In Professor Cohen's lecture (video) presentation, you would have noticed that the question and answer session was rather interactive. A number of interesting questions were asked. Now, while the Professor himself is no stranger to language learning discussions and happens to be an articulate applied linguist, you would notice that it was the Q and A session that really brought out the best in him. Most lecturers crave for opportunities to be challenged since that is what really brings out the best in them. This applies for both native and non native speakers as well. It is this opportunity to think and react on one's feet that makes a lecture/ presentation interesting and worthwhile.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to happen in many Malaysian universities. While I do understand that Malaysian students tend to be shy,passive and more inclined to listen rather than participate, I am sure there comes a time when students do come out of their shell and start speaking. Krashen's silent period does have a shell life... remember. Language learners must start taking responsibility for their own learning and every class discussion must be a two way process. So, what do you think is the real problem? Why is there a general reluctance to speak up? Is it a language gap or a fear of being noticed or corrected. Remember, every question and response has a value. Lecturers and Professors do not mind answering questions even if you speak in your mother tongue. Of course, the answer would be in English but why don't you try? We learn all the time.
So coming back to my usual question, how long a time do students need before the professor/lecturer moves to another topic or answers his/her own question. Well, since I do not hear your voices in class, I am hopeful that you would take the trouble to think about this issue and write to me. Have a great weekend.
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well, people do want to ask questions during the lecture but sometimes it is the peer-pressure that stops them from doing so. for example, friends will start teasing him/her as trying to get the lecturer's attention. thus, sometimes it is not the lecturer that the students fear of, instead it is their own friends. worse still, the inner "fear" stops them from voicing out what they think as they think that their questions sound stupid compare with the previous question asked. so, that's what my opinion is.
ReplyDeleteerm... my friends who sits next to me usually urge and encourage me to speak to the lecturer on whatever opinion that I have discussed with them. However, I am scared of what the lecturer might think of me and maybe of how 'lousy' I am when giving my opinion which at some point may sound so silly. But, it does not happen in all classes though as I seem to talk more freely and a lot during some other classes. I don't really know why but some factors might hinder me from talking in class until the lecturer himself or herself ask for my opinion. If not, I still prefer others to speak in class rather than myself. One reason may be because I do not really know the lecturer and I do not really used to her style, and because of that I'm quite scared to be too outspoken in class. This may be applied to others in the class or not but this is just what I think and what I have in mind.
ReplyDeletei always have questions in mind but i always channeled the questions to my friends who sits besides me.however, because my friends are not the expert in the field so not all the questions that i asked were answered.as a result,the subject discussed on that day would be a blur to me and i dare say i did not gain anything from the class.so why didn't i ask the lecturer in the first place?this is because i am not comfortable with the lecturer.the fact that thay are the expert in the field makes me feel intimidate to ask questions.i am also scared of what my classmates thinks of me for asking so what they called 'stupid questions'.that is why i prefer to keep quiet in the class and just listen to what the lecturer teach eventhough i gain nothing from the lectures.giving time for the students to think through the questions is an excellent aprroach.however, the fear of asking the questions is the real problem not the aprroach.
ReplyDeletewell, i think students may opt to not to answer/speak at all. i think it's not the question of how long do the students need to answer the lecturer/ teacher. yes, it's a good issue, but i think it's not the main issue, though sometimes students really need time for them to think and coming out with an answer. we are already familiar with the issue of malaysian students are afraid of speaking up because they have no confidence to speak-afraid of making mistakes, being laughed at, shy and so on. ya, i admit i'm one of them, but there's another reason i think i keep quiet in class apart from the reasons that i have mentioned just now. sometimes, people may feel that they are more to listening type and not the speaking type, so that's why they don't want to speak. they may feel more comfortable to learn just by listening and not speaking. if they want to ask questions, they may prefer to get clarification from their friends. sometimes, it is simply about-"oh, i don't have the question now, maybe i'll ask later" or "when i've read everything or reflect and understand everything in class, then i will try to figure out what i want to ask/ to ask what i don't understand"-some people may need time to digest everything and then they will come out with questions-and that may possibly take longer time than we would expect.-now then, i think the issue of the time should fit in. hehe...one more thing, i think that not all people are able to ask question on the spot, right at the time when they don't understand something. they may want to understand something by themselves first, and ask later from someone else, if really couldn't get the answer. coming to the issue of speaking in mother tongue when talking to lecturer, yes-students may find it very happy to do that, but sometimes they force themselves to speak in English eventhough they know it will be broken English (sure have blushing cheeks-heee...), because they are afraid if they speak in mother tongue, the lecturer will comment on that and ask them to speak in English. i think not all lecturers would feel fine if the students speak in their mother tongue with them, so sometimes this thing will put the students in dilemma in which language they want to choose to use with their lecturers especially if they find it really hard to express something in English. if they are close and familiar with the lecturer, then it's ok, if not, then it will be difficult for them…
ReplyDeleteFirst, why is it so? Lack of confidence might be one of the reasons. I’m not sure about the other students. But for me, I’m afraid to speak up because afraid of making mistakes and being laughed at.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, my English level is not high and this is a very serious issue which cause me doesn’t want to ask question because I will think it is very embarrassing when I can't speak out proper English. This is a very true statement, because the other students who can speak good English will always feel comfortable when they are in class because they can simply raise their hand and ask whatever they want.
