A rare person is able to live without constant communication with other people. For example, religious hermits who are secluded away from the sinful and vain world, taking a vow of silence, are so amazing and incomprehensible to the average person that they only become a confirmation of a universal social rule: communication with ones like ones is a necessary and necessary property of a full life.
All the achievements of mankind, their accumulation and transmission to future generations became possible thanks to the main types of speech activity: writing, reading, speaking, listening. All people's activities are based on communication, without it it is impossible to satisfy most needs. A man is a purely social being, and speaking (speech) is the main tool that allows the owner to realize his abilities, share his inner world, understand another, exchange thoughts and wishes, find a worthy place in society.
Key concepts
In order to better understand the importance of speaking as a type of speech activity, it is necessary to reveal several key concepts related to this term.
Speech activity is, in fact, the materialization of certain thoughts of a person, the product of such a process is the word. In the process of speech activity, a statement is formed , the purpose of which may be the transfer of information, communication or impact on the interlocutor.
Productive types of speech activity: writing, reading, speaking, listening (listening).
Speaking is the main speech tool that, inextricably linked to listening, helps people communicate verbally, that is, through words.
Listening is the process of semantic perception of the words and sounds heard.
Writing and reading perform the same functions as speaking with listening, only in their case the information is presented not in sound but in graphic signs.
Non-verbal means of communication - communication between people through gestures, facial expressions, body language, that is, without words.
Tasks of speaking as a type of speech activity
Speech plays an extremely important role in human life, performing a number of interrelated tasks:
- Establishment of contact and specific relationships between individuals.
- Coordination. Without speech, it is very difficult to establish effective joint activities.
- Information exchange. All types of speaking allow the exchange of knowledge, ideas, desires.
- Exchange of emotions. With the help of the words spoken, a person shares his experiences: fear, love, anger.
- Impact on others. Speech can not only share your own feelings, but also call them in others, exert influence on the interlocutor, encourage him to the necessary actions. For example, make laugh, make, intimidate, inspire.
Means of speaking
The main means of speech as a communication tool are:
- organs of speech and hearing;
- language, which is a combination of verbal signs, gestures, intonations.
Speaking is a productive type of speech activity that is created using the speech apparatus, and is perceived - by the hearing aid. The speaker encodes the information in sound form. The listener receives sounds, then decodes, analyzes and interprets them. Therefore, the interlocutors must first understand each other's language, a common language becomes the main bidirectional mechanism of influence during communication.
But speaking is not a dry transmission of certain facts or an exchange of questions. In oral speech, nonverbal communication tools are of great importance, which not only show the emotional state of the speaker or the reaction of the listener, but also supplement the semantic load of the spoken words.
People talking on the phone simultaneously analyze the words they hear and intonation, drawing conclusions based on aggregate perception. Even a deaf person who can read words on the lips receives valuable additional and very useful information when he sees the facial expressions of his interlocutor.
Of course, non-verbal means are auxiliary in nature, since they are not able to convey complex ideas and thoughts, but without them it is impossible to imagine full-fledged communication between people. Body language, facial expression, gestures, special intonations, postures, pauses in speech, the manifestation of emotions make speaking brighter and more informative, help to better understand the interlocutor.
The mechanisms
The mechanisms of speaking as a type of speech activity:
- Motive. First, a person has a goal, a need to say something.
- Programming. Mentally creates the basis for future statements.
- Construction. A process takes place in consciousness in which a future replica is constructed. For her, the optimal grammatical form is selected, the necessary sounds, words, intonation are searched.
- Speaking Thought clothe in spoken words.
- The control. The phrase is scanned in search of possible errors, errors are corrected. As standards for comparison, linguistic norms and psycholinguistic characteristics of speaking as a type of speech activity are used. A person acquires such standards spontaneously when he learns to speak, and systematically during his studies at school and universities. Control is largely automatic. People have a sense of their native language, quickly identifying errors by ear.
