Speaking English: How to speak English well

by Will Pascoe

"You CAN speak English well."

This is both my advice to my students and my personal motto. It serves both to stimulate interest in the student or inquirer and to remind me to keep my English light and interesting, well enunciated, and grammatically correct.

There is a perception that well-spoken English is that of the BBC news reader or the British private school educated nobleman. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have met Asian, African, North and South American, European, Australian, and Pacific Islands English speakers whose English was accented with their own regional accent and yet was well enunciated, grammatically correct, and delivered with intonation which suited the intended meaning. And isn't the purpose of language to communicate, to both understand and be understood?

So why is it that so many people who learn English as a foreign or second language have difficulty speaking well? I've taught students in China who can pass an English examination in high school or university with quite a high mark and yet cannot hold a meaningful conversation with me. The easy answer is that they have been instructed primarily in the mechanics of the language and in reading and writing and taught by teachers whose own listening and speaking skills are poor. While this is true it doesn't adequately address the problem.

It is beyond the scope of this article to give the answers in detail but the following points are, in my experience, the most important factors involved in helping people speak English well. And these factors are applicable to both native speakers and foreign language speakers of English, in fact to all who wish to speak the language better than they now do.

LISTEN to English. Most people do not listen to enough well-spoken English. It's very important that our language centers in our             brains become well accustomed to the sound of good English and preferably good English spoken with a variety of accents. I ask students, "How do you eat a big watermelon?" The answer of course is "In small pieces" and I advise them to listen to spoken English in small pieces too, and often. Listening to five or ten minutes with attention and a well-focused mind, every day, is better than listening to a one hour reading or famous speech once a week.

PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. Look for every opportunity to speak with others who speak English and preferably those who speak it better than you do. speak it in front of a mirror while listening to your own pronunciation and watching the movement of your mouth (don't look into your beautiful eyes). Record your reading and speaking and play it back and ask yourself where you need to correct. Listen to  an English speech recording then read it yourself, record your voice, play it back and ask yourself where you need to change something.

THINK POSITIVE. Don't allow yourself to be tricked into thinking "This is too difficult. I can't do this. I'll never speak English well". Guard your attitude. Keep a positive view of yourself and your ability. Affirm daily I CAN SPEAK ENGLISH WELL. This is definitely the most important point of all. If your attitude is firmly positive and you believe in yourself you will not allow fear to rule you. Fear of looking foolish, of losing face, of being embarrassed when not easily understood, these are all natural fears but you have the power and the ability to overcome them with positive thinking and daily speaking aloud those positive qualities you know you have - determination, intelligence, powerful mind.

You CAN speak English well.  "I CAN SPEAK ENGLISH WELL".