イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

145

吉備国際大学研究紀要（人文・社会科学系）
第26号，145−162，2016

英会話授業における問題点と解決法
イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー
English Language Speaking / Oral Communication Lessons:Inhibiting Factors and Practical Solutions
Ian William WARNER
Abstract
Although the importance of English language Speaking / Oral Communication lessons are
self-evident, numerous common realities frequently threaten to reduce their actual and / orperceived quality and - in extreme cases - basic educational worth. This article will identify
and examine the most salient and pressing of those problems, then advise on how best toforestall, eliminate or ameliorate them.
Key words：English Language Speaking / Oral Communication
キーワード：英会話授業

1. Introduction

long-term public and private-sector demand for

Given the international role and consequently highJapanese workers with reliable‘intermediate’andimportance of the English language, the acquisition‘advanced’level English Reading Comprehension,of‘intermediate’and‘advanced’level English

Listening Comprehension, Writing and Speaking

language skills and - to that end improvement/ Oral Communication (OC) competency, perhapsof one’s existing English language abilities - hasmost notably in service industries such as thefor decades in Japan been widely acknowledged

tourism-hospitality and consumer retailingamong the general public to be a worthy andsectors.

potentially highly beneficial objective; one thatbroader quality-of-life benefits that are likely to

all full-time students should attempt to realise

accrue to those who do manage to acquire suchfor as long a time as seems prudent. At present,

competences are substantial.

there continues to be a major and still increasing

qualification acquisition generally, high(er) overall

吉備国際大学外国語学部〒700-0931 岡山県岡山市北区奥田西町５-５
School of Foreign Language Studies,
Kibi International University
5-5, Okuda Nishimachi, Kitaku, Okayama, Japan（700-0931）

The professional, career-related andAs with skill and146

英会話授業における問題点と解決法

English language competency tends to improvefor - and perhaps most venerated aim of - allone’s career opportunities, earning potential, work-

English language studies is to acquire robust,place performance, professional development,

advanced-level English language Speaking / Oralpromotion prospects and - at least partly as aCommunication skills.

consequence - much else besides.

The more

Speaking / Oral Communication skills are atechnically proficient and impressive a Japanese

central prerequisite component-and measure-

job candidate’s demonstrable English abilities areof overall, comprehensive language competency.

known or thought to be, the greater the chance ofPeople with only poor or mediocre Speaking /their being hired, all else being equal. Suffice it toOral Communication competency clearly cannot

say that compelling evidence of excellent overall,plausibly be said to possess demonstrably‘advanced-level’ English language Reading‘excellent’,‘good’or even merely‘acceptable’,

Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, Writing

comprehensive language capability.

By definition, effective

and Speaking / Oral Communication proficiency
is highly valued by a large and probably growing

Effective Speaking / Oral Communication

number of increasingly internationally-oriented

tuition that helps students retain and markedly

and / or globally aware Japanese individuals,

improve their ability to make themselves

governmental institutions and larger-sized private-

understood effectively in real time, without

sector commercial and non-profit entities. In sum,excessive, unreasonable difficulty or delay and toit generally pays at least over the long(er)-term tounderstand what others say, effectively in realdevelop advanced English language competency.

time, without excessive, unreasonable difficulty ordelay, are surely as valid and necessary as those

2. Necessity For Oral Communication Lessons

teaching efforts intended to enhance Reading

Why, exactly, are Speaking / Oral Communication

Comprehension, Listening Comprehension and /classes necessary and worthwhile, even in theor Writing competency.

least favourable conditions? What plausible points

Moreover, discernible cognitive advances incan be made in their defence to this effect? The

Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension,

following is a tentative and very likely far from

Writing and / or Speaking / Oral Communication

exhaustive answer to this question:competency are more likely than not to be at least
casually related, interlinked and, to albeit varying

In line with common sense, lessons dedicated inextents, interdependent. Student advances in any

full or part to Speaking / Oral Communication skill

one of these four fundamental, core disciplines

practice and enhancement at the junior school,

may well i) be facilitated or even enabled byhigh school and university level have always or

earlier advances in one or more of the other threelong been considered crucial components of all

and ii) subsequently bring about - or contribute

serious language teaching programs and remain

to - tangible progress in one or more of them. In

so.

other words, an advance in competency in any

Clearly, one of the four central reasons

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147

one may well have beneficial, reinforcing spill-over

It is undoubtedly true that many or most foreign

effects as regards one or more of the others. Also,

language students fail to progress equally

the case can be made that even if this were not so,well with regard to all four fundamental, core

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons would still

disciplines in any given time-frame, but it is safe

be of educational value since, if nothing else, they

to say that demonstrable attainment of reliable

often instil in many students greater appreciation‘intermediate’or‘advanced’level competencyof the advantages of overall English competency

re. any one of them, i) probably requires - andand / or greater liking for the study of English

stems from - the study of all four and ii) indicatesas a whole. The student who detests and / orpotential ability to similarly master one or more

fails - at whatever stage - to perform well inof the other three. The student who comes to

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons, may

excel at, for example, English Writing but not

be moved to devote more effort to the study

English Speaking / Oral Communication, or vice-of English as a whole in a bid to improve on

versa, can hardly be assumed to permanently lacksuch a state of affairs. In any case, unless one

the requisite intelligence, knowledge or means

has compelling evidence to think and act toto rectify such a failing. Such a rectification - if

the contrary, it appears to be a sound policy toattempted - may be a comparatively more difficult

proceed in ways that seem most liable to fosterand daunting undertaking for the individualsuch virtuous cyclical processes.

concerned and their teacher(s), but the inherent
potential for progress and thus eventual success

While the necessity to differentiate between

cannot be doubted.

Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension,
Writing and Speaking / Oral Communication

In a very real sense, Reading Comprehension,

disciplines for practical teaching and study-

Listening Comprehension, Writing and Speaking

revision purposes is unavoidable and obvious,/ Oral Communication are four equally important

there is perhaps too often an‘every day’danger

disciplines. Ambitious it may well be, but asof conceiving of and viewing each of these closely-common sense suggests, a comprehensive‘broad-interconnected core disciplines too much as anfront’ approach centred on the simultaneous

autonomous realm and - most dubiously - even anteaching of all four fundamental core disciplines

entirely detached discipline.

In this connection,

to an equally intensive degree appears optimal

it is of course important to note and remain

and quite possibly vital for maximal success. No

cognisant of the fact that, humans don’t justcomprehensive English language program worth

speak‘conventionally’, they silently voice andits salt can surely for long soundly accord higher

immediately listen to their own thoughts alongpriority or status to any one or subset of the fourwith the words that they themselves read, write

fundamental core disciplines.

and hear (themselves and others say).

entail embarking on the academically indefensible.

To do so seems to

The four fundamental, core disciplines are surely-

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of equivalent significance and thus equally

students may tend, statistically-speaking, to bedeserving of attention.

Teaching time, study

better at comprehending written / printed andtime and resources should thus normally beheard information and expressing themselves via

apportioned equally between the four, or - if

writing rather than orally, but this can never bethat simply is not feasible - as close to equally as

assumed. Plus, even if an individual’s Speaking /possible.

Teachers and students of native andOral Communication skills are - at whatever stage -certainly foreign languages neglect or accord

conclusively found to be the least well developed,

lower significance to any one or more of these fourmost problematic of all four competences,

fundamental, core disciplines at their peril. All

this need not remain the case permanently.

foreign language students should aim and strive

Performance variation across the four fundamental

to develop excellent Reading Comprehension,core disciplines fluctuates over time, along with

Listening Comprehension, Writing and Speaking /student study practises and preferences.

Oral Communication competency in unison.
3. Literature Review: Context
Whenever teachers et al consider individuali) According to Richards (2008), the teaching

students or classes to be under-performing vis-a-of English Speaking / Oral Communication

vis any of the four fundamental core disciplines,

underwent something close to or approximating

appropriate, properly-targeted and tailoredan outright transformation in the two or three

additional, remedial lessons ideally ought todecades after 1970, away from what had until thenbe provided with a view to ameliorating andbeen a rather‘traditional’, formal and at times

overcoming such shortcomings.

Such measuresoverly‘rigid’regime, to what can perhaps best

are quite different from - and greatly preferable

be described as a substantially freer, more relaxed

to - any curtailment or discontinuation of theand‘contemporary’approach that championed

simultaneous and equally intensive teaching of all

more flexible,‘natural’and experimental lessons.

four fundamental core disciplines.

The latter increasingly came to be viewed as
more effective vis-à-vis the development ofThough a majority of students may perhaps

truly functional / serviceable Speaking / Oral

think Speaking / Oral Communication to be theCommunication competency.

most awkward, difficult and demanding of thefour fundamental core disciplines (given the needPrior to the 1970s, monotonous repetition, drillingfor direct human interaction and immediacy),

and the verbatim memorizing of dialogs, were

there are, of course, nevertheless plenty of non-major and generally dominant activities in manynative English language users who are entirely

or most‘English as foreign language’Speaking

justified in considering their Speaking / Oral

/ Oral Communication classes worldwide.

Communication skills to be their strongest, notHowever, finite goals and above all methods andweakest language asset.

tactics altered quite profoundly.

Foreign language

Dissatisfaction

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149

with results and thus earlier practices led to an

relationships largely have to be accepted asincreasingly strong and widespread desire toa given).

improve median communicative competency inteachers should provide regular opportunities togeneral and capacity for successful self-expression

practice proper pronunciation and intonation, etc

in particular.

This groundswell of sentimentwith students, since this will probably make somein favor of a change of emphasis and tactics ledof them progressively more confident to speak in

educators to progressively place greater weight

English including in front of audiences. Lastly,

on so-called‘active’,‘task-based’and‘problem-

Juhana plausibly asserts that lack of student

solving’activities that required students of all

motivation can be mitigated if teachers givecurrent ability ranges to consider and attempt toregular consolation, support and encouragement.

