4 Designing Informal Communication Activities
As we articulated in the first chapter, research shows that professional communication competence is a worthwhile pursuit in the classroom, given the multiple contexts outside of the classroom in which communication competence could make a difference in students’ lives. Similarly, we need to recognize that students can use communication within the classroom in ways that are not necessarily limited to professional competence, but more focused on enhancing their learning experience. In our experience, when faculty members think about using oral communication in the classroom, most automatically think about the formal presentation. Yet, when you think about the important learning and critical thinking processes that occur in your classroom, you may think of classroom discussions, group lab work, and small learning groups. These also involve oral communication—just a different kind of communication than the formal presentation. These kinds of communication activities—sometimes referred to as communication-to-learn activities or informal communication activities—presume a different way of thinking about oral communication in the classroom. We prefer referring to these activities as informal activities, because we believe that whether formal or informal, the communication activities in the classroom are all communication-to-learn activities.
Informal communication activities have many benefits. For example, small learning groups of three or four people can facilitate talk because it is a safer place to try out ideas before coming to the larger group. Discussion, and experience with discussion, can desensitize individuals to public talk to some extent and decrease the threat of formal presentations. This kind of interaction enables change because it is part of an on-going transaction—thought evolves while interacting. The exposure to a diversity of skills and thinking decreases myths about what others think. It helps create a realistic comparison base because students hear and are exposed to others’ work and thought. There is the potential for students to realize the equifinality of learning: the same end can be reached in a variety of ways. Exposure to other ways of approaching ideas helps students explore multiple approaches to learning, and expands options for them. Preparing students for these kinds of activities helps students learn what is expected of them.
Although you might assume students will have the communication abilities to engage in discussions, group work, or in-class activities, many do not. Therefore, many students are unable to reap the learning benefits of the communication activity and you are left lamenting over students’ lack of engagement with course content and discussions. Some of these problems will happen regardless of what you do. Yet many of these problems can be dealt with proactively. This chapter will provide you with information on designing communication activities that maximize the learning that can happen in your classroom and engage your students in skills that are important in situations outside your classroom. For example, engaging in critical analysis of problems is a crucial skill for citizen engagement, whether acting as an advocate, a facilitator, or voter. The process students go through to gather information about course requirements for a major involves skills of questioning, inquiry, research, and analysis—much of which relies on their abilities to communicate. Informal communication assignments address skills such as these. While they do not necessarily focus on helping students achieve polish as professional communicators, they help students learn to think critically, engage in course material, and learn content in deeper ways.
It is clear, though, that just talking won’t aid in learning. The character of the talk matters. Webb (1982), in a series of studies on cooperative learning, has convincingly established that the character of the interaction makes a difference in individual learning. Interaction patterns differ by demographic group (e.g., male/female, age, life experience) and students’ abilities to learn are influenced by ethnicity and socio-cultural background—that is, students learn better when interaction patterns are consistent with the way communication functions in their home culture (Byrd & Sims, 1987; Jordan, Au, & Joesting, 1983; More, 1987; Philips, 1983; Rhodes, 1988; Vogt, Jordan, & Tharp, 1987). These kinds of activities also involve a certain degree of risk for students. While they may appear to be low risk because they may not be graded, what a student says in class does not necessarily just stay in class. A student struggling with a text or question may be subject to teasing, ridicule, disdain, or just plain impatience expressed by the peers in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. Publicly stating an opinion brings with it the possibility of responses from others that may be difficult to manage.
So what does this mean for us? If we accept that talk by students helps them learn and that the character of the talk in the classroom will make a difference in the quality of the learning, then we are obligated to help students learn how they can use communication to engage in course material within the instructional setting. Experience with talk can contribute to the development of communicative competence, but experience alone is not enough. Students enter our classrooms with a wide variety of experiences in communicating in classroom learning activities. What counts as competent communication in one academic setting, may not be considered competent in another. Disciplines differ in terms of the types of questions they value, the norms of student interaction, the forms or reasoning, and the preferred methods for providing explanations. When students come to your class, they come with varied experiences related to these kinds of activities. Therefore, students need to be provided with examples of how to use communication in the effort of learning. In this chapter, you will find information about various informal communication activities that are intended to facilitate specific learning objectives, how to design these kinds of communication activities, and how to hold students accountable. This chapter is intended to begin the process of designing these kinds of assignments. Chapter 7 provides further information on ways to help prepare students for participation in activities such as these (specifically those that necessitate discussion). Chapter 8 looks more specifically at how to support activities that necessitate group and teamwork.
Regardless of the type of activity you are using, there are important issues related to participation in all communication activities. Student participation in informal communication activities is often seen by instructors as a low-risk process. Yet, for many students, engaging in oral communication of any form is not low risk. A student who chooses to participate in class is essentially publicly committing him or herself to a position of some sort. In doing so, participation becomes a self-disclosing activity. Face issues are always present, more relevant for some students than for others (see Chapter 13 for an extensive discussion on facework). As instructors, we are often not aware of the ramifications of a student’s choice to participate. Evaluation by classmates occurs both inside and outside of class—whether we require it or not—and we often do not see the latter. Consider the assessments of faculty members made on the basis of their participation in a faculty meeting, and you will have a sense of the potentially risky nature of class discussion. Furthermore, research on participation in classrooms indicates that faculty or instructor behavior affects the extent to which students participate, as well as the quality of their participation (Webb, 2009; Webb et al., 2009). Therefore, the way in which you, as the instructor, engage in informal communication activities could influence the eventual learning outcomes of the activities themselves.
It is also important to realize that some students will experience a high degree of anxiety with any oral communication expectation—even those that are not formal public presentations. There are things one can do to help deal with high levels of communication apprehension. For example, studies have shown that multiple experiences with public speaking can help decrease public-speaking anxiety for some people. Preparation generally makes a difference in the degree of anxiety that students feel, and structuring activities that integrate a preparatory mechanism such as freewriting prior to discussion may help. Experiences with different kinds of oral communication situations can also be helpful; for example, communicating in a small group in order to prepare for a more formal presentation. Courses that focus on some aspect of oral communication that feels less threatening can help decrease anxiety in those situations perceived as more threatening. One of the best ways