Jasmine, a sophomore college student, came up to me one day and asked, in the vernacular, why her name was among those who I wanted to talk to regarding un-posted assessments.
I then asked her to try phrasing her question in English in the hope of developing her communication skills. To my dismay, Jasmine just seemed dumbfounded and stared at me trying to evaluate whether I was serious or not. Realizing that I was, she then started mumbling, trying her very best to speak to me in English and after about 30 seconds of trying, she just gave up in desperation. I told her to take her time and speak to me whenever she felt comfortable. Later during that day, Jasmine was at my office armed with her rehearsed question in English.
This scenario is nothing surprising to most teachers of the English language. In fact, it is one major source of frustration that we all share regardless of the level that we are teaching.
The inability of our students to express their thoughts at the precise moment, the panic that you see written on their faces once prompted to speak, the long gaps of silence, the obviously poor vocabulary and the lack of confidence in speaking are all manifestations to what is termed as communication apprehension.
Wikipedia defines communication apprehension as an individual level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons. Several factors contribute to its emergence such as whether or not the subject feels subordinate to their audience, how conspicuous the subject feels and the degree of dissimilarity between the speaker and the audience among others.
When left unaddressed, communication apprehension can become a serious problem on how our students will fare in their academic, and even social lives.
What can language teachers do then? How can we help our students build competency in oral communication? Below are some tips which I have found very helpful.
1. Check your attitude.Language teachers sometimes unknowingly exude a faí§ade that seems remote to many of our students. This gives us labels as “strict”, “unapproachable” and even “emotionless”. Perhaps it is about time that we loosen up a bit so that students become more comfortable speaking to us.
2. Encourage your students to read. Reading contributes to the development of a rich vocabulary. Make your students realize that the countless words they encounter when reading are subconsciously added to their vocabulary bank! One day, they will be amazed to see the direct relationship between having a wide vocabulary and confidence in speaking.
3. Incorporate reading & speaking activities in class all the time. Always include activities that will require students to read and speak. Think of creative, fun and innovative activities that will make students appreciate reading and speaking. A poem, a short story, an essay, an article or simulation can all be part of any language teacher’s daily lesson plan.
4. Avoid being too critical. At those rare times when students actually speak in class, do not focus so much on their grammatical or pronunciation errors. When you do, students lose the interest to speak up for fear of exposing themselves and their communication weaknesses. Point out errors in mini-lessons as part of the review so that no student is singled out in the process.
5. Foster an engaging yet relaxed classroom atmosphere. Be creative with how you will go about your classes. Find activities that will sufficiently stimulate your students so that they become engaged and empowered enough to speak up. Allow students to contribute their ideas and always acknowledge them even when their responses seem irrelevant.
By slowly transforming how we look at our classrooms as avenues for communication, we begin our journey towards developing more confident speakers among our students. Remember that out effectiveness as educators is best measured in the kind of learners that we eventually produce.
Dr. Roullette Pis-an Cordevilla
Dean, FU College of Education
