Components of oral proficiency (based on Schwartz, R, 2008)

FLUENCY: being natural when speaking.
Features: pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress.
Some elements: speech rate, interjections, interruptions, communication of ideas, continuous speech

LISTENING: understanding what is being said
Features: comprehension
Some elements: perception of some speech elements, sound discrimination

GRAMMAR: the way in which words and phrases are combined to make meaningful sentences
Features: competence
Some elements: the way a speaker manages the patterns of a language

FUNCTIONS: using the language for specific purposes
Features: speaker’s ability to use L2 for certain tasks and functions
Some elements: requesting, obtaining information, formal and informal conversations, giving instructions, creating with the language

VOCABULARY: giving meaning and describing thoughts and ideas
Features: content and function words, compound words and idioms
Some elements: choice of words and topic

PRONUNCIATION: way sounds of a L are produced, and how they are perceived.
Features: ability to recognize different accents
Some elements: sounds, accents, sound clusters, and liaisons

Which of these skills are really developed/ enhanced in our FL / L2 class?

How can LANGUAGE SKILLS be furthered in the FL class at an advanced level?

SOME MYTHS
 There are too many different levels of ability in this class
 As soon as students are told to work in groups, L2 is not used. They speak in L1
 There are too many students in the class to do pair oral exchanges
 I’d like to incorporate more speaking activities in my English class, but students might feel overwhelmed by this
 Writing tasks involve too many sub skills to be assessed in an integrative manner
 Time is too short to give students enough speaking practice
 Strategies for developing comprehension are not helpful
 Students make too mistakes, some of which can not be corrected all the time