Discussion
- does it work?
All
over the world students are enrolled in conversation classes,
and discussions are a central part of a student's classroom
experience. Well, or are they? Because for every discussion
that works, teachers can tell you (and they do) of discussion
disasters, where things just didn't work at all.
We
think we know why discussions (like many other speaking
activities) are a good idea. We believe, for example, that
they give students a chance to try out language in the safety
of the classroom - a kind of rehearsal for the real thing.
We feel fairly confident that the process of putting your
thoughts into words is a valuable process for any learner
to go through. Indeed without this, language learning has
not really taken place. Speaking activities also give both
students and teachers a chance to see how much progress
is being made. And finally, of course, good discussions
(and other speaking activities) can be fun.
But
the questions remain: why do some
discussions fail, and what can
we do about it? Read through the next two parts of this
new article then download the Discussion
Development Pack for more views on this topic.
If
you have any questions for me, join in the next live chat
session in The Forum.
Jeremy
Subsribe
now to access the Development Packs and join our live
discussion forums.
