ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

‘A STUDY TO IMPROVE
STUDENTS PARTICIPATION IN
THE TEACHING-LEARNING
PROCESS’

BY
SUDEEPTA MOHANTY
DIYA ACADEMY OF LEARNING
Sudeepta@diyaschool.com
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2

Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 3-4

1.1 Abstract

1.2 Background of the study

Chapter II. OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................... 5-6

2.1 Objectives of study

2.2 Significance of study

Chapter III. CONSULTATIONS ...................................................................................... 7

Review of the Literature

Chapter IV. METHODOLOGIES AND INSTRUMENTATIONS.......................................... 8

4.1.1 Population

4.1.2 Sample techniques

4.2 Data Collection Instruments

Chapter V. FINDINGS .................................................................................................. 9-13

5.1 Analysis and interpretation of discussion

5.2 statement of the results

Chapter VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.................................................................. 14-15

6.1 Summary and conclusion

6.2 Recommendations

BIBLIOGRAPHY (list of references) ...................................................................................................... 16-17

APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................ 18-20

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to Mrs. Rebati
Choudhari for her tremendous support and assistance in the
completion of my thesis titled ‘HOW TO INCREASE STUDENTS’
PARTICIPATION.’ Your useful advice and suggestions were
really helpful to me during the Thesis’s completion. In this aspect,
I am eternally grateful to you.
I would also like to thank our Principal, Mrs.Veena Anil, for
providing me with this wonderful opportunity to work on this topic.
I would like to express my special thanks to our Parents, teachers
and students for their time and efforts they provided
throughout. The completion of the thesis would not have been
possible without their cooperation and inputs.
I would like to acknowledge that this project was completed
entirely by me and not by someone else.

Sudeepta Mohanty

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 ABSTRACT

Classroom participation is one of those workhorse activities that are employed by the teacher to
cultivate the students’ background knowledge and to assess how well students learn during the
teaching-learning process. Students are able to show their progress in learning a certain task only
if they are actively involved in the process. Students’ participation is also significant for the
teacher to assess the mode of his/her lesson delivery and the effectiveness of his/her teaching
methodologies, assessment techniques and the learning activities. But in the process of lesson
delivery, certain obstacles that hinder the active involvement of the students in the activities,
maybe encountered. For instance, a teacher may complain of students’ poor comprehension
while students also often complain of their teacher’s inability to make the lesson understandable.
Factors as such always arise in the process of the lesson delivery.

This study’s aim was therefore, to scrutinize the contributing factors for students’ less or high
participation as well as devise strategies to increase students’ involvement in a teaching-learning
process and tasks.

The study used restricted questionnaire checklists, interview, focus-group discussion to gather
both primary and secondary data and observation was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of
the strategies that were designed beforehand to identify some psychological factors like fear, self
confidence and self esteem. All these instruments that were used were significantly successful;
they produced results of this study.

The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the data. Tables are used to
simplify the analysis.

The results show that most students spent most of their school (classroom) time busy with other
learning task which are actually different from the task at hand. Yet their teacher never bothered
asking them to stop their businesses, or even pay little or no attention to what students do at the
time of his/her lesson period. Some students also narrated that they fear giving/asking wrong
answers/questions. Students also agreed that what their teacher teaches is what they already
know; they had learnt most of the contents from their previous classes.

Based on the results that were observed during the administration of the lesson content by the
researching-teacher, tentative solutions were offered and these include the following. Teachers
are highly recommended to;

1. Study students’ psychological make-ups to build up a fuller picture of their human nature.
2. Scrutinize their teaching methodologies and techniques in terms of the amount of control
they exert and the amount of student-led activities there are.
3. Give students the chance to discuss and evaluate the course, the language, and their
emotional traits like fears, confidence esteem and frustrations.

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 4. Give more control and responsibilities to the students.

