English teachers, are you talking too much in class?

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By Declan Cooley
03 December 2014 - 07:16

'Thefirststeptoreducingteachertalkingtimeissimplytobeawareofit.'PhotoMateusLunardiDutra,licensedunderCCBY2.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)andadaptedfromtheoriginal(https://www.flickr.com/photos/mateusd/11523379905/).

InwhatwaysdoEnglishteacherstalktoomuchintheclassroomandhowcanthey'unlearn'thistendency?DeclanCooley,
teachertrainerontheCELTAcourse(http://www.britishcouncil.pl/en/celta)attheBritishCouncilinPoland,explains.

Reducingtheamountteacherstalkintheclassroomisoneofthemostfrequentissuesteachersdealwiththroughoutatrainingcourse.
Thetendencynewteachershaveto'lecture'studentsprobablycomesfromtheirownexperienceoflearningatschool.Oneofthetasks
ofateachertraineristhereforetohelpnewteachersunlearntheideathatteachersarepeoplewhosejobitistotalkalot.

Ofcourse,thereisteachertalkingtime(TTT)thatcanbenefitstudentsintheformofteacherdemonstrations,conveyingmeaningand
tellinganecdotes.Still,thethingwithunhelpfulteachertalkisthatitcanleakoutinmanysmall,oftenunnoticed,ways.Whenaddedup,
theseleakscandiminishthequalityofthelearningexperience,givingstudentslessbreathingspacetopractisethelanguageinthe
classroom.Anditsnotonlynewteacherswhohavethistendency.Alllanguageteacherscangetintothehabitoftalkingtoomuchin
lessons,particularlyinthefollowingfourways.

1.Repeatinginstructions

Therearenaturallyverygoodintentionsbehindrepeatinginstructionsbutstudentscangetusedtoteachersrepeatingthemselvesand
maystartswitchingoff.Forexample:

'Readoutthecards,dontshoweachotherandthen,iftheygotogether,sitdown.Sothesecardsbelongtogether,sothispersonneeds
tofindthispersonandtheyneedtositdowntogether....Idlikeyoutoreadittootherpeopleintheclass.Remember:noshowing,and
whenyouthinkyouvefoundyournewpartner,sitdowntogether,OK?'

Awaytocounterthisisintheformofinstructioncheckingquestions:
'Doyoushowyourpartneryourcard?'(No).
'Whathappenswhenyoufindyourpartner?'(Sitdowntogether).

Heresanotherexampleofunnecessaryrepetition:

'Standup.Ifyoucouldallstandup...Yes,standup'

Probablythemoretimestheteachersaysthis,thelessimpactithas.Wouldntonestandupeveryoneandsomegesturingcarrymore
weight?

2.Sayingmuchmorethanthestudentswhenreceivingacontribution

Hereisanexampleofteachergettingananswertoaquestionandthensayingtoomuch:

Student:(quietly)'Tenyearsago'

Teacher:'WouldyouliketotelleveryonetheansweryouwerethinkingofagainbecauseIdontthinktheyhearditwhenyouspokeso
quietlyandImsurewedallbeinterestedinhearingitifyoucould,please?'

Inthefollowingexample,theteacherisattheboardandtryingtoclarifysomelanguage:

Student:'Ivelivedherefortenyears.'

Teacher:'Well,thatwasntreallywhatIwashopingyoudsaywhenIaskedthatquestion.Iwasactuallylookingforthenameoftheverb
tense,notanexamplesentence.Butwhatyougavemewasfine.Only,doesanyone,Iwonder,havetheanswerImlookingfor?'

Inthisfirstcase,thewordlouderwithasmileandagesturewillworkwell.Inthesecond,youcanprobablythinkofawaytosayless.A
goodruleofthumbmightbetosayhalfasmuchasthestudents,atamaximum.

