I've the right to remain silent

Unlike Western countries, classes in Singapore are usually extremely quiet. Students do not answer questions posed by teachers, and do not respond to 'raise-your-hands' casual polls. The following article looks at ways in which students will participate more actively in class.


From: http://yzone.omy.sg/index.php?articleID=20025&&option=com_article&task=detail&type=

不当“木头人”　学生发言的5大情况！

本地学生羞涩于发言，不太爱发问或发表意见，常常令老师感到头痛。尤其，在老师提出问题后，现场出现一片寂静，气氛也会因此尴尬起来。

学生们都喜欢在课堂上做“木头人”？到底在他们在什么样的情况下，他们才会踊跃发言？omy访问了时下年轻人，整理了学生们会愿意发言的五大情况。

一、当老师是一位和蔼可亲的人
不少受访者表示，当授课老师是一位好好先生或女士时，他们会比较愿意分享自己的想法。

22岁的许诗慧（国大媒体系大四生）认为，亲切的老师会消除学生们上课时的焦虑感，也会鼓励学生多发言。

二、当班上有人率先打破沉默
只要有人率先打破沉默，其他学生就会陆续发言？国大中文系大四生陈美君（22岁）说，许多人其实不介意在班上分享意见，只不过他们会害羞，不想成为第一个发言的人。

22岁的陈振麟（国大中文系大四生）也表示赞同。他说：“在班上看见同学滔滔不绝时，会激发我想要发言的冲动。因为我不想让他一人独大，我会想要战胜他！”

三、当气氛十分尴尬时
如果同学们都不发言，全班会陷入僵局，怎么办？受访者吴慧如（24岁，待业）表示，这种情况常让她受不了，因而会试图打破沉默。“大家都不说话，我会有压迫感，有要说话的压力。”

23岁的陈佩琪也表示，学生不说话会使老师很尴尬，因此会主动回应问题，让老师“下台”。

四、当影响到学分时
许多学生坦言，一旦知道不发言会影响成绩时，他们就会设法开口说话。

国大中文系大四一名郑姓女生（22岁）说：“有些课会有class participation points，这个时候，即使我不知道要说什么，我也会硬硬说出些东西，（尤其是）当我发现其他人都已经说过话的时候。”

五、当班上人数不多的时候
班上的人数，也会影响到学生的发言？

新加坡国立教育学院院生胡玮珊（23岁）认为，如果班上的人数不多，学生们会觉得即使说错了，也不用在意太多人的眼光，因此比较不拘谨和害羞。

郑佩琪也认为，若是班小，而其中又有自己的朋友，这不仅会增添亲切感，也会减少发言时的压力。

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How true are these pointers? Only students will know better.

1) Personally I think this point has the least effect among the 5. Even though the teacher may be friendly and approachable, the class can still be very quiet, due to many other more impactful factors. Many students might approach the teacher individually outside lesson hours, but during the lesson, students might still remain as quiet as always. Even if the teacher is really very enthusiastic at the start, facing a quiet class after some time can make the teacher lose motivation too.

2) Well this is often the case. When someone starts speaking up, the rest will follow, especially when what the first speaker said is very debatable. But if the speaker voices out a common view shared by all(most) the students, no one else might follow up. If the 'answer' by the speaker is very complete, and sounds 'very correct', this might also result in nobody else trying to oppose or add on to the discussion. As those who take the initiative to speak up first are only a handful, the teacher might end up hearing the same voice over and over again. This might also discourage the rest to speak up first, since they know someone is going to speak up anyway.

3) I agree that it's really awkward if the teacher asks a simple question and the class refuses to answer. I use the word 'refuse' because there are many cases where the answer is simple and straightforward, and the class (or at least majority) knows it but yet no one wants to answer. It gets more awkward if the teacher doesn't want to provide the answer, and expects someone to speak up eventually. This will result in a long long looooong silence, where students just look at each other in a 'Hey you answer leh!' face. This can be a waste of precious lesson time especially if time is running out, and the teacher still insists in asking questions when he/she knows that response will be poor. The 'hand-raising' poll is even worse - time-consuming and most of the time no conclusion can be made.

4) This can only be experienced in university. Who cares about participation points in primary/secondary school or JC? Haha. In such a competitive environment, it's normal for one to break his/her usual silence and garner all the courage to speak up in class. While some may argue that this scheme might encourage people to speak up just for the sake of speaking up (sometimes with meaningless views), more often than not it makes the class more vibrant, and makes the teacher's job of facilitating discussion easier. In some cases, several students might even compete to answer the question at the same time. But come on, do you think the teacher actually takes note of who speaks up and who gets more participation points? (particularly those who don't ask for your name)

5) This is the most important factor in my opinion. This is the reason why lessons are often split into big-group lectures and small-group tutorials. Most don't want to become the centre of attention among so many people. To lecturers who say 'Please feel free to stop me anytime to ask a question': wishful thinking.


On a side note, the responses given by the interviewees sound pretty competitive, don't you think? That's NUS for you.