Teacher Student Communication: Some Strategies to Make It Successful.

Although verbal communication in the classroom is dynamic and depends on context and circumstances, there are certain techniques that teachers can master to help make communication with students successful.

The aim of teacher talk is to deliver information and instructions in clear, unambiguous ways. So structuring your talk in the classroom to achieve your objectives is a really important factor in establishing good teacher student communication.

Strategies for successful verbal teacher student communication

* State all objectives and instructions clearly and where possible in positive ways: for example, state explicitly what students have to do for each learning step; keep the language as simple as possible; use active verbs - eg 'look for this information', 'work in groups of three', 'write down only the key points' etc.

* Check for understanding: many students, some boys in particular, will need to hear instructions more than once before fully understanding or being able to start a learning task. It's a good habit to get students to see it as regular part of teacher student communicaton that you ask them for this kind of feedback on the procedure of the learning activity as well as on the content.

You may need to repeat the message in different ways, using different words. If the students didn't understand the meaning of your words first time around, just repeating them verbatim, may not be enough.

Many students become frustrated simply because they don't fully understand exactly what they have to do so it's best not to assume that what is absolutely clear to you is automatically as clear to the students.

* Give insructions and information in small bitesize 'chunks': if, for example, you want to explain that a learning activity consists of 4 separate steps, with some students you will need to explain step 1, get the students to do it, than explain step 2, and so on until the activity is complete. It's really important to give students these 'landmarks' to guide them through the learning, a bit like going from tree to tree through a forest.

Most new teachers make the mistake of greatly overestimating how much information students can take in and retain. Although it may seem overly repetitive to the teacher, breaking down information like this is very helpful to students, and essential for effective teacher student communication.

* Use a tone of voice that does not alienate students. It's very easy for teachers to slip into 'teacher mode' when they're talking, using a tone that doesn't sound natural to many students, or comes across as bombastic and hectoring. Let's be clear - teachers need to speak with authority and confidence but the tone of voice must be appropriate for communicating warmly and positively. Getting the right 'tone' is one of the most important steps in successful teacher student communication.

* Be careful not to talk for too long at a stretch. Most young people's attention span is roughly their chronological age plus or minus three or four. So if you're talking to a class of eleven year olds, the maximum length of time to talk in one go would be 14 or 15 minutes, but for some their attention may start to wander after eight minutes,or less, assuming there are no other distractions.

A handy rule of thumb might be to think of talking for a minute or two less than the chronological age of the class, before getting students to then do something more active, or at least without having to listen attentively to the teacher talking.

These are not hard and fast rules, and, as with other aspects of classroom life, so much depends on context and how well the teacher knows the class. Some expert teachers have developed their skill so that they limit all teacher talk to no more than 5 minute bursts.

* Speak respectfully to students. All teachers know how hard this can be at times, when students themselves speak disrespectfully. It is nevertheless important to do everything possible to maintain a respectful tone, because promoting respect is one of the core principles of education, and we must, as teachers, try to take responsibility for modelling respect. It's also true that maintaining a respectful tone gives the teacher a better chance to remain in control.

* Establish clear routines for who is allowed to talk, and when. Some students are used to interrupting, often impulsively. Often this is not done as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the class, but it does, nevertheless, affect the flow of communication. You could use phrases such as, 'I'm pleased you've got a point to make, or want to ask a question, but I need to finish what I'm saying and I'll take your question in a minute. Is that OK?' Do it respectfully and most students will understand, but make sure you do give the student the opportunity to speak at the appropriate time.

This is also a way of modelling that very often in the classroom only one person should speak at a time, and students need to learn to wait their turn to speak.

* Ask students to feed back to you, informally and respectfully, how you come across when you talk. I once worked with a colleague who had what she called her 'babble police' - selected students to whom she gave permission to tell her, when she'd been talking too long, or going off the point, and just not making sense.

This can be a risky strategy for some teachers and you probably need to pick your class carefully. A small scale trial with a 'sympathetic' class might be worth considerng before rolling it out with all classes. You don't need to use it every lesson, but if you use it regularly and systematically, it could become a very powerful strategy to take your teacher student communication to another level.





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