Teaching speaking against odds: a structured approach. This approach is an attempt to respond to the increasing need to teach successful speaking in situations of increased problematic nature. The conducted research revealed that such situations include most instances of professional communication and oral exams in the academic context. The approach is research based and relies on certain provisions of the cognitive systems involved in the speech production theory, the principles of communicative mobility and problem-based learning. The main focus in designing the tasks is carefully constructed scaffolding leading to the acquisition of all necessary skills for a student to be a successful independent communicator even in stressful environment. The system of teaching steps based on the suggested approach has been tested in English language classes in NRU HSE.
Olga Marina is as an Associate Professor with the Department of Foreign Languages at the National Research University High School of Economics, as well as a Visiting Professor at MEd Program of St. Theresa International College, Bangkok, and the International program with the State University of New York (SUNY). She studied English Language and Literature before completing an MA in Applied Linguistics at the National University of Singapore. She defended her dissertation at the Institute of General Education, the Ministry of Education, Moscow, Russia and was awarded PhD in Pedagogy. She is the author of a number of articles on ELT issues