Develop Your Speaking Skills

Today we actively use social networks, computer games, interactive chatbots, and all sorts of messengers that allow people to communicate by simply clicking on the sensors of their gadgets. A few decades ago, all this might have seemed like science fiction, but today, it is our reality, and no one is surprised by such things anymore. There is no doubt that the development of technology significantly and repeatedly improves human life and makes it more comfortable, convenient, and easy. But at the same time, there is a downside.

Our acquaintances, friends, and colleagues easily fit into a small window of contacts, dialogues, and business. Intimate conversations take the form of chats, and colorful emoticons express emotions. And at the same time, for the young generation, the socialization problem is becoming more and more relevant. By this, I mean the issue of developing speaking skills. So, why are speaking skills important in education?

Importance of speaking skills and features of their development

Although talking about the importance of speaking skills may seem trivially obvious, we still want to pay some attention to it. This will promote a better understanding of the need to speak competently with other people in the real world and help us better understand what influences the development of speaking skills.

Speaking skills are essential for forming social circles, dating, making friends and negotiating, buying goods and services, signing contracts and doing business, building productive relationships, resolving conflicts, and finding common ground with others. And this story of how a Scotsman sold a fake country proves that. If a person cannot speak well, they will face many problems and difficulties in both their personal and professional spheres.

Speaking skills constitute a special behavioral complex that allows each of us to:

• Establish contacts

• Interest interlocutors

• Maintain communication

• Maintain relationships

• Argue our thoughts

• Assert interests

• Resolve conflicts

• Use nonverbal means of communication

• Protect ourselves from manipulation

• Understand others and the motives for their actions and reactions

Development of speaking skills

Most often speaking training is organized by professional specialists, but the suggestions below will also help you in the development of your speaking skills. If you use these methods together, they can serve as effective training in speaking skills. You will be able to eliminate any gaps you have in the field of interpersonal interaction, even without the help of specialists, independently.

Read books

Reading books from services like StuDocu will broaden your horizons, increase your vocabulary, help you remember new terms, and develop your ability to build grammatically correct sentences. With such a speaking arsenal, you can always find something to talk about with another person, keep the conversation on track, or move it in a more comfortable direction. And here's a good exercise: read an exciting book and retell it briefly while recording yourself. When you listen to the recording, pay attention to the flaws in your speaking: interruptions, wrong pauses, parasitic words; evaluate the overall quality of your speech. Note the mistakes and practice overcoming them so you won't make them in the future.

Show initiative

An early task is to overcome any fear of speaking—no need to be shy to get into contact first. If you want to speak – just start. But do not forget that there are situations where the potential interlocutor does not want to communicate, so do not apply pressure and force it. In other cases, you need to learn how to overcome your complexes and insecurities.

Be open

In many situations, people are closed and unsure of themselves because they overthink the relevance of their emotions and feelings. But the direct way to speak is to be open. No one forbids you to laugh, be sad, declare love, express fears, and share observations and ideas. Be comfortable with not everyone understanding you. With the help of openness and sincerity, you are more likely to find like-minded people and friends. In addition, openness can boost self-esteem and provide a positive view of the world.

Listen without interrupting

Listening is one of the best ways to understand and engage your conversation partner. When listening without interrupting, you give your partner space to express their thoughts and you learn a lot about them. Also, in the process of active listening, you will be able to track your reactions to the person's behavior, which means you will learn to see yourself from the outside.

Identify the common and the individual

In any situation where you have to speak to someone, pay attention to what you have in common and what makes you different. This technique helps to find common ground, to accept and respect the position of others, and to avoid and eliminate conflicts. By the way, one of the key moments in the art of speaking is to be able to accept another's point of view.

Be confident in yourself

Developing speaking skills is also about developing self-confidence. Fear of speaking out, fear of appearing ridiculous, insecurity in one's thoughts, words, and beliefs – these and similar traits always repel others. Conversely, a person with adequate self-esteem, who knows their strengths and appreciates themselves, will attract others to them. Confidence is felt, inspires respect, and makes people come into contact with such a person on their own.

Conclusion

The development and improvement of speaking skills occur throughout a person's life, and the better they master them, the better life prospects will open up to them.

Communicative people are more trusted. They are more readily accepted in society, are more confident, and have a much better chance of success than those who cannot speak well.

The ability to speak well can safely be called a talent and even a form of creativity. So if you want to learn how to better interact with others or teach it to your children, know that this is a worthy goal. The achievement of it can completely change the quality of your life and the lives of your loved ones.