1.2 BACKROUND OF THE STUDY

Many scholars, in their researches, have noted that one of the most challenging experiences that
need intervention in a classroom is the issue of the students’ involvement in the teaching-
learning activity (participation). This is a concern for the modern teachers though traditionally,
the teacher is an all-rounded provider of knowledge. Although it seems difficult to get students
participate, once they show some signs of participation-withdrawal, it’s advisable that a teacher
tries some techniques to re-attract students’ attention to the activity going on in the classroom.

Ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same
way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the
opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of
viewpoints. Some students will raise their voices more than others; this variation is a result of
differences in learning preferences as well as differences in personalities. For example, some
students who do not speak often in class are reflective learners, who typically develop ideas and
questions in their minds before speaking; others are shy students who feel uncomfortable
speaking in front of groups (at least initially). Many students who frequently volunteer to
contribute are active learners, who typically think while they speak. The teacher’s goal here,
then, is to create conditions that enable students of various learning preferences and personalities
to contribute. To reach this goal, the teacher will need to take extra steps to encourage quiet
students to speak up and, occasionally, ask the more verbose students to hold back from
commenting in order to give others a chance.

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 CHAPTER TWO: OBJECTIVES

2.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors responsible for the students’ participation-
withdrawal, decrease the effects of those factors and develop strategies to increase students’
classroom participation. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives were enacted.
These objectives were divided into;

2.1.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVES:

1. Understand the concept of participation
2. Be aware of the factors affecting students’ participation
3. Appreciate the impact of participation on students’ overall development
1.1.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
1. Explain the meaning of classroom participation
2. Identify factors that affect students’ classroom participation
3. Devise strategies to minimize factors that affect students’ classroom participation
4. Acknowledge the impact of increasing students’ classroom participation for the teaching-
learning experience.

2.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

T here are so many benefits of classroom participation for students in the classroom.
Classroom participation can help students to perform better in school. According to
Scepansky (2003),

1. Higher levels of classroom participation also tended to score slightly higher on

personality traits of openness and consciousness.
2. Classroom participation can send positive signals to students about the kind of learning
and thinking such as growth in critical thinking, active learning, development of
listening, and speaking skills needed for career success, and the ability to join a
disciplined conversation. Cooper (1995) identified that
3. When students see that their participation is being graded regularly and consistently, they
adjust their study habits accordingly to be prepared for active participation.
4. Students’ enthusiasm, involvement, and willingness to participate affect the quality of
class discussion as an opportunity for learning.

Scholars have also argued convincingly that the exchange of ideas within the classroom is
essential to student learning. Classroom participation is very important for student learning,
because the students are not passive vessels in which we pour information. But to teach
themselves, they need to question, discuss, share their ideas, and insights with others. Teachers

5
must be able to present their material, effectively manage their classrooms, facilitate maximum
student involvement, and ultimately, enhance students’ learning.
Classroom participation has been suggested to facilitate students in developing critical
understanding, self-awareness, appreciation for diverse perspectives, and an ability to be
proactive. During class participation, students are active, and are responsible for their own
learning.

Participation provides an opportunity to the students to learn through their own contribution, and
through the contribution of their fellow students. Through discussion, students gain practice in
thinking through problems, organizing concepts, formulating arguments, testing their ideas in a
public setting, evaluating the evidence for their own and others’ positions, and responding
thoroughly, to critical and diverse points of view. Ewens (2000) suggests that compared to
traditional lecture style teaching, encouraging classroom participation promotes a higher level of
reflective thinking, and problem solving, including application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation, and that information learned through discussion, is generally retained better than
information learned through lecture. For example, participation has been found to significantly
influence critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, and increased student motivation.
Students who are active participants have been shown to retain more information after the end of
the course, and perceive more satisfaction with the course as opposed to students who do not
participate.

Participation also provides the teacher with feedback about his/her teaching methodologies,
strategies and techniques and the overall professional taskforces.