Species classification
There are such types of speaking as spoken language, such as monologue, dialogue and polylogue. However, the polylogue, in which several interlocutors participate, is inherently a kind of dialogue in which two participate. For simplicity, these two types of communication can be considered identical. Also, listening is inextricably linked with speech; with its help, what is said is perceived.
Communication is often a combination of monological and dialogical forms, but the features and psychological characteristics of speaking as a type of speech activity in a monologue and dialogue are noticeably different and deserve separate consideration, especially when teaching the art of speaking and talking correctly.
Monologue
In a monologue, one person addresses another or a group of persons. Examples of a monologue: a scientist’s report, a teacher’s lecture, a toast, a welcome speech, a guilty verdict, a sermon. As a rule, the speaker has time to prepare and comprehend the speech, he is precisely aware of its goals, knows the place, conditions and audience for which it is pronounced. Therefore, in comparison with the dialogue, the monologue uses more complex grammatical and compositional constructions, the emphasis is on harmonious logical construction and consistent presentation.
Monologue Characteristics:
- Unidirectionality. The flow of information goes in one direction, from the speaker to the listeners.
- Continuity.
- Semantic completeness.
- Complex syntax
- Expressiveness and emotionality. The speaker gives the speech the emotional intonations he needs to influence the perception of the audience.
- Detailed and coherent presentation of thoughts. In this regard, monologic speaking and writing as types of speech activity are very close.
Dialog
During the dialogue, two or more people communicate. Here, all parties can simultaneously act as a speaker and listener. The dialogical form of speaking as a type of speech activity is mastered more difficult than a monologue. This is due to the fact that a person is far from always able to predict the reaction of the interlocutor, which may turn out to be completely unexpected or completely absent.
The dialogue is very difficult to plan and practically impossible to control from beginning to end, as in the case of a monologue, where the author himself determines the sequence and rhythm of speech, and ideas are expressed by a string of logically connected and complete sentences. This is what makes dialogue one of the most difficult types of speech.
Talking with other people is unpredictable, in a conversation you constantly have to take into account their answers, gestures, intonations, which affect the course of communication and force you to adjust your statements and goals. To master the art of dialogue, you need to master a number of social skills: be able to make contact, show interest in the words of the interlocutor, observe the etiquette of the conversation, be able to ask competent questions and correctly read intonations, facial expressions, gestures.
Specifications:
- Bilateral orientation.
- Spontaneity.
- Simple syntax. Short sentences, laconic exclamations, abbreviations, language cliches, slang expressions, an abundance of interrogative, incentive and exclamatory remarks.
- Reactivity. The answers and reactions of the interlocutors largely determine the course of communication.
- The situation. The dialogue is highly dependent on the situation in which it has arisen and is proceeding.
- Emotionality Feelings and emotions are the most important characteristic of speaking as a type of speech activity. Emotionality is characteristic of both forms of oral speech, but more often and more deeply manifests itself in dialogue. Sometimes they are more important than spoken words.
Hearing
A bunch of listening - speaking - types of speech activity that constantly interact. Without listening, spoken language loses its meaning, it goes into void, remains unacceptable and misunderstood. Unless in a person’s conversation with himself, listening becomes redundant, because phrases are immediately perceived by the consciousness in the process of their occurrence.
In all other cases, monologues and dialogues acquire essence only in the presence of the listener. Listening is an active thought process that is aimed at the perception and semantic processing of the words heard. The hearing takes place in close interaction between the speaker and the listener, and the result (product) of the hearing is an understanding of the speaker’s speech.
Moreover, it is desirable not only to understand all the perceived words, but to comprehend and realize the ideas, information or meanings contained in them. On the basis of mental analysis, the listener receives and accumulates new knowledge, develops an attitude towards the speaker and his remarks, and forms a response.
Learning to Speak as a Speech Activity
It may seem to young, ignorant parents that their child is learning to speak haphazardly and chaotically. However, this process is the same for most children, regardless of their nationality and developmental conditions. Of course, a lot depends on the baby’s abilities, his environment and the zeal of the parents, but in general there are a number of mandatory stages through which the child goes through, mastering his native language.
