In-Depth Interview Exercise Report (Term Paper Sample)

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In-depth Interview Exercise
Introduction
In schools, talking is regarded as an important instruction and assessment medium. Teachers talk and listen to students and what they say help teachers assess and support the students. Therefore, for students to be fruitful and make use of the learning opportunities in class, it is vital for them to be active participants in classroom discourse.
Nonetheless, observations of the classroom in the past have revealed that class discussions are habitually dominated by minority confident and not necessarily articulate students. A good number of students remain silent and frequently reluctant to take part in social and academic classroom discourse. Blindly, quietness and outwardly compliant behaving students do not pose any obvious classroom discipline threat. These in real sense means their educational and emotional needs are often undetected.
Based on in-depth situation studies of customarily quiet students as well as their families, the topic of silent students in classrooms will, therefore, examine emotional, social, psychological and practical factors inhibiting students thus forming barriers to communication effective communication. Researching and removing these barriers is vital in empowering students to play an active part in their education discourse.
Research question: What are the emotional, practical, social and psychological factors that obstruct students hence forming barriers to effective communication in the classroom?
Explanation: This question draws on an investigation that started while we were learning in our school classroom since I was frustrated by the inability of some classmates to communicate with the teacher and learn. This group of silently withdrawn students seem incapable or unenthusiastic to freely talk in class; they do not have a voice in class and never contribute to class debates. Additionally, some of them seem unwilling to talk face-to-face to teachers and am apprehensive that at least in our school this silence seems customary and that these quiet students do not show a broad repertoire of behavior. They seem to have no access to wide responses spectrum and have no choice. Language is at the center of student’s emotional and cognitive growth hence habitual silence in class is damaging to the learning process. Besides, social and academic conversation non-participation in class hinders students from making use of learning opportunities.
The interview
Joan is a silent student and a close friend in my class. She is most of the time very silent and reluctant to join class discussions and rarely communicates to the teacher face-to-face. Her performance is wanting, and I felt the concern. I chose to do the one hour interview with her so that I can know why she behaves so; among other silent students. I conducted this interview in a coffee shop, tape-recording and taking down short notes wherever possible. I felt the interview was a success since the feeling was mutual and she could answer any question as a friend.
Answers to the research question
Research question: What are the emotional, practical, social and psychological factors that obstruct students hence forming barriers to effective communication in the classroom?
Emotional factors of silence. According to Joan, her quiet behavior is related to her anxiety feelings, difficulty in establishing relationships with her teachers and severe emotional trauma. The interviews and own observation of her revealed she feels anxious on being asked to talk during class sessions. She revealed that her grave shyness hindered her from laying focus on the taught lesson content. Since she is anxious about talking amid large groups ‘strangers’, she says she would rather exclude herself from classroom conversations. She instead remains quiet allowing vocal students in a class to govern debates. This way, she denies herself valuable experiences in learning gained through talking. Joan revealed that she was used to talking at home but not at school since the relationship with her teachers was cold and could not afford a face-on conversation with any teacher.
Establishment of good quality teacher-student relationships in school is core process to empowering quiet learners in the class. This provides quiet students with security feelings allowing them to take an active role in class to better their educational results.
Psychological factors of silence. In the interview, Joan reveals that her silence is as a result of being overlooked in a busy classroom. Instead, only loud, unsettling and possibly aggressive students are given audience in the class by teachers. Recognition silent students’ emotional as well as social needs is a crucial stage in empowering them to take part in their academics actively. Teachers who are used to a particular way of teaching always overlook the silent students and pay more attention to only aggressive students forgetting that interaction in answering and talking helps unlock what the silent minds are keeping. It is good for teachers to get a way of working with silent students and bring them out to talk on their participation in class activities. Assessing students based on literacy and numeracy is common in school classrooms, but it rarely gets on teachers' nerves.
Practical factors of silence. Joan revealed in the interview that she had been approached by one of her teachers some times, but she has never be content to be open and say what her matter is. Teachers of quiet students are faced with the dilemma. She further reveals that her friend had once told her that she appears to be so nervous that it is hard to do even a gentle persuasion since it seems violation. However, allowing students to be passive class observers robs them a crucial learning experience. It is difficult for teachers to handle extremely silent quiet students even in a face-to-face condition and earning their trust can be an excruciatingly slow progression.
Social factors of silence. In an interview with Joan, she revealed that bullying in school and racism has dealt a blow to her confident to talk in class....