Juhan’s research also indicates thatbuild Speaking / Oral Communication competencyof the calibre required for successful speechbased interaction in authentic, everyday, real-life

4. Speaking / Oral Communication Course
Objectives

situations… something that is nowadays on the

All foreign language students should aim and thus

whole, still held to be advisable.

strive to develop the capacity to communicate
orally with native (and, by extension, minimallyii) Unsurprisingly, Pathan (2013) concludes thatcompetent non-native) users of the targeted

pronunciation, intonation, word stressing, sentence

foreign language in an adequately efficient,construction and lack of sufficient vocabulary are

dynamic, reliable and otherwise effective

leading factors that generally serve to frustratefashion. This being the case, the specific purpose

and curtail effective English language Speaking

and objective of any standard, mainstream/ Oral Communication for English language

contemporary Speaking / Oral Communication

learners, as much today as in earlier years.

course or class is to i) help students’develop
their ability to speak fluently, expansively,iii) Juhana (2012) discusses psychological factors

coherently and confidently in a clear manner thatthat hinder students from speaking in English

ensures that they will be understood by theirclass. According to his research, psychologicalinterlocutors and - as a necessary corollary - ii)

factors, including fear of making mistakes, shyness,give students the opportunity to bolster theiranxiety, lack of confidence and motivation, inhibit

Listening Comprehension skills since the latteror prevent students from speaking well in English

are clearly a vital prerequisite for effective Oral

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons.

Communication.

As

one would predict, Juhana suggests that themagnitude of these problems can be reduced

Best Practice

if teachers create and maintain a friendly andIn light of the foregoing, it is at all times

relaxed, relatively informal in-class atmosphere

imperative for teachers to have / let their(although student’s not always ideal interpersonal

students during each of their Speaking / Oral

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Communication lessons communicate orally to thefully understand and act promptly and eagerly

maximum degree possible and to correct themin response to their teacher’s oral injunctions,whenever they make serious and unacceptable (asinstructions and suggestions (delivered to them

opposed to minor and / or‘for the time being’

whenever they are found to have made errors of

acceptable) errors, unless doing so is, in special

sufficiently serious magnitude to warrant overt

instances, felt likely to be counter-productive.

corrective intervention).

Advanced Level Students

Currently Less and Minimally Advanced Level

For advanced-level students already inStudents

possession of superior and admirable Speaking

It is very easy for English teachers - especially/ Oral Communication skills, Speaking / Oral

native-speaking ones - to underestimate both theCommunication classes (at least if small) are likely

amount of effort and degree of benefit that evento be very straightforward and in fact not only

the least currently able and accomplished students

easy but actually highly enjoyable for the well-

can and do frequently respectively exert andmotivated, interested and attentive tutor (native

derive from Speaking / Oral Communication

English-speaking or otherwise), as long as he /lessons. And as the reader will hopefully agree,

she takes due care, as always, to teach to thesuch students are evidently almost always far

appropriate level;

only introduces new words

better off attending such lessons than not doing

and phrases etc in appropriate quantity and at

so. The basic fact however is that Speaking /an appropriate pace;

explains what needs to be

Oral Communication classes for currently less andexplained thoroughly but succinctly and lucidly;

minimally advanced students with comparatively

refrains from talking excessively and - mostfar more limited or seriously deficient current

critically - uses activity materials and chooses

Speaking / Oral Communication competency,

or devises assignment tasks that all but a tiny

are likely to be markedly less straightforward

minority of students find accessible, relevant,and not necessarily as satisfactory as those forengaging and ultimately stimulating for, if needadvanced speakers, even in the minds of the mostbe, quite long periods of time.

experienced, best-motivated, most interested andastute teachers… Why does this tend to be?

Advanced-level students can and should to amore pronounced degree be left to their own

What Constitutes Success?

devices as regards precisely what to say, not least

Constructive, beneficial and thus wholly successful

because they are in general both the least likely

English language Speaking / Oral Communication

to require major teacher assistance and the mostlessons are those that can be deemed (onlikely to request help when they deem it to be

the basis of objective and suitably rigorous,

necessary, advisable or advantageous. In addition,

thorough-going appraisal) to have:such students are precisely those most likely to

succeeded in making students speak / orally1) ultimatelyイアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

151

communicate in the target language sufficiently

the core objective and expectation of Speaking‘well’for a sufficiently long period of time (in/ Oral Communication lessons is to raise theaggregate) in ways considered to be sufficiently

likelihood, that - by way of regular and relatively

compatible with - and relevant / responsive

intensive practice and error correction - students

to - the teacher’s instructions, guidelines, targets,will gradually begin to communicate withprompts, questionings, suggestions and corrective

sufficient efficacy.

interventions;2) to have done so with sufficientcognitive understanding of precisely what they

Constructive, beneficial and thus successful

were doing (i.e. saying) and why. Whenever theseEnglish language Speaking / Oral Communication

two fundamental conditions are thought to havelessons can and certainly should therefore be

been met, it can be logically inferred that theundertaken with students or all ages and apparent

student has successfully performed in ways liablecurrent ability ranges.

to contribute to a (qualitative and / or quantitative)

the case that the less advanced, assured andreinforcing and / or expansion of their overall

impressive a student’s current overall English

Speaking / Oral Communication competency for

language competency, the more pedestrian,

the short, medium and / or long term. Therefore,

remedial and potentially fraught English language

wholly un-constructive, non-beneficial and thus

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons become.

However, it is clearly

unsuccessful English language Speaking / Oral
Communication lessons are those that cannot be
so deemed to have ultimately succeeded in respect
to both (1) and (2).