In the very first weeks of life, the baby attracts attention and expresses its desires only with tears and screaming. So he reacts to hunger, pain or discomfort. But almost immediately, the baby begins to recognize and distinguish from the general noise around the intonation and timbre of the voice of the people around him: mother, father, grandmother. Therefore, you need to talk more with the baby, this will allow him to quickly develop listening and speech.
At about three months of age, the child begins to make lingering sounds, thus responding to the cues of others. He imitates adults, repeats sounds again and again, tries to imitate someone else's articulation, carefully studies the reaction of others. If simplified and concise, speaking as a form of speech activity arises through imitation and feedback.
In the period from six to nine months, the baby begins to perceive his name and understand simple requests, for example, “give me”, “go to the hands”, and also master the syllable, add the first monosyllabic or two-syllable words from them: “ma-ma”, “ ba, pa, la.
After nine months, the child shows a stupid curiosity, he learns to be around him, eagerly absorbing new knowledge. As a rule, the exchange of information between parents and children at this age takes place according to one scheme: the baby indicates an item of interest, and the adult calls it, or the initiative comes from parents who show and name objects and phenomena of the world.
Along with speech, the ability to perceive and use non-verbal means in communication develops: intonations, gestures, facial expressions. At first, gestures even prevail over speaking in the child’s communications. However, then speech becomes the main means of communication.
This happens at about one and a half years, when the baby sharply increases the supply of words that he constantly and confidently uses. If you characterize this process briefly, speaking as a type of speech activity begins to develop in an avalanche-like manner: in a year and a half, the child’s active vocabulary is about 25 words; in two years - 90 words; to three years - 1000 words; by six years, 10,000 words. Sensitive to new information, the children's brain is able to master several dozen new words per day.
Speech becomes the most effective and convenient tool for understanding the world, gaining new knowledge and communicating with others. The kid from his own experience begins to understand the importance and power of words, with the help of which he can successfully achieve his goals, insist on his own desires, control the behavior of others.
Further development of speaking
A child who has mastered his native language acquires a powerful and wonderful tool that he still cannot fully use. Education begins with a school where, from the first lessons, students get to know the language at a hitherto unknown level.
It appears as a complex and multifaceted system of signs, subordinating a whole set of grammatical and social laws. Understanding of these laws not only underlies literate reading, writing and speaking as means of speech activity, but also opens the way to the endless knowledge that mankind has created and accumulated.
In the elementary grades, the most elementary, but at the same time fundamental, skills are formed: pronunciation, grammar and lexical skills, proper listening. Teachers introduce wards with new sounds, words, intonems. Moreover, students do not just repeat new material, as a one-year-old kid repeats after an adult, but learn to think analytically.
When the initial skills are mastered and accumulated in sufficient volume, teachers move on to more complex types of speaking: small monologues and dialogues. And again, they are acquired by the students gradually, learning goes the way from easy to difficult, from prepared speech to unprepared, productive.
At first, students learn reproductive speech, that is, read or memorize other people's texts. In the work with the prepared speech, there is practically no creativity of the speaker, he does not independently choose the words, the design of the text, its content, logic and sequence of presentation. In this case, a different goal is pursued: pronouncing the memorized text, the student in practice applies and combines previously acquired skills and speech units.
Little by little, productive speech begins to take an important place in the learning process. The student tries to speak without prior preparation. He learns independent speech creativity: the ability to have a conversation, ask questions, describe his thoughts or complex ideas, perceive what he heard, react and analyze it. In fact, the child masters the art of a full-fledged monologue and dialogue.
Of course, the process of teaching speaking and its development is not limited to school times. Many continue to study this in universities, even more people are engaged in self-improvement, understanding the social and practical importance of speech. After all, speaking permeates the entire existence of a person, affects all spheres of his activity.
It is important to remember that competent and reasonable communication skills and its basic speech means determine the quality of life, allow you to develop intelligence and accumulate knowledge, help to find friendship and love, build a family and continue your family, share your own spiritual world and know others, reach career heights and realized as a person.