3.Askinglengthyquestions

Thisisanexamplefromanopenclassdiscussion:

Teacher:'IfIweretoaskyouforyouropiniononthetopicofgeneticallymodifiedfood,whatdoyouthinkyoumightsaytomeinreplyto
that?'

Again,thismaybeawellintentionedwaytoappeartentativeandthuspolite.However,thepossiblebenefitofthisapproachis
outweighedbytheconfusionitmaycausethestudent.Ashorter,moredirectversionofthisquestionprobablycomestomind.

4.Echoingwhatstudentshavejustsaidinanswertoaquestion

Inthiscase,theteacherisgettingcontributionsinopenclassafterstudentshavetalkedaboutfavouriteholidayactivitiesinpairs:

Student:(givingtheiropinion)'Ilikegoingtothebeach,becauseitisfun.'

Teacher:'OK,soyoulikegoingtothebeach,becauseitisfun.Right,good.'

Andhere'sanotherexampleofopenclassfeedback,butonthisoccasion,theanswerstoareadingtaskarebeingchecked.

Student:'Theansweris'False'.'

Teacher:'False.Thatsright.False.Good.'

Inboththesecases,thereislittlereasontoechothestudent'sanswerifeveryoneintheclasshasclearlyheardit.Iftheyhaventheard
it,trylouder.Ifyouarenotsureifanotherstudenthasheardtheanswer,youcansayTim,didyouhearthat?Allofthesepromptswill
sendthemessagethatitisnotjustfortheteachertohear,butforeveryone.
Therearetimeswhenothertypesofrepetitiondomakesense,suchaswhenreformulatingananswer.Anexampleofthisisifthe
studentsaysIlikegotothebeachbecauseisfun.Repeatingacorrectversionofthiscouldbeagentleformofcorrection.
Reformulationisconversationalwithoutbreakingtheflowyoucanleanoncertainpartsofthesentencewithyourvoiceanduse
meaningfulfacialexpressionstosignalthatyouaremakingcorrectionsinasubtleyetclearway.

Summingup

EachofthesefourexamplesofunnecessaryTTTturnupeveninthebestoflessonsfromtimetotime.Occasionallywecanfeel
ourselvesjustifyingourneedforTTTaswereturn(unconsciouslyperhaps)tothebeliefthattheteacherwhotalksalotisteachingalot.
Butonreflection,wecanseethatmuchofitmaybemotivatedbythereassuringsoundofourownvoice,orclingingtothespotlightof
attention.WemayevenjustifyTTTasawayofexposingstudentstousefullanguage,forgettingwhatadelugeofwordsitoftensounds
liketostudents.

ThefirststeptoreducingTTTissimplytobeawareofit.Butonceyoubecomemoreaware,don'tbetooselfcritical.Simplynoticingthe
tendencyandstoppingitinitstracksearlierandearlierwithoutselfreproachisasensiblepathtofollow.Theresultwillbeaclassroom
withmoresilentspaceinwhichstudentsvoicescanflourish.

FindoutmoreabouttheCELTAinPoland(http://www.britishcouncil.pl/en/celta),includingdatesandhowtoapply.

You might also be interested in:

WhyIwenttoPolandtotrainasanEnglishlanguageteacher(/voicesmagazine/whyiwentpolandtrainenglish
languageteacher)

HowtogetstartedasanonlineteacherofEnglish(/voicesmagazine/howgetstartedasonlineteacherenglish)

NativeEnglishspeakingteachers:alwaystherightchoice?(/voicesmagazine/nativeenglishspeakingteachersalways
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Readmorearticles(http://www.britishcouncil.org/voicesmagazine)

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Rachael Sable 3 years ago

NICE BLOG.
English grammar lessons online.
2 Reply Share

Breyner Jimenez Noya 3 months ago

Excellent tips. Very often that excessive TTT ends up confusing the students more that they are already are
1 Reply Share

alistair lee 2 years ago

Bang on article! I'm guilty of it all, to varying degrees (The 'repeating instructions' dialogue, I read as my own :). Food for thought, for
sure.
1 Reply Share