CHAPTER THREE: CONSULTATIONS

6
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Throughout the process (duration) of the study, a number of various scholars’ research reports,
books and different writings were consulted. Among were the following;

According to Fritschner (2000), one of the major drawbacks of students’ participation in a

certain lesson is the nature of the course level. He noted that most of the lesson contents that
teachers prepare and present are not appropriate to the students’ level of understanding. Thus, it
is recommendable to consider the students’ readiness and preparation aspect (Fassinger, 1995;
Howard & Henney, 1998; Howard, James & Taylor, 2002; Tinto, 1997) in this regard. This is
actually consistent with the result of this study that shows that more of what teachers teach is
moderately difficult, but never in a sense of its simple-complex arena.

Research also shows that a quarter of students in a classroom fear making mistakes (Fassinger,
1995 and Gomez, Arai & Lowe, 1995) especially in asking/answering wrong questions/answers.

Constantinople reported that the nature of the classroom size (the total number of students in a
single classroom) also affects the students’ participation level (Constantinople, Corneilius, &
Gray, 1988; Fassinger, 1995; Howard et al., 1996, Howard et al., 2002). This is related to the
result that indicates that students seating arrangement is poorly organized. This situation actually
results into poor management of the classroom. A teacher cannot easily assess individual
students since they are too many for him/her to assess. Poor seating arrangement is also an
obstacle when a lesson or a test is administered because students may easily share their answers
with their fellows during a test or they would not be able to stand on feet and face the teacher
whenever they want to participate.

Another research also indicated that most students are less participative simply because they fear
other students, the teacher or they have low or no self confidence to stand in front of their
colleagues (Fassinger, 1995; Howard & Henney, 1998; Howard et al., 2002; Terezini, Pascarella
& Blimling, 1999).

Another factor could be related to the teacher’s communication variables (Fassinger, 2000; Karp
& Yoels, 1975) which is consistent with the notion of the teacher’s speech attention directed to
individual students and the teacher’s position in a class during lesson delivery. Some teachers
positioned themselves at the front, behind or at the corner that makes the students fear them.

Seime (2010) also outlined a number of factors that may account for students’ participation
behavior. Factors like students’ proficiency in the language, students’ preferred learning styles,
students’ personally traits, social and cultural expectations, the teacher’s personality and rapport
with the class, teacher’s teaching style, students’ gender, teacher’s and students’ perceptions of
their roles and the importance of participation in teaching and learning and the kind of the
learning activity.

7
 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGIES & INSTRUMENTATIONS

4.1.1 POPULATION

There was a general list of names (sample) of sixty seven (67) students in grade two. Out of
these 67, 36 and 31 were males and females respectively.

4.1.2 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The research accommodated a total number of ten (10) students who were randomly, using
lottery method, selected from the 67 students.

Out of these ten (10) participants, six (6) were males and four (4) were females. These ten (10)
students were divided into two groups of five (5) each. The first five (5) acted as the control
group and the second five (5) was the target group which was used to experiment the
effectiveness of the suggested strategies beforehand. This target group received all-rounded
supports from the teacher and the observation was the carried out to examine the results.

4.2 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS

Restricted questionnaire checklists were provided to the ten (10) students after the administration
of the lesson. Interview and focus-group discussion were held to gather additional reasons as to
why control-group students didn’t participate in the lesson.

After the administration of the lesson, observation was used to identify the remaining contingent
factors which couldn’t be observe during interview, focus-group discussion and on
questionnaires.

Each of these ten (10) students received questionnaires to assess their confounding or extraneous
reasons why they couldn’t participate and to assess their beliefs about the perceived significance
of their participation.

Latterly, a checklist #3 was provided to the regular classroom teacher to indicate if he uses the
strategies and how much he uses them to increase students’ participation

CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS

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5.1 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DISCUSSION

Table #1. Assessing the Reasons why students do not participate in a class.

