Chapter 1 discusses the role of target language production, or output, in the language learning process. Through examining hypotheses in the field of second language acquisition, as well as learner data, the authors consider why it is important for learners to have the opportunity to talk and write in the language they are learning. Strategies for how to structure these types of interactions and how to promote language production in learner-centered lessons are also included.

Learning vocabulary through listening is one type of learning through meaning-focused input. Learners need at least 95 per cent coverage of the running words (around 3,000 word families) in the informal spoken input in order to gain reasonable comprehension and to have reasonable success at guessing unknown vocabulary from context clues. A well-balanced listening and speaking course includes opportunities to learn through listening to monologues and interactive communication, opportunities to learn from speaking and interacting with others, the deliberate study of pronunciation, vocabulary and multiword units, and grammar, and opportunities to become fluent in listening and speaking. This chapter includes a large range of activities to provide these opportunities, and describes how teachers can design speaking activities so that vocabulary is more likely to be learned. The research shows that those who observe speaking activities are just as likely to learn the vocabulary in the activities as those who actively participate

Many children seem to learn to talk effortlessly, perhaps because they are treated as meaning-makers from the moment they are born. As Alexander writes, talk plays a powerful role in a child’s learning and yet, sometimes once a child can talk, we pay little attention to the ongoing development of speaking and active listening. This chapter begins by focusing on how children become competent oral communicators in the home, in early childhood contexts and at school. The central role of storying and storytelling in learning both language and culture, including the role of oral narrative in Australia’s First Nations cultures, is also considered in helping us understand why oracy underpins learning to read and write. This chapter documents how speaking and listening are represented in both the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Australian Curriculum: English. Finally, a range of teaching and learning instructional strategies that foster the ongoing development of children’s speaking and listening are explored.

This chapter discusses the commonalities and differences between reading and listening by focusing on the commonalities and differences between writing and speaking. Common to writing and speaking is that they are both activities that normally have a fourfold intentionality: (1) they are performed intentionally; (2) they are targeted at other people; (3) they are about things; and (4) they are the means by which the author intends to reach certain aims. Next, I discuss Paul Ricoeur's views on the distinction between writing and speaking, in which the notion of autonomy plays an important role. It is argued that Ricoeur is not successful in bringing out the distinction that he is groping for and that a more adequate view on the distinction should make use of the idea that at least some writing is creative‐investigative – that is, some writing is such that an author would not and even could not have formed the thoughts and ideas expressed in their text if they had not engaged in writing.

The bulk of the work on non-native speech has focused on average differences between L1 and L2 speakers. However, there is growing evidence that variability also plays an important role in distinguishing L1 from L2 speech. While some studies have demonstrated greater variability for non-native than native speech (e.g., Baese-Berk & Morrill, 2015; Wade et al., 2007), others have demonstrated that under some circumstances non-native speech maybe less variable and that variability in non-native speech may shift as a function of many factors, including task (Baese-Berk & Morrill, to appear; Baese-Berk, Morrill, & Bradlow, 2016) and L1-L2 pairing (Vaughn, Baese-Berk, & Idemaru, to appear). In the present study, we ask how variability manifests in L1 and L2 speech by speakers from a variety of language backgrounds. Specifically, we ask whether a speaker whose L1 speaking rate is highly variable is also highly variable in their L2. We also ask whether variability in speaking rate in L1 or L2 differs as a function of task (e.g., read vs. spontaneous speech) and complexity of the task (e.g., more or less complicated reading passages). The results of this study will inform our understanding of the myriad complex factors that influence non-native speech.

In Chapter 10 you were introduced to the IRAC framework for legal thinking, one of the most common fundamental approaches to working through a legal problem. On its own, IRAC seems quite simple — and it is, which is the beauty of it. However, if legal arguments were that simple, nobody would ever need to consult a lawyer! In this chapter, we take that basic IRAC process and start to add skills around it. By the end of this chapter you should have some idea about how to utilise IRAC and how to do so in a way that constructs compelling legal arguments.

This chapter summarizes the arguments of previous chapters.

This chapter shows how the patterns of speech outlined in the previous chapters support proposals for a tripartite structure of Hebrews; however, these patterns are especially prevalent in the first two sections, but break down some in the third. This chapter discusses the spoken quotations in the third section of Hebrews (10:19–13:25) and demonstrates how the author develops his motifs from the previous sections. This section also shows how the author’s spoken quotations relate to the opening prologue in which the Father speaks “to us” through the Son, even though no quoted speech from the Son is ever directed to the addressees in Hebrews.

Chapter 20 discusses the importance of good speaking skills and strategies, and its authors present the findings about what a good language teacher does to draw on pedagogical content knowledge for speaking instruction.

A dispute arose over companies conducting exploratory drilling in a national park as damage was occurring to sites of Indigenous significance. This issue of whether to allow or prohibit the companies’ access to the park had the potential to become a political one so the four relevant government departments were charged with the task of finding a solution. Although the parties found themselves in deadlock over the question of access they nevertheless kept talking and eventually, by listening carefully to what was being said, and how it was being said, new perspectives emerged. It became clear that just one mining company was causing the problems; the real issue for the exploration companies was frustration with delays in getting permits. It took time for this information and these insights to emerge but once they did, it was much easier to find a workable solution that controlled the behaviour of exploration companies and so protected the Indigenous sites within the park. (This negotiation is explored further in the Negotiation in Practice box later in this chapter.) In another negotiation over the purchase of a new management information system, a key issue was timing: the buyer wanted it by June, but the producer believed it would not be ready until November. They agreed to a compromise delivery date of August. As negotiations continued on other issues it transpired that the ‘it’ meant ‘pay for it’ by June, when the buyer’s current budgetary allocation would run out. Had both parties understood this, it would have been relatively easy to establish a trust fund to hold the payment from June, until delivery occurred in November, a much better solution for both parties. (A full account of this case is provided in the at the end of this chapter.)