Over the Wall of Silence

Getting Students to Talk 17

Chapter 1

However, once the interaction takes the form of a test, the mean ing of the situation shifts instantly. The goal is clear to everyone: to take a test and get a score. It’s no longer about trying to please the teacher, or show off your abilities, or blend into the group. Every thing is suddenly much simpler, boiled down to this: you get a mark or don’t. So now, active participation in class and doing your best isn’t a sign of trying to show off, but in fact normal behavior within the new system. The social pressures of the classroom group fade into insignificance. This is why we call testing “liberating.” But how can you manage to bring the motivating effect of testing to your class, on a practical level? You just need a few basic ingredi ents: (1) the simple act of giving the label “test” to a situation which was previously unnamed . When trying to model linguistic content (typically questions and answers) with students in front of the whole class, you go from asking questions of students to testing . It’s amazing the power of a four-letter word. (2) A simple reward system that allows you to record points to students after each interaction. This system should be efficient enough that you don’t waste any class time. We’re talking, like, sec onds here. (3) Ideally the test interaction should also act as a broadcasting system , in that it says to everyone, “Look, this student just got a point.” When the others witness an example of a student being re warded and how simple it was to do, motivation naturally rises. The good news is, there is a simple tool that will help you achieve all of this. We call it a Progress Sheet.