RATING SCALE: 1= Very High 2= High 3= Moderate 4= Very Low 5= Low

NB: n=10 N=%

S/NO Reasons why students do not 1 2 3 4 5

participate n N n N n N n N n N

1 I don’t know the language very 0 0% 1 10% 4 40 0 0% 5 50%

well %
2 I fear other students 6 60% 1 10% 0 0% 1 10% 2 20%
3 I am afraid I might ask wrong 3 30% 1 10% 4 40 0 0% 2 20%
question or give wrong answer %
4 I do not know what to say 1 10% 0 0% 5 50 0 0% 4 40%
%
5 My parents told me not stand and 0 0% 2 20% 1 10 1 10% 6 60%
talk in front of people %
6 I am very busy doing other learning 7 70% 0 0% 1 10 2 20% 0 0%
activities %
7 I cannot stand on my feet because 5 50% 1 10% 2 20 0 0% 2 20%
my desk is very close %
8 I already know what the teaching is 3 30% 0 0% 4 40 2 20% 1 10%
teaching %
9 I can’t easily understand what the 0 0% 2 20% 3 30 2 20% 3 30%
teacher is teaching %
10 I can’t answer the assignments the 4 40% 3 30% 2 20 0 0% 1 10%
teacher gives %
11 The teacher doesn’t give me an 2 20% 0 0% 3 30 1 10% 4 40%
opportunity to talk %
12 The teacher spends a lot of time in 1 10% 2 20% 2 20 2 20% 3 30%
the class making me feel bored %

13 I fear teacher’s face when he looks 3 30% 3 30% 1 10 1 10% 2 20%

at me %

As seen above (Table #1), ranked most high 70% is that students are very busy with other
learning activities from different subjects when a teacher that is not for that particular subject is
in the class. This shows that most students spend most of their lesson time working on the
assignments or learning tasks given by the teacher who had left the class before another teacher
came in.

Students’ personality traits like fear, shyness, extroversion, anxiety, low self confidence and low
self esteem is ranked second with 60% coupled with the simplest-content knowledge that
teachers teach. Students believe that if they had not learnt the content during their previous years,

9
i.e. from their previous classes, they would have paid due attention and interest to the teacher
and/or the lesson and even participated.

Another factor that the research found was the students’ seating arrangement in the classroom.
This was rated 50%. Students noted that the manner they sit interrupts their level of participation
and even feeling part of the class during the lesson.

The students also reported that about 80% percent of the learning tasks given to them are
teacher-oriented, 40% as the tasks they do, do not necessarily measure the lesson objectives
communicated to them before the beginning of the lesson and as a result, they feel reluctant
and/or less participative.

The teacher also targets a single group (class) of students to participate or contribute ideas during
the lesson. This group of students could obviously be the ‘’know-all’’ group or wise students
who dominate the entire lesson period talking with the teacher. Ranked moderate with 50% was
the students’ background knowledge of the content and proficiency in the language, 40%.

However, students consented that social and cultural-dominating expectations, gender and
awareness of their learning roles and responsibilities, play a little drama in hindering or
determining their level of participation.

Table #2. Assessing students’ knowledge on the benefits of participation in a class.

NB: n=10 N=%

S/ Benefits of Participation Always Sometimes Never

NO n N n N n N
1 Adds interest to the student 6 60% 2 20% 2 20%
2 Engages students in a learning activity 7 70% 3 30% 0 0%
3 Provides teacher’s feedback 4 40% 5 50% 1 10%
4 Provides students’ feedback 5 50% 3 30% 2 20%
5 Promotes preparation on the previous 5 50% 4 40% 1 10%
assignment
6 Controls what’s happening in the class 2 20% 8 80% 0 0%
7 Balances who contributes in the class and 2 20% 7 70% 1 10%
how much
8 Encourages dialogue among and between 3 30% 5 50% 2 20%
students
9 Helps students to develop important speaking 8 80% 1 10% 1 10%
skills
10 Gives students the opportunity to practice 7 70% 1 10% 2 20%
using the language of the discipline
11 Helps students share views, ideas and beliefs 5 50% 5 50% 0 0%
about the content under discussion

According to the above table (#2), students admitted that participation is good for their academic
wellbeing.

