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Faculty Development
Spring 2004
Workshops on Using Oral Communication in Class
On Tuesday, April 20, 2004, a workshop was held on the topics “Integrating
and Implementing Full-class Discussions” into a course, and on
“Integrating and Implementing Speeches and Presentations”.
These two workshops were announced and offered separately, and several
participants signed up to join them. On the evening, there were a total
of eight participants. The participants opted to join the two groups
to form one, for a broader scope on aspects of oral communication.
The resulting flow of ideas was helpfully focused by the three points
sent by one of the participants:
- Oral communication as an end in itself vs. a means to an end.
- What are possible criteria for successful oral communication in
the classroom?
- What is the level of intervention of the instructor in the students'
oral contributions?
The discussion opened with brief descriptions of how oral communication
is used or may need to be used by participants in their courses. One
stated that his actual need was for a better understanding of the procedures
needed for formal presentations, both the planning and performing stages.
Another stated that as a user of oral work in class, she was more interested
in the potential for optimizing this use, both in quality and in quantity.
A third participant, who is not currently a teacher, but has been one,
made his point that there were considerations he would like to see clarified
about the use of oral comm. The first consideration is embodied in his
question (1) above.
The group then looked at oral communication vis-à-vis course
objectives, group size, nature of the oral task and time constraints.
Questions were raised as to how to integrate oral work into what was
essentially a problem-solving (Math) class, and the description of having
individual students work out a problem, on the board, using oral protocols
to talk it through, sounded very familiar to non-Math teachers. The
range of provision for oral work then was addressed. Types of presentation
formats, student-led seminars, full class discussions, group work for
oral summary, and student-as-teacher were all described and considered
for advantages and disadvantages. The CAD teachers recognize that their
courses contain a strong oral component, which to varying degrees, comprises
an end in itself. CAD courses often use oral work as part of the assessment
for students, so that specific oral skills are taught, rehearsed and
graded. Other courses have room for oral work, though this requires
that the teacher relinquish control, or recognize that “covering”
all material may either not be necessary or be done more autonomously
by the students. The group heard examples of teachers’ perceptions
of the necessity for them to lecture, without encouraging student interaction,
because that is what their job is.
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