Teaching Speaking Skills: Practices and Techniques in Rural Schools

Abstract

The issue of speaking proficiency among students has always been a concern. Studies have shared findings to say students lack proficiency that contributes to poor speaking skills. This study aims to explore and investigate the teaching practices and techniques of speaking skills among secondary school teachers in selected rural schools. This qualitative study was carried out with ten English teachers selected from several schools in a district in Kelantan. Data were collected and analysed based on classroom observations and interviews. The curriculum specifications and lesson plans were also studied. The findings showed that teachers still practised the traditional teacher-centred approach. The teachers were also highly dependable on textbooks as their teaching material. However, only a few teachers were found to have moved into innovative ways of teaching speaking skills. The investigation also found a variety of challenges faced by teachers in the teaching of speaking skills. On the whole, this paper suggests that teachers should be given ample opportunities to receive the necessary training to teach speaking skills effectively.

Keywords: teaching practices; communicative language teaching; speaking skills; second language acquisition; communicative competence

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-29-15

Publication date:October 31^st 2019