5. Common Speaking / Oral Communication
Problems

Constructive, beneficial andthus wholly successful English language Speaking/ Oral Communication lessons are therefore those(1) Deficient linguistic-lexical and / or phonetic
abilitythat can be deemed (on the basis of objective andA fundamental lack of linguistic-lexical and / orsuitably rigorous, thorough-going appraisal) tophonetic ability is clearly the preeminent reason

have ultimately caused / forced students to have

why so many students (and / or their teachers

utilised appropriate vocabulary (be it pre-taught inand external assessors) remain dissatisfied withwhatever class or introduced‘on the day’during

their English Speaking / Oral Communication

the actual Speaking / Oral Communication lesson)

capabilities if not English Speaking / Oralin appropriate fashion.

Communication lessons.

In essence, this requiresthat students perform sufficiently well with regard
to grammatical accuracy, pronunciation accuracy,i) As is to be expected, a large proportion of

diction, enunciation, word order, sentence

students in any given population and time-frame

construction, speaking pace, vocal-oral audibility

do not learn or retain (in the long-term) minimallyand (to some minimal degree at least) cerebral-sufficient vocabulary with which to express

intellectual‘creative’input. This being the case,themselves with adequate accuracy or clarity.

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英会話授業における問題点と解決法

Nor are they reliably able to select and employ

number of basic sentences orally in good time

appropriate (retained) words with sufficient speed

may have no such problem in their Writing

and / or accuracy.

lessons or vice-versa, though such an extreme
performance discrepancy is the least likely.

ii) Another problem is grammatical accuracy. To

Things like pronunciation and spelling act assome extent, this can be overlooked but there(perhaps primary) inhibiting obstacles / hurdles

is, naturally, a limit to how far one can turn ain Speaking / Oral Communication and Writing

blind-eye to grammatical errors.

lessons respectively.

In the final

analysis, the more grievous grammatical errors
definitely need to be pointed out to students at(2) Deficient Listening Comprehension

least from time to time in a bid to reduce theirSome students may fail to perform well inobserved frequency.

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons principally

That said, teachers must

do their utmost to prevent students from letting

due to deficient listening comprehension.

awareness of grammatical complexities andworst cases, this can lead to fundamental, chronic

attendant‘pitfalls’directly impede on speaking

lack of understanding on the part of the student

performance and / or obscure equally or evenas to what precisely they are expected to say

more important considerations and risks.

(above all in‘English only’lessons) and failure

In theto respond effectively in two-way conversation.
iii) In the opinion of this writer, pronunciation

Observed Listening performance in Speaking /errors need to be pointed out immediately at all

Oral Communication lessons may be worse thantimes in view of the fact that sufficiently accurate

in Listing Comprehension classes owing to factors

pronunciation is vital for effective Speaking / Oral

like immediacy and the non-scripted nature ofCommunication.

much oral (class) communication (activity).

Correcting mispronunciation

can also usually be done quite rapidly and ismore often than not met with immediate partial(3) Student-Student Listening Failure

or full understanding on the part of the student

Another serious problem to contend with inconcerned.

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons is thefrequent failure of students to listen carefully toiv) Word choice, ordering and overall sentence

one another other, most evidently and seriously

construction performance are core or central

when single or small groups of students are

failings. Most students i) do not know and ii)

required to give formal class presentations /frequently cannot select words necessary or

demonstrations, one by one. Excellent students

suitable for their expressive purpose. This key

will pay attention at all times to all speakers

problem may or may not extend to Writing

and any interventions made by the supervisinglessons.

teacher and similarly attentive students.

As is well known, students who are

currently hard-pressed to produce even a small

Yet

a considerable percentage of currently less

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153

advanced students cannot be expected to do sofatigue or moodiness or iii) a merely temporaryconsistently or for long. All too often, the latter

failure to understand how to proceed, etc. Suchregard the time used by presenting students

students might well consequently suffer from newas their own‘preparation time’or‘time out’

or intensified negative psychological feelings as ato relax in, when - in fact - teachers prefer (andresult (see below), rationally based or otherwise,presumably instruct) them to listen carefully towhich might then compound matters. As such,what each and every presenter says, not only for‘lack of interest’is likely be only a result or

the inherent educational worth of doing so, but

symptom of other, more fundamental problems; an

so as to be ready to ask and answer questions

effect rather than a cause. But this is not the onlyat the end of each presentation.

Clearly thispossibility: the chances of regularly encountering

issue might well flow from deficient listening

a student with good or excellent overall current

ability and / or general lack of interest but not

English competency who nevertheless appears

necessarily: one other possibility is that students

to be fundamentally disinterested may be low

are more interested to listen to some of their(assuming good lesson planning and execution,

classmates than others, either for interpersonaletc) but not necessarily zero. While such students

reasons or conceivably as a result of having

will usually be fundamentally interested or atmade judgements about their peers’respective

least eager to complete assigned tasks well or tocurrently English competency levels being too low

the best of their ability, even they can, at least on

or too high or closer to boring than stimulating,occasion, become broadly disengaged, lethargic

etc. Even first-class students may at times ignore

and / or distracted such as when they decide

the presentations and demonstrations of perceived

that assigned activities are too easy, (if not too‘rivals’and students whom they rate lowly andhard), boring and / or derivative and therefore/ or do not much care for. Such problems areunimportant and unnecessary, at least for them.

probably most likely to present themselves when
variance in current competency levels among(5) English Language Creativity Deficits?

students of the same, single class is great.

