Debates, typically associated with politics and legislation, are carried out to consider and discuss matters that need to be resolved. In a debate, participants argue from opposing standpoints, sometimes in the presence of an audience. In educational contexts, debating often takes the form of a contest to engage teams in competition against each other, winners being selected on the basis of a set of criteria (DAV). As debating can be a stimulating real-life activity, higher education language students can profit from debate-based classes. Involving students in this type of spoken interaction activity allows for the integration of all language skills. It can also be beneficial for developing students’ higher-order thinking (synthesizing, analysing, reasoning, comprehending, application, and evaluation) (ThoughtCo.). THIS STUDY conducted by Karen McRae shows that, although initially challenging, debating can be enjoyable, engaging and fulfilling for the students, leading to improvement in their competences. In this post I share a full lesson sequence and the materials for a speaking class, adopting genre-based instruction (see chapter 10 in THIS book). I used competitive debating to develop English speaking skills among English Studies students in Poland. *** First, in Moodle, I created the tasks for the whole class and I collected online materials. Then, I used this content to teach a 90-minute class. I conducted this class when face-to-face was possible; today I would do it fully online, using Microsoft Teams. And I would call it “Virtual Debating” :) Phase One. Building the context Task 1. Students work in twos or threes and answer the questions:
Task 2. Debating. You will take part in a debate. The matter to be resolved: Facebook is bad for communicating and developing relationships. (You can read THIS post on why I selected the topic related to digital citizenship.) Team 1: you support the thesis, prepare your arguments, Team 2: you are against the thesis, prepare your arguments. Each team will have 2 minutes at a time to comment their opponent's turn and argue their point of view. You can include arguments concerning:
Assessment criteria (scoring: 1=poor, 6=excellent) As a debater, how well can you:
Procedure 1. In teams of 3, students prepare their arguments and take notes (3 minutes) 2. Students take part in the debate in three rounds (17 minutes) 3. Students, in their teams, assess their own and peers’ performance, using the assessment criteria above.
Phase 2. Modelling and deconstructing the text Task. 1. Students are made better familiar with the structure of a turn in a debate: Part 1 – Opening
or: Part 1 - introduction/opening - saying what you will talk about, Part 2 - main body Part 3 - conclusion - say what you have talked about. Source: Rusinek, M. & Załazińska, A. (2018). Jak się dogadać czyli retoryka codzienna. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, pp. 161-185. Task 2. Model analysis 1. Students watch THIS extract from “The Great Debaters” [1:43:15 - 1:55:15] and note their answers:
Task 3. Vocabulary development. Unit 38. Presenting an argument. Academic Vocabulary in Use, Michael McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell, Cambridge University Press . Phase 3. Joint construction Reflection. How would you modify the turns in the debate you took part in at the beginning of this class? Think, take notes and talk to your partner(s). Phase 4. Independent construction of the text You will take part in a new debate. Resolve: Teenagers should be banned from editing, posting, and commenting on photos online. Team 1: you are in favour of the thesis, think of your arguments, Team 2: you are against the thesis, think of your arguments. The procedure is the same as in Phase One Task 2. Phase 5. Linking to related texts Students are asked to answer these two questions: 1. How is debating similar/different from talks/presentations (discussed last class)? 2. How is debating similar/different from discussions (to be discussed next class)? Additional resources
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