Lecture 7 How to teach lecture

A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theories and equations. A politician's speech, a minister's sermon, or even a businessman's sales presentation may be similar in form to a lecture. Usually the lecturer will stand at the front of the room and recite information relevant to the lecture's content. Though lectures are much criticised as a pedagogical method, universities have not yet found practical alternative teaching methods for the large majority of their courses. Critics point out that lecturing is mainly a one-way method of communication that does not involve significant audience participation. Therefore, lecturing is often contrasted to active learning. Lectures delivered by talented speakers can be highly stimulating; at the very least, lectures have survived in academia as a quick, cheap and efficient way of introducing large numbers of students to a particular field of study.

Lectures have a significant role outside the classroom, as well. Academic and scientific awards routinely include a lecture as part of the honor, and academic conferences often center around "keynote addresses", i.e., lectures. The public lecture has a long history in the sciences and in social movements. Union halls, for instance, historically have hosted numerous free and public lectures on a wide variety of matters. Similarly, churches, community centers, libraries, museums, and other organizations have hosted lectures in furtherance of their missions or their constituents' interests Bligh, in What's the Use of Lectures? argues that lectures "represent a conception of education in which teachers who know give knowledge to students who do not and are therefore supposed to have nothing worth contributing." Based on his review of numerous studies, he concludes that lecturing is as effective, but not more effective, as any other teaching method in transmitting information. Nevertheless, lecturing is not the most effective method for promoting student thought, changing attitudes, or teaching behavioral skills. Bligh summarises research on memory to show the significance of the meaningfulness of material on retention (Marks and Miller 1964) and the importance of immediate rehearsal of information (Bassey 1968). He relates his own research on arousal during lectures to suggest a decrement in attention during the first 25 minutes. Lloyd (1968) and Scerbo et al. (1992) showed that students take fewer and fewer notes as lectures proceed. Bligh shows that after a short break filled by buzz group discussion, attention will recover somewhat. The largest section of Bligh's book is devoted to lecturing technique, particularly the organisation of lectures, how to make a point, the effectiveness of taking notes, the use of handouts and ways of obtaining feedback. Early editions of the book contained a reply paid evaluation card. This research showed that the section on alternative teaching methods within lectures was the most highly praised. While lecture is generally accepted as an effective form of instruction, there have been some prominent educators who have succeeded without the help of lectures. Andrew Coyle is one of the best-known examples. Many university courses relying on lectures supplement them with smaller discussion sections, tutorials, or laboratory experiment sessions as a means of further actively involving students. Often these supplemental sections are led by graduate students, tutors, Teaching Assistants or Teaching Fellows rather than senior faculty. Those other forms of academic teaching include discussion (recitation if conducted by a Teaching Assistant), seminars, workshops, observation, practical application, case examples/case study, experiential learning/active learning, computer-based instruction and tutorials. In schools the prevalent mode of student-teacher interaction is lessons. The term "parlor lecture" gained currency throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America during the mid-19th Century. It referred to the custom of inviting noted speakers to deliver private lectures, which were typically hosted in the parlors of wealthy and socially influential families.

Exert restraint in planning each class session. You can't cover all of the material in the text and assigned readings. Your lecture might be based on the most important material in the reading assignment, a topic from the reading that students are likely to find difficult, or material that doesn't appear in the text. Explain to students that you won't repeat much of the material in the assigned readings, and their job is to read carefully and critically, identifying and bringing questions about the readings to class.

Your lecture should present no more than three or four major issues, with time for examples and questions. Anything more than a few points and your students will be overwhelmed. Determine the critical message of your lecture and then remove the adornments --present the bare bones in a succinct story. Students will absorb the salient points easily if they are few in number, clear, and coupled with examples. Emphasize the fundamentals during class time, and assign papers or projects to allow students to explore unresolved issues in the field. Students need concrete, well-organized information in class. Out-of-class assignments and activities can be used to illustrate the true complexity of science. There's still much to discover.

Break up your lectures so that they are presented in 20-minute chunks. What's wrong with a 1- or 2-hour lecture? Research shows that students remember the first and the last ten minutes of lecture, but little of the intervening time. Undergraduate students have a limited attention span--so take advantage of it to structure your class. Switch gears after each 20 minute minilecture and do something different: Pose a discussion question, a short in-class writing assignment, small group discussion, or problem-solving activity.

 

Recommended literature

4. Geremy Harmer. The Practice of ELT. London - New-York, 1991

5. D. Nunan. Language Teaching Methodology. Phoenix, 1991

6. Underwood M. Teaching Listening. London:Longman, 1998

Questions for self-control

4. What's the Use of Lectures?

5. Speak on lecturing technique, particularly the organisation of lectures, how to make a point, the effectiveness of taking notes, the use of handouts and ways of obtaining feedback. Prepare your own lecture on teaching grammar.

Lecture № 8