8.3: Effective Verbal Communication
- Page ID
- 10863
Effective content talk
Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Strategies for supporting content talk
Strategy |
Definition |
How it helps communication |
---|---|---|
Content talk by teachers | ||
Using advance organizers |
Statements or ideas that give a concise overview of new material |
Orients students’ attention to new ideas about to be learned; assists in understanding and remembering new material |
Relating new material to prior knowledge |
Explicit connections of new ideas to students’ existing knowledge |
Facilitates discussion of new material by making it more meaningful to students |
Elaborating and extending new information |
Explanations of new ideas in full, complete terms |
Avoids ambiguities and misunderstandings about new ideas or concepts |
Organizing new information |
Providing and following a clear structure when explaining new material |
Assists in understanding and remembering new material |
Content talk by students |
||
Inquiry learning |
Students pursue problems that they help to formulate for themselves |
To formulate and and investigate a problem, students need to express clearly what they wish to find out. |
Cooperative learning |
Students work in small groups to solve a common problem or task |
To work together, students need to explain ideas and questions to fellow students clearly. |
Table \(\PageIndex{2}\):: Major strategies of effective procedural and control talk
These strategies are also discussed in Chapter 7 as features of classroom management, rather than of communication. Note, too, that the difference between procedural and content talk is arbitrary to some extent; in many situations one kind of talk serves the needs of the other kind.
Strategy for procedural talk |
Strategy for control talk |
---|---|
Creating and discussing procedures for daily routines |
Creating and discussing classroom rules of appropriate behavior |
Announcing transitions between activities |
Clarifying problem ownership |
Providing clear instructions and guidance for activities |
Listening actively and empathetically |
Reminding students periodically of procedures for completing a task |
Using I-messages |