As regards‘cerebral-intellectual’/‘creative’
input, many students on occasion - including very(4) Actual, anthentic Lack of Interest

able ones - report they cannot think of what they

A fundamental lack of student interest, motivation

want to say… only what they don’t want to say!

and thus willingness and / or ready capacity to

If accurate, this is clearly a separate issue fromcomprehend, engage with, concentrate on, andinability to choose and order words or constructattempt to satisfactory complete the task(s) at

sentences satisfactory, etc. Since it seems to behand for the required length of time is sometimes

especially prevalent when students are asked

observed in Speaking / Oral Communication

to reveal and elaborate on their opinions or

lessons. This is usually because of i) lack overall

give advice, it may to some extent sometimes

current ability; ii) fleeting natural causes such as

be a reflection of the apparent fact that many

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英会話授業における問題点と解決法

students in Japan are not used to doing such (ininhibiting psychological hang-ups (see below). But

the Japanese language) and / or would rather notagain, it is clearly possible for highly competent

do so for private, personal reasons, especially as

and capable students to similarly fail to makeregards topics they consider risqué or taboo.

themselves heard on account of their being
naturally soft-spoken and / or reserved.

(6) Speaking Pace
Whether speaking pace is judged by teachers(8) An Acquired Taste

to fall within acceptable parameters is normally

For various reasons, many Speaking / Oral

governed by the degree to which the student

Communication students who cannot be said tois able and willing to demonstrate sufficient

be seriously impeded by any social-psychologicalcompetency as regards grammatical accuracy,

problems (see below), at heart dislike or are lesspronunciation accuracy, diction, enunciation,

than enamoured about speaking English (especiallyword choice and order, sentence construction

for extended periods) in the presence of theirand (to some minimal degree at least) cerebral-class-mates (and even perhaps native speakers),

intellectual‘creative’input.

Failure to speak

especially when they know or believe that theirquickly enough and / or to avoid making an

overall current level of competency is lower thanexcessive number of overly long, hesitant pauses,that of some or a majority of their classmatesusually betrays insufficient ability in one or moreand / or they consider the task(s) at hand veryof these critical areas and - sometimes - pre-demanding, too ambitious and thus partiallyexisting or resultant inhibiting psychological hang-or fully beyond their capacity to execute withups (see below).

sufficient effectiveness.

However, it is clearly possible

for highly competent and capable students tosimilarly fail to speak quickly enough and / or

(9) Social-Psychological Problems

avoid making an excessive number of overly long,

Based on extended observations of high school,

hesitant pauses.

This is often only because suchcollege and adult Speaking / Oral Communication

students are (thankfully) prone to make strenuous

lessons (in Japan) over a period of 14+ years, theefforts to choose their words carefully and expresspresent writer agrees with those who contend

themselves with flare as well as precision, butthat various psychological factors can be said tosometimes stumble when being particularly

frequently adversely affect and degrade student

ambitious (perhaps overly so) in this respect.

performance to greater or lesser degrees in regularclass time - and if only by extension - formal(7) Insufficient Vocal-Oral Audibility

examinations.

As for insufficient vocal-oral audibility, failure toindicate such, many students do become nervous

speak loudly enough so as to make oneself heard

about attempting to speak in English in front

may likewise flow from the weaknesses listedof - and even with - some if not all of their class-above and-sometimes-pre-exiting or resultant

mates (especially new ones) and may sometimes

While they may not outwardlyイアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

155or generally be very much afraid of making

overriding desire to deliberately under-perform soerrors or even‘signalling’/‘revealing’theiras to‘fit in’and / or avoid the possible humbling,

English Speaking / Oral Communication prowess,embarrassing, humiliating or annoying of one’sor lack thereof, to teachers (especially ‘new’classmates (when one’s current Speaking / Oralones) and / or peers. This problem tends to be

Communication competency is known or thought

most acute when students are required to carry

to be superior to theirs);

out / perform more formal, demonstration andof having to subject oneself to the‘lime-light’

presentation exercises. Afflicted students typicallyon a regular basis, especially when one feels

become more reserved, reticent, unforthcoming

lonely and / or - rightly or wrongly - detached

and inarticulate than usual if not tongue-tied.

and alienated or ostracised from - or ill-treated

8) an overriding fearby - some, most or all of one’s classmates;

9) an

Common psychological factors are summarised

overriding belief (accurate or merely imagined)

1) a natural, inherent shyness and /that one’s grammatical accuracy, pronunciationor nervousness about being the real or imagined

accuracy, diction, enunciation, word choice,locus of attention unrelated to English language

ordering, sentence construction, speaking pace,studies but quite possibly exacerbated andvocal-oral audibility and / or cerebral-intellectual

brought to the fore by them, above all Speaking‘creative’input are not of adequately advanced

2) an overriding

calibre to warrant‘public’demonstration; 10)‘perfectionist’desire to minimise the number ofan overriding desire to impress and entertain

mistakes one makes under any circumstances,audiences in academically incompatible andregardless of occasion, audience presence, size

sometimes disruptive ways that preclude good

as follows:/ Oral Communication lessons;or salience;3) an overriding desire not to be

performance:

eg.‘acting aloof’and / or‘cool’,

seen to make mistakes (for whatever reasons‘ham-acting’,‘playing the comedian’, and feigningincluding perhaps the vain desire to retain one’sor exaggerating feelings of disinterest, etc.

