SITI AISYAH RUSDI

17101156130008

PRODUCTIVE SKILLS : WRITING AND SPEAKING

Teachers tend to talk about the way we use language in terms of four skills :
reading, listening, speaking, writing. These are often divided into two types :
receptive skills and productive skills. Receptive skills are a term used for reading
and listening, skills where meaning is extracted from the discourse. Productive
skills are the term for speaking and writing, skills where students actually have to
produce language themselves. Speaking is closely related with listening, and
writing is closely related with reading. Although both writing and speaking are
productive skills, they are not the same skills and different in many ways.

A. The Difference of Writing and Speaking Skills

Writing and talking are two skills under human communication. Writing is a
skill under written communication while talking is under speech or oral
communication. Both skills aid in expressing different types of messages from
one person to another. Both skills also utilize language as a channel.
The method of expressing oneself in writing is by using the alphabet and
forming words on a piece of paper or any type of material. On the other hand,
talking makes use of the human mouth and voice to form words. This results in
making sounds that are received by the other party’s ears. Talking is easier,
quicker, and more convenient. It also has a longer history. Humans have been
talking in some form ever since the prehistoric age. It was the first form of human
communication. With this skill, feedback can be readily made because there is an
immediate audience. Most of the time, talking is repetitive, informal, and in
simple sentences.
Talking is a universal skill. It is spontaneous. In using the voice, expressions
are made in dialects and accents. Apart from the voice, body language is also
evident in talking. A way to discontinue talking is having pauses and voice
intonation.
 Meanwhile, writing is more difficult and complex in comparison. Writing is a
product of reading and speaking skills. Writing requires knowledge of the
alphabet and involves coherence, detail, and clarity in expression. It also requires
a form of organization, standard, and polish. With writing, there is always a
struggle for what to say and how to say it properly. The struggle affects the
delayed feedback or response time.
Writing leaves a record since it requires a material or channel for expression.
Writing also requires more information. It has related skills and processes that
include reading, researching, editing, and publishing. Writing is a skill that must
be practiced constantly for improvement. Writing requires a background in
education. Education helps in expressing words in symbols and forming a logical
sequence. Education also provides the rules and standards in writing. Correcting
writing mistakes is also learned by educating students and making them learn
about the mistakes.
Writing is more restricted and incorporates standards in forms of grammar,
structure, spelling, and vocabulary. There are parameters on what is good writing
although different people have different interpretations of the parameters. Writing
is a process. It denotes progression from one stage to another. It usually begins
with an idea and execution of all related skills and processes.

Below are some differences between speaking and writing skills.

SPEAKING WRITING
Universal, everybody acquires it Not everyone learns to write
Spoken language has dialect variations Written language is more restricted
that represent a region and generally follows a standardized
form of grammar, structure,
organization, and vocabulary
Speakers use their voices (pitch, Writers rely on the words on the page
rhythm, stress) and their bodies to to express meaning and their ideas
communicate their message
Speakers use pauses and intonation Writers use punctuation
Speakers pronounce Writers spell
Speaking is often spontaneous and Most writing is planned and can be
 unplanned. changed through editing and revision
before an audience reads it
Speakers have immediate audiences Writers have a delayed response from
who nod, interrupt, question and audiences or none at all and have
comment only one opportunity to convey their
message, be interesting, informative,
accurate and hold their reader’s
attention
Speech is usually informal and Writing on the other hand is more
repetitive formal and compact. It progresses
more logically With fewer
explanations and digressions.
Speakers use simpler sentences Writers use more complex sentences
connected by lots of ands and buts. With connecting words like however,
Who, although, and in addition.
Speakers draw on their listeners Writers are often solitary in their
reactions to know how or whether to process
continue
Speakers can gauge the attitudes, Writers must consider what and how
beliefs, and feelings of their audience much their audience needs to know
by their verbal and non-verbal reactions about a given topic
Speech is usually informal and Writing on the other hand is more
repetitive formal and compact. It progresses
more logically With fewer
explanations and digressions.

B. Teaching Speaking and Writing Skills

Although the productive skills of writing and speaking are different in many
ways, we can still provide a basic model for teaching and organizing them. A key
factor in the success of productive-skill tasks is the way teachers organize them
and how they respond to the students’ work. The basic methodological model for
teaching productive skills is as follows :
1. Load-in stage.
In this stage, we engage students with the topic. Perhaps we ask them what
they know about a certain subject (e.g. their experience, their hobbies etc.),
or we might ask them to imagine a situation (like role-play) and get them
to think about the kind of conversation that usually happen in that
situation.
2. Set the task.
We explain exactly what students are going to do. At this stage we may
need to demonstrate the activity in some way. For example, if we want
students to work in pairs, we can show the class how the activity works by
being one of a public pair ourselves, so that everyone sees the procedure in
action. We also make sure that students are given all the information they
need to complete the task.
3. Monitor the task.
This may mean going around the class, listening to students working and
helping them where they are having difficulties. With writing tasks, we
may become actively involved in the writing process as we respond to the
students’ work and point to them in new directions.
4. Task feedback.
When the activity has finished, we gave task feedback. This is where we
may help students to see how well they have done. We will respond to the
content of the task and not just to the language the student used. We will
show positive aspects of what they have achieved and not concentrate
solely on their failings. Finally, we may move on from the task with a
task-related follow-up.
C. Teaching Writing Skills
Written text has a number of conventions which separate it from speaking.
Apart from differences in grammar and vocabulary, there are issues of letter,
word, and text formation, manifested by handwriting, spelling, layout and
punctuation.
There are number of different approaches to the practice of writing skills both
in and outside the classroom. We need to choose between them, deciding whether
we want students to focus more on the process of writing than its product, whether
we want them to study different written genres, whether we want to encourage
creative writing- either individually or cooperatively.

