Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter contains the literature and studies, both local and

foreign, reviewed by the researcher which are related to this

research.

Related foreign literatures

On Speaking Skills or Oral Communication

Theorists and practitioners bring their own experiences and

perspectives to the situation thus, the definition of speaking skills

have many versions. Rivers (1972) states that speaking means

expression of metaphor, which illumines many aspects of our

foreign language situation. Speaking is vehicle of delivering

meaning which people do not realize they are using it. Language is

also a tool to deliver thinking, emotion and feeling and need in order

to communicate with each other.

To speak fluently and confidently in a variety of

situations is a central human need and an important goal of

education.

Effective speakers of English have communicative oral

competence. This particular type of competence, according to

Scarcella and Oxford (1992), consists of linguistic/grammatical

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competence in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation;

pragmatic/sociolinguistic competence in appropriate use of

language for the context; discourse competence in coherence and

cohesion; and strategic competence in using communication

strategies. Hedge (2000) adds fluency to the list, which is most

relevant to speech production.

Fluency is defined by Ellis and Sinclair (1989) as speaking

spontaneously and meaningfully with no extensive pauses or

excessive repetition. Hedge (2000: 261) is more specific in her

definition: "Fluency means responding coherently within the turns of

the conversation.- linking words and phrases, using intelligible

pronunciation and appropriate intonation, and doing all of this

without undue hesitation." Faerch, Haastrup and Phillipson (1984 in

Hedge 1993: 275) define fluency in terms of competence as, "The

speaker's ability to make use of whatever linguistic and pragmatic

competence they have." They include three types of competence:

semantic which links propositions and speech acts to give

coherence; lexical-syntactic which links syntactical components and

words and, thirdly, articulatory fluency which links speech

segments.

As Brown (1994) and Richards (1990) viewing, they divide oral

communication into monologues (planned and unplanned) and

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dialogues (interpersonal and transactional). Interpersonal

conversation "lubricates the social wheels," (McCarthy 1991: 136)

develops social roles and relationships and is relatively

unpredictable. It ranges from an informal chat to a more formal and

predictable meeting or interview. Transactional conversations, on

the other hand, tend to be much more predictable as information is

exchanged in order to fulfil a need such as at a doctor's

appointment or buying oranges at a greengrocers' or a market stall.

Other types of genre, such as story narratives, have a predictable

pattern and an example can be found in Hedge (2000 265).

According to Nunan (1989) successful oral communication

involves a number of important features. These include the

development of fluency and the ability to manage both transactional

and interactional dialogues, using both fillers as well as long and

short turns. This negotiation of meaning requires effective listening

skills and speaking skills. Furthermore, it includes successful

articulation of sounds, as well as "mastery of stress, rhythm,

intonation patterns." (Hedge 2000:296).

Brown (1994) identified certain typical speaking difficulties

characteristics of spoken language that most learners find difficult.

The following features as typical problem items: clustering of words

into chunks, breath groups or phrases; redundancy of language;

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reduced forms such as contractions, elisions, reduced vowels;

performance variables such as hesitations, pauses, fillers,

backtracking, and corrections; colloquialisms, idioms, slang and

colloquial phrases; delivery speed; stress, rhythm, and intonation

(as English is stress-timed intonation patterns convey important

messages) and interaction with conversational negotiation.

In teaching oral communication, teachers should not limit

students’ attention to the whole picture but also the small parts,

seeing the pieces to construct the whole. Teachers should consider

the micro skills and macro skills of speaking. The micro skills refer to

producing the smaller chunks of the language such as phonemes,

morphemes, words, collocations and phrasal units. The macro skills

imply the speakers focus on the larger elements: fluency, discourse,

function, style, cohesion, nonverbal communication and strategic

options. (Brown, 2001) Brown lists 16 items for micro and macro

skills of speaking, among them are:

1. Produce chunks of language of different lengths.

2. Orally produce differences among the English phonemes and allophonic

variants.

3. Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed

positions, rhythmic structure, and intonational contours.

4. Produce reduced forms of words and phrases.

5. Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) in order to accomplish

pragmatic purposes.

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6. Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery.

7. Monitor their own oral production and use various strategic devices

pauses, fillers, self-corrections, backtracking-to enhance the clarity of the

message.

8. Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems (e.g., tense,

agreement, pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.

9. Produce speech in natural constituents: in appropriate phrases, pause

groups, breath groups, and sentence constituents.

10. Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.

11. Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse.

12. Appropriately accomplish communicative functions according to

situations, participants, and goals.

13. Use appropriate registers, implicature, pragmatic conventions, and other

sociolinguistic features in face-to-face conversations.

14. Convey links and connections between events and communicate such

relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given

information, generalization, and exemplification.

15. Use facial features, kinesics, "body language," and other nonverbal cues

along with verbal language in order to convey meaning.

16. Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as emphasizing

key words, rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the meaning of

words, appealing for help, and accurately assessing how well your

interlocutor is understanding you.

Martin Bygate, Speaking (1987), whose theoretical inputs

concerning the elements of speaking will be analyzed and their

views compared. There are two basic aspects that Bygate

distinguishes when considering the skill of speaking. These

includethe knowledge of the language and the skill in using this

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knowledge. The knowledge of producing the language has to be

used in different circumstances as they appear during a

conversation by means of the skill. The ability to use the knowledge

requires two kinds of skills, according to Bygate - production skills,

and interaction skills.

Production skills involve two aspects - facilitation and

compensation, brought about by processing conditions. Both

devices help students, besides making the oral production easier or

possible, sound more naturally. Interaction skills, on the other hand,

involve routines and negotiation skills.Routines present the typical

patterns of conversation including interaction and information

routines. Negotiation skills serve as a means for enabling the

speaker and listener to make themselves clearly understood. This is

achieved by two aspects: management of interaction and turn-

taking.

Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Teaching (2001),

discussing the elements of speaking that are necessary for fluent

oral production, distinguishes between two aspects - knowledge of

"language features", and the ability to process information on the

spot, it means "mental/social processing".

The first aspect, language features, necessary for spoken

production involves, according to Harmer, the following features:

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connected speech, expressive devices, lexis and grammar, and

negotiation language. For a clearer view of what the individual

features include, here is a brief overview:

connected speech–conveying fluent connected speech including

assimilation, elision,

linking ‘r’, contractions and stress patterning–weakened sounds);

expressive devices–pitch, stress, speed, volume, physical- non-verbal

means for conveying meanings (supersegmental features);

lexis and grammar–supplying common lexical phrases for different

functions (agreeing, disagreeing, expressing shock, surprise, approval,

etc.);

negotiation language–in order to seek clarification and to show the

structure of what we are saying. (Harmer 2001, 269-270)

In order to wage a successful language interaction, it is

necessary to realize the use of the language features through

mental/social processing-with the help of‘the rapid processing skills’,

as Harmer calls them (p.271).‘Mental/social processing’includes

three features language processing, interacting with others, and on-

the-spot information processing.

In order to speak, according to Swain's Comprehensible Output

Hypothesis, referred to Task-based learning, learners must practise speaking.

On the basis of this hypothesis, Skehan (1996) identifies six purposes for

output. These include to negotiate meaning and thus improve input, to attend

to syntactic accuracy; to check predictions and hypothises; to promote

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automaticity; to understand and manage discourse, and, lastly, to express

personal opinions in a personal voice.

Task-based language teaching has eight purposes.

1. to give learners confidence in trying out whatever language they know;

2. to give learners experience of spontaneous interaction;

3. to give learners the chance to benefit from noticing how others express

similar meaning;

4. to give learners chances for negotiating turns to speak;

5. to engage learners in using language purposefully and cooperatively;

6. to make learners participate in a complete interaction, not just one-off

sentences;

7. to give learners chances to try out communication strategies; and

8. to develop learners' confidence that they can achieve communicative

goals.

