LANGUAGE
ACROSS
THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes
Unit 4 – Creating language for classroom communication
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Contents
Media for curricular transactions – Discussions, Seminars, Debates
Group Discussion
Group Discussion is a modern method of assessing students personality. It is both a technique and an art and a comprehensive tool to judge the worthiness of the student and his appropriateness for the job. The term suggests a discussion among a group of persons. The group will have 8 & 12 members who will express their views freely, frankly in a friendly manner, on a topic of current issue. Within a time limit of 20 to 30 minutes, the abilities of the members of the group is measured.
Benefits of Group discussion
Stimulation of thinking in a new way.
Expansion of knowledge
Understanding of your strength and weakness.
Your true personality is revealed and qualities of leadership take shape
provides chance to Expose
Language skills
Academic knowledge
Leadership skills
people handling skills
Team work
General knowledge.
Do’s in group discussion
Appropriate to the issue.
Make original points & support them by substantial reasoning.
Listen to the other participants actively & carefully.
Whatever you say must be with a logical flow, & validate it with an example as far as possible.
Make only accurate statements.
Modulate the volume, pitch and tone.
Be considerate to the feelings of the others.
Try to get your turn.
Be an active and dynamic participant by listening.
Talk with confidence and self-assurance.
Don’ts during group discussion
Being shy /nervous / keeping isolated from G.D
Interrupting another participant before his arguments are over
Speak in favour ; example:Establish your position and stand by it stubbornly
Changed opinions
Don’t make fun of any participant even if his arguments are funny.
Don’t engage yourself in sub-group conversation.
Don’t repeat and use irrelevant materials.
Addressing yourself to the examiner.
Worrying about making some grammatical mistakes, for your interest the matter you put across are important.
Important points in group discussion
Be assertive: An assertive person is direct, honest, careful about not hurting others ‘self-respect’.
A patient listener: listening to another person is one way of showing appreciation.
Use Right language : Words can make friends & right words at the right time make the best results.
Be analytical and fact-oriented
Accept criticism
If any member of the group criticizes or disapproves a point, it is unwise to get upset or react sharply.
In case the criticism is flimsy, the same can be pointed out politely.
Maximize participation ; one must try to contribute fully, vigorously & steadily throughout the discussion.
Show leadership ability: A group discussion also evaluates your leadership qualities.
Occasions for formal oral Communication – Interview
An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee.
How to prepare for interviews(for interviewee)
Find details about the interview
Get good directions
Research the organization
Prepare your interview materials
Dress in a manner that suits the job
Pay attention to details in your appearance
Have plenty of time to get to the interview
Your answers
Listen carefully, seek clarification
Illustrate answers with real examples and evidence
Be positive – constructive criticism
Keep answers specific
Take time to respond
Be alert to interviewer’s body language
Speak clearly, smile and show enthusiasm
Know what you want to say, and find the opportunity
Seminar
A seminar is an instructional technique which involves generating a situation for a group to have guided interaction among themselves on a theme which is generally presented to the group by one or more members. Seminar is a technique of higher learning which involves paper reading on a theme and followed by the group discussion to clarify the complex aspects of the theme.
Objectives
Objectives are mainly divided into two types:-
Cognitive objectives
Affective objectives
Cognitive objectives
To develops the higher cognitive abilities that is analysis , synthesis and evaluation.
To develop the ability of responding that is valuing, organizing etc.
To develop the ability of keen observation, experience, feeling and to present them effectively.
To develop the ability to seek clarification and defend the ideas of other effectively.
Affective objectives
To develop the feeling to tolerate the opposite ideas of other.
To develop the feeling of cooperation.
To develop the emotional stability among the participants of seminar.
To acquire a good manner of putting questions and to answer the questions of other effectives.
Roles in seminar technique
In organizing a seminar the following roles are performed:-
Organizer
President or chairman
Participant
Observers
Organizer
Responsibility of an organizer is to
Plan and prepare the whole program of the seminar.
To decide the theme.
Assign the parts of theme to different person.
He decides that who will be the speaker.
President or chairman
Direct the whole program and keeps the discussion on the theme of seminar
Speaker
They prepare the topic thoroughly and Xerox copies of papers are prepared and distributed among the participants before the commencement of the topic so the participants should also prepare themselves for the topic.
The speaker should be ready to answer the questions.
Participant
Participants should be well acquainted with theme.
They should appreciate the performance of the speaker.
They should be able to put questions and seek clarification
There are 25 -30 participants in seminar.
Observers
Some guest and observers are also invited to observe the activity.
