Boy-Say-Do-you-speak-English1

Useful tips for better speaking

Fluency

There are quite a few opportunities you can use to improve your fluency:

When reading, do at least a section of the reading aloud, paying attention to punctuation and logical word groupings.
When you are doing a listening comprehension exercise, stop the tape and repeat out loud words which are new or seem important: it will help you to memorise them, as well as to improve your pronunciation.
When preparing tasks such as a presentation, a telephone call or an interview, make sure you learn some usual phrases by heart: they provide the communicative flow, make you sound authentic, create the right impression and help to "get you started".
Record yourself and listen to what you sound like. This may well build up your self-confidence, as students often under-estimate their skills out of modesty or shyness.

Don't be afraid of making mistakes: we all make them, even in our own language!
Your main aim is to learn to express yourself increasingly freely: in real life situations, people are more interested in what you say than in whether you are making mistakes or not. So, although some mistakes can really be funny, the worst that can happen is that you laugh with others! And many mistakes are not really that important if they do not distort the meaning of you want to say.
However, to develop fluency, you must go through the learning process, which means focusing on accuracy in the classroom and during homework. Otherwise, you will not be able to consolidate and improve your performance.
Equally, don't be afraid of having your mistakes pointed out to you: this is how you will learn.
And remember: keep it simple! It is more pleasant to listen to someone who speaks simply, but fluently, than to someone who speaks in a very sophisticated, but hesitant manner.

Obviously, we all want to sound as authentic as possible when we are speaking a foreign language. Accent, pronunciation, intonation and elocution all play a part.
Don't forget that you can make yourself understood perfectly well even if you retain a foreign accent. What is more important is to avoid pronunciation errors, for instance pronouncing "tough" and "dough" the wrong way round in English. You can look up the correct pronunciation of individual words in a dictionary.
If you have the transcription of a recording which you have worked on for listening skills, try to say it with the tape when you last play it, so that you can shadow the intonation.
Do not be afraid of exaggerating intonation patterns and emotional tones: it is better than sounding monotonous and flat, and if you go over the top a bit at the beginning, your speech patterns will soon settle on a natural sounding level.
Finally, as important as accent and intonation is elocution. Do not mumble, do not swallow the end of words, do not rush through what you want to say. Make sure you make yourself as audible as possible. Then people will understand you, and listen to you!