Speaking practice activities don't need to be super complicated, they only need to provide a student with the opportunity to speak and get some kind of feedback on their speaking.  Feedback doesn't mean a test mark, in this case it is more in keeping with what Krashen talks about, getting a response to your production (your speaking) so that you know if what you have said has been understood or not so that you can try to make adjustments in your speaking.

In this way of thinking feedback can be as simple as a raised eyebrow showing confusion or someone saying "can you say that again please".  This is the kind of immediate feedback that over time produces the best results.  It is also the kind of feedback to which students are most afraid of exposing themselves.

OK, so what is a really simple form of speaking practice that can give some decent feedback without being a test, and without too much stress?  Well recording and transcribing is a very good option.  In this kind of activity, the speaking practice takes two and a half steps (more or less).   Here is how it works…

1. You as a teacher collect a selection of short reading passages, or have your students write something short (100-200 words max)
2. hand them out to the students.  You have a choice to make this more or less impromtu by changing the amount of time in advance the student can see the writing
3. have each student record their text. You can do this on a PC or tape deck, it doesn't matter.  I have a lab with 22 PCs so that works well for me, but if you don't, just be wise in the use of your resources (like a boy scout).
4. Once they are all recorded, have students swap recordings (or move to a new PC) and spend some time transcribing their classmates audio.  Tell them to write only what they understand, and as they understand it (even if it means writing a word they don't really understand  phonetically).  Also, they should NOT have seen or read the text previously.  Ideally they would do this with several students to get transcriptions from several sets of ears.
5. They then hand their transcription to the student who did the recording.
6. The original student then reviews the audio and transcription(s) looking for problem areas to work on  (this is step 2 in the speaking practice )

Do it again next week or as it fits your schedule.

This is a very simple way to take advantage of call technologies (computer recording software and word processing) to help with speaking practice in an interesting way.  You may find it a bit chaotic the first time you do it, but it provides your students with a good source of feedback without a lot of stress.

Cheers,

Eric

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