms of the received
feedback for higher level students. Learners at the advanced level of lan-
guage proficiency are more likely to benefit from detailed descriptions of
their speaking skills than from a single score which depicts their ability to

48 Magdalena Aleksandrzak

communicate in general. The criteria used for any type of scoring usually
take into account the categories of grammar, vocabulary, discourse man-
agement and interactive communication (Thornbury 2007: 127). The specific,
more detailed criteria may be defined within each category with respect to
the aims and character of the general evaluation procedure and the chosen
spoken test format.

REFERENCES

Cazden, C.B., 1988. Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Dakowska, M., 2005. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. A Guide for Professionals. Warszawa:
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Johnson, K.E., 1995. Understanding Communication in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nolasco, R., Arthur, L., 1987. Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skehan, P., 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thornbury, S., 2007. How to Teach Speaking. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Ur, P., 1995. A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press.
Webb, N.M., 1982. Student interaction and learning in small groups. In: Review of Educational
Research 52 (3), 421445.