Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 33

rather increases students’ fear and they grow hatred towards English. However, if
teachers introduce simple but controversial topics to the class and ask them to
comment on those topics while sitting in their respective seats, students will feel
encouraged to take part in discussion. Eventually, they will be encouraged to
speak in English. Teacher’s role should be encouraging as well as motivating.
Listening
Through practicing debate, students can improve their listening skills. By using
listening aids like radio, CD player and PC, learners can listen to audio clips e.g.
conversation, speech, debate, talk shows and reports. They can watch video clips
of debate sessions, speeches of famous speakers, talk shows, round table
discussions, reports, and news. Recorded video clips of debate sessions, news,
reports as well as talk shows on television channels like BBC or Tedtalk can be
very good resources for practicing listening in English. Learners listen to CDs of
different dictionaries to repair pronunciation of sounds and words. They also watch
selected English movies in the classroom which will be followed by group
discussion. Teachers give feedback on the discussion. In the feedback, teachers
should focus on sounds, pronunciation, accent as well as use of words, technical
words and jargons. In this case, teachers can use their notes on students’ difficulty
in pronouncing particular sounds and words.
Speaking
Debating can be used brilliantly to boost up students’ spoken English skills.
Practices can be organized in various ways. In many EFL settings, students are
found scared of speaking in English. In most of the cases, their poor background
knowledge and practice in English are responsible for this. Use of debate, speech
and conversation in EFL classes first of all drive out students’ fear about the
English language. Moreover, regular practice of debate, speech and conversation
improve their fluency, pronunciation and vocabulary. They also can get familiar
with jargons and technical terms as debating covers a variety of areas and issues.
Teachers working as moderators will facilitate students’ learning. They provide
feedback on speeches with focus on delivery more particularly on gesture, posture,
pronunciation, accent, intonation, stress, vocabulary, choice of words.
Reading
Debating requires knowledge of many interrelated disciplines and areas which
entails extensive study of current issues as well as social, economic and political
theories and concepts. Studies into these disciplines enrich students’ level of
knowledge, enhance their reading habit and develop their vocabulary. If debate
topics are announced earlier, students can collect information and discuss in
groups. Thus, in the pretext of preparing for debating, students develop reading
habit. Debating clubs organize study circles to discuss topics and theories that are
relevant with debating. Students use many sources to gather data and information.
Teachers also introduce them to different sources of information e.g. local and
international newspapers, magazines, books and websites. Students can collect
information and make wall-magazines based on different issues and occasions.
Through these practices, students prepare themselves for taking part in debating.
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