Talk To Us: Fostering Oral Participation Among Non-Native English Speakers in the Online Classroom
Carla Stockton, Lehman College
Bio
Carla Stockton teaches freshman writing and literary genres at Lehman College and serves on the LEH 102 Curriculum Committee. From 1984-1999, Stockton taught high school English and Drama in Arizona and Connecticut, directed educational theater projects, and was artistic director of a small professional company. Today, a published author, she conducts writing workshops for adults and children, addressing topics from Acting for Writers, to Creating Fiction from Memoir, and the basics of Screenwriting, and Playwriting.
Course Setting
Teaching online in the College Now and the Freshman Year Initiative programs at Lehman, I navigate among a wide range of student demographics, including new immigrants. A sizable contingent are adults with full-time jobs or high school juniors and seniors; in both cohorts, students struggle with English, their second or third language, and are easily inhibited. Oral communication -- participation in discussion and collaborative projects -- is crucial. My task is to make my students trust me and one another enough to willingly interact in class activities.
Problem of Practice
Strategy
I set out to design an easy, non-threatening strategy. Because we had just undergone a massive snowstorm in the city, I began by taking a set of NY snow photos from the internet, from which I created PDFs.
I began with a survey. Who, I asked, was eager to participate in class discussions? Who was averse? Fewer than half the 27 students said they were comfortable sharing orally.
I then introduced a single photo to the entire class: a photo of people navigating the storm.
I asked the students to identify the DETAILS they observed in the photo, what elements made it clear what the photographer wanted viewers to notice. I gave them time to study the photo, and counted how many contributed responses orally, how many by way of chat.
Only twelve of the 27 students were eager to participate and shared their ideas orally. Six students wrote responses in the chat. Nine students did not interact at all; in fact, two left the session without informing me they were leaving. (They returned after we began the next activity.)
I reminded myself that this was a new kind of experience for the group, that building trust takes time. I understood that several students for whom English is not a first language had to be convinced that no one would belittle their responses or mock their accents. It seemed that small group interaction should reassure them all.
I then formed breakout rooms of 4-5 students each and gave each group a set of photos.
This time I told the groups to choose a photo they could all agree on and to list the details they found in the photo, then to identify the story the photographer intended to transmit. I expected universal participation. I was right. Everyone had something to contribute in each of the breakout rooms; only one or two in each group resorted to the chat option.
I then took the exercise one step further, and asked each student to choose one photo. As homework, they were to create a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, which they would share next class period with the entire class. I was confident that the encouragement and validation they all received from one another in the small groups would engender an eager sharing of the stories at the next class meeting.
Documentation
Discussion Photos
Each of these photos was the subject of discussion. In the large group, those who responded orally cited generalities – setting description, vehicle count; those who chatted cited more specific actions and “characters” they observed. I measured participation informally by keeping a tally chart.
Measuring Impact
Student Participation Data
Two of the four photos students analyzed in small breakout room groups. Each group had a photo, and each group was to come up with a story they inferred from the photo. In the breakout rooms, more students eagerly participated than had in the full group. As a follow up, I asked each student to choose one photo and to write a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end; then, instead of bothering with a whole-group presentation I had students share their stories in breakout rooms. ALL students participated. Throughout each phase of this “experiment,” I kept a notebook. I wrote the names of students who participated, and generally recorded their responses. When we broke into breakout rooms, I joined each of the groups one at a time, and in each group, I had a recording “secretary,” who kept track of who responded orally, who by chat.
Analysis
In the end, the evolved strategy was very successful in eliciting student participation. I am sure that if I had gone directly from showing the photo to small group interactions, the results would not have been as dramatically positive. By setting a tone in the large group, by demonstrating that I was non-judgmental, I modeled behavior for the students to mirror in the small group settings. By listening – including some active listening – I was able to model good listening skills for my students. Hence, when they got to the small groups to pick out details, they were uninhibited by their accents, lack of self-confidence. By having a “practice” share in the small groups – that is, by having students simply share their assessment of details in the photo and sharing what they thought the details portended – when they congregated to share stories, they were prepared to share, to listen and to be heard in equal measure. What remains is to track how this kind of strategy will work for discussions about readings and ideas, how it will engender honest interactions in peer edit groups, etc.
Recommendation
This kind of strategy should work as well in a physical classroom as it did in the online equivalent. It is a simple, straightforward strategy that can be used effectively for any kind of material. I see limitless ways it can work for any kind of STEAM curricular materials. Our classrooms will continually welcome an ever-increasing number of new immigrants, who are likely to be reticent and shy about revealing what they perceive as their language and understanding flaws. This simple approach puts the students at ease and provides an apt opportunity for the teacher to be empathetic and to model behaviors students can – and will – emulate.
It seems to me that any kind of visual – or audio – material could be used successfully. Any pictures or sound recordings that could be detailed/analyzed by the group and then by individuals. It is a simple strategy, a simple lesson, but it has powerful outcomes for the teacher and the students.