Why Teach Debate When Speaking’s No Small Feat?
A Conversation between Curtis🙂 and Heather🙃
By: Curtis Kelly & Heather Kretschmer
Heather: Hey, Curtis. It’s time to introduce our Think Tank issue on debate, but my stomach’s in knots.
Curtis: Really? Why?
Heather: Debate is daunting. In fact, I’ve hardly ever set up any debate activities with my students. So, how about we figure out how to “do debate” together?
Curtis: I’m game. Let’s take a moment to switch to a wide-angle lens. Debating involves speaking. Interactive speaking. This is something we develop throughout childhood, and really we do it all the time, so I’m going to play devil’s advocate and ask how hard can it be to develop speaking skills in a foreign language?
Heather: Actually, learning how to speak a language is very challenging. In a Cambridge University Press survey given to 14,000 students, many respondents wrote that speaking was what they found most difficult in English (link). And in our more video, when discussing what goes on in the human brain and vocal tract, neurosurgeon Eddie Chang comments on how people don’t realize how complicated speaking is:
We actually have no idea what’s going on in our mouth when we speak . . . how [we’re] actually moving the different parts of the vocal tract . . . If we were actually required to understand, we would never actually speak because it’s so complex . . . Some people would say the most complex motor thing that we do as a species is speaking, not the extreme feats of acrobatics or athleticism. (1:11:42)
Curtis: Wow! I never thought of that.
Heather: Me neither! I highly recommend listening to this More video excerpt (01:01:18 – 01:28:33), where Eddie Chang explains what goes on in our brain, ears, lungs, and vocal tract when we listen and speak. And definitely, check out this short MRI video clip where you can actually see the complexity of speech. In this slightly longer MRI video clip in German from the same research group, you can see and hear some of the German vowels (a, e, i, o, u) starting here and some consonants (l, m, n, r, s, t, v, w, b, p, h) starting here.
Curtis: Now that you mention it, I see speaking is a high-level skill! It requires real-time processing of language (and how many people can do that in L2?), fast mental agility with the current topic, appropriate facial and verbal cues, and it is done right to someone else’s face! No time for preparation or revision like some forms of writing. On the spot succeed or fail!
I believe that debate requires these mental skills and more, such as critical thinking, persuasiveness, and other mental processes that are just as important as any other part of language proficiency.
Heather: Absolutely! Debate has some intellectual benefits, as our contributors point out, but before we dive any deeper into those benefits, let’s specify which meaning of debate we’re focusing on in this Think Tank issue so we’re all on the same page.
According to Wikipedia, debate is “a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience.” Debates might take place in the political arena, like the U.S. presidential debate (link), in a competitive debate where teams compete against each other, or in a classroom setting for educational purposes (link and link). Generally, a debate topic has at least two sides, and the debate is set up in a clearly structured way, allowing equal time for each side. The presenter in our main video gives us a nice example of how a debate can be structured (4:55-6:02).
Curtis: When I taught debate in a Japanese university, setting it all up was the second hardest thing for me. It took me a whole class just to explain the system and the rules, for example, what a rebuttal is and how you are not allowed to introduce new arguments in one. But what was even harder was getting them to even do a decent rebuttal. It was hard to get learners, weaned in a culture of consensus, to verbally attack each other’s positions. It was not a matter of willingness on their part; it was one of know-how. I never felt very satisfied with the debates we held. But maybe that is why debate is so popular among Japanese educators. They see it as a way to instill verbal and mental skills that normal Japanese socialization leaves out.
But Heather, that’s my story of teaching debate in Japan. How about you in Germany?
Heather: In the few cases I’ve tried out debate with a class, I’ve given the debaters for each side of the issue a different role each, assigned a student a moderator role, and then had the rest of the class be the audience, who listen, pose questions, and decide which arguments were most persuasive. One advantage of debate is that it helps students see both sides of an issue, think of points supporting each side, and consider counterarguments. But it’s not just the critical thinking aspect that I like. I also believe debate can help students develop empathy with other people even if they don’t agree with their opinions or actions.
Curtis: Yes! Another thing I had never considered!
Heather: I must say, after reading all of the practical tips from our authors in this issue, I feel confident enough to try out at least one of their debate ideas in my classes this semester. I just have to figure out which one. So many great choices!
Curtis: I agree. And let me conclude our discussion with an insight on the value of studying debate, one I realized because of Anatole Broyard. You and I have been pondering how debate helps our students learn how to interact with others, by persuading them, disagreeing with them, and even empathizing with them, but maybe a greater gain has nothing to do with interaction. Maybe the verbal and mental skills we develop in debate can be used in our own internal dialog. As Broyard suggested (link):
The tension between “yes” and “no,” between “I can” and “I cannot,” makes us feel that, in so many instances, human life is an interminable debate with one’s self.
Reference
- Burns, A. (1998). Teaching speaking. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 18,102-123. Cambridge University Press.
Curtis Kelly is debating whether his move from Kyoto, Japan to Portland, Oregon in the US was the right decision or not.
Heather Kretschmer teaches English at the University of Göttingen in Germany.