Response to article : Is Anybody Listening?

The Large Lecture Classes face the problems

In “College Lectures: Is Anybody Listening?” David Daniels argues that there are a lot of problems existing in the “lecture system”. According to Daniels, “teachers, it is charged, are not doing a good job of teaching, and students are not doing a good job of learning.” This is a subject paid close attention recently. Daniels offers an example from Mary. He says that Mary saw there are hundreds or more students registers in the lecture course; however discovers that the professor never takes attendance on time. In addition, Mary felt that she was bored in the lectures class, and other students were “nodding off or doodling in their notebooks.” David Daniels claims that “listening intelligently is a hard work”. Also, that is a problem from the lectures, especially, “paying attention is very difficult.” Students are always making daydreams because the professor speaks few words in the class. He says, “Attending lectures is passive learning.” Therefore, students of “Active learning” are to pay attention to speaker’s next points or take notes in the class. According to Daniels, “Professors can pretend to teach by lecturing just as students can pretend to learn by attending lectures.” Therefore, the lecture system seldom forms interaction between teachers and students. Finally, the smaller classes’ education will immensely improve the students’ listening skills, intellect and the reading comprehension. I think the larger classes may produce a lot of problems more than the small grouping classes.

In my opinion, the large lecture classes will be easy to make students who can not concentrate in the class. I had an experience of learning in the large lecture class. Students always like to talk in the large lecture classes; especially students sit at the back part of the classroom. Furthermore, you will also see there are some students standing up and go to the toilet all the time. The behavior of the students will be very obvious when in the large lecture classes. No matter the interruption of the noise. It will influence other people who can not pay attention in the class. On the other hand, some professors speak with small sound instead of using the microphone. If students can not hear clearly or do not understand what the professor is talking about, probably they will begin to doze off, speak to their friends and also do not concentrate in the lecture.

The education of the large lecture classes seldom produces interaction between students and professors. As the author said that the professors are just teaching all the time and students are always studying for their own. This has not achieved the purpose of studying. In a classroom, the teacher and students must be interacting and communicating. Teachers should always ask “Are there any questions?” to their students when teaches teach to a certain paragraph. Furthermore, teachers have to bring up some questions and give their students some opportunities to think and answer the questions. Moreover, students can also solve the problems or find out some questions to discuss with their teachers or classmates. Therefore, I think the proper interaction can improve the students’ knowledge and studying level.

In the large lecture classes, professors are usually not really caring to every student about their studying situation. We know that there are some students’ absorbability is faster, however, there are some students are slower. Nevertheless, the professors usually just follow their teaching schedule to teach students. Therefore, every student must pay attention in the lecture class and always take the notes. After going back to the home, students have to review and preview the parts that the professor has not taught yet. If there are any questions they do not understand, students can write down or make a mark and ask their professor next time. Finally, I think the students must be active to study for their own and be more interactive with the professors.

In conclusion, I prefer the small discussion classes to the large lecture classes. I do not like the large lecture classes because it is easier to make students distract when other students are speaking or walking. However, the small discussion classes will be easy to pay attention to the teachers’ speaking and can hear clearly. Furthermore, if students have any questions, they can ask their questions straightly to the professors face to face. Today, there are many professes of different countries begin to adopt the small discussion classes for their teaching. I hope this way can continue.