The place of speaking in a public secondary school in North Lebanon : perceptions and practice

Abstract

Speaking is a very important skill to teach ESL students. If Lebanese students fail to learn to speak English, they will be unable to communicate in English medium universities, in foreign countries or even in the Gulf especially that English has become a universal language. For this reason, it is very important for second language learners to be able to communicate using English. Since speaking is such an important skill to master, it is necessary to see whether schools teach this skill. A public school in North Lebanon was chosen to investigate teachers perceptions of the place of speaking and compare the perceptions with the actual practice of speaking in the classroom. The national textbook used in the public school was analyzed to identify whether it provides any speaking activities or assessments for the teacher to use. The Lebanese Curriculum was also analyzed to explore whether clear objectives, lesson plans and assessment plans are provided for the teachers to use when teaching speaking. The instruments used in this study are classroom observations, coordinators and teachers interviews, student questionnaires and textbook analysis. The findings indicate that speaking is not given enough attention compared to the other three skills (reading, writing and listening). Speaking is not assessed and the textbook only provided speaking activities that are used as a means to introduce other skills rather than a goal by itself. The Lebanese curriculum only provides the national textbook as a tool to teach speaking but does not provide any lesson plans or assessment plans for the teachers to use. All participants had a positive view regarding the importance of teaching the speaking skill, yet this skill was not emphasized in the teachers classroom practice.