i do agree with Helen opinion that, not all lecturers would feel fine if the students speak in their mother tongue with them. This is because we are TESLians. So, we are supposed to speak in English. in my opinion, lack of confidence, shy and afraid of making mistakes are the main reasons for me not to speak up or asking question in class. So, i prefer to listen to others' opinion rather than speak.
yeah..as Helen & Azie mentioned above, I think we share the same feeling.However,I think mine is worst than that.I admit that I'm one of the quiet person in our class.Why?because I'm not fluent enough in the language,shy and lack of confidence.I'd prefer to listen or answer questions in paper rather than to speak in front of many people.I feel uncomfortable standing in front of many people too especially during presention.It's really scared me.I always shaking and very nervous when I do presentations especially in University but not during my teaching practice.I feel that my lecturers are very expert in the language and I'm afraid of making mistakes since many of the lecturers expect us to be a very good user of the language.I agree with that.But I don't think I achieved that expectations.I'd prefer online forum because I can have more time to think and to type anything that I want to share with my lecturers and coursemates regarding the issues being discussed.I think I am more comfortable and free to share and to exchange ideas with my lecturers and coursemates through online forum.
ReplyDeleteHi guys. Oh wait, we're all girls here so far right? Well, this situation we have here IS a rather interesting 'mystery', and I suppose it does happen in every Malaysian classroom. I agree with Natasha and Helen Abang's points.
ReplyDeleteOn Natasha's point: I think how comfortable we are with the lecturer really does affect our willingness to speak up in class. Especially for this ESP course, I'm sure most of us are still quite shy and a little unsure about how we should go about speaking up. And it's not just for this class, but for every class that we've been in where the lecturer is relatively 'new' to us. I think it's primarily the uncertainty as to how all these new and impressive lecturers are going to react to us and our opinions, right?
On Helen Abang's point: It's a good thing you brought up the issue of learning styles, Helen. I totally agree with this one. There's approximately 70 of us in class, but surely not all of us are the vocal types right? Sure, there's a small percentage of us who learn best by asking questions and speaking up, but I'm sure a good majority of us learn through what I like to call the 'silent absorption' technique. We like to sit and listen, let all the facts sink into our brains and process it over and over. Picture a cow chewing cud and you'll get my point. I personally think that forcing everyone to say something in class would really put a lot of unnecessary pressure on a lot of people.
The way I see it, we probably just need more time to get used to each other, and to the content. Once we're more familiar with the terminology and concepts, I'm sure we'll start speaking up, then another problem will crop up: trying to get us to shut up.
Cheers you all.
Esther Voon 13993
I think the reason why students intend to listen rather than talking or asking questions during the lecture is because they have little knowledge or information on the topic being discussed. However, as for me, I have a tendency to listen attentively and at the same time jotting down the important notes during the lecture hour. Maybe I just don’t want to miss any part mentioned by lecturer, “This is important”. This is more related to my preferred learning style in which I am not a kind of vocal, but I prefer auditory and visual- I listen, look at PPoint slides, take notes.
ReplyDeleteLanguage gap would not be a problem I think, because I believe that lecturer won’t ever look down on the students’ lack of English speaking ability and fluency. However, the problem comes from the students itself- feeling shy and not confident. As for me, if I have a very limited knowledge about certain topic discussed, I prefer to just listen and listen. In relation to the previous comment, in which Yann mentioned about the inner fear, I agree that sometimes I also feel that “Do I really need to ask this question? Has the lecturer mentioned anything about this before and I just miss it?”. So I prefer to just listen and try to find the missing part (if any) in the lecture notes or from other reading articles.
I would say fear of making language mistakes/errors is one of the reasons why students reluctant to ask question or voice out their opinion in the class. As different students have different language ability, some students feel that their attempt to speak the target language would not be successful especially when their friends laugh at their language mistakes (i.e. pronunciation) or the teacher mockingly corrects those mistakes. These unsuccessful attempts will intimidate the students’ effort, ability and confidence to learn
ReplyDeleteand use the target language and it makes the students feel that they are bad/poor language
learners. From their unsuccessful attempts to use the target language, they learn that it
is best to keep silent rather than to be the object of joke later.
Secondly, sometimes, the teacher does not get any response from his/her students because
the students really do not have the answer/point/idea to be given. As not all students give their complete attention in the lesson, the teacher cannot expect every question will be answered by the students. So many things happen in the classroom concerning students’ emotions, feelings, physical etc. Thus, those circumstances might disrupt students’ attention in the lesson
which lead to their inability to answer the questions posed by the teacher.
Hi..
ReplyDeleteAnother point that I want to highlight here is ‘some students stay silent in class because they are lazy’. Maybe they are lazy to think hard in order to get the answer. Some students tend to ask the answer from someone near them when being asked by the lecturer so that they will get a quick answer without thinking. This attitude is not good because student must not be too dependent to others because when it comes to exam, you have to think by yourself..so you have to train your brain to think and don’t be lazy. Worst than that, some of the students are not even paying attention to the lecture thus makes them don’t know what to answer when being asked.
Amal Hayati Muhammad 11617
As for me, I am too more comfortable listening to lectures. This has got to do with my background training; it has become my learning style. I find it more able to concentrate in this ways; not letting my mind chase after the answer to the questions i have at that moment. I will have a delayed gratification when i revise later or do net search. Besides, there are so many students listening and watching, i won't like to be accused of showing off.