C. David Mortensen, Communication: The Study of Human

Communication (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1972), Chapter 2,

“Communication Models.”

1. The Transmission Model

The transmission model (Shannon & Weaver (1949) cited in Dwyer

2005, p.7) is concerned with the transfer of meaning from the

sender to the receiver . Communication is a one way process, as

indicated graphically in Figure 1.1:

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Figure 1 The transmission model of one way communication

2 The Process Models

The transmission model was subsequently adapted to form the

process models in which people transmit, receive, interpret and

respond to messages with feedback(Dwyer 2005).

The process models have seven main elements:

1 Sender

2 Message

3 Receiver

4 Feedback

5 Channel

6 Context or setting (environment)

7 Noise or interference

In the process models, a message is encoded by the sender through

a communication channel, such as voice or body language, and then

decoded by the receiver. The receiver then provides feedback. The

process is influenced by the context of the situation and any noise

or interference.

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Figure 2 A process model of communication, involving the message, feedback and interference of some sort that possibly inhibits understanding of the message

3 More Recent Models And Theories

Dwyer (2005) provides some of the more recent interpretations of

the communication process. These are summarised here.

Berlo's Model Of The Communication Process

Berlo's focus remained on the transmission model of

communication. However, he introduced more of the human

elements, such as the relationship between the message channel

and the five senses (see Figure 1.2 in Dwyer 2005, p.11).

Schramm's Model Of The Communication Process

Where Berlo did not integrate feedback into his model, Schramm

proposed that each person is both an encoder and decoder as each

one provides feedback to the other (Figure 1.3 in Dwyer 2005, p.12).

Barnlund's Transactional Model Of Communication

Barnlund proposed six assumptions in the transactional model of

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communication (Dwyer 2005, p.12). Communication process that is:

continuous (it is no t a stat i c activity)

dynamic (it is ever changing)

circular (encoder to decoder to encoder to decoder etc)

unrepeatable (every communication is unique)

irreversible (once a message is received by the receiver then

the message cannot be erased [consider the implications of this

when a judge asks a jury to disregard evidence in court])

complex (involves language, power, relationship factors etc.)

Related local literatures

On Speaking Skills or Oral Communication

The definition of oral communicating ability “Exactly speaking,

one’s ability of oral communicating includes linguistic competence,

communicative competence and tactical competence.” ( 文 秋 芳 ，

1999)

Linguistic competence, which is the base of oral communication.

We get this ability from concrete teaching activities. That is to say

we get correct information from teachers and books. These things

including pronunciation, intonation, grammar, vocabulary (Never

just memorize single English words. Learn the whole sentences and

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the phrases that contain the new words so we may know how to use

the words), etc. In this step, teachers from English native spoken

country are very important and advanced teaching materials are

essential.

Communicative competence, which is distillation of those

information we have got. We study spoken English so as to make

oral communications, so the importance of oral English study should

be: Fluency, Accuracy, and Appropriateness. That is to say, we have

to pay more attention to practical communicating ability instead of

only laying emphasis on the grammatical correctness. So, it needs

us to master the rules of speaking, to know the cultural

characteristics well, to express properly and to use suitable styles

under different situations or in special social occasions.

Tactical competence means to use communication skills and to

over- come troubles caused by language shortcoming by using some

other methods. Excellent personality is one of the decisive factors in

this step of oral English, staid persistence, patience; self-confidence

and determination are badly needed. And what’s the most important

is one can act according the circumstances.

Cai, Ji Gang(蔡基刚 , 2002) found the problem existing of China

students major in English have studied English for years. Some of

them had even passed TEM-4 and TEM-8, but due to different

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features, their oral English are still poor. Students of the old

teaching-system could no longer meet the need of the development

home and abroad today. “The oral English tests of universities have

held for six times in all from January, 1999 to May, 2001. The

number of students who took these tests is accumulated to 32,107.

