Google
English-Test.net
Find penpals and make new friends today!
 
mild; slight; comfortable; simple
substitute
fine
easy
foreign
TOEIC prep test: Word quizzes: Free Online Adjective Game Answer
 
Username
Password
 Remember me? 
Search   FAQ   Memberlist   Profile   Private messages   Register   Log in 

What's your average speaking rate (WPM)?



 
ESL/EFL Worksheets and Handouts for Students Printable, photocopiable, clearly structured
Designed for teachers and individual learners
For use in a classroom, at home, on your PC
ESL Forum | What do you want to talk about?
Molly's Playground | Post 0-4 conditionals
Message Author
What's your average speaking rate (WPM)? Fri Sep 12, 2008 22:56 pm  What's your average speaking rate (WPM)?
 

Hi,

The Callan Method requires a teacher to speak at a minimum speed of 240 words per hour all the time during every lesson. I do think that it is much better if a teacher speaks fast rather than slowly. Callan says that researches have found that children want to be talked to at a rate of at about 200 words per minute, not less.

It is true that if a teacher speaks slowly, it is harder for the students to concentrate. Their minds start wandering off and they get bored. What's more, if a teacher speaks very slowly, the students have enough time to translate what is being said into their native languages. This process is totally counter-productive to learning English.

Now, this speech and language pathologist always speaking very slowly. Again, I don't think that speaking slowly makes much sense. Speaking clearly is good. Speaking slowly is not. Cheryl Posey, says "speaking slower is better". In opinion, the opposite is true.

What do you think?
Thanks,
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary
Torsten
Site Admin
Torsten Daerr

Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 7887
Location: EU

What's your average speaking rate (WPM)? Sat Sep 13, 2008 15:50 pm  What's your average speaking rate (WPM)?
 

Hi Torsten,

I would say that it's not how fast or slow the teacher should speak but more of how he/she delivers this information to his/her students.
I've had an instructor who was so fast and the amount of information he was giving us was too much that we didn't understand much.
For the same course (Strategic Management) we had a different instructor, he speaks less, he has his own way of teaching, his own material, everyone understood and we were happy about it.

I believe Callan means that we should speak clearly as you said Torsten, otherwise we will look retarded. As you can see in her video, she is speaking clearly which makes her look more classy and elegant than speaking fast.

Average is the key I believe, too fast and too slow is not good.

Kind regards,
Zak
BikerBoy
New Member


Joined: 11 Sep 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

How many different ways with words do you know? Subscribe to free email English courseEnglish grammar exercises — improve your English knowledge and vocabulary skillsAre you a native speaker of English? Then you should read this!In this story you'll learn everything about the passive voice
What's your average speaking rate (WPM)? Sat Sep 13, 2008 18:11 pm  What's your average speaking rate (WPM)?
 

Hi Torsten

I'd say that the speed at which people speak depends on what they're talking about, and it also varies from person to person. Too slow can put the listener to sleep, too fast can do the same thing. If you speak too slowly in a conversation, you may find yourself being frequently interrupted, or end up having people finishing your sentences for you, for example. If you speak too fast, you may end up losing your listeners entirely.

That said, I think it is advantageous for ESL students to practice listening to English spoken at various speeds, including very high speed.

I don't think you can really compare the Callan method of learning English with a speech pathologist. To me, Cheryl Posey focused on only two things: accent reduction and clear pronunciation.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA

Display posts from previous:   
Molly's Playground | Post 0-4 conditionals
ESL Forum | What do you want to talk about? What's your average speaking rate (WPM)? All times are GMT + 2 Hours
Page 1 of 1
Latest topics on English Forums
German unemployed stronger than German entrepreneurs?What do you think about the situation in Iraq?How can I improve my speaking skills?Free enterprise system?less confidenceA scheduled lesson plan for English idioms to be taught via mobile phone's SMSCallan teacher speaking like in the classroom?Motivation for Poetry AppreciationI need to learn an American accent and need to know more vocabulary...Is this true?Japan YouTube - Watch Japanese Video Clips - FunnyIELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL or a different course?How to pronounce the English words clearly and correctly?Is there any value in learning lists of words from vocabulary books?Free ESL videosMacbeth and the future tenses? (Looking Ahead)Take your timeI really enjoy reading your ESL newsletter "Small talk"What's your average speaking rate (WPM)?

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Subscribe to FREE email English course
First name E-mail