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Students seem speechless
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-02 22:20 Lu Feng, a teacher at the Nanjing Engineering
Institute in the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, has to answer most of
the questions he raises to students in class.
"More and more university students are unwilling to answer questions in
classes, and few of them can give both clear and logical answers," he
complained.
Lu is teaching courses on automatic controls in the institute. Whenever
raising a question, whether difficult or not, Lu finds there are almost no
students volunteering answers.
"Waiting is meaningless and in vain. Instead,many times I have to call some
students by name to answer my questions. I used the name list for the classes I
am not familiar with," he said.
However, Lu is always upset about the answers given. Students apparently lack
key points and reply irrelevant words due to little practice in answering
questions, let alone actively raising questions or ideas. Usually, he has to
answer his own questions or speak by adding details to what he has already said.
Not only Lu, but teachers in other universities, colleges and institutes are
experiencing similar problems.
"I have talked with many of my colleagues and teachers in other
universities," Lu said, "Most of them are worried about the same problem."
Some teachers say that most Chinese students apparently pay much more
attention to reading and learning knowledge by heart than participating in the
practice of oral expression.
There are different kinds of examinations both inside and outside the campus
but most of them are written examinations, said one of Lu's colleagues.
So one cannot imagine any incentive for orally answering questions, he said.
Due to the prevailing educational methods in schools, the ability of oral
expression of Chinese students is weak.
However, many university students still think it is a psychological or
personal matter whether one wants or does not want to answer questions during
classes.
"I will not answer questions even if I know the answer," said Zhang Zang, a
sophomore in Nanjing Radio and TV University. "That's because I am afraid that
my answer is wrong. I know the teacher will give the answer or some active
students will reply"
"I do not like to answer the teachers' questions since I do not want to be in
the limelight, and many of my classmates have the same feeling," said Gu Yuming,
a junior student in Nanjing Finance and Economics University.
According to Mao Rong, a professor with the department of Educational Science
and Management in Nanjing University, the ability of university students to
orally express ideas is mainly formed when they are in primary schools and
middle schools.
During his research, he found that primary school students are most active in
answering questions and get many chances to enhance their oral expression
ability.
Mao said he would like to try hard to work out teaching methods to foster
students' oral expression. Many university teachers take lecturing as the
principal thing and seldom communicate with students, which causes the
phenomenon.
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