Process writing includes some stages as follows :

1) Drafting
2) Structuring (ordering information, experimenting with arrangement, etc.)
3) Reviewing (checking context, connection, assessing impact, editing)
4) Focusing (this is making sure you are getting the message across you want
to get across
5) Generating ideas and evaluation

D. Teaching Speaking Skills

If students want to be able to speak fluently in English, they need to be able to
pronounce phonemes correctly, use appropriate stress and intonation patterns and
speak in connected speech. But there is more to that. Speakers of English,
especially as foreign language, will have to be able to speak in a range of different
genres and situations, and they will have to be able to use a range of
conversational and conversational repair strategies. They will need to be able to
survive in typical functional exchanges too.

Classroom speaking activity :

1. Acting from script : we can ask students to act out scenes from plays
and/or their course books, sometimes filming the results. Students will
often act out dialogue they have written themselves.
2. Communication games, such as information-gap games or games seen on
TV.
3. Discussion, such as debates, instant-comments etc.
 4. Simulations and role-play
5. Prepared talks, where student makes a presentation on a topic of their own
choice.
6. Story-telling

E. Tips in Teaching and Learning Writing and Speaking Skills

Some things teachers need to pay attention to when teaching writing and speaking
skills are :
1. Students need a variety of experiences in writing and speaking
In school and in life, students face a diversity of circumstances that require
language skills. For this reason, experience with a variety of reading, writing and
speaking activities in school can help learners acquire the skills they need to be
successful.
They need, for example, to practice varied kinds of writing. Teachers may
present general guidelines for all writing, but specific types of writing, such as
poems and essays, may require specific lessons.
Students can benefit from practice at writing about the results of their own
research, as well as expressing their own feelings and experiences. The writing
strategies involved in each form usually require explicit teaching, frequent
practice and information given to students about their progress.

2. Provide students with opportunities for practicing specific speaking skills.

Students can give better speeches when they can organize their presentation in
a variety of different ways, including sequentially, chronologically and
thematically. They need practice in organizing their speech around problems and
solutions, causes and results, and similarities and differences.
Teachers can also help students adapt their speeches and informal talks so as
to correspond to the intended audience, the information to be communicated, and
the circumstances of the occasion at which they will speak. The teachers can
illustrate how well-known speakers have adapted their presentations in ways to
suit these different circumstances.
 Teachers can enable learners to present ideas to individual peers, peer groups
and entire classes of students. They can learn to speak on a subject of their own
choosing or on teacher assigned topics. Preparing for debates and participating in
them help students to see both sides of various issues.
Students also benefit from interviewing others and from participation in
dramatic presentations. Students may enjoy speaking about their personal
experiences. When given this opportunity, they can benefit from instruction in the
elements of good story-telling. Both teachers and students can provide
suggestions for students’ speeches

3. Teach students to adapt their speech to specific situations.

Learners need to know how speakers differ from one another and how
particular circumstances call for different forms of speech. They can learn how
speaking styles affect listeners. It is useful for students to know that speech should
differ in formality, such as when speaking to a judge, a teacher, a parent or a
playmate.

4. Reducing speaking fears : provide opportunities to practice speaking before

increasingly larger groups.
Children, adolescents and adults sometimes fear the challenge of formal
speaking before large groups. Teachers can help reduce unrealistic fears by
pointing out how common they are among people and what to do about them.
They can also help to reduce such fears by maintaining a friendly atmosphere
in the class and providing opportunities for students to practice alone or with one
other student and then before increasingly larger groups. Thus, students can
practice speaking in front of their peers who face the same situation. Students can
practice presenting information, answering questions and holding group
discussions. Frequent classroom presentations and discussions enable teachers to
diagnose and remedy problems.
Practicing oral presentation in these ways can lessen students’ anxieties
while, at the same time, helping them to learn the subject matter of the lesson.
Students are less likely to be fearful and anxious and more likely to do well if they
are well prepared. Preparedness can be enhanced by in-depth mastery of the
subject matter, appropriate organization and rehearsing the presentation.

5. Writing skill : beginning students can benefit from learning and practicing
one skill at a time.
Writing is the final product of several separate acts that are hugely challenging
to learn simultaneously. Among these separable acts are note-taking, identifying a
central idea, outlining, drafting and editing. Both young and old people can
encounter the discouraging ‘writer’s block’ if they engage in more than one or
two of these activities at once.
It is difficult to start writing a report, for example, without a central idea and
notes to support it. Often, the more detailed an outline, the easier is the writing.
People frequently find that they can finish faster by writing a first draft quickly
and then editing and revising this draft.

6. Great writers : encourage students to attain excellent writing skills.

Great writers have often had not only their own writing ability but also strong
motivation, supportive parents, inspiring teachers, informative literature and direct
experiences, as well as exposure to skillful peers and fine writers. Thus, parents
who themselves write and who encourage, guide and express interest in their
children’s writing may be exceptionally helpful.
Similarly, teachers may not only conduct skillful lessons but also stimulate all
students to become better writers, and identify talented writers for special
encouragement and lessons. To become better writers, students may need to read
good— even great—literature, that can serve as a model for their own efforts.
Having topics that a person cares deeply about, as a consequence of personal
interest and investigation, may prove decisive for a fine writing and even lead to a
life devoted to writing.