This

4) an

last phenomenon may or may not stem from aoverriding fear of being criticized or reprimanded

desire to effectively obscure or hide one’s known

and / or being given low grades as a result

or imagined Speaking / Oral Communication

dignity and / or boost one’s prestige);of making numerous serious mistakes;

5) anshortcomings or (less likely) superiorities.

overriding fear of appearing - in one’s own
estimation - to be comparatively less skilled, dim-

While it does appear to be the case that the mostwitted and / or foolish in comparison with one’scurrently able of Speaking / Oral Communication

classmates as a result of making numerous

students tend to be the least likely to generate,6) an overriding fear of being

experience and exhibit such psychologically-

understood or thought by one’s classmates torooted nervous impediments, it is surely unsoundgenerally underperform (for whatever reasons,to conclude that they never do so.

regardless of whether one makes mistakes); 7) an

realistic belief is that such students tend to haveserious mistakes;

A more156

英会話授業における問題点と解決法

far higher confidence in their ability to perform

levels are liable to view pair and group work

satisfactorily or well and at least partly for that

half-heartedly, somewhat lackadaisically, withreason, greater capacity to prevent any negative

inadequate seriousness, and / or excessive caution.

thinking from gaining in significance to the point

They are also the students most likely to tire ofwhere it begins to adversely affect behaviour

these activities too rapidly. Partly for this reason,and degrade performance.

One cannot everpair and small group work can undoubtedly leadconfidently assume that the currently least able

to currently more able students overly dominatingof Speaking / Oral Communication students

proceedings at the expensive of currently lessautomatically tend to be the most likely to exhibit

able students and / or the less assertive andsymptoms consistent with such psychologically-

motivated ones with potentially unwelcome, lop-

rooted impediments.

sided outcomes if not interpersonal frictions.

Psychological factorsthat serve to adversely affect and degrade
performance may be more prevalent - statistically

Another problem is that - for social reasons -speaking - among Speaking / Oral Communication

students may perform very differently depending

students with lower overall current competency

on which partner or group they choose or are told

but very likely frequently harm to varying

to work with, so teachers must take care if andextents the speaking performance of all students,

when they / themselves opt to determine pair andincluding the currently more able ones. As such,group composition.

psychologically-rooted impediments appear to be acommon and serious problem for Speaking / Oral
Communication students, one that teachers need(11) T e a c h e r V e r s u s S t u d e n t P e r c e p t i o n
Disparity

to be constantly mindful of and continuously eageri) It is important to note that wholly and relatively

to mitigate or better.

successful (and for that matter, wholly andrelatively unsuccessful) English language Speaking(10) Pair and Group Work Issues/ Oral Communication lessons - as defined

Pair and small group work are highly beneficial

above - may well not be considered toconfidence raising, warming-up and clarifying

approximate such by all participating students.

exercises but the teacher must constantly and

For a multitude of reasons, some percentage ofcarefully check that they are being conducted

English language Speaking / Oral Communicationand carried on by all students to an acceptablestudents will - at times if not systematically -standard and extent, something which may atassess their own personal competency and / ortimes be challenging with very large size classes.

performance very differently from that of their

All too often, less well motivated and / or moreteacher’s. Lacking equivalent or sufficient capacity

easily distracted students (who are more likely

to judge objectively, students are generally more

to be those) with less advanced or low current

likely to over- and under-estimate their own

Speaking / Oral Communication competencycompetencies and / or in-class performances than

イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

are their teacher(s).

157

It is hardly a rare thing forto feel elated or dejected with regard to theirstudents to over-estimate their own competencies

Speaking / Oral Communication performancesand / or in-class performances at one point in time

when they are actually neither is a further

and then underestimate them at another. At leastconsideration.

some students may be liable to persistently flipflop between such over- and under-estimation on a

6. Solutions / Advice / Tips

frequent basis and within extremely short periods(1) It is first of all supremely important to ensureof time. Worse still, such fluctuations and thethat all students are given i) as many opportunities

negative changes in student mood and attitude etc

as possible to do extended presentation,that they may well sooner or later precipitate aredemonstration and discussion speaking etc on

not always immediately or otherwise perceptible /ii) numerous and widely varying topics that

noticeable, even to teachers who are familiar andgreatly or adequately appeal to them (males andon good terms with the student(s) in question.

females).

When this is ensured, the probabilityof satisfactory or superior student performance
The great majority of Speaking / Oralis likely to be at its highest. Student attention is

Communication students - at least in Japan - are

immediately or rapidly captured in full or large

surely apt to suffer not from an excess ofpart and there is a good chance that it will remain

confidence but from a lack there of. They areso for a satisfactory period of time.

far more likely to underestimate their overall

overall student effort and performance is liable

English language Speaking / Oral Communication

to be better than it otherwise would be.

competency than overestimate it. Over-estimationsuch it is a good idea for the teacher to regularly

is a real but, less common and conceivably far lesscanvass students for ideas and opinions regarding

serious problem… at least when it does not bringfuture activities. Even if the teacher tries hardabout major, crises - or permanent losses - ofto enliven and animate, topics that do not greatlyinterest, motivation, enthusiasm and / oror much impress or interest students may wellconfidence.

result in inferior performance and perhaps lead

Moreover,As

some students to doubt their teacher’s broaderii) Students who are or seem to be discouraged

judgement.

and dejected regarding their Speaking / Oral
Communication lessons potentially threaten to(2) In addition, Speaking / Oral Communication

harm and undermine the morale of classmates, if

teachers should of course always try especiallyonly unintentionally, even if they don’t become

hard to create a suitably relaxed, warm, friendly

distracting or disruptive.

and otherwise conducive atmosphere wherestudents do not feel overly put-upon, overlyiii) The possibility that some students may strike
teachers and / or other students / as appearing

concerned about making mistakes.

