Speaking Skills in ICFE
Pronunciation skills
Make sure that students understand that English is a stress-timed (not a syllable-timed) language.
Practise word stress by saying words with the main stressed syllable pronounced more loudly than the others, e.g. interesting > IN tres ting
Practise sentence stress by asking students to identify which words in a sentence would be stresssed most, then saying them more loudly than the others, e.g. If I had known, I would have told you.’ > If I’d known, I would’ve told you.’
Explain that in sentences, words like articles, auxiliaries, pronouns, prepositions and particles are not usually stressed, but words like nouns and main verbs (and often adjectives and adverbs) are.
Practise intonation by demonstrating patterns with humming or singing. Explain that usually the voice goes down in English (falling intonation) at the end of sentences and questions. Rising intonation is often used to indicate surprise or uncertainty.
Remind students that although rising intonation has become a feature of the speech of younger native speakers, if it is overused, it can be irritating for the listener and sound aggressive.
Interactive communication skills
Students need to be aware that interactive communication covers:
- initiating and responding appropriately
- the ability to take part in the interaction without too much
hesitation
- sensitivity to turn-taking
Students need to be able to use language to achieve meaningful communication. Although this is assessed throughout the test, it is particularly important in Part 3, when the candidates interact with one another.
It is essential that students are given enough oral practice in this skill in class, not simply by responding to teacher-led questions and discussion, but also by interacting with one another. Students often feel embarrassed and awkward doing this kind of activity with their peers so it is important to explain why they are doing it. It is not simply a question of acquring a skill to pass an examination: it is an essential communication skill which will be invaluable in their chosen legal profession.
Interactive communication skills activity
Discourse management skills
Discourse management covers:
- coherence – linking utterances to form spoken discourse and contributions to the dialogue
- relevance – the utterances should be relevant to the task and to preceding contributions in the discourse
- extent – the appropriate length of contributions (long or short) to develop the discourse and deal with the tasks
Candidates need to be able to produce discourse appropriate to level B2 or level C1 on the Common European Frame of Reference, and their utterances should be arranged logically to develop the themes and arguments required by the tasks. Making sure students can use a variety of link words and connectors will help them do this. Giving as many short presentations or talks as classroom time allows will also help to build up their discourse management skills and their confidence.
Contributions can be long or short depending on the dynamic development of the discourse. Exposing students to oral practice focusing on varying interactional patterns and suitability of responses will help them develop these skills.