Assessing Students in Oral Communication
Hello! How does someone go about trying to get a student to speak freely regarding an assignment when they do not want to express themselves in front of the classroom?
Megan,
My experience as a Speech Instructor I found this to be a challenge. See if any of these ideas help you: 1. Have them sit in front of the class instead of standing. 2. Have 2-3 students sit in front of the class around the table to create a discussion panel. Give them a topic and each one take one aspect like, history, traditions, foods, customs etc. as there contribution to the panel discussion. 3. Have them create questions about the lecturing material. All the questions go in a large pickle jar. Have each student pick out a questions and they must answer the question and if it is a hard question they can point to another student (with his/her hand up) to help answer the question. 4. You can play Bingo. Have the students fold their paper so thy have 9 squares. They must answer your questions and write the answer in a square. Once they have 3 correct answers in a row they need to give you their answers. Placement of the answers is their choice. You give the answer to the question once the students stop writing. Do any of these ideas sound workable for you?
Arlene Muller
Create a safe place to make mistakes. Sometime having the instructor share a personal story about their own issues/trouble with an exam/assesment can start them talking. Asking open ended questions and having the class write their responses can make it easier. Then they often feel comfortable with reading their responses and discussing them openly.
Elizabeth,
Yes, I agree you can start a discussion by telling your students about your issues, mistakes, or how you over came a problem during your "life of learning". You create an atmosphere where students will feel comfortable and share their mistakes and see how other students have had to over come the very same issues.
Arlene Muller
I encourage them to speek slowly and have them attempt to pronounce the proper terms while doing their oral presentations. I will help them along the way. It seems to give them confindence. My students are learning medical terminology as well so this is quite a challenge for them. Always have positive reinforcement to give.
Deborah,
Excellent, I am sure your are also using vocabulary cards to learn the medical terminology. My classes at a medical school also had competition within the classroom and other classes. It made learning the medical terms fun and the groups earned bragging rights. You can give one point for the correct word, one point for the correct spelling and the third point for the correct pronunciation.
Arlene Muller
Yes, sharing your personal story helps a lot. Sometimes I stop and think how to pronounce the word in front of the class. I want them to see that I am a human being and am still learning. they like helping me. I also ask them to help me spell the word once in a while. I tell them that I forgot and need help. That usually works very well for me.
Inesa,
How wonderful! Your technique inspires your students to give you the response you want. They are learning, helping you and the other students, plus allowing them to lose their fears about asking for help. Excellent!
Arlene Muller
I believe that some students are not natural talkers, but when they are comfortable they start to express themselves. If they won't speak in class without prodding then make it manditory that they participate. If they know that they are expected to participate in an assigned class they will generally come prepareed
Shirley,
Yes, so true Shirley. I also found that if I let the students stand by their seats for the first assignment then have them go to the front of the class for the second assignment it helps to build confidence. When I have taught Speaking Effectively, I also make sure the classroom audience always applauds the speaker.
Arlene Muller
I give the students time to practice on the day the speech is given, and my school has a very high ELL population. Also, there is a lot of pairs and group work throughout the course. Humor is a very important tool that I use as well. To get students laughing helps them relaxed especially in a course they don't want to take.
Finally, I emphasize the reasoning behind the course. If students can give good presentations, they are likely to get higher grades in their other classes that require presentations.
Stephen,
Yes, I have seen humor used well in the classroom as a learning tool. The instructor used humor about his actions and never used the students as targets for his humor. Using humor to make the students feel relaxed in the classroom has potential, however, the "humor rope" is very thin line and can be misconstrued.
Arlene Muller
When I have encountered this issue or similar with a ELL student. I offer them time with me one on one (tutoring). I work with them individually and slowly incorporate other students to join us. Turn the whole session into a social setting and then have him or her begin to slowly start expressing themselves in the classroom setting. It's all about getting them to feel at ease in front of others.
Stewart,
Yes, a student needs to feel it is safe to learn and make mistakes. Your approach starting one on one is excellent!
Arlene Muller
In my class, I require participation, but some students are still afraid of expression. I tell these students that if they volunteer to read a PowerPoint slide or a handout, that they will get those points for illustrating that they are present and focused on the class. Generally it's my class policy to have students read everything (instead of me), and I don't let other students correct or help with pronunciation--we all live through the experience of a student attempting to parse a word. After the first week, I find that everyone feels comfortable participating in this manner, and it helps me gauge comprehension/vocab issues.
Allison,
Wow, if I understand you right, only your students read all the material presented. I love it and I think it is a uniques technique. I am sure that your personality is key to making it work.
Arlene Muller
English is not my first language therefore I understand what some of my students may be experiencing. I often work with students one-on-one also. I've found that this helps them to feel comfortable in the classroom. It also affirms that they have support. I also connect them with peer tutors and other students whenever possible. I not only want my students to learn from me but each other.
Chan,
Excellent, you can see that peer tutoring is an advantage to helping a student learn. I salute you for taking the extra time to do one-on-one tutoring because I know how much energy that takes.
Arlene Muller
A tactic I have used is to get the student to explain or even teach me one on one how to do whatever we are learning to do. As they do this they get more comfortable with me as an instructor and I can assess what they are grasping and what they might be misunderstanding. It has worked well for me over the years
Gary,
Excellent idea. I find that students truly understand when they can teach the concept to someone else.
Arlene Muller
