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Allamuratov G.A. teacher of TSPU department of foreign languages I Tashkent, Uzbekistan
INTEGRATION OF LISTENING AND SPEAKING TO IMPROVE
LANGUAGE LEARNERS' COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
Annotation: The article explains that listening and speaking which are types of language skills in English are important in the development of communicative competence. The main concept of listening and speaking are defined, some activities and tasks are suggested in order to develop listening and speaking.
Key words: integration, approach, authentic, analysis, competence, strategies, proficiency, component, listening and speaking, creative skill.
The integrative approach is intended to provide an authentic language environment for learners to develop Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills in a meaningful context. Of all the four skills Listening and Speaking seem intuitively the most important. In foreign language classrooms, students often do more listening than speaking—they hear a native speaker, either the teacher or a recording, speak phrases and test their comprehension via paper-and-pencil activities such as matching games. This type of training gives students the correct language input, but research is increasingly showing the value of having students speak the language as a way of learning it. Listening is one of the subjects studied in the field of language study and in the discipline of conversation analysis. This skill can be improved by practice and there are many rewards to develop listening skill. It is the active process of receiving and responding to spoken (and sometimes unspoken) messages.
Helgesen (2003:24) states that listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear. More often we hear, more we can understand something. Regarding that citation, although listening is receptive, it is very active because listeners can think and understand things at higher levels than what they have heard. As they listen, they process not only what they hear but also connect it with other information they have already known. Since listeners combine what they have listened to their existing knowledge and experiences, in a very real sense, they are figuring or creating some kinds of meaning in their own mind. Rost (2002:177) defines listening, in its broadest sense, as a process of receiving what the speaker actually says (receptive orientation); constructing and representing meaning (constructive orientation); negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding (collaborative orientation); and, creating meaning through involvement, imagination and empathy (transformative orientation). Listening, then, is a complex, active processes of interpretation in which listeners match what they hear with what they have already known.
Rivers in Hasyuni (2006: 8) states that listening is a creative skill. It means we comprehend the sound falling on our ears, and take the raw material of words, arrangements of words, and the rise and fall the voice, and from this material, we create significance. Therefore, we can say that listening is like a cooking process, there is the recipe, and then we gather the ingredients, start to process to cook and finally we eat that. The process will be successful if we prepare the right dose, as well as listening, we can get the right words if we listen well and know all of the sentences. Speaking is a crucial skill in foreign language learning since it is considered the means by which a person can get to know the target language. Mastering speaking skill is considered the main evidence of second language acquisition. The study was based on very significant studies and research works on speaking strategies, some of which tend to discuss the benefits of utilizing speaking strategies with foreign language learners, for example, the studies by Cook (1993), French and Kasper (1983), Rubin and Thompson (1994), and Weaver and Cohen
While other studies on speaking, strategies attempt to take a more empirical look at previously mentioned studies. For example Donrnyei and Thurrell (1994) and Graham(1997), the current study attempted to utilize the studies of French and Kasper (1983) and other similar studies on speaking strategies Ultimately, the researcher attempted finding a method of applying these strategies that can be pertinent to students with the aim to improve the students' speaking proficiency. According to Mendez (2011), speaking strategies that can help to develop learners' speaking proficiency are considered vital components of language learning strategies. Speaking strategies are vital in language learning; they are oral communication strategies or conversational tools used by learners to communicate in the target language in different situations or to solve communication problems.
We absolutely agree with researchers' ideas, which were mentioned above. Integration of listening and speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. It helps to improve language learners' communicative competence, because, only in that way, learners can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance. During the listening and speaking, learner has to pay attention his or her vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. However, speaking must be concise. In addition, let us see some of the listening and speaking activities:
A. The learners listen to a text from a sound carrier and decide which of the three summaries offered comes closest to the content of the listening comprehension text.
(1994).
Listening to a text, reading the summaries, deciding on their individua 1 qualities (listen ing foim full understanding).
□ □ □
summary A: ... summary B: ... summary C: ...
B. The learners listen to incomplete sentences and have to guess their endings
Predicting sentence A: I'm afraid I won't be able to make it
endings after all.
B: Oh dear. Would you like to arrange
another.........?
C.The learners try to memorize a complete sentence. Then they listens to he first part of the sentence und have to complete the missing part from memory.
Listening to a sentence und completing it from a given point (running memory exercise).
These coffee houses became known as "penny universities" because a person could buy a cup of coffee for one penny and learn more at the coffee house than in class.
These coffee houses became known as "penny universities" because a person could buy a cup ............ ...................
D. The learners listen to a text and try to analyze the parameters of the conversation and discuss within groups.
Analysing the parameters of a conversation (Who talks to whom, for what reason, with what intention, when, where?
Why have you stopped me? What's the problem?
GOOD EVENING. MY NAME'S BRAUN. YOU WERE DRIVING TOO FAST.
But I wasn't driving fast.
PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR CAR PAPERS AND YOUR DRIVING LICENCE.
But in Germany you can drive as fast as you like on the motorway. You can do 160 kilometres per hour or even more if you want to.
I'M AFRAID THAT'S NOT QUITE TRUE. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN MEASURED DRIVING AT A SPEED OF 88 KMPH. YOU MUST NOT EXCEED 60 KMPH AT THIS POINT.
Such kind of listening and speaking activities make them think profound and compel them speak about it and to give their candid opinions. In addition, each of them has own aims, tasks and structures. If we use all of them in our speeches, our speaking skill and competence will dramatically develop. As a conclusion, while teaching listening and speaking teachers should pay attention to provide a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks. It would be very useful and effective for language learners.
References:
1. Helgesen, M. 2003. Listening in Practical Language Teaching. Edited by David Nunan. McGraw-Hill.
2. Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. London, UK: Longman.
3. Hasyuni. 2006. The Students' Preferred Activities for English Listening Classes (A Survey Conducted to the Second and Fourth Semester Students of English Department of FKIP Universitas Bengkulu Academic Year 2005/2006). Unpublished Thesis of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Universitas Bengkulu.
4. Mendez, M. (2011). Speaking strategies used by BA ELT students in public in Mexico. Mextesol Journal, 35(1), 1-6.
5. Marwan Bairaqdar. The Impact of Speaking Strategies on the Speaking Proficiency of Arabic Language Adult Learners. A Doctoral Dissertation Research ProQuest LLC.2014. P.167.
