SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING

SPEECH	WRITING
The worst part about it was I had a friend Sitting up here and she’s saying “ha ha”… And I was saying “Go get the police… go Get someone”…I later learned that there are Some people who do that in the face of disaster…I mean they just start cracking up as opposed to crying.	My helpful friend, perhaps not realizing that I was serious, began laughing. Sue roared all the harder as my situation became more difficult. She claimed I looked funny, clinging there screaming. I realized that she was laughing Because she was incapable of acting: the situation must have been greatly disturbing to her, and so she treated it as if it were another situation.

DIFFERENCES
There are many differences between the processes of speaking and writing. Writing is not simply speech written down on paper. Learning to write is not a natural extension of learning to speak. Unlike speech, writing requires systematic instruction and practice. Here are some of the differences between speaking and writing that may clarify things for you and help you in your efforts as a writer and speaker.
SPEECH	WRITING
Universal, everybody acquires it	Not everyone learns to read and write
Spoken language has dialect variations that represent a region	Written language is more restricted and generally follows a standardised form of grammar, structure, organization, and vocabulary
Speakers use their voices (pitch, rhythm, stress) and their bodies to communicate their message	Writers rely on the words on the page to express meaning and their ideas
Speakers use pauses and intonation	Writers use punctuation
Speakers pronounce	Writers spell
Speaking is often spontaneous and unplanned.	Most writing is planned and can be changed through editing and revision before an audience reads it
Speakers have immediate audiences who nod, interrupt, question and comment	Writers have a delayed response from audiences or none at all and have only one opportunity to convey their message, be interesting, informative, accurate and hold their reader’s attention
Speech is usually informal and repetitive	Writing on the other hand is more formal and compact. It progresses more logically With fewer explanations and digressions.
Speakers use simpler sentences connected by lots of ands and buts.	Writers use more complex sentences With connecting words like however, Who, although, and in addition.
Speakers draw on their listeners reactions to know how or whether to continue	Writers are often solitary in their process
Speakers can gauge the attitudes, beliefs, and feelings of their audience by their verbal and non-verbal reactions	Writers must consider what and how much their audience needs to know about a given topic

Consider the fact that................

Virtually nobody speaks Standard Written English. This is the dialect of English that is appropriate for professional, business, and academic writing. For example, no one always speaks in complete sentences or pronounces the final letter of every word. However, many people learn to translate their spoken dialect into Standard Written English when they write.

Both spoken and written dialects are linked to the social background, age, race, and gender of the writer, speaker and audience. Depending upon whom we are addressing, and what we are discussing, we can switch between formal and informal ways of communicating.

Teaching Speaking

Strategies for Developing Speaking Skills

Students often think that the ability to speak a language is the product of language learning, but speaking is also a crucial part of the language learning process. Effective instructors teach students speaking strategies -- using minimal responses, recognizing scripts, and using language to talk about language -- that they can use to help themselves expand their knowledge of the language and their confidence in using it. These instructors help students learn to speak so that the students can use speaking to learn.

1. Using minimal responses

Language learners who lack confidence in their ability to participate successfully in oral interaction often listen in silence while others do the talking. One way to encourage such learners to begin to participate is to help them build up a stock of minimal responses that they can use in different types of exchanges. Such responses can be especially useful for beginners.
Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases that conversation participants use to indicate understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses to what another speaker is saying. Having a stock of such responses enables a learner to focus on what the other participant is saying, without having to simultaneously plan a response.
2. Recognizing scripts
Some communication situations are associated with a predictable set of spoken exchanges -- a script. Greetings, apologies, compliments, invitations, and other functions that are influenced by social and cultural norms often follow patterns or scripts. So do the transactional exchanges involved in activities such as obtaining information and making a purchase. In these scripts, the relationship between a speaker's turn and the one that follows it can often be anticipated.
Instructors can help students develop speaking ability by making them aware of the scripts for different situations so that they can predict what they will hear and what they will need to say in response. Through interactive activities, instructors can give students practice in managing and varying the language that different scripts contain.
3. Using language to talk about language
Language learners are often too embarrassed or shy to say anything when they do not understand another speaker or when they realize that a conversation partner has not understood them. Instructors can help students overcome this reticence by assuring them that misunderstanding and the need for clarification can occur in any type of interaction, whatever the participants' language skill levels. Instructors can also give students strategies and phrases to use for clarification and comprehension check.
By encouraging students to use clarification phrases in class when misunderstanding occurs, and by responding positively when they do, instructors can create an authentic practice environment within the classroom itself. As they develop control of various clarification strategies, students will gain confidence in their ability to manage the various communication situations that they may encounter outside the classroom.