TOWARDS BETTER SPEAKING IN ENGLISH MAJOR CLASSES: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH

Abstract

This paper examines the different ways of speaking that people utilize in their interactions and the relevance of these to the foreign and/or second English major classroom. The data of the research is drawn from English major students at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. It has been observed that, although these students are generally capable of handling conversations of a non-academic nature in non- academic settings fairly easily and fluently, they are restricted when it comes to discussing academic topics in a formal setting. The paper explains why this happens and suggests that speaking about academic topics requires special skills and training. This paper outlines strategies to encourage students to interact and speak naturally, confidently, and academically. This can best be achieved the paper argues, by using a sociolinguistic-cum-integrative approach. The former is based on the notion of speaking style and the latter on the four language skills. The approach can be applied to other foreign, second and first language settings.