Teaching speaking in beginner-level language class: strategies and challenges

By: ZHAO Xuezhu , Ekaterina Buchminskaia

Speaking is a necessary language skill that plays a crucial role in personal, academic, and professional success. In recent decades, people are more likely to learn German because of migration and integration (see Pulinx and Van Avermaet, 2016). However, previous studies about how to foster non-German speakers’ oral skills are relatively rare, especially for adult beginners. Therefore, the main goal of this qualitative study is to investigate what strategies a German teacher uses to foster learners’ speaking skills* in an A1-level class. In order to gather information on this topic, participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted in an A1 German class at the University of Bremen.

          The preliminary findings of this small-scale investigation showed that the observed German teacher chose different topics which were relevant to students’ daily lives and designed various activities as well as games to help learners practice the language items. The analysis of the interviews revealed that the activities and games employed in the classroom seemed to be effective strategies since they provided learners with skills required to express themselves orally, giving them more confidence to speak German. However, there are still some challenges for the teacher as the learning success also depends on individual learner differences (e.g., motivation), and whether they are good at playing a particular game. It is anticipated that this paper can make some contributions to future research in the field of German language teaching in tertiary education.

References:

Bailey, K. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking. New York: McGraw-Hill. Goh, C. (2007). Teaching speaking in the language classroom. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

Pulinx,R and Van Avermaet, P.(2016). The impact of language and integration policies on the social participation of adult migrants. LIAM-Symposium. Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.