But only 7.1% of them got A, who can communicate on familiar

topics in English; 50.7% of them were of ordinary level”. (蔡基刚 ,

2002)

“‘Context of situation’ has great influence in improving oral

English deficiency. In China we seldom have environment for English

speaking. This situation is a disadvantage of oral English study at

present in our country”. (康志峰，1998)

There are many researches that aware of these problems and do

researches on them. For example, it is a research study about

exploring foreign students’ lack of speaking and writing skills in

English. The research which is titled “Dimensions of Difficulties

Mainland Chinese Students Encounter in the United States”

examined the difficulties Mainland Chinese students encountered in

the process of adjusting to American culture (Sun & Chen, 1997). In

this qualitative research a questionnaire containing 13 open-ended

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questions was used to collect information about 10 Mainland

Chinese students who enrolled in a mid-size public university and

their adjustment process for three months. End of the research,

there were three dimensions of difficulties subjects: (1) lack of

language proficiency, (2) a deficiency in cultural awareness and (3)

academic achievements. So, the relevant conclusions from this

study demonstrate that international students have problems

related to culture shock and to language in spite of high TOEFL &

GRE scores. And further studies, Sun and Chen would like to

research on these three dimensions more deeply and try to find

some solutions for them (1997). Another researcher, who studies on

Chinese EFL students language problems, points out in his research

about Chinese students language problems, especially in listening

part. According to his findings, these students` listening problem

occurs with the possible difference in discourse patterns between

English and Chinese (Yang, 2007). Besides difficulty in listening skill,

as Alderson points out L2 (second or foreign language) students

have more problems in reading skill than L1 students. L2 reading

could be somewhat slower and less successful than L1 reading,

because of the levels of readers’ proficiency, types of text, text

difficulty and task demands (2000). Moreover, Chikamatsu in his

study point outs that some students might not have been skillful

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typists especially who use logo graphic languages such as Japanese

and Chinese, which have input processes different from those of

English and other Indo-European languages, computer use by

second language learners is relatively uncommon and its impact on

writing is uncertain (2003).

Yun Chen, (Oral English, culture, and strategies: Propellers and

road-blockers in learning for Chinese international students) this

research seeks to highlight the communicative problems Chinese

international students. Many Chinese people believe that sufficient

English skills can lead to better careers with higher salaries in the

future. In order to obtain such skills many people in China decide to

study overseas. She cited Ballard and Clanchy (1997), international

students' insufficient communicative accountability in English also

contributes to negative teacher-student relationships.

Communication is the ultimate goal of learning a second language,

as it is "…at the heart of modern English language teaching"

(Luoma, 2004, p. ix). However, English learning classes in China

tend to focus predominantly on one or two of the four identified

language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing),

sometimes to the exclusion of the others (Gass & Selinker, 2008).

Research also indicates that speaking is usually the least developed

skill in language classes in China (Burnaby & Sun, 1989; O’Neill &

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Gish, 2008).

Chen suggested that cultural and educational backgrounds play

an important role in students’adjustment. Accordingly, there is a

need for Chinese international students to be equipped with skills

and strategies to improve oral English in a naturalistic linguistic

environment. There are numerous approaches which may result in

oral English proficiency, such as attending intensive English classes,

talking to native speakers, and self practising. All these approaches

reflect what is called “learning strategies”.

Furneaux et al (1991) pointed out that many non-native speakers

put too much emphasis on listening to lecturers and note taking.

They should be prepared to ask questions, pay attention to their

peers’ presentations, as well as improve their listening skills and be

more selective in note taking. In relation to oral presentations,

Chirnside (1986) suggests that the ability to select, synthesize and

formulate information from a written text or a tape should also be

improved.

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