ReplyDeleteWell, it seems that I am one of the students that had a hard time to open my mouth in class. Personally, I am afraid of giving or saying ‘stupid’ things out of my mouth. In the first class, I was so excited to answer the question given by the lecturer but it ended up bad and I felt that I humiliated myself in front of my classmates. After that, all I wanted to do was to look at my handouts, shut up and sit silently listen to the lecture. It happens to me everytime. At first, I feel confidence but when I start to say something, my mouth just not saying the right things. What I intend to say, always different from what I say. That really bothers me. The ingredients of ‘Shy+afraid of making mistakes+peer pressure’ does play an important role of making me stop talking loudly in class. I rather speak my thoughts with someone next to me rather than to my lecturer in front of the class. When I was at primary and secondary school, my teacher always look at this as disturbing the class as she thought that I was not concentrate in her lesson but instead I do. It is just that I really want to say something regarding the lesson, so I choose my friend sitting next to me rather than share it with the whole class.
ReplyDeleteBack to the question…emm…in terms of language gap. I do not think it is a big problem at least for me. From Nik Zati opinion, “Language gap would not be a problem I think, because I believe that lecturer won’t ever look down on the students’ lack of English speaking ability and fluency.” I think it is true that it is not the problem. The problem actually comes from the student herself by being lack of confidence. Not only that, the subject-content discussed in class. It is not a subject that can we find in our daily life. It is so new and strange at the same time. The same to Nik Zati, I choose to listen silently trying to understand.
Regarding on ‘how long a time do students need before the professor/lecturer moves to another topic or answers his/her own question.’ This I am not sure. However, I think it depends on the subject level of difficulties. More difficult the subject, longer time needed by giving all the information step by step as well as adding more exercises and tasks for students to do. It works to me as it gives me time to ‘digest’ everything.
for me, the reason for not speaking in the class is because the students are afraid of voicing out their opinion or questions. this may be because of their lack ability in the language especially in speaking. some students prefer listening rather than speaking as they gained more input just by listening to the lecture. and if they have any doubts they usually turn to their friends as they feel more comfortable and able to discuss their uncertainties more freely than asking from the lecturer.
ReplyDeletewell, i'm not sure how long should lecturer wait for students to answer his/her questions as for me, i always wish that the lecturer himself/herself will answer the question if students are silent.
ReplyDeletei do agree with some opinions posted by others previously that learning style and comfortableness with lecturer are the factors that hinder students voicing out their opinion in class. another point that i think might be a reason why students choose to remain silent is they really don't have any answer for the question. i encountered this several times in this ESP class. i have read the articles and lecture notes before class and i made my own notes but still, i can't think of any answer for the questions posted by the lecturer. and if i'm lost with the topic, i prefer asking my friends and discuss the issue and if it still unclear, we will browse on internet to find a clarification we look for.
in my opinion,people would tend to ask questions during lectures but very often they reluctant to voice out their Qs as they are shy and prefer to be passive in class especially in language class as they regard that they might be laughed by lecturers who are more expert and highlt status than them although questions are more welcomed by the lectureres. they cant overcome the fear when face lecturers who are highly status than them.most Malaysians face the problem to speak out in English because afraid being laughed by others as of their 'broken' English, feel unconfident and shy to speak in English especially in classes to avoid being laughed by peers. Thus, it is the psychologically that most malaysians include me who dare not to ask questions in class although full of doubts.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why students refuse to response to the question by the lecture is may be because they have lack of confidence to speak in English and scared of making any language mistake.
ReplyDeleteAs Dayangku, I also have thousands of questions in mind that need clarification from the lecturer. However, it requires me to put a lot of effort just to construct the sentence/question or make it simple – I’m afraid of making language mistakes. Sometimes, I do have some points/views to share with during the class, but other thing that hinders me to do so is I am not so confident to speak in front of the public.
What’s more, giving answer in a short time given, stress me out. I guess some of my friends especially those who rarely talk in the class share the same feeling. We start to get nervous and look around, hoping for someone to help us with the answer. It is due to the pressure of the question where it seeks immediate response.
I do agree with Esther Litad, where I do feel more comfortable sharing and giving opinion in the forum rather than having to throw out my voice in the class. Besides, I feel more comfortable to discuss with friends as we can freely and easily discuss the topic, without ‘barrier’… or browse for the information in the internet for further reading.
suhaida suid 15827
Hi, friends!
ReplyDeleteWhy..? I think some of us have similar reasons. Okay, for me, it is because of my educational background. Since my kindy to secondary school, i was trained in the behaviourist ways of learning. In fact, when i was in college doing my diploma, the approach was similar : 'listened' to lectures & 'copied' notes.
Differently in uni, I realise students are encouraged to voice out their thoughts and opinions. It becomes the so-called communicative class. So, it is new to me who had been trained in other approach then.
Another reason... ESP is totally new to me. Hence, I need to comprehend the content, term and whatever that related to this subject before saying something in the class.
For me, it is not just because we are shy, lack of confidence or what so ever. Actually, it is also related to how we learn best. What I’m trying to say here is some people may “received” more when they speak more or sit back and listen to the lecture or some may be both in their learning. Thus, we could not assumed that the person who rarely speak up in class as a shy person or lack of confidence.
ReplyDeleteHere, I would like to touch on the confidence matter which mostly mentioned by my mates above. Yup, I agree confidence play a big deal in this matter. However, even one possessed a super duper confident by doing more talking or expresses thousand of opinion but when the point is pointless, there is nothing can be discussed from it. Meaning to say there is no learning process achieved. Remember, learning is gained new knowledge that we can relate to our own experience and at the same time may improved our knowledge on certain things.
the real problem for students to be passive in class or not asking qustions eventhough they still blur on the topic due to thier shyness and unconfident in using other language than thier mother tongue to speak,especially English. they fear to be teased by peers and lecturers. maybe some remain passive and prefer to listening in class due to their learning style. language gap would be the pioneer problem to most Malaysians as we learn English as our second language and lack of real context in practicing it therefore, they feel shy and unconfident to speak up in Eng.