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Students also acknowledged that their speaking (communication) skills develop (80%) when
they actively get involved in the lesson. Participation engaging students in a learning activity is
ranked second with 70% students saying it is always true.

They also asserted that their knowledge of the discipline ranked third, 70% is important and it
can only be in more usage if they participate in class.

Students also indicated that participation adds interest to them. This is ranked fourth highest with
60%.

However, some students doubted if participation could really control the teaching-learning
process, 80%. They also doubted the balance that participation offers in regard to students’
contribution in a class and how much they contribute.

A few students failed to recognize the significance of participation to their academic and social
livelihood.

Table #3. Assessing the strategies a regular classroom teacher uses to increase students’
participation.

RATING SCALE: 1= Very High 2= High 3= Moderate 4= Very Low 5= Low

S/NO STRATEGIES TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION 1 2 3 4 5

1. Consider the use of an online poll before the class discussion √
2. Assess students prior knowledge √
3. Devise activities that elicit participation √
4. Use jigsaw approach √
5. Keep the students busy √
6. Foster an ethos of participation (collective contribution of ideas) √
7. Ensure that everyone’s contributions are audible √
8. Let students teach each other √
9. Allow anonymous questions √
10. Give students a voice and a choice √
11. Place the emphasis on students’ ideas √
12. Redirect questions and answers to other students (whole class)
13. Ask students to assess their own participation √
14. Provide enough praising responses √
15. Teach students skills needed to participate √
16. Keep the content bite-sized to fit the available time √
17. Consider the teacher’s position in a class √
18. Look into the future by developing and presenting prediction activities √

The results in the table above show that a regular classroom teacher does not know the
importance of students’ active involvement in a lesson (learner-centered approach). She
therefore, doesn’t recognize the strategies to increase students’ participation as part of his
professional responsibility to engage students in her lesson or learning activities. It also seems
obvious that the teacher does not give assignments or learning activities, partial of the students-

11
learning method. This teacher cares less or no concern for the students’ overall academic
development.

5.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS

Results have shown that most students 70% are very busy with other learning activities from
different subjects when a teacher that is not for that particular subject is in the class. Students’
personality traits like fear, shyness, extroversion, anxiety, low self confidence and low self
esteem also contribute 60% coupled with the simplest content knowledge that teachers teach.

Another factor that the research found was the students’ seating arrangement in the classroom
with 50%.

About 80% percent of the learning tasks given to them are teacher-oriented, 40% as the tasks
they do, do not necessarily measure the lesson objectives communicated to them before the
beginning of the lesson and as a result, they feel reluctant and/or less participative.

The teacher also targets a single group (class) of students to participate or contribute ideas during
the lesson. These group of students could obviously be the ‘’know-all’’ group or wise students
who dominate the entire lesson period talking with the teacher.

Ranked with 50% was the students’ background knowledge of the content and proficiency in the
language, 40%.

However, students consented that social and cultural dominating expectations, gender and
awareness of their learning roles and responsibilities, play a little drama in hindering or
determining their level of participation.

Students also acknowledged that their speaking (communication) skills develop (80%) when
they actively get involved in the lesson. Participation engaging students in a learning activity
with 70% students saying it is always true. They also asserted that their knowledge of the
discipline 70%, is important and it can only be in more usage if they participate in class. Students
also indicated that participation adds interest to them.

However, some students doubted if participation could really control the teaching-learning
process, 80%. They also doubted the balance that participation offers in regard to students’
contribution in a class and how much they contribute.

A few students failed to recognize the significance of participation to their academic and social
livelihood.

A regular classroom teacher is not aware of the importance of students’ active involvement in a
lesson (learner-centered approach). He therefore, doesn’t recognize the strategies to increase
students’ participation as part of his professional responsibility to engage students in his lesson
or learning activities. It also seems obvious that the teacher does not give assignments or learning
activities, partial of the students-learning method. This teacher cares less or no concern for the
students’ overall academic development.

