In this two-part series, ELT teacher trainer and author Ceri Jones discusses how to teach speaking in an online environment. In this article, Ceri talks about the differences between online and face-to-face speaking practice.
How is teaching speaking different in an online environment to a face-to-face classroom?
Well, the obvious difference is the physical presence of course. Being together in the same room, face-to-face is obviously easier in a lot of ways. It’s easier for the teacher to see what’s going on, feel the atmosphere in the room, monitor body language, engagement, attention as well as the language task at hand. And I think a lot of students may feel that they have more support in a face-to-face classroom and possibly more of a feeling of being part of something bigger, hearing the buzz of chat from other groups in the room for example. But I think anyone who’s taught online will say that there are lots of ways of building rapport, monitoring students’ participation and engagement, giving feedback and so on just as you would face-to-face. And there are advantages to an online classroom too. You don’t have to travel to get there, you can join from home, the office, wherever you have a good internet connection. Often this means that students actually feel more relaxed and at ease. And obviously this can help in speaking tasks too.
But the biggest advantage I think is the recordings. Live online classes are usually recorded so both teachers and students can go back and watch and listen to the interaction again. This is great for feedback, consolidation and correction. And something that doesn’t usually happen in face-to-face classrooms.
I think it really helps with speaking. Students become more aware of themselves as speakers and once they overcome the initial shyness it really helps them monitor their progress. As a teacher it’s really useful too. It means that during the lesson I can concentrate on supporting the task, maintaining engagement and participation, and making sure everyone’s getting a fair chance to speak without worrying too much about correcting errors or grading performance. The recording allows me to concentrate on evaluating the output later and makes it much easier to give targeted, personalised feedback.
Of course, there are challenges for online teachers too. Probably one of the greatest challenges is making sure everyone is happy with the technical side of the classroom. Things like making sure their audio and video is working, that they can navigate the classroom, know where the chat box is, how to raise their hand etc. It’s worth dedicating time at the beginning of a course to make sure everything’s working as smoothly as possible. Most of our online students these days have had experience of online communication either at work or socially. They’re used to video chats and live text messaging. These are the main tools in any online speaking activity. A lot of online classrooms will also have breakout rooms, which allow small groups of students to work independently on a task before reporting back to the whole class.
Our recent survey on teaching speaking concluded that students are often too embarrassed to participate in speaking in the classroom. Is that carried through to the online environment? Or are there typically more or fewer barriers?
I think the psychological factors that make students reticent to participate in speaking tasks in a face-to-face classroom are pretty much the same online. For some students, communicating online might be more dauting than for others. They may not be used to extended communication online, they might be worried that they won’t understand or be understood, they may get flustered with the technology if they’re not used to it. But likewise, some students actually find that it’s a safer space for speaking. It can feel more intimate, even more informal. If they’re participating from home, this can help. They feel more comfortable and more confident. I guess the important thing is for us as teachers to be aware that in any class we’ll have a mixture of different attitudes and we need to cater to them all. For example, we can use the chat box to clarify instructions, hands-up icons to make sure everyone’s on track, images and icons on the screen to back up our instructions and support our tasks. On the whole I think we need to stage things more carefully and pace things a little bit more slowly so that everyone knows what’s happening when and why. But with the right tasks, and the right level of support I think students really enjoy and appreciate the chance to practise speaking online. I think they find it satisfying and motivating and it adds an extra dimension to the speaking skill – one that’s becoming more and more useful in the world beyond the classroom too.
In the next part, Ceri looks at example activities that work well in virtual classrooms and other considerations when teaching speaking online. In the meantime, discover more resources on how to create safe speaking environments.
These insights have been used in the development of our American English course Evolve. Please visit the Evolve web hub for more information and resources.