ReplyDeletehi all...
ReplyDeletei agree with EstherVSH..yeah, familiarity with the lecturer will influence the students to 'open their mouth' and ask questions. When we are not familiar with the 'new' lecturer, i think we tend to observe what the lecturer is expecting from us, what is the style of the lecturer, is it ok to joke in the class, etc. Besides,most of us are afraid of making mistakes and embarrassed ourselves in front of others.
Another idea which i think contribute to this is the teacher-centered approach. Throughout the years in school, we are so used to teacher-centered approach of teaching and learning. The teachers in school constantly spoon-fed us instead of letting the students to discover the knowledge on their own. Well, this habit of spoon-feeding is hard to get rid off even in university level. I think the idea of 'teacher ask question, teacher answer ' is deeply rooted in everyone. We always have the idea, that when no one answer the question, the teacher will finally answer it. That's why we are so reluctant to ask questions.
Cynthia Aling(13920)
Well, I think I am one of the typical type of Malaysian students who is rarely to speak up in the classroom. It’s about confidence, I guess. When I have question or not sure about something, I would rather ask my friends instead of asking the lecturer about it. Why? It is because I am afraid if I speak up, I might express or tell things differently or making a silly statement in the class. Like Marion, I feel the same thing as if I ask questions or speak something in the class, I feel that I had just humiliated myself in from of my classmates. That’s why I choose to remain silent and listen more to ‘digest’ what I just learn.
ReplyDeleteApart from choosing to be silent in the class, I think I also need a few minutes to understand the questions given by the lecturer. Sometimes, I need to discuss and understand the questions with my friends. I do not know about the others, but as for me, I need time to digest what the lecturer have taught and answer the given questions.
Amalina-13699
in my opinion, the reason why the students do not ask question during lecture because they are afraid to make mistake, they think their coursemate will laugh at them.some of them think that the question that they ask may sound silly.language problem - fluency - also lead to this matter.
ReplyDeletebeside that,we have to remember that our learning style are differ to one another.some may be prefer to watch..some like to taking note rather than listen or watch and some prefer to listen.therefore they are quite passive to ask questions or share opinion.
i do agree with some comments in this blog which say though they are passive in class, (me as one of the example),however this student feel more comfortable giving and sharing opinion in the forum rather than voice it out in class. in the forum, they can discuss it freely with no one listen to your voice and complaint on ur language.
(",)
hi
ReplyDeleteI am one of the "silent students" in the class. The main reason why am i keep myself silent in class is because i am not confident to voice out my opinions due to my limitation in English proficiency. Especially in the language class, it is shameless to use 'broken' language as other people had put high expectation to us. They think that we are the expert and very fluent in English. I still remember, one of my course mate had said this line to me "How come you can enter the TESL programme with English like this?". It is so humiliated experience that i ever encounter in my life. Therefore, started from that moment i keep myself silent and let the other intelligent and excellent students to ask questions. That does not mean i am not interested to study. Of course while lecturer was presenting something in the front, i have a lot of ideas, opinions, curious, and questions in my head, but at the moment lecturer ask "any question?", i feel like all the "mini voices" in my head gone out of nowhere. Guess i am very scared and phobia to use English in front of others.
My comment on ‘how long a time do students need before the lecturer moves to another topic or answers his/her own question’, i think the lecturer should not wait too long because it just wasting time. The students like me will not response during the class. The only way that lecturer can do in order to get response from us is by asking us to write our responses in paper and hand it to lecturer. I know it is not interactive learning environment but Malaysian students are very shy and not use to discuss their opinions openly like western. We are very sensitive and will get hurt easily if others make fun of our opinions and said that we are wrong.
Julieana 14239
Morning everybody..
ReplyDeletei do agree with syaz and others when they are saying by using the forum like this we can discuss, share and give opinions freely. Not all students are good in speaking using English language even though they are good in writing using English. Some students do not tend to speak in the class due to several reasons. In my opinion one big reason students get so nervous when they have to speak in class is because they have a fear of looking stupid in front of their fellow students. This fear holds for all people, when they have to speak in front of others. Because of that fear they will forget what they are going to say or their mind will go blank.
As what have been mentioned by other, they afraid of making mistake when they open their mouth to ask or answer question. as for me, i admit that I’m lack of confidence to speak in class either to ask or answer question.i more prefer to listen and jot down the points given by my friends and the lecturer during the class because by doing that i can generate my understanding on the matter that discussed in the class.
suzanni (15275)
Hello…
ReplyDeleteI do agree with some of my classmates when they talk about self confident and shyness to talk in class. This low self confident might affected by their language competencies because as a TESL students, we are often perceived as expert in language and able to talk fluently whether by others students and even our own lecturer.
Besides, I also think that the size of the class might influence the interaction activities in a class. If the class have big amount of students, some of the students might afraid to ask questions as everybody will focus on him or her at the time. Furthermore, some of the students have a soft voice, so the lecturer might unable to listen to their answer if they talk in the class. As a result, they might keep silent, along with the answer or questions in their head.
