Amantayeva Ainura Malikovna, Dukenbai Gulzhannat amantayeva.ainura@mail.ru , gulzhannat0609@gmail.com

L.N.Gumilyev Eurasian National University, speciality “Foreign languages: two foreign languages”, Astana, Kazakhstan

DEBATE TECHNIQUES IN ENGLISH AS A MEANS OF SPEAKING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Debate is a method of interactive and representation argument. Debating is also carried out for educational and recreational purposes, usually associated with educational establishment. This major goal of the study of debate as a method or art is to develop the ability to debate rationally from either position with equal ease. Debate has its own strategies and types. One of the strategy that "debate can motivate students thinking, moreover, if they must defend their stand or opinion which is in contradiction with conviction them". This strategy can involve all students to be active, not only the debate performer. One of the types in debate is competitive debate, this qualifications suppose that teams compete against each other and are judged the winner by a list of criteria that is usually based around the concepts of "content, style and strategy"[1]. According to this strategy that “Competitive debating uses the skills of argument to debate and discuss important issues about our beliefs, government policies and proposals on how to improve the world or face up to problems in society. A competitive debate should be rational, focused, and structured. Debating builds a unique set of skills, helping students to analyze problems, think critically, synthesize arguments and present these ideas in a cogent and convincing manner[2].”

Next types is Role-play debates, also help to avoid dualistic debate models by assigning students to argue on behalf of different characters in a situation. For instance, in the issue of national health care, students could be assigned to various roles, such as doctor, patient, a wealthy person, a poor person, a lawyer, a judge, an insurance company, the president, and so on[3]. Through the debate of the issue from various points of view, the students can broaden their understanding of the issue. Debate is different from other strategies. In debate, students are given some topics to be discussed. One or two students would present their opinions and facts concerning the topics. The next step, they response to the students questions and comments.

Debate is one of effective speaking activity which encourages students to improve their skills. Debates are most appropriate for intermediate and advanced learners who have been guided in how to prepare for them. Debate is a great way to improve the students’ speaking skills. It also allows them to do research and read more texts in English. During the process, they can widen their vocabulary too. Most of all, their critical thinking skills are enhanced. There are four major components in English proficiency. This includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Throughout the debating process, from the researching of issues, expressing arguments, listening to opponents and hearing teacher’s feedback, all four skills are given emphasis.

Students have to know how to use the basic debate techniques in English classroom, such as style, speed, tone and volume. Style is the manner in which you communicate your arguments.  This is the most basic part of debating to master.  Next one is speed, it is vital to talk at a pace which is fast enough to sound intelligent and allow you time to say what you want, but slow enough to be easily understood. Tone is what makes you sound interesting.  Listening to one tone for an entire presentation is boring. Volume takes important part when student has debating. Speaking quite loudly is sometimes a necessity, but it is by no means necessary to shout through every debate regardless of context.  There is absolutely no need speak any more loudly than the volume at which everyone in the room can comfortably hear you.  Shouting does not win debates.  Speaking too quietly is clearly disastrous since no one will be able to hear you [4].

All speaking activities above encourage students to practice speaking in classroom. Teacher should choose appropriate activities above based on the level of the students. Every teaching and learning process can be enjoyable if teacher gives the appropriate activity based on students’ levels. Beside it the process of transferring knowledge can be done easily. Debate is data in which people take up positions, sue arguments and expound on their opinions on a range or matters; with or without some sort of lead figure or chair person Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that debate is an activity in which students take up positions on issue and defend their position. Debate is one of technique which has many benefits for students: 1) Improve students’ critical thinking. In debating, every student is proposed to analyze a problem critically. 2) Develop students’ communication skill. Debaters spend many hours assembling and practicing hundreds of public speeches on topics of national importance. 3) Questioning skill developed in and struggle-often in the face of disappointment and defeat[5]. 4) They are capable of making and defending informed choices about complex issues outside of their own area of interest because they do so on a daily basic.

In the learning process, debate has limitations too. Firstly, debate technique only can be used for specific subjects, such as subjects that are concerned with agreeing and disagreeing and giving argument. Secondly, debate needs a long times for preparation. Much preparation is needed in debating in order to make sure the debate runs well. Students should prepare their arguments before the debate to make it easier for them to attack the opponent’s opinion. Finally, it requires the students to be controlled in defending their argument. Many students can’t control their emotion when they defend their argument.

In conclusion, the use of debate technique has been advocated in teaching speaking process. Typically, debate is very interested to be implemented to improve speaking skill. Students have a lot of opportunity to practice speaking and have active involvement in debate. However, they worked very cooperative and tried to defend their team, and they were more active to speak in classroom. Teaching speaking through debate can be enjoyable experience for both teacher and student. In fact, students can improve their speaking skill after being taught by debate technique. It can be seen by students’ achievement in speaking test, also it can be concluded that the studies reviewed above all point to a similar direction. Classroom debate is an effective learning strategy particularly because it promotes student-student interactions. Obviously, active learning cultivates multifaceted thinking procedures and develops maintenance, absorption, comprehension and appropriate use of course content; as a result, learners benefit much when teachers make use of educational techniques that encourage students’ active involvement. As a result, participating in debate exercises must not be restricted to those on forensics teams but must an experience offered to learners in a broad diversity of university classrooms.

References:

1. "What Is Debating?". Cambridge Union Society. Retrieved 2015-08-20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate

2. from website: http://debatica2012.blogspot.ru/p/debates.html article: Debatica2012

3. Goodwin, supra note 25 at 160; Schroeder, H., & Ebert, D. (1983). Debates as a business and society teachingtechnique. Journal of Business Education, 58, 266-269.

4. Kidd, A. (2002). The oxford union rough guide to debating. The English Speaking Union. Retrieved August 26, 2002 from the World WideWeb:http://www.britishdebate.com/resources/hb_oxfordguide.htm

5. Bedir, H., 2013. Reading and Critical Thinking Skills in ELT Classes of Turkish Students. World Applied Sciences Journal, 21(10): 1436-1439