Ibrahim 3 years ago

Not every thought or theory are t for all people in whole world, there are many factors should be available to enable teachers to bring
this way or that method to classes correctly, it is true that a teacher of an intermediate or high level class should speak as less as
possible during a language lesson but the students themselves should be motivated enough to help the teacher performed the
possible during a language lesson, but the students themselves should be motivated enough to help the teacher performed the
technique. some could say it a teacher's job is to motivate a student, but as a mater of fact it is not only the teacher's job because it is
not possible to be done by the teachers only, the teacher is one of the players who can bring motivation to his class, undoubtedly it is a
shared task among the school, the community including family and the students themselves. they all are responsible to make
motivation attended in a class.
when a teacher teaches very low level class, it would be a fatal for a teacher to speak more than the students especially if the students
are not motivated, the social understanding of a specic community and their believes about education reects the right way for
teaching in schools, the way which should be applied , basically people of Europe are not the same as the people of Midleast. in
addition into that many communities all over the world in their terns are not the same in terms of circumstances and believes.
Some modern theories and thoughts turned schools and teaching into a miss in some countries because they adopted the wrong ways
of teaching in schools and try to apply some theories which are not applicable in those places, sometimes they distance between
theory and practise are so far.
a teacher in a school is ruled by a system, it is a big mistake if we do not take this point in consideration, there are usually an annual
plan including syllabus and units should be achieved during a period of time, can a teacher ignore it? if a teacher has a very low level
class and wanted to give the initiative of speaking for the students all the time, he would need three doubles of time at least to achieve
the plan. Do you think schools and supervisors would be forgivable and understandable with a teachers who are not following the
see more

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Erler Pinho 3 months ago

"Read out the cards..."??? READ CARDS??? Really??? LMAOROTFF!!! That's how you're still teaching English? What century is this? I
thought this was 2017. Card reading.... pf.... Oh my...
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Afzal Prodhan 2 years ago

Hi this is afzal .I'm a student and I want to learn English
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Nadezda Bukina 2 years ago

The article is useful and gives thing to think over. However the strict rules like talking half as much as the students can't be implied to
any classroom. If I start talking half as much as my preschool group I just won't teach them anything cause not all of them are over their
silent periods and those who are - say a word or two at once. Even those who tend to repeat easily after me or the audio still repeat just
half of the phrase. And its normal for their age and level. And it would be ridiculous to give short commands instead of polite phrases
with my adult Intermediate students. So it kind of depends on the age, level and number of students quite a lot.
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Zawahir Meerasahib 2 years ago

v....nice
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Waheedullah Hassan 3 years ago

I am Very interest in TOFFEE Class if they help me in this way will be better I m Looking forward to hearing from you ass soon as
possible

Skpye waheed333314
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Waheedullah Hassan 3 years ago

I am Waheedullah from Afghanistan I am Here teacher on of the government school since 2007 i want to improve my current level of
English due to to transfer all lesson to them when I catch from them I live standard is low and i can not bear high fee due to my per
capital income per month is low then 200$ in this way you gonna help me I will so greatfu lwaheedullah Hassan, Sunday 1:29 PM
Reply Share

Josh Alex Taylor > Waheedullah Hassan 2 years ago

You need some serious help with your English.
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CloudDudette > Josh Alex Taylor 2 years ago

LOL how about handing him a help! Don't be so harsh =]
1 Reply Share

Josh Alex Taylor > CloudDudette 2 years ago

Yea, you're right :) I apologise ;)
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Waheedullah Hassan 3 years ago

hello
 hello
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Sun Jeo Kim 3 years ago

Thank you very much for your convenience. I am a sweet girl but will be lady soon! As a Koeran, I follow your rules and ettiquet of
British Council ! Merry Christmas all over the world! Call me Sunny Kim as well. Nice to meet you! Fight~
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