What should I do to improve my speaking skill?

 

What Will You Learn in This Article? 

This article will teach you what speaking skills are  and how to improve them. This article will also provide you with essential tips to better communication skills. 

What is the definition of Speaking Skills? 

Speaking Skills are those skills by improving which you become a good speaker and a good communicator. It is because of good speaking skills that you are understood and perceived and accepted by others completely. 

Good speaking skills decide whether you are going to be trusted or not or accepted by others or not. Hence improving speaking skills becomes an essential thing. It is always better to improve them as quickly as possible, because you are going to need it in your entire life. 

What are Speaking Skills? 

Speaking skills include improving 4 essential things. They are as follows: 

1. Vocabulary

2. Pronunciation

3. Grammar

4. Fluency

1. Vocabulary 

Vocabulary means all the words used in a particular language (lexicon). Vocabulary within itself carries knowledge, information, ideas and thoughts in the form of meanings. Vocabulary serves as a useful and important tool for communication, along with being a means of acquiring and transfering knowledge. 

For a second language learner, vocabulary is a part of his/her learning which prepares him/her to communicate properly in that language. 

2. Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way in which a word is articulated or spoken. 

Pronunciation helps us learn how to pronounce or speak a word correctly so that we are fully understood by others. 

Pronunciation includes the study of sound production, (the study of how to produce speech sounds of a language) letters articulation, (the study of which muscles of our mouth are engaged in articulation or saying of a letter) syllables, (the fragment or unit of a word or a speech that's spoken just in one chest pulse) 

stress (a chest pulse on a particular syllable) 

And intonation (the rise or fall of voice in speech)

Simply put, studying Phonetics and Phonology, which deal with the sound system of a language is pronunciation learning.

3. Grammar

Grammar is the set of rules that deal with the structures, sentence patterns and word orders of a language. 

Grammar gives instructions and guidelines for using a language effectively and efficiently so as to prevent grammatical errors in that language. 

It is grammar that serves as a useful tool for effective communication.

4. Fluency

Fluency is said to be present in a person's speech when there's fluidity, naturalness, and coherency. Fluency simply means the ability to speak a language properly. It is because of fluency in a person's language that he or she is understood by others completely. Fluency is the thing that creates so great effect in speech as to be accepted by others.

How to Improve Speaking Skills?

To improve your speaking skills, you need to anyhow follow some essential tips that will accelerate and boost your improving of speaking skills.

Tip 1. Increase vocabulary, study pronunciation, learn grammar and improve language fluency.

These are the foundation stones on which speaking is dependent. These are the most important subjects that you need to focus on if you want to better your speaking skills. Working on these fields of study will immediately bring improvement, and within a few months, you will notice changes in your speaking. 

Tip 2. Listen and Imitate 

I'm quite sure that you must have observed how a child acquires and learns its mother tongue. 

What children do when picking up speaking their mother tongues is that,  when they interact with adults or parents using the language around them, they first listen to the sentences that are  being spoken, then try to understand the meanings and then copy the ways the adults or parents speak the language. So listen to English stories, speeches, podcasts and news channels. 

If you are a student, listen to your teachers, friends, and colleagues speaking in English.

Tip 3. Read and Use

Reading a few minutes everyday helps you acquire new vocabulary. 

Read newspapers, books, magazines and  blog articles in English.  

Note down whatever new words, phrases and idioms you find there, and use them in your speaking. This will definitely help you better your speaking skills and beautify your conversation. 

Tip 4. Prepare and Produce

You hesitate to speak English or take part in conversation in English, because you're nervous about what to say, and you're anxious that what you're going to say may not be appropriate or you may be mistaken while speaking English. This is why you should prepare before the topic you are going to speak on. This way you will gather all the necessary words or phrases you need to use in a particular situation.

So prepare beforehand and just produce it. 

Tip 5. Practise and Speak 

This is the most important tip to improve speaking skills. No word can show the importance of this tip. All the above-mentioned tips are useless if you don't practise speaking. 

A regular practice is the key to success when it comes to improving your spoken English. 

Use the best techniques of speaking English and practise speaking with your friends.