Sometimes students do not know how to string their words together using the target language to respond to questions and much 'thinking time' is required to put the appropriate English words together to form what they think is proper answers. Students tend to end up with 'one-word answer' or 'keyword answer' if they are to provide instant response. They seem to reluctant to explain further unless they are prompted by teacher or lecturer or else the teacher or lecturer automatically explain students' 'one-word answer' or 'keyword answer' as they think they have given enough 'thinking time'.
ReplyDeleteDiana Toh
in my opinion, the Q&A session is still not a real "norm" in Malaysian context.perhaps, i'm too "narrow-minded" on this isssue.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of confidence, not enough background knowledge, "undigestable input", fear are the reasons for me to be quiet in the class.
i feel reluctant to open my mouth in the lecture as i don't know what to ask, afraid to raise the simple-silly question.
to add in, since my command in English is not good, it is hard for me to ask the question; unable to put them into words. even i dare to ask the question, it always ended-up with the disability to articulate them, other coursemates or lecturers and even i myself do not understand what i had said.
hence, it will be better for a lecturer/teacher to go on with the lesson if all the students remain quiet for several minutes. why? because the students need to understand with the newly presented information and digest them as what the other coursemates already mentioned in their previous posts.only then they will know what are the question they need to ask. besides, if the students remained silent even though had been requested to pose out their inquiries, it will be wise, i mean "better", as the questions which had been suppressed in students' heart wil/might be answered as the lesson progress on. if it remain unanswered, probably, they will search for more info, discuss with peers and if still not understand, by that time, they will approach the lecturer to clarify it.
In my opinion, students would not speak in class for several reasons, such as previous experiences, status quo, students’ personal beliefs, teachers/lecturers attitude and so on. For me, I would say that it is a habit to keep quiet in class during lesson time as we are habitual creatures. There are quite a few researches that have proven that a habit is obtained through reinforcements for a certain period. In our primary and secondary school times, how many times do we really get the chances to speak?? Even if the teachers were kind enough to let us speak, these types of teachers are fewer than the fingers of my hands during my school times.
ReplyDeleteEven worse was that when we do speak, or maybe giving an answer to a question, we might get laughed at or look down upon by other classmates if we were wrong. These negative effects would reinforce us negatively. Our generations were the generations that are being spoon fed by our teachers, even in our university life. We were told to listen and read more, rather than voicing our opinions. Not only that, if you don’t even get any chance to chat at home with your parents or even with friends, most probably he/she is not use to talking in class. I, for example is one of these group of people. My father was a teacher, and at home, my brothers and I were disciplined to study more rather than chatting with families and friends. He was looking after our future, which I was grateful, but it also left a negative effect on my speaking skill.
A habit is not easy to break, especially with the low self-esteem which we obtained from our life time as school students. For me, I only started using English to speak when I entered university, where I have to speak it with the different ethnics here. There was a purpose for me to use English, but with my Chinese friends, it is no longer the primary language. When I was around Chinese people, I would use mandarin as the medium of communication as it is our primary language so as not to sound weird among them and to show respect, especially among our elders. Sometimes, people who blamed us for not using English should consider our situation first, as English is not our primary language, just as mandarin is not their primary language.
In order to break this habit, we need time and passion. Unless we are confident enough, brave enough to speak out, we would not be succeed in obtaining the speaking skill. Communicating in English is a skill that needs lots of practice especially for those who only started using it just a few years back. I won’t give any excuse about lecturers being strict and so forth. All these are excuses, but yet, a habit is not easy to break. I would hope that the lecturer would be passion enough and friendly towards those who are trying to speak and maybe even trying to speak out for the first time in their whole live. You never know (“,) That’s all from me.
WONG KING CHARD 15512
Psychology factors like low self-esteem and shyness or lack of confidence ,are among the factors contribute the failure of language learners. Teaching methods like teacher-centred creates boredom among the learners in learning the language.These are several factors develop passive language learners in classroom setting.
ReplyDeleteLike a man captivates a woman, similarly when a situation where language teachers captivate their students' heart of interest in language learning. Teaching methods caters the students' needs , schemata and language level of proficiency ensure the success of language learners. Teachers should be alert in considering their students in developing teaching objectives and activities in learning process.In addition, being critics on language itself is a huge obstacle among language teachers. Language teachers play vital role in developing positive views amng their learners on language learning.
My primary and secondary language teachers had developed positive thinking on language as well as encourage my classmates to communicate in English among ourselves. Eventually, our proficiency in English had improved and scored better results in examination. We had confidence in using the language.Previously, English Language is a ghost hunt for us. My classmates and I were studied in rural school where internet facilites is beyond our dream.
Teachers and students' positive attitudes along with optimistics in thinking make us confident in using the language beyond the classroom context.
MARCHSINDA YEO 17628
PKPG ESL 2006/2009
Interesting comments. In fact, I seem to be learning from many of you . As I have repeatedly mentioned in class, no question is too simple and no opinion is less important than anothers. We all have something to contribute to the class and do not keep your thoughts to yourself. You might have the million dollar question that might change the world and it would be a pity to not hear it forever.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if this helps, you can use both malay and English to pose a question in class. I might not answer it in Malay but I do not want to deny anyone an opportunity to present their opinion. We learn by questioning.
