The Teaching of Oral Work

The Teaching of Oral Work

Oral work should be the most important activity in most of foreign language programs since oral work deals with speech and since speech is the language itself .Previously reading was given more importance than oral work and used as the medium through which all language points ( grammatical structures, vocabulary , idioms , etc. ) were introduced .In modern methods of language teaching ,oral work has taken the place of reading .It has been become the medium through which all language material is introduced .Oral work can take different types:
a-oral practice is the major type of oral activity where all the new words and the grammar points in the program are introduced .The types of practice exercises are:
1-substitution 2-transformations 3- conversion 4-conversation .
In the teaching of all types of oral work , the following steps should be followed :1-recognition 2-imitation 3-production.
B-Dialogue is any oral interchange between two people or more .It may take the form of a statement with a response or a question and an answer .A teaching dialogue should be brief ,balanced ,natural ,and relevant .
C-Commands and games may take the form of simple short commands such as sit down or left hand up ,or the form of a request with please. They are useful because they break the routine of language drill which may be boring and learners like to play or relax .
D-The teaching of listening comprehension gives pupils practice in listening to English spoken and to enable them to understand as much of what they hear as possible .