Effective Communication in Teaching: Techniques for Clarity
Exaggerated Intonation and Stress
- a) Teachers use exaggerated intonation partly to show their students the importance of intonation, but also because the exaggerated intonation will help their facial expressions.
- b) Teachers place very clear stress on the most important words in the sentence.
- c) Intonation and stress carry a lot of meaning in spoken English.
Structurally Simplified Language
- a) Teachers speak in short, simple sentences. They pause at the ends of sentences. They look around the room before they start the next sentence.
- b) This does not mean that you cannot ask students if they won the football match yesterday until you have taught them to produce the Past Simple form. The only language they need to respond is either yes or no.
Familiar Routines
- Students are most comfortable with familiar routines they know and understand.
Clarity of Discourse Markers
- Students need to know where they have come from and where they are going.
- a) “In the lesson today, we are going to do three things.” (Pause. Refer to a list on the blackboard.) “First, we are going to read the text about rock climbing on page (pause) twenty-seven of your textbook. Then we are going to listen to an interview with a famous rock climber. After the listening, you are going to write the answers to some comprehension questions.”
Tolerance of ‘Interpreter Language’
- a) If your students are noisy, talking to each other, this is frequently because they are helping each other (perhaps through L1) to understand what you are saying.
- b) You might wish to demand silence while you are speaking, but pause occasionally to give students a few minutes to help each other with comprehension.
Additional Tips for Effective Communication
- The teacher’s eyes are very important for communicating and maintaining attention. The teacher tries to make regular eye contact with all the students in class. The teacher is careful not to ‘ignore’ any of the students.
- The teacher makes sure their face is visible and is particularly careful not to cover their mouth with their hands.
- The teacher moves around the class regularly; they try to avoid talking whilst walking.
- The teacher always tries to plan the instructions they give to the class.
- The teacher always calls the class to attention before starting to give instructions. When instructions are long or complicated, the teacher may write a numbered list of instructions on the blackboard.
- The good teacher uses their voice to add variety and interest to their lessons and is careful not to strain their voice.
- The teacher uses slightly exaggerated intonation and avoids speaking in a monotone.
- The teacher powers their voice from their diaphragm, above their stomach, rather than from their shoulders. This creates a powerful voice and puts less strain on the vocal system.
Conclusion
Teachers can contribute their advice as part of their training to students preparing presentations. They can also make comments and give advice whilst giving feedback following a presentation. Public speaking, presentation skills, and voice training are useful communication skills for all students. Since they will often be using English to communicate with other non-native speakers of English, they should also think about using carefully planned, comprehensible language.