Well, I am one of the silent students in class and I rarely speak out except when I really had to. Therefore, you cannot hear my voice during lecture except I am asked by the lecturer to answer his or her questions or during the presentation. To me, students do not like to ask questions in class due to a few reasons:
ReplyDelete1) Our culture
In Malaysian culture, I found that we, Malaysians, rarely ask questions. Instead, we just accept whatever that is given and imposed to us. I don’t really know the reasons behind that, but maybe because that is our culture, the way we behave and that is our ‘uniqueness’ or maybe, I just say maybe… it’s because of…of ISA. We are protected under ISA so we have to be very careful with our words and we are to keep silent and do not ask questions. Well, the good and bad sides of it depend on how we perceive it.
2) The way we are taught and brought up
I still remember the time during my younger years in schools, the teacher told us to keep quiet during the class hours and just listen to her. At that time, I had a lot of questions in mind but because she prohibits questions, I keep all of them to myself. Because of that, I am not dared to ask questions until now as a result of the psychological effect.
3) Our perception
To us, lecturers are superior and they are well-equipped with knowledge and that is the reason why they are qualified to teach us. We are nothing if compared to them as we come to learn from them. Therefore, it is rude for us to ask the lecturers questions as this seems to disrespect and challenge them and some of them do not like that.
4) Do not understand the lecture (don’t know what exactly is going on)
Some of the students, especially the slow learners do not understand the lecture and therefore they are quite blur and do not know what questions to ask. They need to go back and process the things taught and then they can come out with questions. Thus, they prefer to ask questions in a more private manner (one to one) but not during lecture.
I agree with Yann. I think it is not the issue of how long a time do students need before moving to another topic/answering questions but students themselves. The inner fear of speaking out in class because of afraid of looking down and labeled as lousy by friends. That is what I feel. Moreover, I had been told by my secondary Maths teacher that I should receive what were given when I asked her what were going on in many formulas. I am trained not to ask questions but to receive what are given.
ReplyDeleteChieng Yen Yong 13871
Like the others, I often get frightened when teachers/lecturers bombard the whole class with questions. I also admit that I am afraid that my course mates will laugh at my ‘silly’ or perhaps ‘out of place’ answers. I agree with Nik Zati’s and Marien’s point: Being mentally active also means being co-operative with the teacher. I do prefer listening to lectures rather than being a vocal type.
ReplyDeleteI believe that language gap is not a dilemma for most of us. The real problem is the student herself/himself who is lacking of confidence. I know that contributions from students help to create the content of the lessons. But it does not seem to work in language lessons. There is always a general lack of response to questions asked. During my Teaching Practice, I noticed that most of my Form 5 students were eager to learn and yet they seemed unable to bring themselves to participate actively in class. Students generally have little involvement throughout the whole lesson. They were passive and dared not speak out. For most of the time, they just uttered single word answers like YES or NO.
The English proficiency of my students varies a great deal, ranging from near-native competence to those who have serious problems in expressing themselves. I found out that the later group has a tendency to whisper their answers. If I had not noticed these private turns and then gotten students to repeat the answer loudly, student reticence would have been even more prominent.
The issue that I would like to bring out is that students’ fear of making mistakes and being negatively evaluated can be teacher-induced. Teachers with unrealistic expectations tend to inhibit students’ participation. Teachers, whether they realized it or not, tend to reject students’ answer which is not in the correct form. Expecting correct answers most of the time, given the sensitive nature of class, they would feel the strain and were less willing to contribute unless they felt they have got the “right answer”.
Many teachers are intolerant of silence in the classroom. Even I dislike or are afraid of silence. It made me very uneasy when I failed to get a response from students. Therefore, when a response is not forthcoming, I would do one of the following: allocate the turn to another student, provide the answer themselves, or repeat or modify the question. I would not put a great deal of pressure on students to come up with an answer since I think that it will frighten the students, stop them thinking and suppress their wish to answer questions. The response from my students is rather encouraging. I would like to share an advice from my teacher supervisor: Being too pushy will only aggravate the anxiety not alleviate it!
Wong Siew Fang (15520)
Firstly Doc, IMO i think most of the us are more than willing to participate in the classroom discusiion. Well maybe, we just need some time to observe how you would react to things, how do you respond to students' answers and so on. Basically we (or maybe just me)need some time to adapt to your lecture. Besides many of us do not know your teaching style, your personality thus making us a little cautious of what we want to say during the lecture. Just my opinion...
ReplyDeleteBack to your question, when do students started to speak up? Honestly, in my own experience, encountering news students is quite tricky in that sense. I personally believe that we need to acquire students' trust and build up a sense of intimacy before we could deliver a lesson. This is due to the fact that, whenever students feel a gap or barrier between them and their teacher, there is a possibility for them to create a mental block thus hindering them to participate or even trying to pay attention to their teacher. hope what i said here make sense.
I not too sure how long you need to wait for a reply, probably 1 to 2 minutes is probably sufficient. I agree with many of my friends. I admit that I am very shy. I'm scared that I might make a mistake and thus I look stupid and probably end up making a fool of myself in front of the class. I think it's probably because we become very comfortable to just listen in class. We don't have the habit of questioning or doubting what our lecturers or teachers said. Most of us just take it.Based on my previous learning experience, having friends that often ask many questions in class are consider as an annoyance by people around them. And sometimes they get teased too. Probably that's why we are kinda passive. But this is not always true.
ReplyDeleteSoong.
Hi everyone...Just like the others, I feel shy and frighten to speak in class. This is due to my own self-esteem is very low to speak out in front of everyone. I feel scared of making mistakes and get embarassed when I answered the question wrongly or ask questions that might sound 'silly' . The vital reason is because I'm not fluent in English and I know that I'll speak broken English. This 'fearness' getting worse when lecturers have high expectation on us, as TESLians who must be good in English.
