Discussions often stall at the first stages.
This is frequently because learners either do not want to say anything or do not feel they have anything worth contributing.
We will deal with each point in turn.
At the beginning of a discussion there is a sense of emptiness. There is a void which, if all goes well, will eventually be filled with thoughts, opinions, arguments and ideas.
To reach such a point, members of the group will need to contribute; they will need to create the discussion through what they say.
A discussion, after all, is simply the sum of the words that are spoken.
In this, it is quite different from many of the activities that teachers use in the classroom.
Tasks that involve reading, writing, experimenting, acting and creating often have more structure and are less reliant on the contributions that learners make.
This is not to say those activities will work if the learners do not take part – clearly, they won’t. What it does mean though, is that those activities will not fail if some learners choose not to take part.
The remaining learners will, in most cases, be able to get on with the task and achieve what the teacher intended.
In a group or whole-class discussion, the teacher needs learner involvement to achieve their aims.
If no one contributes to a discussion, then it is not a discussion. If only one or two learners contribute, then it is debateable how much of a discussion it really is.
At the start, when the emptiness is evident to all, there are a few social factors at play that militate against learner involvement.
The first is fear of failure.
Speaking in front of a group is something many learners find intimidating.
Once a discussion is up and running this is less of a problem because comments are made as part of the group.
At the beginning, however, contributions are made to the group.
This is because the discussion itself does not yet exist. It will only come into being once enough comments have been made.
So, learners can tend feel that they are putting themselves up in front of the group and, in so doing, are putting themselves up for judgement (the implicit argument being that if someone speaks first and speaks to the group then, surely, they ought to think what they say is right).
I believe this feeling is a genuine one for many learners but that it is founded on incorrect assumptions.
Rarely, if ever, do the first few comments in a discussion provoke any kind of negative response.
The second social factor at play is embarrassment.
Learners may feel embarrassed for several reasons:
- They may not know what the rules governing the situation are.
- They may believe that it is rude to go first and put yourself in front of other people.
- They may not like breaking the silence.
- They may not like being the centre of the group’s attention.
- They may feel it is embarrassing to break from the group (who are all silent and waiting) and strike out alone.
Embarrassment, or the threat of embarrassment, can have a strong hold on any of us. For learners, the influence of peer pressure tends to be at its greatest, further compounding this.
Aside from these reasons explaining why learners might not want to speak, there are also reasons as to why learners may feel they do not have anything to contribute.
First among these is the fact that, at the start of a discussion, nothing has been said.
This means there is no reference point against which to judge your own ideas or through which to work out what sort of comments are expected.
Learners may anticipate (rightly or wrongly) that what they think about the topic or what they would like to say may be irrelevant or inappropriate.
Second, learners may lack confidence.
This can lead them to be unfairly critical of their own ideas or arguments, making it less likely they will contribute to a discussion when it is in its earliest stages.
A really successful method for overcoming all these difficulties is to avoid beginning any discussion with silence, where the whole class is sat waiting for someone to say something.
Instead, pose the question and ask learners to spend thirty seconds talking about it with their partners.
The room will immediately fill with noise.
The barriers to speaking identified above simply do not apply in paired discussion.
Once sufficient time has elapsed, get the class quiet again and ask a pair to share what they talked about, or ask one half of a pair to explain what the other half said.
Repeat the process with another couple of pairs or use what was first said to spark a discussion.
By talking with a partner first, learners can share their first thoughts in a way that feels safe.
They can develop some reference points based on what their partner says.
They can discuss without hesitation because they are face-to-face rather than individual-to-group.
They can then talk to the whole group more easily because they do not have to report their own views if they do not wish (removing the fear of failure), they have already spent time discussing whatever is at issue, and the room has been filled with noise, dispelling that initial anxiety at breaking a silence.
You can use the ‘partners first’ technique throughout a discussion.
It is not exclusively for the beginning.
It is also a good way of ensuring everybody in the room gets a chance to speak about whatever is at issue and has their own ideas heard; something that is not always possible in the traditional whole-class discussion format.
