Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 33

rather increases students’ fear and they grow hatred towards English. However, if teachers introduce simple but controversial topics to the class and ask them to comment on those topics while sitting in their respective seats, students will feel encouraged to take part in discussion. Eventually, they will be encouraged to speak in English. Teacher’s role should be encouraging as well as motivating. Listening Through practicing debate, students can improve their listening skills. By using listening aids like radio, CD player and PC, learners can listen to audio clips e.g. conversation, speech, debate, talk shows and reports. They can watch video clips of debate sessions, speeches of famous speakers, talk shows, round table discussions, reports, and news. Recorded video clips of debate sessions, news, reports as well as talk shows on television channels like BBC or Tedtalk can be very good resources for practicing listening in English. Learners listen to CDs of different dictionaries to repair pronunciation of sounds and words. They also watch selected English movies in the classroom which will be followed by group discussion. Teachers give feedback on the discussion. In the feedback, teachers should focus on sounds, pronunciation, accent as well as use of words, technical words and jargons. In this case, teachers can use their notes on students’ difficulty in pronouncing particular sounds and words. Speaking Debating can be used brilliantly to boost up students’ spoken English skills. Practices can be organized in various ways. In many EFL settings, students are found scared of speaking in English. In most of the cases, their poor background knowledge and practice in English are responsible for this. Use of debate, speech and conversation in EFL classes first of all drive out students’ fear about the English language. Moreover, regular practice of debate, speech and conversation improve their fluency, pronunciation and vocabulary. They also can get familiar with jargons and technical terms as debating covers a variety of areas and issues. Teachers working as moderators will facilitate students’ learning. They provide feedback on speeches with focus on delivery more particularly on gesture, posture, pronunciation, accent, intonation, stress, vocabulary, choice of words. Reading Debating requires knowledge of many interrelated disciplines and areas which entails extensive study of current issues as well as social, economic and political theories and concepts. Studies into these disciplines enrich students’ level of knowledge, enhance their reading habit and develop their vocabulary. If debate topics are announced earlier, students can collect information and discuss in groups. Thus, in the pretext of preparing for debating, students develop reading habit. Debating clubs organize study circles to discuss topics and theories that are relevant with debating. Students use many sources to gather data and information. Teachers also introduce them to different sources of information e.g. local and international newspapers, magazines, books and websites. Students can collect information and make wall-magazines based on different issues and occasions. Through these practices, students prepare themselves for taking part in debating. 33