INTRODUCTION
In this unit, you will learn about two basic skills of language as they affect the Teaching of English as a second language. The skills are listening and speaking. You will agree that these skills are very important because at every point in time, human beings are either listening or speaking. In fact, no normal human being can do without performing these skills almost all the time. Sometimes they carry out both actions almost simultaneously. This then means that there is the need to listen effectively and at the sametime speak effectively. Without effective listening and speaking, human communication will be incomplete and in fact, communication will not even be carried out. With English as our second language, the skill of listening and speaking become those to be learned adequately since the language is not our mother tongue. Because of the importance of these skills and because of the position of English as our second language, effective teaching and learning of these skills becomes very important.
3.1 What is listening?
Before communication can take place successfully and before a feedback can be given when at least two people are involved in communication, effective listening must have taken place. In fact, in any language teaching, listening is a major objective. You will agree with me that listening is a complicated activity, which first includes learning. The hearing has to be sifted so as to ensure selective listening. Here, the listener is able to separate sense from ordinary noise. After the separation, he can now interpret the sense and eventually react to what he has heard. It is important for one to be able to understand what he has heard. Because there is the need to understand what one hears, he who understands what he hears is the one who has listened effectively while the one who hears but does not understand what he hears has not listened effectively.
From this explanation, you will discover that the emphasis of listening is not just on hearing speech but in understanding the speech that is heard. The knowledge of English as a second language should be brought to bear on this since English is the medium of instruction in our schools.
3.2 What is speaking?
Speaking is the voicing out of some audible sounds. What is voiced out would have been collated by our thinking processes, and when it is adequately produced, it will be meaningful to an effective listener. When we speak, we are usually expressing or addressing ourselves to other people and as such, our speech has to be sensible and easily understood by the hearers.
You are aware that people speak so as to express their innermost thoughts and because of this what we say must always be sensible. Since the language we speak is shared with other members of our immediate environment, our speech should not be radically different from theirs. The sounds i.e. those of the vowels and consonants that will be joined together should be well articulated.
As you know, English is our second language and therefore, we cannot speak exactly like those who have the language as their mother tongue or first language much as they too cannot speak our mother tongue the way we do. However, the variety that we are using must be an acceptable one. Each speaker has to be able to adapt his speech to the situation because when we speak, we do so either in response to the another or, to express delight or anger, to communicate with outsiders as immediate friends etc. There should therefore be acceptable articulation of the sounds, maintenance of normal speed and the collation of the sound so as to bring out the expected meaning.
Self-Assessment Exercise
1. From what you have learned so far, what can you say are the main differences between ‘hearing’ and ‘listening’?
3.3 How to develop audio- oral skills
Let us start by explaining the term ‘audio-oral’. Audio has to do with our sense of hearing and listening while oral deals with the voicing out of some sounds. Audio-oral is therefore a combination of both the skills of speaking and listening. These skills go together most of the time although there may be times when one listens without speaking. In the real sense however, listening is a prerequisite to speaking.
In developing these skills, learners should be able to use their knowledge of English to describe objects, report events and explain situations. They should be able to pronounce sounds of English that are not present in first language correctly without being misunderstood. Ear- training must be properly handled especially to ensure that learners can differentiate between sounds that are closely similar and to avoid mistaking one sound for the other.
To ensure effective listening and speaking, it is important to take note of the following exercises:
Train learners in saying individual words that have some troublesome phoneme. Examples are minimal pairs like fan, van, sun, shun, right, light, chair, cheer, dare, there etc.
Apart from these types of pairs, sentences containing such words can be constructed as well;
Appropriate stress patterns must betaken into consideration.
Information is another important thing that must betaken care of.
It is a fact that poor listening, insufficient exposures to spoken English, inadequate practice of oral English are some of the problems causing poor listening and speaking. Therefore, one good step to take to solve these problems is listening to recorded cassettes. Plays on radio and television can as well be useful. As listening goes on, learners should as well be trained to interpret what they hear.
To develop both listening and speaking skills taking into account English as a second language, Obanya (1982) has offered some suggestions. He says that
Learners should be exposed to various media through which oral English can be communicated;
They should listen attentively to spontaneous conversation among speakers of English as a second language;
They should react verbally and spontaneously in English to the messages conveyed through face-to-face conversation
Learners should be exposed to a wider variety of educated speakers of English using English totalk on a variety of topic in various situations
Learners should be able to listen attentively to and make mental or written notes of the major points in speeches, talks or broadcasts relating to topic within his experience
Learners should be able to interpret what they have heard in terms of going beyond what is explicitly said to probe motives, allusions, insinuations, and all other possible clues
Learners should be able to discuss spontaneously with other speakers of Standard English on a variety of topics
Learners should acquire self-confidence in the manipulation of spoken English.
From the above, it will be seen that listening and speaking are onerous tasks for the learner. Because English is our second language, there is the need to exercise adequate training so as to identify sounds and comprehend spoken texts
Self-Assessment Exercises
1. Pronounce the following words:
Cut, cat; then, den
Sit, seat; hair, here
Seat, sheet; know, low
2. Are the following words the same in pronunciation?
Conduct (verb)
;
Conduct (noun)
Export(verb)
;
Export(noun)
Insult (verb)
;
Insult (noun)
Import(verb)
;
Import(noun)
4.0 CONCLUSION
This unit has examined the development of listening and speaking skills bearing in mind the teaching of English as a second language. Learners are expected to understand all sorts of educated speakers of English and they are as well expected to be able to speak the language effectively. All the areas where there are problems should be adequately tackled. Such areas include either the presence or the absence of a phoneme in one language when compared with the other. In fact, interference has been the major problem militating against the effective use of English as the second language. Practice exercises can help to solve the problem. Therefore, in listening and speaking skills, executrices like pronouncing exercise, structure exercise, oral composition, dramatisation and role play will enhance their teaching of in a second language situation
5.0 SUMMARY
The unit has intimated us what listening and speaking are. It again tells us that in the teaching of English as a second language the skills of listening and speaking which are primary have to be adequately handled. This is because of the fact that English is our second language and knowledge of our first language often interferes with our knowledge of the second language. A number of ways through which the skills can be taught are mentioned in the unit and these will help in the effective handling of the skills.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Make a list of interference problems you hear in the English speech of persons around you.
2. Indicate the Mother-tongue of the Speakers.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Obanya P. (1982) Secondary English Teaching, Ibadan: Macmillan.
Obanya P. (1980) General Methods of Teaching. Ibadan: Macmillan.
ENG 151 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
Ubahakwe, U. (ed) (1978) Varieties and functions of English in Nigeria, African University Press.
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