Speaking is a productive skill, which means you have to produce meanings and concepts using vocabulary and grammar. So, this skill is much harder to master than receptive skills (Reading and Listening). But how can we improve this skill?
There isn’t a magic pill for improving speaking, and it’s impossible to improve this skill in a short period of time. You need time and constant practice. If you wish to improve this Speaking, you have to speak. This is the only way.
Clearly the extent of exposure in a language course you participate in is minimal. Particularly if the number of students is more than three or four, or the teachers prefers to give lecturers and expect you to sit, listen, and learn.
However, there are some practices that can be coupled with speaking practice and help you in the process. Here are five strategies that you can follow to improve your Speaking skill.
Having a Speaking partner is essential. I even suggest that you have two or three partners rather than one. Schedule online meetings at least once a week, and chat together. It doesn’t matter what you talk about. You may discuss anything you want, from politics to art, sports, and your love affairs. There’s no limit. Just talk.
The mirror in your room can be your best friend when there’s no partner around. Talk to the mirror. Look at yourself and pay attention to the way you talk. The good thing about a mirror is that you can repeat a sentence tens of times, and it will never get bored.
Listening practice can never replace Speaking practice, but it can help. Through listening, you get better at pronunciation, and it reminds you of the words and phrases you might have forgotten and helps you with intonation. A good strategy is first to listen, pause, repeat the same sentence yourself, and keep repeating it.
The effect of Reading on improving speaking is more or less similar to Listening, except that it doesn’t help you with pronunciation. Nevertheless, since you have to say all the words of the text yourself, it might slightly improve your fluency.
Note: Listening and Reading practices can be very helpful in the long term if you do them daily.
Be a lunatic. There is a price to pay for becoming a fluent Speaker. When driving, walking in the streets, thinking about a situation or a person, taking a shower, and even when peeing, try to talk to yourself. It would be best if you took advantage of every situation you’re in.
These practices will be pointless if you do not push yourself to the limits. Don’t stay in your safety zone. Try a variety of grammatical structures. Force yourself to use the new words and idiomatic expressions that you’ve learned in your talks. But remember, you have to talk naturally. Take a look at this sentence:
This is a very simple compound sentence with two A1-level vocabularies. When practicing Speaking, you can use these alternatives to vary your language and improve your proficiency.
But you should talk in a natural way. You should avoid stupid variations like:
This sentence doesn’t sound natural for many reasons. One reason is that “concerned” is rather formal while “wrecked” is informal. No one talks like that.
Improving your Speaking skill is time-taking, so you need to be patient. Improvements happen gradually and not overnight. So, don’t give up hope. Try to enjoy the practices, rather than focusing on the outcome. Plus, pay attention to the way native talks, do not create language material yourself. And finally, bear in mind that good Speaking is not solely about vocabulary and grammar. Pay particular attention to pronunciation and intonation. You need to pronounce correctly and use a suitable intonation to be understood. Good luck.