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CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

6.1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

13
It is actually anonymous with the traditional teachers that they fail to recognize the significance
of involving students in their lessons. But the modern approach has totally changed its focus
from teacher to students because it is believed that students are not just empty vessels who
expect everything from the teacher. A teacher is not an ‘’all-knowing’’ person as it’s been
perceived.

It’s therefore important that whatever teaching-learning methodology and/or techniques teachers
employ, students should always be at the heart of it. Teachers should also devise numerous
strategies to motivate students to participate in learning activities.

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

A
nything to do with human beings requires a great deal of creativities. Teachers are at
this front. Our profession braces the exposure to live and train human beings, especially
young learners. Whatever you tend to do for human beings, you must have tested and
confirmed your physical and mental capabilities or otherwise, you would fail to achieve what
you intended. This is equally true when designing instructional objectives. Strategies to
implement the objectives must set beforehand. As for the case of increasing participation,
Stevick (1980) suggests that teachers should practice these strategies to increase students’
participate effectively in classroom activities.

1. Study the students’ motivation, attitudes, and the social pressures on them in order to
build up a fuller picture of the as people.
2. Scrutinize their methods and techniques in terms of the amount of control you provide
and the amount of students’-led activity there is.
3. Give more control and responsibility to the learners.
4. Think positively and communicate this to your students.
5. Act as another participant in the teaching-learning process, rather than as a ‘teacher’.
6. Be less evaluative of learners’ efforts, and allow them more time to be evaluative of their
own.
7. Give students the chance to discuss and evaluate the course, the language and their
confounding factors like fears, frustrations, self confidence and esteem.
8. Give students learning tasks that are easy-but-challenging to do.
9. Organize the students’ seating arrangement to facilitate easy individual assessment of
students’ progress in learning.
10. Try to balance students’ level and amount of participation.
11. Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage participation.
12. Do not rely on the same volunteers to answer every question. Respond to frequent
volunteers in a way that indicates that you appreciate their responses, but want to hear
from others as well. Move to a part of the room where quiet students are sitting; smile at
and make eye contact with these students to encourage them to speak up. By the same

14
 token, when frequent volunteers speak, look around the room rather than only at them to
encourage others to respond.
13. Reduce students’ anxieties by creating an atmosphere in which they feel comfortable
“thinking out-loud,” taking intellectual risks, asking questions, and admitting when they
do not know something; one of the best ways to do this is to model these behaviors
yourself.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF REFERENCES

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Constantinople, A. P., Corneilius, R., & Gray J. M. (1988). A chilly climate: Fact or artifact?
Journal of Higher Education, 59, 527-550.

Corneilius, R., Gray, J. M., & Constantinople, A. P. (1990). Student-faculty interaction in the
college classroom. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 23, 189–197.

Cayanus, J. L., & Martin, M. M. (2004). The relationships between instructor self-disclosure
with credibility, clarity, relational certainty, and interpersonal attraction. Central States
Communication Association, Cleveland.

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2004). Classroom participation and
discussion effectiveness: Student-generated strategies. Communication Education, 53,103-115.

Fassinger, P.A. (1995). Professors' and students' perceptions of why students participate in class.
Teaching Sociology, 24, 25-33.

Fassinger, P. A. (2000). How classes influence students’ participation in college classrooms.

Journal of Classroom Interaction, 35, 38-47.

Fritschner, L.M. (2000) Inside the undergraduate college classroom: Faculty and students differ
on the Meaning of Student Participation. The Journal of Higher Education, May/Jun 2000; 71,
342-362. ProQuest Education Journals.

Gomez, A.M., Arai, M.J., & Lowe, H. (1995). When Does a Student Participate in Class?
Ethnicity and Classroom Participation. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Speech
Communication Association (81st, San Antonio, TX).

Howard, J. R., Short, L. B., & Clark, S. M. (1996). Students’ participation in the mixed age
college classroom. Teaching Sociology, 24, 8–24.

