Preparing and Motivating Students to Speak

Oral communication skills are important for students to develop across a range of classes. Research shows that having students engage in discussion during class can increase their confidence in oral communication.

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2008). Using discussion pedagogy to enhance oral and written communication skills. College Teaching, 56(3), 163-172.

Related tips:
Enhancing Speaking Skills: Evaluation Strategies

Assign a variety of speaking activities to increase student engagement.

Give students advice for their presentation to help them structure the information and cover all and only the relevant content.

Provide students with a rubric before their presentation to communicate your expectations.

Remind students that whole-class and small discussions are designed to develop their oral communication to draw students’ attention to improving their oral communication.

Give an example presentation before students present in class to help students understand your expectations.

Have students help create a rubric for oral presentations to get them thinking about all different aspects of a successful presentation.

Invite non-class members to presentations to create a context in which students must explain their ideas to an intelligent person unfamiliar with the class material.

Give students plenty of opportunities to talk about the course topics to ensure they get practice expressing and clarifying their ideas