How to improve speaking skills at the level B2 - textbook "Improving speaking skills (Czech for foreigners)"
Abstract
The objective of improving the speaking skills of foreign learners of Czech at the B2 level is to allow their natural and fluent interaction with native speakers. To achieve this goal, it is necessary not only to know enough grammar, vocabulary and to pronounce correctly, but also to be aware of the specifics of the spoken language.
The latter is characterized by distinctive phonetic, morphosyntactic and lexical features and also by typical conversational conventions, communication strategies, frequent word collocations and language related to different communicative functions. The improvement of speaking skills proceeds in three phases, i.e. awareness, appropriateness and autonomy, which lead successively to recognition, active acquisition and autonomous use of language and communication strategies.
Examples from the textbook Speaking and writing for advanced students (Czech for foreigners), which was created due to the internal grant of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University at the Institute of Czech studies in 2015, illustrate the ways how the quality of oral performance of advanced foreign learners of Czech may be improved.