Whole class discussion enables teacher to control the learner activities and maintain focus on the lesson. It requires the teacher to explain why students are being asked to engage in discussion. If teacher fails to do so, students will think their participation is unnecessary and learning process will be hindered. For discussion to be successful, students are requested to state their ideas clearly, respect others' view, and respond appropriately. These mean students have to both listen and think during participation.
This teaching strategy helps students develop communication skills but at the same time potentially causes trouble. It is easy for talkative students to dominate discussion
and either influence or annoy other students. As Killen (2012) stated in his book, students'
contribution is sometimes judgmental rather than positive and
constructive. This may lead into competitive emotional battlegrounds instead of productive discussion.
My strategy is to present different perspectives through media or presentation to make sure students are ready for discussion. I would rather carefully integrated discussions with other teaching strategies than using it as a whole lesson. The reason is that I found 2 main points which is really hard for me to refrain from. First, I need to contribute without giving students the impression that my opinion is more important. Second, I must able to hold myself from guiding the discussion too narrowly towards some predetermined conclusion. These will certainly help learners see that their ideas are valued, and that means a huge responsibility for me. To handle the undesired situation, “Let’s pause for a minute and consider where the discussion is now heading”. That statement I would like to use to refocus students on the purpose of discussion.
This teaching strategy helps students develop communication skills but at the same time potentially causes trouble. It is easy for talkative students to dominate discussion
and either influence or annoy other students. As Killen (2012) stated in his book, students'
contribution is sometimes judgmental rather than positive and
constructive. This may lead into competitive emotional battlegrounds instead of productive discussion.My strategy is to present different perspectives through media or presentation to make sure students are ready for discussion. I would rather carefully integrated discussions with other teaching strategies than using it as a whole lesson. The reason is that I found 2 main points which is really hard for me to refrain from. First, I need to contribute without giving students the impression that my opinion is more important. Second, I must able to hold myself from guiding the discussion too narrowly towards some predetermined conclusion. These will certainly help learners see that their ideas are valued, and that means a huge responsibility for me. To handle the undesired situation, “Let’s pause for a minute and consider where the discussion is now heading”. That statement I would like to use to refocus students on the purpose of discussion.
April 20, 2014 at 10:04 PM
Good day Sir, I am one of your student from Burma. My English skill is very poor, I want to join discussion in class but honestly I can not follow it.