English Speaking Skills Syllabus

Speaking Skills syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Speaking Skills in English, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Introduction to English Speaking

   2 topics

   • Understanding the Basics
     • Learning the Alphabet
     • Basic Phonetics
     • Simple Vocabulary
   • Listening Skills
     • Listening to Simple Conversations
     • Understanding Basic Sentences
2. 2

   Building Vocabulary

   2 topics

   • Expanding Vocabulary
     • Learning Common Words
     • Using Flashcards
   • Thematic Vocabulary
     • Food and Dining
     • Travel and Directions
3. 3

   Grammar and Sentence Structure

   2 topics

   • Basic Grammar
     • Nouns and Pronouns
     • Verbs and Tenses
     • Adjectives and Adverbs
   • Constructing Sentences
     • Simple Sentences
     • Compound Sentences
     • Complex Sentences
4. 4

   Pronunciation and Accent

   2 topics

   • Correct Pronunciation
     • Vowel Sounds
     • Consonant Sounds
   • Accent Reduction
     • Listening to Native Speakers
     • Imitation Exercises
5. 5

   Conversational Skills

   2 topics

   • Basic Conversations
     • Greetings and Introductions
     • Small Talk
   • Advanced Conversations
     • Expressing Opinions
     • Debates and Discussions
6. 6

   Listening and Comprehension

   2 topics

   • Listening to Audio Resources
     • Podcasts
     • Audiobooks
   • Watching Videos
     • Movies
     • TV Shows
7. 7

   Speaking and Practice

   2 topics

   • Practice Speaking
     • Language Exchange Partners
     • Speech Practice
   • Public Speaking
     • Preparing a Speech
     • Delivering a Speech
8. 8

   Cultural Context and Idioms

   2 topics

   • Understanding Cultural References
     • American Culture
     • British Culture
   • Learning Idioms
     • Common Idioms
     • Idioms in Context
9. 9

   Evaluation and Feedback

   2 topics

   • Self-Assessment
     • Recording and Analyzing Speech
     • Identifying Areas for Improvement
   • Receiving Feedback
     • Feedback from Peers
     • Feedback from Instructors

Speaking Skills flashcards for English

22 of 51 cards from the Speaking Skills deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the four core language skills, and which two are 'productive' versus 'receptive'?

   The four skills are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Speaking and writing are productive (you create language); listening and reading are receptive (you take language in).

2. In language learning, what is the difference between fluency and accuracy?

   Fluency is the ability to speak smoothly and continuously at a natural pace; accuracy is the correctness of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Good speakers balance both.

3. What is the role of listening skills in developing speaking ability?

   Listening provides comprehensible input: it models pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, and natural phrasing, which learners then imitate and reproduce when they speak.

4. Distinguish 'active listening' from 'passive listening'.

   Active listening involves focused attention, processing meaning, and responding (paraphrasing, questioning). Passive listening is hearing sound without deliberate engagement or response.

5. What are the two main sub-skills of listening: 'listening for gist' and 'listening for detail'?

   Listening for gist means grasping the overall main idea without every word; listening for detail means catching specific information such as names, numbers, times, or instructions.

6. What is the difference between a learner's 'passive (receptive)' vocabulary and 'active (productive)' vocabulary?

   Passive vocabulary is words you understand when reading or listening; active vocabulary is words you can correctly produce yourself when speaking or writing. Passive vocabulary is usually larger.

7. What is 'thematic vocabulary' and why is it useful for speaking?

   Thematic vocabulary is words grouped by topic or theme (e.g., food, travel, health). Grouping aids memory and lets a speaker quickly access relevant words for a given situation.

8. What is a collocation? Give an example.

   A collocation is a pair or group of words that habitually go together and sound natural to native speakers, e.g., 'make a decision' (not 'do a decision') or 'heavy rain' (not 'strong rain').

9. Name the eight traditional parts of speech in English.

   Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

10. What is the basic word order of a standard English declarative sentence?

    Subject + Verb + Object (SVO), e.g., 'She (S) reads (V) books (O).'

11. What are the three main verb tense categories in English, and how do they relate to time?

    Past, present, and future — locating an action before now, at/around now, or after now. Each combines with simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect-continuous aspects.

12. What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?

    A phrase is a group of words without a subject-verb pair functioning as a unit; a clause contains a subject and a finite verb. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence.

13. Compare a simple, compound, and complex sentence.

    Simple = one independent clause. Compound = two or more independent clauses joined (e.g., by 'and', 'but'). Complex = one independent clause plus at least one dependent clause.

14. What is subject-verb agreement?

    The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person: singular subjects take singular verbs ('she walks'), plural subjects take plural verbs ('they walk').

15. What are the seven coordinating conjunctions remembered by the acronym FANBOYS?

    For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

16. What is a phoneme?

    A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another, e.g., /p/ and /b/ distinguish 'pat' from 'bat'.

17. What is the difference between a vowel sound and a consonant sound?

    A vowel is produced with an open, unobstructed vocal tract (e.g., /a/, /i/, /u/); a consonant involves partial or full obstruction of airflow (e.g., /t/, /s/, /m/).

18. What is a minimal pair? Give an example used in pronunciation practice.

    A minimal pair is two words differing by only one phoneme, used to train sound discrimination, e.g., 'ship' /ʃɪp/ and 'sheep' /ʃiːp/, or 'rice' and 'lice'.

19. What is word stress, and why does it matter for being understood?

    Word stress is the emphasis placed on a particular syllable (e.g., 'PHO-to-graph' vs 'pho-TOG-ra-phy'). Misplaced stress can make a word unintelligible even if all sounds are correct.

20. What is intonation in spoken English?

    Intonation is the rise and fall of pitch across an utterance. Rising intonation often signals yes/no questions or uncertainty; falling intonation signals statements or completion.

21. What is the difference between an accent and a dialect?

    An accent is purely about pronunciation (how words sound); a dialect includes accent plus distinctive vocabulary and grammar of a region or group.

22. What does 'accent reduction' (accent modification) aim to achieve?

    It aims to make a speaker's pronunciation clearer and closer to a target accent for better intelligibility — not to erase identity, but to reduce features that hinder comprehension.

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