Developing Speaking Skills in the ESP Classroom: Speech Preparation

The article describes an approach to developing speaking skills in ESP learners whose major is Management. The students learn to prepare speeches related to their future workplace and career. The approach emphasizes the importance of sentence patterns, substitution drill, and creative reproduction in speaking activities at the level of English up to pre-intermediate. It is essential to provide a good model of the speech the learners are to produce, with sufficient linguistic means. A number of audio or video podcasts with sample talks prove to be useful. The methods help learners overcome the language barrier and avoid mistakes when they create their own professionally-oriented speeches.