158

英会話授業における問題点と解決法(3) At a minimum, it is vital for any Speaking /whenever necessary coax and goad students to be

Oral Communication teacher to ensure that all ofat once as forthcoming, clear, coherent, articulate

their students understand prescribed vocabulary

and concise as possible.

and dialogues before using them. But this cancontends that:

This writer as suchsometimes threaten to take up inordinate time.
(7) Many students (especially those with currently(4) As stated above, pair and group work needless advanced Speaking / Oral Communication

to be constantly supervised if they are to havecompetency) perform better and derive more

optimal impact.

value and satisfaction from Speaking / Oral
Communication lessons when permitted and(5) Half-hearted; lethargic behaviour and earlyencouraged to make extensive notes and / ordisengagement in connection with any activity

write or type out desired sentence formulations

ideally ought to be nipped in the bud not leastin full, prior to making speeches, presentations

because it may be contagious!

and demonstrations.

So long as students

are prevented from plagiarising and from
(6) This writer contends that regardless ofsubsequently just reading verbatim what they

the current median student competence level,

have produced in written form, this approach can

Speaking / Oral Communication lessons in generaland frequently does ensure far more extensive,and university-level ones in particular, needricher and impressive student contributions… andnot - be more than a secondary venue for theleaves both students and teachers with more of a

introduction and teaching of new words, phrases

documentary record of the fact to boot.

or important grammatical rules and structures, etc.
Rather, Speaking / Oral Communication classes(8) In instances where students are at a loss

should approximate practical workshop-style

to know what to say next, or clearly indicate

forums in which (ideally only very small numbersthat they will not likely be able to satisfactorilyof) students are afforded maximum possible

express themselves with sufficient fluency, clarity

time and opportunity to vocally test, practiceor coherence in good time, it is incumbent on theand experiment (relatively freely) in substantial

teacher - as a last resort - to put suitable words

part with English language‘content’that they

into student’s mouths. As the lesser of two evils,

have already been taught elsewhere and whichto do so is a legitimate act… at least if the teacher

a large majority of their number have to varying

makes clear to the beneficiaries that - in his or her

degrees mastered. In this kind of educational

opinion - they are being helped out of necessity,

space, it should be the chief, overriding task ofthat they are at all times free to reject such help

the Speaking / Oral Communication teacher

in full or part and, most importantly, alter and(apart from maintaining good order and similarly

modify suggested word and proposed sentence

important though mundane tasks) to coach andconstructions as they see fit.

イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

159(9) If and when Speaking / Oral Communicationnear the student has managed to get to delivering

textbooks are to be utilised, they should containthe desired ‘ideal’ or ‘model’ performance’.

high quality dialogue scripts and feature suitably

Secondly, they should also then go on to comparerich vocabulary and / or stimulating information

the student’s most recent performance witheminently usable for discussion and debating.

earlier ones in order to determine whether theSome supposedly dedicated Speaking / Oral

student’s latest performance is inferior, equivalentCommunication publications, including tittles

or superior to those observed previously.

produced by major US and European publishingif this is done repeatedly can the existence ofhouses fail to meet these elementary criterion.

progress of the lack thereof be soundly suspected

Only

and inferred, if not ascertained beyond doubt.
(10) The audio recording of student performances
is a good idea for assessment purposes and, when(13) Finally, time allocation is an important

conducted openly, can illicit greater effort on theconsideration and cannot always be accurately

part of students at least initially or when recording

estimated by the teacher in advance. Sometimes

is done only occasionally. Video recording might

students require less time than anticipated, butwell be useful but is also felt by some students tomore often than not more.

be an excessive measure, one overly invasive andsometimes need to be chivvied, it is very

/ or off-putting. Normally, such visual archiving

important for the teacher not to underestimate

ought be used only sparingly.

the time that students need to prepare as well as

Though students

perform good OC work. On the other hand, too(11) Use of appropriately accessible and animating

long a preparation or activity can be deflating as

video content such as that which can readily bewell wasteful.

found on Youtube is usually a good way of priming
students for constructive, successful personal

7. Conclusions:presenting and discussion work whenever they

The capacity (1) to express onese lf wellhave computing devices to hand.

enough and - consequently (2) to comprehend
via listening to what others mean when they(12) It is important to note that when teachers

do likewise - determines the current Speaking

come to consider whether a student has in fact

/ Oral Communication competency level for

succeeded in speaking / orally communicating

foreign language earners.

in the target language‘sufficiently well’for aon the degree to which students successfully‘sufficiently long period of time’ during any

demonstrate the ability to select appropriate

given Speaking / Oral Communication lesson,words, employ them in appropriately structured

they should - in the interests of fairness if nothing

sentence formulations and then pronounce themelse - use two separate assessment measurement

clearly and loudly enough for listeners to correctly

criteria. Firstly, they should, of course, assess how

ascertain intended meaning.