Howard, J. R., & Henney, A. L. (1998). Student participation and instructor gender in the mixed-
age college classroom. Journal of Higher Education, 69, 384–405.

Howard, J. R., & Baird, R. (2000). The consolidation of responsibility and students’ definitions
of situation in the mixed-aged college classroom. Journal of Higher Education,71, 700–721.

Howard, J. R., James, G. H. III, & Taylor, D. R. (2002). The consolidation of responsibility in
the mixed-age college classroom. Teaching Sociology, 30, 214–234.

Karp, D. A., & Yoels, W. C. (1976). The college classroom: Some observations on the meaning
of student participation. Sociology and Social Research, 60, 421–439.

Liew, Hui Choo (2009) An Investigation into the factors affecting second language learners’
classroom participation. Unpublished degree dissertation Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Tatar, S. (2005). Why keep silent? The classroom participation experiences of non-native-
English-speaking students. Language and Intercultural Communication, 5, 284-293.

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Terenzini, P. T., Pascarella, E. T., & Blimling, G. S. (1999). Students’ out-of-class experiences
and their influence on learning and cognitive development: A literature review. Journal of
College Student Development, 40, 610–623.

Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student

persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68, 599– 623.

APPENDIXES

Table #1. ASSESSING THE REASONS WHY STUDENTS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN A

CLASS

RATING SCALE: 1= Very High 2= High 3= Moderate 4= Very Low 5= Low

17
 Tick the column under the corresponding numbers

S/NO Reasons why students do not participate 1 2 3 4 5

1. I don’t know the language very well
2. I fear other students
3. I am afraid I might ask wrong question or give wrong answer
4. I do not know what to say
5. My parents told me not stand and talk in front of people
6. I am very busy doing other learning activities
7. I cannot stand on my feet because my desk is very close
8. I already know what the teaching is teaching
9. I can’t easily understand what the teacher is teaching
10. I can’t answer the assignments the teacher gives
11. The teacher doesn’t give me an opportunity to talk
12. The teacher spends a lot of time in the class making me feel
bored
13. I fear teacher’s face when he looks at me

OTHER REASONS WHY STUDENTS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………

Table #2. ASSESSING STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF

PARTICIPATION IN A CLASS

Tick on the column that seems appropriate to your belief about the Benefits of Participation

18
S/NO BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION IN A CLASS Always Sometimes Never
1 Adds interest to the student
2 Engages students in a learning activity
3 Provides teacher’s feedback
4 Provides students’ feedback
5 Promotes preparation on the previous assignment
6 Controls what’s happening in the class
7 Balances who contributes in the class and how much
8 Encourages dialogue among and between students
9 Helps students to develop important speaking skills
10 Gives students the opportunity to practice using the
language of the discipline
11 Helps students share views, ideas and beliefs about the
content under discussion

OTHER BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION:

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Table #3. ASSESSING THE STRATEGIES USED BY THE REGULAR CLASSROOM

TEACHER TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION

RATING SCALE: 1= Very High 2= High 3= Moderate 4= Very Low 5= Low

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 Tick the column under the corresponding numbers

S/NO STRATEGIES TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION 1 2 3 4 5

1. Consider the use of an online poll before the class discussion
2. Assess students prior knowledge
3. Devise activities that elicit participation
4. Use jigsaw approach
5. Keep the students busy
6. Foster an ethos of participation (collective contribution of ideas)
7. Ensure that everyone’s contributions are audible
8. Let students teach each other
9. Allow anonymous questions
10. Give students a voice and a choice
11. Place the emphasis on students’ ideas
12. Redirect questions and answers to other students (whole class)
13. Ask students to assess their own participation
14. Provide enough praising responses
15. Teach students skills needed to participate
16. Keep the content bite-sized to fit the available time
17. Consider the teacher’s position in a class
18. Look into the future by developing and presenting prediction activities

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