speak up: encouraging students to speak in the classroom

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Hanks, TESOL 2010 Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in Class Julie Hanks [email protected]

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Getting students to speak in class is challenging. Given the opportunity for classroom participation, students may choose not to speak for a host of cultural, social and personal reasons. Having previous experience in Asia, the presenter will discuss these reasons, and provide classroom-tested suggestions on how to get students speaking.

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Page 1: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Speak Up: Encouraging Students to

Speak in Class

Julie Hanks

[email protected]

Page 2: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Today’s Agenda

• Introduction• Cultural reasons for not speaking • Activities to counter cultural reasons• Social reasons for not speaking• Activities to counter social reasons• Personal reasons for not speaking• Activities to counter personal reasons• Further tips and strategies

Page 3: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Introduction

• Getting students to speak

• Day one vs day ten

• Silence

• Students may not speak in class for cultural, social and personal reasons

• Teachers must understand these reasons and then provide activities to serve as a counterbalance

Page 4: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Benefits of speaking in the classroom

• Importance of oral production in the target language

• Benefits students externally

• Benefits students internally (Krupa-Kwiatkowski, 1998)

• Silent period vs choosing to be silent

Page 5: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Cultural Reasons for Not Speaking in the Classroom

• Inappropriate for students to speak up in class

• Unusual for students to speak up in class

• (Wiltse, 2006)

• Can be seen as a challenge to a teacher’s authority whereas keeping silent can be seen as a sign of respect

• (Tater, 2005)

Page 6: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Activities to Counter Cultural Reasons

• Role playing activities

• Students as teachers

• Mini dramas (Tsou, 2005)

Page 7: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Role play

• Give students a situation (ie teacher and students discussing a reading passage)

• Have the student ‘teacher’ and students role play how they would act during this situation

• ‘Teacher’ is in charge

Page 8: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Students as Teachers

• Give each student a chance to be the ‘teacher’

• Have the student run an activity to observe how it is done, and how others react to this

• Can accomplish class work while observing cultural differences

Page 9: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Mini Dramas

• Can be modeled on soap operas, where students are encouraged to overact

• Issues such as how to speak up in a crowded room, ask questions when in a group of people, and how to ask for help

Page 10: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Issues with Role Play and Students as Teachers

• Students may just copy what they have seen you do as they feel this is the way the class should be run.

• Useful to integrate this early in the semester if you want examples of a student’s native culture

• Integrate later in the semester if you want to model classroom procedures

Page 11: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Social Reasons for Not Speaking in the Classroom

• Immodesty

• Proper teacher-student decorum

• (Tsou, 2005)

• Questioning and engaging students is viewed as “confrontational” (Holliday, 1997)

Page 12: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Activities to Counter Social Reasons

• Pay attention to your students and work out a system

• Direct questions

• Group work

• Student questionnaires

• Participation Instruction (Tsou, 2005)

Page 13: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Read Student Cues

• Work out a system to deal with illusion of immodesty

• Have a subtle, but agreed upon system that they students can use

• Be sensitive to student feedback in the classroom

Page 14: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Direct Questions

• Ask questions from students directly as opposed to asking for anyone to answer

• Students feel obligated to answer

• Students are not showing off, just answering the teacher

• Allow neighbors to help to lessen anxiety

Page 15: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Group Work

• Students can all contribute their ideas together

• Alternate who in the group will report findings to the class

• Assign roles such as who reports, who answers any questions, etc

Page 16: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Student Questionnaires

• A good way to find out about students’ native culture

• Can be formal or informal; for lower or more advanced levels

• Can be anonymous or signed

Page 17: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Sample Questionnaire

When the teacher asks the class a question in my home country I :

a) Yell out the

answer loudly – A good student participates in class

b) Do nothing – It is rude to speak up in class

Page 18: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Sample Questionnaire

• Open-ended questions

• Ex: How should a good student act in the classroom?

• When the teacher calls on me in class I feel:

Page 19: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Participation Instruction

• Tsou, 2005

• 1st: Discuss what teacher wants and expectations

• 2nd: Students encouraged to ask questions at anytime

• 3rd: Roles of teachers and students in native cultures explored and juxtaposed to current classroom role

Page 20: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Personal Reasons for Not Speaking in the Classroom

• Often varied and highly individualized

• If it becomes a pattern, investigate

• Students may not feel they can communicate competently and choose silence (Kim, 2006)

• Fear of what others will think causes them to withdraw (Gregersen, 1999)

• Losing face

Page 21: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Activities to Counter Personal Reasons

• Group and pair work

• Pay attention to your students – try to determine their fears

• Student-teacher contract

• Offer activities that illustrate a student’s speaking progress

• Allow students to progress at their own pace accordingly (Holliday, 1997)

Page 22: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Try to Determine Student Fears

• Class or group discussions

• Talk to students individually – one student per day

• Give feedback, ask questions, give praise, etc

Page 23: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Student-Teacher Contract

• Have a contract between the student and the teacher detailing what is expected within the classroom

• Can write the contract for students or have students work on the contract with the teacher

Page 24: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Offer activities that illustrate a student’s speaking progress

• Videotape speeches

• Audacity

• Reflection papers

• Peer feedback

• Excel charts to compare scores or feedback

Page 25: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Allow students to progress at their own pace accordingly

• Teachers need better training

• Allow students and the class to progress on their own schedule

• Students progress according to their own needs

• (Holliday, 1997)

Page 26: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Further Tips and Strategies

• Lesson plans with an area for seating chart

• Note cards with names

Page 27: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Audience Tips and Suggestions

• Bribe with candy• Focused questions – detailed – lead

discussion as oral presentation• Good mistakes• Timer – talk for time limit• Give direct instructions and modeling Qs• Exit interview• Panel discussion – based on something

Page 28: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Tips and Strategies

• All students talk at once, for comfort• Talk for 2 minutes, then Qs• Use playing cards – match cards• Collect all cards before you leave• Lines – face each other, have cards• Show and tell• Role play – jibberish vs. English• Repeat for the class• ABCD technique

Page 29: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

Conclusion

• Student’s lack of participation harms language learning progression

• Must look at cultural, social and personal reasons behind student silence

• Flexibility is key

Page 30: Speak Up: Encouraging Students to Speak in the Classroom

Hanks, TESOL 2010

References:

Gregersen, T. (1999-2000). Improving the interaction of communicatively anxious students using cooperative learning. Lenguas Modernas, 26-27, 119-133.

Holliday, A. (1997). The politics of participation in international English language education. System, 25 (3), 409-423.

Kim, S. (2005) Academic oral communication needs of East Asian international graduate students in non-science and non-engineering fields. English for Specific Purposes. 25, 479-489.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.

Krupa-Kwiatkowski, M. (1998). “You shouldn’t have brought me here!”: Interaction strategies in the silent period of an inner-direct second language learner. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31(2), 133-175.

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References, cont.

Lee, G. (2009). Speaking up: Six Korean students’ oral participation in class discussions in US graduate seminars. English for Specific Purposes, 28, 142-156.

Tatar, S. (2005). Why keep silent? The classroom participation experiences of non-native-English-speaking students. Language and Intercultural Communication, 5(3&4), 284-293.

Tsou, W. (2005). Improving speaking skills through instruction in oral classroom participation. Foreign Language Annals, 38(1), 46-55.

Wiltse, L. (2006). ‘Like pulling teeth’: Oral discourse practices in a culturally diverse language arts classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue Canadiannne des Langues Vivantes, 63(2), 199-223.