On Wednesday night I took part in my first ever #elt chat on Twitter. Here is my summary of what we discussed:
Reaching Out to “The Quiet Ones” in
the Class
This ELT chat
took place on the 28th of June at 9pm GMT. Its full title was
“Strategies for reaching out to introverted students in the language
classroom.”
I suggested
this as an ELT chat topic after reading Susan Cain’s book Quiet –
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, in which
the author looks at the ways in which our society is geared up to celebrate and
encourage extrovert personality traits.
Placed in opposition to the extrovert ideal, introverts are undervalued
and overlooked. Since reading this book I have become
increasingly aware of how the ELT classroom is geared towards extrovert
learners, while introvert learners are in danger of being neglected.
Our chat was
lively and engaging, and left us all with food for thought. Marisa_C did a wonderful job of welcoming and
including all participants, keeping the conversation moving and posing some
thought provoking questions. The discussion was wide ranging in scope: I hope
this summary goes some way towards clarifying its main threads.
Marisa_C
began by warmly welcoming everyone to the chat, and the hour proceeded to fly
by!
Defining Introverts
Central to
our discussion was this question: who exactly are our introvert learners? Opinions varied here, with some contributors seeing
introversion as a “handicap” which they wanted to cure learners of. Others
regarded introverts more favourably: as personality types which contribute just
as much to society as their more extrovert counterparts.
- Marisa_C
began by asking what we mean by the term introvert- is it someone who simply
doesn’t say much?
- gorse75
thought that introverts are people who are, by nature, more reflective, whereas
extroverts tend to “think with their mouths open”
- theteacherjames
suggested that “introverts are people whose energy tends to expand through
reflection and dwindle during interaction”
- chiasuan
suggested finding out the reason for learners’ quietness. “Are they quiet in
their L1 too? Are they frightened of something? Or is it just their
personality?
- chiasuan
and AnthonyGaughan went on to discuss reasons for learners’ fear, but this was
challenged by eannegrenoble who argued that introversion did not necessarily
equate with fear. She felt it was perfectly possibly to be a happy introvert.
- louisealix68
wondered what we should do if the learner in question is also introverted in L1.
- DinaDobrou
suggested that learners should learn to be less shy, but theteacherjames said
he didn’t like the idea of “bringing learners out”, and that we should
recognise introversion as a personality type.
Strategies for Working With Introverts
Classroom approaches
We considered
how we could address our classroom management strategies to cater to our
introvert learners, and discussed areas such as grouping and teacher/learner
interaction. Vickyloras suggested that we take care not to single out introvert
learners in class. This led to a discussion of the optimum group size for
introvert learners.
Classroom
Grouping
- AnthonyGaughan
asked if shy students are better off in large or small classes/groups.
- Harrisonmike felt that sometimes a pair is a group too small, and
found students intimidated to talk with
'better' other students.
- PlanELT
replied that class size isn’t always important as long as you create a safe,
secure environment for shy learners.
- purple_steph
suggested a peer support strategy which would work in the VLE: asking a student to help a new one create an account on
the VLE
Teaching Ideas
- KerrCarolyn tries to catch shy students before they come in to
class to let them know what the topic is for the day in order to eliminate
surprises. Carolyn also suggested writing activities with exchanges (email,
Facebook or passing notes) rather then a spoken summary, as preparation time
means that nerves are less of an issue.
- gorse75 recommended the strategy of “Think, pair, share” where
learners have time to reflect individually before moving on to discuss answer
with a partner. By the time they reach the group discussion they have had the
chance to reflect and “get their voice on the table” and may feel more
confident as a result.
- Marisa_C followed this up by suggesting an alternative 'pyramid
discussion' which builds up from individual learners to the whole class, and
allows time for processing & rehearsal
- chiasuan advocated NLP approaches such as mirroring: when you
consciously mirror some else’s body language, without being too obvious.
- Marisa_C had heard very good reports from teachers who use drama
activities. Some participants agreed with this: Naomishema commented that being
someone else allows learners to avoid exposing what they perceive as “embarrassing
personal stuff”! Planelt described how
using an alter ego activity with a quiet class had been very successful.
- However, others cautioned that not all learners enjoy these kinds
of activities.
- Planelt also suggested assigning particular roles in group work:
e.g. note taker, time keeper, or asking quieter learners to be the discussion
leader so that they could take a more active role.
- Marisa_C thought that designing lessons with a focus on this issue
may be a good idea - interviews or texts which might open up the discussion.
- gorse75 suggested using the quiz from Cain’s website “Are you an
Introvert?” which leads nicely into a discussion of personality types,
preferred classroom activities etc.
- vickyloras suggested looking at annemusielak’s guest blogs for
some useful drama activities.
- Finally, Mkofab suggested moving away from conversation based
lessons all the time
Creating a safe and secure
learning environment
- PlanELT thought that creating a safe environment for shy students
was the most important factor. As
someone who used to teach very shy Koreans, he always felt that 50% of his
class was teaching English and 50% was building confidence.
- Marisa_C felt that group dynamics were key, and compared the ELT
classroom with the #elt chat community, where people are allowed to lurk
quietly, until they have built sufficient confidence to contribute.
- chiasuan suggested drilling as a potential way of putting
introverted learners at ease. She referred to her experience at the Callan
school, where less vocal learners seemed to prefer drilling, and find it more
comfortable. She added that it was useful for learners who are not used to
being asked their opinions on certain subjects.
- However, dissenting voices worried that drilling might lead to
quieter learners getting lost in the crowd.
- We also discussed the pace of the lesson as being important –
Marisa_C noticed that some teachers can be rather hurried (for a range of
different reasons). This results in overly “pacey” lessons which discourage reflective
and introverted learners.
Introversion and the
Communicative Approach
- AnthonyGaughan wondered if neglecting introverted learners was a
negative function of the communicative approach.
- chiasuan countered that the communicative approach favours certain
cultures.
- theteacherjames commented on the fact that we are so focused on
getting our learners to interact that we neglect reflection. He also suggested
that classrooms are set up to cater for extrovert learners because this suits
most teachers’ personalities.
- Carolyn Kerr said she thinks sometimes we the Ts feel
uncomfortable with a 'quiet' class. “It’s as if decibels = success”.
Do we place too much emphasis on
speaking in class?
- Marisa_C wondered if introverted learners’ quietness could affect
their acquisition.
- eannegrenoble asked if we need to speak in class in order to
learn?
- gorse75 commented on the fact that course books were geared up
towards speaking activities.
- chiasuan thought that learners do need to
speak in order to learn to speak English.
Finally
The session
ended with thanks and goodbyes all round, and a final (heartfelt) thanks from
theteacherjames to the Spanish and Portuguese football teams for not distracting
him too much during the chat! Thanks everyone –this was the first time I
participated in eltchat and I really enjoyed it.
Links
