Classroom Participation
Most instructors want to foster student participation in the classroom. Active learning practices, which emphasize student activity and engagement over the delivery of material by the instructor, often require that students participate in a discussion or in some way address their fellow students. Even instructors who mainly lecture generally want students to speak up and ask questions at the appropriate time. While most classes include one or two students who are just waiting for the opportunity to open their mouths, eliciting participation from the class as a whole can be a difficult task.

Many students resist participating in class, and they have a variety of reasons for doing so. Some students are frightened of speaking in front of their peers or their teacher, or they don’t think they have anything of worth to contribute. Cultural norms can also discourage participation. While American students may be used to speaking up and challenging their instructors, in other classroom cultures it may be considered bad manners to argue or to question what a teacher says. Some shy students simply prefer to listen and can be fully engaged with what’s going on in the class, even if they aren’t speaking out loud. And, of course, there may be a few students who just don’t want to put the effort into participating or who are totally unprepared for class.

The first step in increasing student participation is creating a classroom atmosphere in which students feel comfortable speaking up. Correct student errors gently. Don’t belittle students or respond to comments with sarcasm—nothing frightens students into silence faster. Along the same lines, while students should be encouraged to respond to each other’s ideas and to challenge them, they should not be allowed to insult or disparage another student’s contribution. Let students know that they can think aloud and try out ideas—they don’t need to formulate a perfect, fully-formed response before they open their mouths (although they should still think before speaking). After posing a question, pause before you call on anyone, so everyone will have time to think about an answer. Talk to students about how speaking in class can benefit them. Let them know that not only are they more likely to master the material and do well in class if they participate, but they are also practicing skills—articulating their thoughts, asking questions, and working with ideas orally—that will be valuable to them in other areas of their lives, including the workplace.

Other ways to foster participation include breaking students into groups (students who are too shy to speak in front of the whole class may be willing to participate in a small group), having everyone in the class write before you call on students to speak, or having students write and then exchange papers, so that each student reads out loud someone else’s response to a question. Some instructors choose to compel participation by calling on students instead of asking for volunteers. This can prevent the common situation in which a few students dominate the discussion. It lets students know that they can’t passively depend on other members of the class to talk. It can also generate a great deal of anxiety for students. If you are going to use this method, you may want to give each student a set number of “passes” which allow them to say that they don’t feel like contributing at that moment.

Some instructors attempt to require participation by including a grade for participation in their calculation of final grades. Before you set up any such grading system, consider it carefully. Participation can be difficult to measure and even more difficult to grade fairly. How exactly will you calculate that grade? How will you keep track of student participation? Will students be judged on the quantity of their participation or the quality, and by what criteria will you measure the quality? Some instructors reserve a portion of the final grade for participation to give them some wiggle room that will allow them to reward students they like and punish those they think have a bad attitude. These aren’t fair or defendable grounds on which to grade participation. It makes sense to align your grading system with your instructional goals, and if you design a course with the aim that your students will improve their oral presentation skills or will learn how to formulate and defend an argument orally, it may make sense to grade participation. Otherwise, you may want to encourage participation without making it a formal requirement of the class.