ReplyDeleteAbout the question how long should lecturer waits for us to answer his/her question, for me, it is depends to the question being asked. As what others had mentioned, sometimes we really don't know what to answer as we may not understand the lecture or still blur.Still, for some students who have low self-esteem like me would not say anything and prefer to keep silent and listen to others and jot down the information needed.That's what I think...=p
Doc,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Izat. Most people observe what is happening around them before they can react. I also feel that the students are more willing to share their opinion through online forum rather than to speak out in the class. I guess students can find their comfort zone in online forum.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi! I’m here to pen down a few lines. Like the others, I’m one of them who rarely speak in class. I’m not sure why I react in such a way?? I think this is closely associated with my childhood memories. When I was young, I loved asking questions to the people around me even though most of the questions asked were of a silly type. But, things changed when I was in Primary 6. I was scolded by a teacher for asking too much questions in class. She told me that I disturbed the pace of the class and for that reason, I was punished. Since then, I kept my promise, which was to shut my mouth even though I have something to ask occasionally.
ReplyDeleteWell, I agreed that in the Malaysian classroom setting, there have been considerable concerns where students are reluctant to respond in class. This appears to be true in the ESP class, where no response is forthcoming even though ample time is given for the students to answer a question. What could be the reasons for this malaise? For me, one of the reasons is that we have accustomed to the culture of ‘listening’ rather than ‘questioning’. Nowadays, I feel very comfortable listening to lectures as I can jot down important points while at the same time, receiving what the lecturers conveyed in class without voicing any opinions in class.
Another possible reason of why students remain silent is that they do not have an answer for the question asked. This is true for me as I have encountered the same problem in ESP and other classes. Although I have finished reading the articles and lecture notes given beforehand, I just can’t think of any answer for the questions posted by the lecturer. My mind just go blank and I do not know what I want to say next. Hence, I am more likely to keep quiet in class and ask for my friend’s help whenever I face problems.
The third reason is closely associated to students’ weak language proficiency. It is widely accepted that students do not want to speak in class because they do not have the competence to speak in the target language. Therefore, they are more likely to experience a sense of anxiety, embarrassment and low self-esteem when they are asked to speak in front of a larger group of students. As a result, they are more likely to be inactive in class so as to protect them from making a mistake, from being laughed at by peers, or from being negatively humiliated.
Regarding the question of how long should a lecturer waits for a student to answer his/her question, it all depends on the question asked. Normally, when a simple question is being posed to the students (question that requires them to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ / ‘one-word’ answer), there is no predisposition for the lecturer to anticipate answers from the students. Longer wait time is only allowed when the students are asked to answer questions that are more of thought-provoking ones. But, the question is: how many students will respond to the questions asked even though sufficient wait time is given during the class?
that's true and i agree with most of the comment above.during lecture, i think some of us, including me..prefer just to listened because it's my own way of learning. it's good if i can voice out my opinion but the feeling of insecure (from 'why' question in which i don't have the answer :() sometimes lead me to just sit there and stay passive. i personally admit that i felt more open to give my views on the net rather than during lecture
ReplyDeleteabout the waiting time...it's depend on the topic. if the students can relate it to their experiences or knowledge that i think the waiting time can be reduce.
hi
ReplyDeletei agree with what others have said about being shy and afraid of wrong answer.i just want to share something here. we once had this one lecturer taught us and he was good at getting us involved in the class discussion. he would not ask 'why' if the questions demand only yes or no answer so many of us did our best to participate in the discussion. only from there would he channelled the discussion into a more why and how kind of answers. it is like getting one thing done at a time. students would be so intimidated when they are bombarded with so many questions at the same time.learners cooperate better in a less threatening condition.on the other hand, i would say that it is just the nature of the learners themselves who prefer to listen rather than to talk.they feel that it works better in that way.
In my opinion, one of the main reasons behind it is that Malaysian students are afraid of making mistakes or talk about something irrelevant to the topic of discussion and therefore leads to the possibilities of being looked down by the instructors and being laughed at by their course mates. Therefore, they decide to keep silent and let the others talk while they listen to them. (Well, I am one of those who think in this way.)
ReplyDeleteBesides, some students may prefer to have hands-on-work like writing down their responses rather than verbally. During my teaching practice, I experienced the same scenario where some of the students tend to either talk very softly (murmuring to themselves) or keep silent when I asked them to volunteer themselves to give their opinions to the whole class. However, they tend to be able to response well if they were asked to write down their responses on board. From here, I think the problem evokes because of the unsuitable environment. They may feel nervous and embarrass to talk to the class. As a result, they prefer to keep silent.
Apart from that, some students may not be able to catch the lessons so efficiently. They need more time to swallow and digest the gist of the lesson compare to the others. However, by the time they finally understand the points, the lesson may have ended. As a result, they have no chances to voice out their opinions.
Irene Ngu
Alright,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I believe that this discussion is getting us nowhere. Most of you seem to be echoing what your friends are saying and this is exactly what I am trying to avoid in this class.
Second, in response to the last comment for this week, I am sure that this lecturer knew what he was doing, and regardless of how comfortable it made all of you, I do not expect my students to get TOO comfortable. So, a 'yes' and 'no' is not acceptable in my class. You have to say much more than that.
