Developing Listening and Speaking Skills - Essay Example

Developing Listening and Speaking Skills Developing Listening and Speaking Skills It is beyond question that through having many opportunities to talk as well as to listen to peers that children gain language skills so valuable for their success in reading and writing. It is important that learners are able to listen carefully for different purposes including getting information and being intertained. For information purposes listening skills can be developed in various ways. The teacher can narrate an interesting stories and then ask relevant questions expecting positive response to test their understanding (Pye and Greenall, 1996).

Learners can as well to maintain silence while in class and close their eyes for a given period of time. During that period of silence, the teacher inquires whatever sounds the learners can detect either within or without the class. This not only develops but enhances the children’s listening skills to greater levels. It also provides the learners with a practical means of learning and being entertained.After teaching, learners should be allowed to ask and answer questions as means to gauge their level of understanding on the items taught during a session.

Question allows constant mutual interaction with the teacher and among other learners thereby helping in building strong speaking skill development (Rolton and Curriculum Corporation (Australia), 2006). Moreover, learners should be encouraged to participate in discussions and follow the rules of polite conversation such as staying on a topic and taking turns. It should be noted that discussions are important for learners especially those who have not learned as per the instructor’s lessons may learn from other learners in the process.

In order to develop a strong command of the English language among the learners it is vital to make the learners part of the learning process (Pyeand Greenall, 1996). This can be done through active interaction between learners and the instructor as well as among the students themselves. For instance, the instructors can also ask open ended questions and allow them to expand upon their answers.Developing young children’s listening and speaking skills are usually inculcated through various means especially due to the fact that different learners have different understanding abilities.

For example, the teacher can engage the children in conversations throughout the day. This allows the learners to learn new words and expand their vocabulary (Folse and Bologna, 2006). During the conversations, the children will be communicating to their teacher as well as to their peers. This will ensure that the children develop strong interpersonal skills. Such conversation can involve engaging the children in storytelling, debating, rehearsing poems and even singing. On the same note, the teachers will respond to children’s question and let them take the conversational lead.

Long hours of conversation allow the children to develop the skills of relevance to a topic of discussion (Rolton and Curriculum Corporation (Australia), 2006). The teacher will not only be talking to the children, but can at times listen to the children communicating to their peers in order to assess their mastery of the language and ascertain the development of speaking and listening skills. Most importantly, the learning and speaking skills must involve learners and instructors directly.ReferencesFolse, K. S., & Bologna, D. (2006). Targeting listening and speaking: Strategies and activities for ESL/EFL students.

Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press. Pye, D., & Greenall, S. (1996). CAE listening and speaking skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rolton, G., & Curriculum Corporation (Australia). (2006). Attention!: Developing listening and speaking skills. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corp. .