Stephen van Vlack
Sookmyung Women’s University
Graduate School of TESOL
Discourse Analysis (Teaching Speaking)
Fall 2014
Speaking -vs- Writing - Some Differences
Below you will find ten points comparing speaking and writing as both a practice and forms of language. Use the 10 points presented below to help you determine some possible differences between speaking and writing. Only one side of each point is written out. Use the information you have been given about writing to come up with a related counter-point describing speaking. In short, you need to fill in the blanks.
1. Writing is a human invention. It does not come as a product of our interaction with our environment. While our knowledge of spoken language provides a basis for writing, writing is a separate skill which must be learned. Also, knowing how to speak well does not necessarily mean you will be able to write well, or even at all. What all this means is that we must learn how to write well.
1. Speaking is ______
______
2. Writing is permanent. It is the permanence of writing that makes it such a powerful communication tool. Writing doesn’t fade away or diminish over time. All of it can be checked over and over again. Its permanence leaves it open to interpretation and for lengthy processing. It can often take a while for a reader to understand what a writer intended.
2. Speaking is ______
______
______
3. Writing is made up of standard forms of language. This means that writers have to be very careful about the way they write (both the forms they employ and the structures they create with them). Simply writing down what we might say, even if we are speaking rather formally, will not make a good piece of writing. We need to use a higher level of vocabulary, more carefully planned structures, and well-organized passages.
3. Speaking is ______
______
______
4. Writers use punctuation as an aid in the comprehension of their message. This means that punctuation is very important and must be used correctly and systematically. Imagine writing with no capital letters or periods to let the reader know where sentences begin and end. Commas are also very important in breaking the words in sentences up into smaller units. Punctuation is based on meaning and is used to make what we write more understandable.
4. Speakers use ______
______
______
5. Writers only have the words on the page to communicate their thoughts. As a writer, one has to create a context for the reader. This means writers have to be very careful about setting the scene and explaining things very carefully. Writers also have to include a lot of background information or the reader will not understand what it is one is writing about. In writing, things need to be stated overtly.
5. Speakers ___________
______
______
6. Writers write. This entails using symbols on a page. This means that writers are limited to the written word in getting the point across. To do so one really has to be aware of the full range of meanings, conventions and implications of all the forms and structures they use. That is all they have.
6. Speakers______
______
7. Writing takes time because it must be planned, but it is changeable. Because writing is permanent, we have to think carefully about what we want to say. We must plan before we write.
7. Speaking is ______
______
______
8. Writing is one-sided. A writer has no direct access to an audience and the reader has no direct access to the writer. For both, engaging with written language is a one-sided, internal process.
8. Speaking is ______
______
9. Writing is more formal. The act of writing is difficult and time consuming. Reading is also a demanding activity. For this reason, a good writer does not waste any words or give any information which is unimportant. A good writer knows exactly why each word, every detail, is there. They also take care to present their information in an order that is logical and easy to understand.
9. Speaking is ______
10. In writing, all mistakes, no matter how small, are noticeable. Mistakes make our writing look bad and may confuse the reader. We must, therefore, always check our writing for mistakes.
10. In speaking ______
______
A review of some general points about speaking
Speaking Point 1: For initial language learning anyway, speaking is universal. Speaking is natural. Almost everyone, whether they want to or not, learns a spoken language in their first few years of life. Spoken language is not just a skill. It is an integral part of our humanity. This is often easy to forget when we are trying to deal with speaking in an additional language and especially a foreign one. Classrooms and teachers are (paradoxically) often speech killers.
Speaking Point 2: Speaking is temporary. Our words are gone as soon as we have said them. The general meaning of what we said might remain for longer due to memory, but the form disappears as soon as we have said it. This means that speaking must be easily interpretable. Listeners need to process spoken language very fast and there is no time, really no way at all, to go back and check the language that was produced.
Speaking Point 3: Speaking is often created with non-standard forms such as regional, or socio-economic dialects. In speaking, we often also use colloquial expressions and slang, not to mention curse words, all of which are usually excluded from writing. Speaking is filled with incomplete and ungrammatical sentences, not to mention logical contractions and slurring of words. Speaking is typically not carefully constructed or organized. It is through speaking we often inadvertently reveal who we really are and what we really think.
Speaking Point 4: Speakers use a vast array of what are called suprasegmental features to fine-tune their message and help the listener understand their true intention better. These features include pauses, use of different tones, volume, and intonation patterns. A speaker needs to have some mastery over these types of features.
Speaking Point 5: Speakers have the extra-linguistic situation: i.e., the situational and linguistic context to help them be more understandable. Speakers need to make use of surrounding situation in order to avoid stating the obvious. In this way, speaking is very economical and often vague in the forms employed. In speaking these forms are always intertwined with the context to create a cohesive speaking event.
Speaking Point 6: Speakers pronounce. This adds a different dimension to speaking in that it is not just what you say (the forms you employ) but how you say it. One’s voice provides a lot of power to manipulate the simple forms that are often used in speaking. It is also provides a lot of information about the speaker to the audience. Speakers need to develop their voice and the way they use it.
Speaking Point 7: Speaking is spontaneous. It is reactive. True speaking is not usually planned, and in fact it cannot be because we never know what is going to happen. Things occur that we need to react to as we are engaged in speaking. We cannot predict our co-interlocutors’ part in the process (event). Even less can we predict what happens in the around us. Thus, speakers need to be aware of their surroundings and be able to react to them effectively.
Speaking Point 8: Speaking is at least a two-sided and is often a multi-sided practice. A speaker communicates with a known person or persons who are right there and can (should) answer back as well as give many different types of cognitive and affective feedback. To speak one must take other into account and know how to take turns with the others.
Speaking Point 9: Speaking is generally more informal. When we speak we make all sorts of pauses, false starts, repeat the same points, and say many things that have little semantic content. All languages have what is called phatic expressions. These are expressions that have no real meaning, just social value, such as “Good morning.” In its primarily reactive nature speaking also is not typically logically organized. Speakers often jump from one point to another and change the topic easily as they react to their environment.
Speaking Point 10: Speaking includes a lot of simple sentences, not to mention ‘ungrammatical’ ones. Mistakes in form (as long as comprehensibility remains intact) don’t really count in speaking. Mistakes in meaning are, however, problematic in speaking. People forget the forms fast but the general meaning remains.