You students have been comfortabe for far too long and it is time, you started thinking on your feet. So, with that I am putting an end to this discussion for this question. I have put up a new topic for this week and so lets move on.
i dont have the complicated answers as have been given by my classmates. My view is rather simple really... To me, the reason why i did not ask questions or participates in the classroom, would honestly be the attitude of "stay low, stay safe" plus the attitude of "last semester, why bother, don't take unnecessary risks". At least that's how i feel. Sorry if this post is too blunt or can be seen as disrespectful...
ReplyDeleteWhy? Self low esteem ... shy ... I don't really know ... but as teacher before when the class is too silence i tnd to called their name sometimes it worked when students give brilliant idea but it will make a laughing stock if it do not worked. Well me in the class i tend to be active but sometimes to say the answer rather better be listened first and opposed or just say yes.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience, I've been told by others that my spoken English is too "Ibanish". I do admit that when I speak English, my mother tongue would influence my English - it is unavoidable. When I try to imitate American or British English as heard on TV, I feel that I sound "ngegeh". That's why I'm really reluctant to speak in English in class. Maybe the students feel that way too.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I feel reluctant to speak in class as I feel that the group is too large. I would rather let the other students who are more eloquent to participate in class discussions. Besides, even if I have ideas/opinions to share with the rest of the class, I find it difficult to express myself - mostly because I "conceived" the ideas/opinions in Bahasa Melayu or Iban and then having difficulty to express it in English as I find it rather hard to find the English equivalents in the nick of time to some of the words that I thought of in BM or Iban.
"While I do understand that Malaysian students tend to be shy,passive and more inclined to listen rather than participate, I am sure there comes a time when students do come out of their shell and start speaking"
ReplyDelete..............................................
i start my comment with the quotation quoted from Dr.Shanti's comment. Why Malaysian students "seem" shy in asking the questions?
Erm... have you heard "stupid question"?
some of students, they really want to participate in the class discussion. of 'coz these students will start to ask with a simple questions. YET, others will look at them and say "itu pun tak tahu", once it happen, it de-motivated the students from ask the questions.
....
another reason why malaysian students choose to be quite in the lecture because some of the lecturers cannot be asked or challenge. Honestly, it happen. Some students tend to be different with their lecturer' ideas/views. The ideas given are logic and can be considered with some modification. Yet, some of the lecturer tend to ignore. To them, the students still a student.
Cannot be deny, some of the lecturers have included the 'feeling + emotional' factors in responding to the students respond or questions (Dr.Salbiah Jamaluddin, 2005). Once a lecturer cannot accept students opinions (because of the believe), and still strong with her/his philosophy, the learning process not going anywhere.
...
and what happen to the students? Stop asking or then, loose your marks..
thx
Yes, I have to admit that you have a valid point there.
ReplyDeleteIt is within every individual to ask questions because it helps him understand his environment and this information enriches him and everybody else.
Yet, we are unfortunate in the sense that we are taught from the start "... to distrust one's own judgement. Children are taught submission to authority, how to search for other people's opinions and decisions, and how to quote and comply."
- Doris Lessing
I guess the system has taught us too well in this matter.
i do agree that malaysian students are passive in expressing their view in classroom...actually but we need a time to think before we start to speak up because we are malaysian,we need to think of the positive and negative impact and the sensitive issue that will come up...sometimes the other factors such as the environment,our health condition or our mood also influence our attention towards the classroom discussion..,
ReplyDelete1. Why is there a general reluctance to speak up? I guess that the others have shared lots of their own personal reasons. On my side, for me, this is mostly because of the fear of making mistakes and giving wrong answers. It is not denying that we learn from mistakes but this kind of thinking is still deeply rooted in most of the students, including myself. Sometimes I do feel like answering the questions but suddenly I afraid that it is the wrong response and then I just decided to keep it to myself. Here, I would like to share the findings gained from Aydin (2008) that investigates the fear and language anxiety among the Turkish EFL learners, in which I believe is closely related with our topic. It stated that there are several factors that caused the language anxiety and the reluctance to speak:
ReplyDeletea. Not being prepared for the lesson
b. Communicative apprehension with teachers
c. Fear of forgetting vocabulary and sentence structure
d. Fear/embarrass of teachers’ corrections
e. Fear of making mistakes/ found fault by others
f. Fear of further questioning by the teachers
g. Fear of negative judgement by others
h. Fear of disapproval by others
Seems like all the reasons from Aydin’s findings have been mentioned and agreed by others as this is what really happened. Personally, I think that these reasons are obviously applicable in our Malaysian education, particularly in ESP class at UNIMAS. Maybe all the factors as mentioned by have become the big barrier for them and thus, being silence is the best route to take.
2. How long a time do students need before the professor/lecturer moves to another topic or answers his/her own question? In my opinion, the exact duration cannot be accurately determined. It is just the matter of longer time is needed for the students to think for the more difficult/higher level/thought provoking-kind-of-questions as well as the demand of the questions itself, whether longer answer is needed and the kind of information to be put in. Those kinds of things are actually making the students have a silence period longer than is expected. Perhaps some of the students are quick-thinker, who can supply the answer in just a blink of eyes, regardless any kinds of questions asked, but there are also slow-thinker, the kind of students that need more time to digest and internalize the kinds of answer that need to be given. Maybe to make fair of everyone, the students can be asked to discuss the questions in pairs, or threes. By this means as well, the students can help each other and stimulate one’s own thinking to think and react faster.
>NOR AZMA 14749<
References:
Aydin, S. (2008). An Investigation on the Language Anxiety and Fear of Negative Evaluation among Turkish EFL Learners. Asian EFL Journal, 19-33.