Teaching Productive Skills

A pre-requisite for communicative competence

Intent of the paper

The purpose of this paper is to examine what strategic competence is, the levels at which it functions and the utility value of such techniques to the development of an overall communicative competence. It also debates whether it is ethical to teach strategies instead of concrete language competence.

‘Children can discover for themselves what they need to know , however, in order to get what they want they have to ask’ observes June Bowser(1993). Oral communication encompasses asking, replying, discussing, debating etc.. Surprisingly, this is what our students are wanting, outside the class, in real life situations. Does this mean that our communicative language teaching methods do not work? Why are our learners inadequate in communicating with others in English? What makes them more confident in their own mother tongue with limited vocabulary and structures.?

Conversation is a spontaneous activity in the person’s mother tongue but becomes a conscious articulation of ideas in the class room . to comprehend this enigma we need to understand the principles underlying effective communicative competence. What is communicative competence then? The ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals, is communicative competence. The desired outcome of the language learning process is, therefore, the ability to communicate competently, not the ability to use the language exactly as a native speaker does.

Components and importance of communicative competence Communicative competence is a combination of Linguistic competence (knowledge of grammar vocabulary and sentence structures) Socio-linguistic competence (understanding the relationships in the groups and using appropriate language code suitable to the context)Discourse competence (capacity to continue conversation within the given framework). Strategic competence ( knowing how to recognize and repair communication breakdowns, how to work around gaps in one’s knowledge of the language, and how to learn more about the language and in the context.) The materials in the course books teach the first two with reasonable effect. Through practice and experience , discourse competence is achieved. So the only competence that is ignored is strategic competence. And ironically, it is this STRATEGIC COMPETENCE that is helping the children in their mother tongue. Fluency is achieved with strategies. Comfort levels increase with strategies. Drawbacks or limitations are camouflaged by strategies. So what are these strategies?

Role of strategies

Strategies are of two types. Reduction or avoidance strategies and achievement or expansions strategies. The former are difficult to spot, and are an obvious and essential part of a learner’s instinctive repertoire. However, we want our students to widen their resources, to take risks, to actively expand their competence, so we shall probably be more interested in the latter.

Strategies function at two levels. One is at the word or sentence level and the other at the discourse level. The ones at the word or sentence level are code- switching, paraphrasing, restructuring, generalizing, etc., Sentence beginners, phrases expressing concern/attitude/disagreement, circumlocution, continuing conversations etc. fall into the second level.

Limitations However describing communication strategies, especially at the discourse level, cannot mean producing a set of rules for their correct or appropriate use. We know that rules are not always applicable to all situations and even with the more stringent language items like morphology and syntax. This specific training does not ensure or guarantee high communicative competence. Nevertheless this does not minimize its importance, as this leads to reflection and analysis- the two most important learning styles By providing our students with opportunities for using a variety of learning styles, we will be doing something for both our convergent, analytical learners on one side and for our divergent, memory- oriented learners on the other. Teaching Strategies. Though the concept sound logical and highly productive achieving it would entail proper planning, use of appropriate methods and materials.. It is relatively easy to teach ways of asking for clarification or keeping a conversation going; it is not so easy to teach turn-taking or topic-change procedures; paraphrasing and restructuring would be even more difficult. some guided activities and some developed by the student in free interaction tasks and still some through demonstrations alone would be an ideal combination of teaching strategies. Experience and observation may be the key methodologies involved. Students could start from a receptive stage: they could be exposed to actual examples of language use in which communication strategies play a clear and significant role. Then they could be led to become aware of the use of strategies through a stage of exploration and discussion.

Suggestions for a Writing Skills Workshop

Writing may be the most difficult and the most neglected of the four cardinal language skills.1 Speaking gets the most attention followed at some distance by listening, and reading. Writing, in comparison, is often ignored all together. The website www.englishclub.com calls it the 4th language skill.2 There are reasons for this. The simple fact is that most people, teachers included, never really learned how to do it and therefore are unable to pass it on. Another reason is that it is lonely, tedious work. (No teacher ever had to carry home a bag full of speaking assignments and labour into the wee hours marking them for return in the next day.) Still there are those of who continue to make the effort. What follows are a few suggestions on how to ease the burden.

Adjust your expectations; set manageable goals. I know an American English teacher here who tries to teach his first-year, Chinese university students how to write an English-language research paper. He complains to me that the students ‘just can’t seem manage footnotes and bibliography entries.’ Right. This is not so much a shortcoming of his students (you may have guessed) but a problem with his own expectations. Before we take on the task of teaching anything, but especially teaching writing, we must examine our expectations. It is right and proper to expect quality effort and results but we must also set manageable goals. To expect too much too soon is a formula for great disappointment for teachers and students alike. If we cannot write sentences and paragraphs, we cannot write anything and that is where the focus of writing must first be placed.

Build motivation; focus on the need to know. It follows that motivation on the part of the teacher and the students is a most important part of the writing process. EFL students address the learning of English on a need-to-know basis. Classes must be small, and whenever possible the writing tasks must be of a practical nature that suits the needs of the students, i.e. r’sum’s, formal letters, personal statements for university entrance, applications, etc. If the students, and indeed the teacher, can see practical results from practical tasks, motivation is bound to increase for both.

Focus activities on both the productive skills. Writing and speaking are part of the same game. I split my hour and a half classes into two parts and schedule individual conferences between classes. The first half of the class is given over to commentary on returned assignments and teaching’ sentence and paragraph structure, English typography, ways to achieve emphasis in sentences, etc. I ask that students take notes. In the second half I involve students in worksheet exercises, sentences, writing tasks, paragraphs, correcting assignments, etc. I sometimes distribute assignments in class so that each student may mark and comment on another’s work. I mix freely with the class and use the blackboard when necessary, and I demand commentary and the discussion of each point as we go along. Talk is part of the work of the class. I know it is working when students begin to disagree and argue in English. 

Look to the product as well as the process. There is a debate currently in progress about the correct methodology for teaching writing.3 One side, the Product side, calls for a focus on the results of writing, by focusing on model texts and techniques to mimic the skills apparent in accomplished writing. Students then go away for controlled practice usually as homework. The other Process approach favours classroom activity and the writing process’ brainstorming, drafting, and the like. Not surprisingly the debate reaches the point where it is determined that both Product and Process methodologies are acceptable and may be used interchangeably. Of course models are indispensable as is the practice of establishing good habits and skills. In fact there is room for both approaches in the workshop environment and they may be used interchangeably. The idea is to focus on the writing and not on the debate and take what can be used from both.

Look beyond the tasks and the topics; give your students a purpose. Finally, the tasks and writing assignments handed out by the teacher must have some goal in mind. They must be objective-oriented beyond simply an exercise in sentences or paragraphs. Penny Ur in her book Discussions that Work talks about setting a goal or an objective when organizing a discussion. The same applies here. Keep them busy and give them a purpose.