PROCEDURE OF SEMINAR
Organizer select the theme and organize the seminar
Chairman conducts the activities of seminar and directs the seminar on theme.
Speaker speaks about the theme.
Group discussion
Participants seek clarification and put questions.
Observers observe the activity of seminar.
Types of seminar
Mini seminar:-A seminar organized to discuss a topic in class is known as mini seminar.
Main seminar:-such seminars are organized in departmental level or institutional level.
National seminar:-it is organized by an association at national level.
International seminar:-such seminars are organized by UNESCO and other international organizations.
ADVANTAGES OF SEMINAR
Stimulation of thinking.
Tolerance of other views develops.
Cooperation with others develops.
Openness of ideas occurs.
Represents the norms of behaviours.
It has great instructional values.
Natural way of learning
LIMITATION OF SEMINAR
Seminar cannot be organized on all the content of subject matter.
Technique cannot be used in all levels of education
Seminar is a method of teaching mostly used for higher education. It is an instructional technique which involves paper reading on a theme. It includes the group discussion to clarify the complex aspect of theme. The students’ learn to develop the ability of keen observation of experience and feelings of tolerance to the opposite ideas of others.
Debate
Debate is a formal discussion in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.
Classroom debate
Academic Debate Teaches:
Critical Thinking
Organization Skills
Effective Communication
When debating, teams explore arguments for and against a specific proposition
Debating allows several different qualities to emerge, including
collecting and organizing ideas,
evaluating ideas,
seeing logical connections between ideas,
adapting to new situations quickly and efficiently, and
speaking persuasively.
The audience
As the audience is acting as a judge in the debate, the debaters should remember a few rules:
The debater should not deliver too many facts in a short time.
The debater should present the information to the audience as a completed work, not short facts glued together.
The language used in a debate must be intelligible, free of jargon and clichés.
The speech must be clear, well-organized, and informative
Avoid clichés and Jargons
Clichés are expressions that are so common and overused that they fail to impart any real impact on your sentence.
E.g. Example: easier said than done, hard as a rock, better late than never and healthy as a horse.
Jargon is the specialized, often technical, language that is used by people in a particular field, profession, or social group.
Attitude of Speakers
Debate is controversial and controversy often becomes heated.
Debaters should display courtesy and show respect for opponents and for the worth of ideas at all times.
It is not realistic to take a "right or wrong" attitude toward debate.
Speakers should never forget that a good debate is an honest attempt to provide the audience with two different answers to the question asked in the proposition.
Procedure
Students will be divided into two groups, each with 12 students.
Each group will divide itself into two teams (6 members each): one team will support the proposition (the affirmative team). The other team will oppose the proposition (the negative team).
First, a member of the affirmative team will speak for 2 minutes after which s/he will be cross-examined by three members of the negative team (one question each)(8m).
Next, a member of the negative team will also speak for 2 minutes and will also be cross-examined by three members of the opponent team (one question each)(8m).
A rebuttal will then take place, first by a member of the affirmative team talking for 2 minutes and them by a member of the negative teach also talking for 2 minutes (4m).
The audience will then have 5 minutes to ask questions to both teams (5m).
Following that, a different member of each team will have 2 minutes to make a closing statement, first a member from the affirmative group, then a member from the negative group (4m).
The audience will then vote to determine which team won the debate (1m).
The TOTAL TIME for the entire debate should be between 30 to 35 minutes as a few extra minutes will be spent for the transition between speakers
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Voting for the winner
Consider…
How well did the speakers communicate their ideas?
How much information did the speakers know about their topic?
Were the team members polite?
Did the second speaker on each team build on what the first team member had said?
Score sheet
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SPEAKER 1 |
SPEAKER 2 |
SPEAKER 3 |
CROSS-EXAMINER 1 |
CROSS-EXAMINER 2 |
CROSS-EXAMINER 3 |
CLARITY |
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PRESENTATION |
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INFORMATION |
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ORGANIZATION |
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PERSUASION |
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COMMENTS |
TOTAL _______ |
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Advantages of classroom Debate
Allow students to look at both sides of an issue
Improve students' communication and expression skills in a public setting
Enhance techniques of searching information
Improve skills for gathering, evaluating and synthesizing data from various sources in order to develop arguments
Foster appreciation of opposing viewpoints
Enhance debating/arguing techniques against opposing opinions
Allow more interactive exchange among students and teachers
Disadvantages of Debate
Students may not be familiar with debates as an assessment method
Debates are time-consuming (e.g. time for research and preparation, time for presentation of each group)
Students who do not like public speaking would be less motivated in participating
Prepared by
Sabarish P