The former depends

The latter requires

160

英会話授業における問題点と解決法

students to accurately process and access heard

psychological factors either related or unrelated towords and sentence formulations in order tothat knowledge deficit. Yet it is precisely because

correctly ascertain intended meaning.

Onlyof that lack of capacity that all students of English

relatively advanced foreign language students

require regular Speaking / Oral Communication

have the capacity to do these two things semi-

lessons (along with as much ‘real’ informal

reliably. Beyond any seemingly important roles

practice as possible). Without these, capacity isplayed by‘natural aptitude’and environmental

unlikely to expand and will likely eventually begin

exposure / emersion factors, this is so because

to contract.

they have studied and practiced using the English
language with sufficient intensity and commitment

To ensure that all Speaking / Oral Communication

for sufficient periods of time. In order to preventclasses are successful if not always enjoyableskill atrophying and regression and to progressfor participating students, teachers need to befurther, they need to study more.

Similarly, allsuitably pro-active, responsive, flexible and variedcurrently less advanced students have yet toin terms of approach depending on prevailingstudy and practice using the English language

circumstances and conditions.

with sufficient intensity and commitment for a
sufficient period of time. They need to do so if

Great caution and patience are frequently

they are to progress to‘intermediate’and thenrequired if identifiable student deficiencies are‘advanced’learner level.

to be progressively reduced even slightly (rather
than left unaddressed and / or exacerbated) andAlong with Reading Comprehension, Listening

existing strengths optimally safeguarded andComprehension and Writing lessons, English

further nurtured.

language Speaking / Oral Communication is
one of four, equally important fundamental, core

It is crucial for teachers to clearly communicate

disciplines (and two communicative disciplines)

their opinions (formally and above all informally)that ought to be studied simultaneously. Progress

regarding each student’s Speaking / Oralmade with regard to any one of more of theseCommunication performance.

fundamental, core disciplines tends to raise thedo regularly at timely intervals (both during andprobability that advances will made with one

after actual performances) since doing so canor more of the remainder.

Consequently, ALL‘reign in’and‘bring down to earth’at least‘astudents of English from novices upwards need topeg or two’those students with overly inflated

attend, try to participate and perform satisfactorily

appreciations of their own current competency

in regular Speaking / Oral Communicationand performance and, by the same token, help

lessons.

To do so is usually hard due to bothconvince excessively gloomy students that

insufficient knowledge learning and / or retention

all is far from lost… However, teachers mustand - to greater or lesser extents - inhibiting socio-

certainly take great care at all times not toThis they shouldイアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

161

inadvertently make matters worse rather thanhopefully - to bring about a reduction in the

better regarding this important task.

Teachers

probability of their replication at later junctures.

need to pass on (formally and above all informally)On the other hand, they must of course take pains

their honest opinions of student Speaking / Oral

not to adversely erode or destroy what can often

Communication performance but ought to do so at

be only fragile student confidence and limited

all times in a / considerate, encouraging, and thus

capacity or motivation / willingness to continue or

positive-constructive manner.

begin to‘give things their best shot’, regardless of

Not to do so, is to risk being viewed by somepast experiences. Basically, the higher the current

students as overly critical, cold, brutal andability level of students, the blunter and moreunrealistic:

demanding and exacting the teacher ought - as aa state of affairs that might well

be as bad or worse than failing to communicate

general rule - to be.

with students altogether. Ultimately, it makes
no sense for any teacher to refrain from being

Finally, it is strongly recommended that teachers

encouraging (without, that is, being misleading)quite regularly (but not excessively) discuss recent

regardless of his or her student’s current median

student performance if only briefly with theability level(s). The offering of regular (intelligible)

individuals concerned during office consultation

though not excessive encouragement - including,hours. Certain more outgoing and uninhibitedwhen deserved, measured praise - is an essential

students - those who are not shy and who wantpart of overall learning facilitation and thus

to talk as much as possible in and about English

teaching best practice.

Failure to encourage andSpeaking / Oral Communication with their English

reassure sufficiently, constitutes a dereliction ofteachers - may actually demand such, but other,duty. Teachers on the one hand need to teach.

shyer, more aloof and timid types, quite possiblyThis requires them to point-out, and wheneverincluding those who stand to gain most from suchnecessary discuss, with sufficient seriousness andadditional, supportive interaction, often don’t... andgravitas, major errors and deficiencies in order -thus have to be sought out!

References
Juhana (2012). Psychological Factors That Hinder Students from Speaking in English Class
(A Case Study in a Senior High School in South Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia), Journal of Education andPractice. 3 (12): 100-109. http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP/article/download/2887/2913
Murphy, J.M. (1991). Oral Communication in TESOL: Integrating speaking, listening, and production.
TESOL QUARTERLY 25(1), 51-75.
Pathan, Md. Arif Khan (2013).
Major Linguistic Barriers of Oral Communication in English as Perceived by the Tertiary level ESL Students,
Language in India, 13, 395-406, March 13, 2013
http://www.languageinindia.com/march2013/arifkhanoralfinal.pdf

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英会話授業における問題点と解決法

Richards, J.C. (2008). Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice.
Cambridge: Cambridge Press University.
http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/ic3/images/pdf/Teaching_Listening_and_Speaking_new.pdf.