CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

4 Ways to Reduce Teacher Talking Time

Last Updated 31 October 2023/ By Zineb DJOUB

Have you ever felt you’re talking too much in the classroom? Teachers are talkative. But, we have to admit that if we exert no control over that talk, we will end up depriving our students of getting involved in their learning process.  So, how to reduce teacher talking time?

Students need to participate, interact, ask and answer questions, share their ideas, and make choices. They need not only to be there physically, but their minds are to be active as well.

Our Teacher Talking Time (TTT) is decisive because it determines students’ motivation and interest to learn and progress. If we do most of the talking in class, our students are likely to feel bored listening to us, and so they lose their interest and motivation to get engaged. Not letting their voices be heard can also make them more dependent on us.

So, here are 4 ways to reduce teachers’ talking time in the classroom.

1. Create moments for students

Boosting students’ involvement is a common goal for most teachers. Yet, bringing up interesting materials for students may not suffice to reach that aim in case teacher talk is dominating.

It is important, therefore, to create moments for students where roles are switched: students are active, talkative, collaborative, and creative while you are observing them, listening, and eliciting more speaking.

Creating those moments is a deliberate decision to make and a necessary component of any effective lesson. So, if you intend to involve your students plan for those moments. Think about what tasks to integrate, how and when you need to do so to achieve this objective.

WHAT

In any lesson, there need to be some tasks that are of interest to students. They can encourage them to collaborate, create, and share their ideas and personal experiences with others.

But, moments for students are not just a matter of getting them involved in doing such tasks, but they are more about having them take part in our teaching.

Re-explaining the lesson to each other, paraphrasing ideas, summarizing previous lessons at the beginning of class, asking follow-up questions, doing the wrap-up, bringing materials to the classroom, providing feedback to each other, reporting something to the class, reflecting on their performance are the kind of opportunities that can enhance more their learning and progress.

Plan for those moments where students can do things instead of you, where you give them the chance to learn from their attempts and experiences and observe them to provide the necessary help.

HOW

If you mean to reduce your TTT, you need to invite students into your teaching. Still, students will not respond positively and get involved unless your way of inviting them is stimulating and encouraging them to do so.

For this purpose, show interest in them. Make clear that their contributions are of great value. Create competitions and show your passion for having them share the job with you.

Invite them constantly to the board and encourage them to break down their fear of speaking in front of their peers. Create that atmosphere where they feel at ease, so be among the crowd. Take a seat among your students or stand at the back and watch your students performing. Do not interfere, let them interact with each other and voice their ideas.

WHEN

Moments for students need to be part of every lesson because they support you to reduce your TTT and make students more engaged. Planning for them is necessary because it makes your actions more intentional.

However, over the course of time, as they become part of your lessons and students get used to them, you may not need that planning. Whenever you think about your lesson content, those moments will come to your mind.

2. Avoid answering your questions

What would teachers’ questions serve if teachers themselves answer them?

So, let’s think about the purpose of addressing our questions in class. Our questions are supposed to be purposeful: to check for understanding, to provoke students’ thinking, to encourage them to speak up their ideas, write and practice what has been taught, etc.,

In short, our questions are a source of students’ learning. So, if it’s us who provide their answers, we’ll deprive our students of precious learning opportunities defined by thinking and producing.

We must avoid answering our questions. How?

• Get your students’ attention before addressing your questions. For instance, you can say: ‘Listen, I have an important question for you’, ‘it is important to understand why/how/When……’, ‘We need to get an answer to the following question’, ‘One of the questions that you can have in the exam/test is…’(you should not do it frequently).

• Explain your questions clearly, using simple language.

• Clarify why you’re addressing this question,i.e., how does it relate to previous content?

• Give your students time to think over your questions. If you notice that they’re still struggling with the answers, re-explain or ask other students to do it.

If you have received wrong answers and you notice students have difficulties:

• Provide them with clues to help them find the answers.
• You can ask them to write their answers (do this from time to time). Writing can help make their thinking more structured. They can plan their answers more carefully.
• Working in pairs can help students discuss the question and come up together with the answer (in case you have enough time)

In all cases avoid answering your questions

3. Elicit much more students’ talk

Another way to reduce teacher talking time is to increase STT. To do so, it is necessary to elicit much more talk from students. Acting as a prompter here is required to support them to express their ideas and overcome the frustration that some of them may feel when they come to a dead-end of language or ideas. Here are some tips to do that :

• Set an activity clearly and with enthusiasm.
• Design lessons where students’ inquiry and discovery are enhanced.
• Show interest in listening to students’ ideas. For instance, you call students’ names saying ‘John,  I’d like to know your opinion/ Let’s listen to John’s answer. Or  ‘ Students, who can convince me …/ I need an answer that…
• Do not be satisfied with the yes/no or short answers. Ask students to justify their answers, explain, and add more details. Even if their answers are clear, pretend you have not understood.
• Encourage them to discuss and elaborate more on their classmates’ answers.
• Give them facts, and examples, and put them into situations to elicit more responses: ‘Research has shown that…../ There are people who believe that…../ I think that………./ What would you do if…………
• Use facial expressions and words to encourage them while they’re speaking. For example, you can say: ‘Ah! That’s interesting’ (raising your eyebrows).
• Don’t get satisfied with the answers you got from the same students, those who are always participating. Target the majority. Even if those answers are correct, nudge the rest forward to talk. They may provide you with ideas you have not expected and/or let you know how they’re getting on with your lessons.
• Equip your students with the necessary tools to express their ideas (language, materials, etc) and a healthy atmosphere to make mistakes and express themselves.
• Participate in students’ discussions or any other activity to introduce new information, make them more engaged, and support them in doing the task. Yet, avoid participating too much, thus dominating the speaking.
• Do not focus just on frontal teaching, group students differently so that they can talk and listen to each other.
• Support them to initiate more talk by providing positive feedback that boosts their self-confidence and encourages them to work out their weaknesses and improve.

4. Mind the quality of your talk

Our talk needs to be both effective and efficient. We need to avoid long explanations, repeating what students say, paraphrasing and repeating instructions more than necessary, and adding additional information to students’ responses.

When we target quality talk, we are not just providing students with the chance to speak, but we are also focusing on what is more relevant to their learning progress, thereby making them more engaged.

For this purpose, reflecting regularly on our talk is essential to make it more refined. You can record or film yourself during the whole lesson, then when you go home you examine its quality.

Other opportunities to get feedback regarding your talk in class are inviting a colleague in class to observe you and asking your students’ views about it (fill in reflective worksheets).

Don’t forget that you can reduce your TTT if you think wisely about what are doing and saying in class. To help you do that, get Your Guide to reduce your TTT and enhance its Quality

If you have felt that you’re talking more than your students, you are not alone. I have felt the same even when the learning has been turned over to the students.  Exerting much control over my TTT has always been a necessity. So, I have decided to share the job with my students, avoid answering my questions, and listen to and elicit more of their ideas.

But, I realized that these would not suffice without reflecting regularly on my talk. So, I decided to reflect to monitor that talk and improve it further. These 4 ways have really helped me reduce my TTT. Try them, you’ll see the difference. All the best.