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Teacher Talk Vs Student Talk

According to John Hattie (2018), teachers can ask between 200 and 300 questions a day – whereas students typically ask clarification questions. Research also indicates that teachers should limit their speaking to 20-30% of the class time and the student talk time should be around 80%. ​
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However, the same studies show that student achievement increases when students do more talking. What does this mean? Teachers need to do more listening and students need to talk more. In fact, Hattie's (2012) list of influences shows class discussion has the 7th highest impact with an effect size of 0.81.​

Visible Learning (Hattie, 2012).
Visible learning occurs when learning is explicit and transparent
Goals are appropriately challenging
Teacher and Student work together to determine if goal was attained
Learning practice opportunities aimed at mastery
Feedback is active, passionate, and engaging
Teachers become learners of their teaching and students become their own teachers

Teacher Talk

Teachers love to talk; but they also love to show up to their classrooms everyday with experiences and insights they are eager to share with their students. They want to share their love and passion with their students in hopes that they can ignite something in their students much like they have to themselves. Although teacher talk can benefit students, teachers often rely heavily on their own experiences and examples instead of asking their students to engage and relate to the information themselves. "During teacher talk, Students are “physically present, passively engaged, but psychologically absent,” (Hattie, 2012, pg. 81). Too much teacher-talk time makes students less likely to focus on what the teacher is saying and more likely to completely disengage and/or focus on all the other things that happen within the classroom.

​According to the article "Teacher Talk Time and Student Talk Time" (2015):
  • Teacher talk time and student talk time should be planned into lessons 
  • Teacher talk should only be about 20-30% of the class time 
  • 80% of class time should be dedicated to allowing students to express their thoughts

Student Talk

Student talk is an extremely important part of what makes students successful when encountering and creating a deep understanding of new content. “The aim is to ensure that students, as far as possible, gain the knowledge desired by the teacher. In contrast, dialogic talk aims to promote communication with and between students” (Hattie, 2012, pg. 82). When teachers are able to get students talking to and about their new content, studies have shown that they are much higher success with this new content. Instead of relying on the teacher to make them successful, they are working with other students to work through their understanding, ask questions, self reflect and share experiences. This type of student talk ensures that students are actively engaged in what they are learning rather than being completely disengaged while listening to a teacher talk. ​

According to the article "Teacher Talk Time and Student TalkTime" (2015), when teachers allow students to have more talk time, the following is able to take place:
  • Students will learn that when the teacher is talking it is only to give out vital information and will therefore be more likely to listen
  • When students talk about material, it increases their retention of knowledge
  • Students are more likely to collaborate with other students to gain a better understanding of the material
  • Allowing student to think things through on their own increases the challenge of the task
The main point is to work to put the focus back on the students themselves – allow them to lead the lessons by encouraging them to talk rather than standing in front and lecturing. By emphasizing the importance of students taking the lead, speaking, asking questions and openly discussing classroom communities where all students are heard and all voices are a part of the learning can be created and established. While teachers may not fully be aware of how much they are speaking, it is important to take time for some self-reflection. How often do teachers ramble on when students are ready to work? Educators need to check themselves and their talk, ask their students, and work to change their ways. I don’t believe that teachers want to be main voice of the classroom -- however it takes changing deep-seated ways to truly change the ratio of teacher talk time and student talk time.

All in all, the goal should be clear: students have to have a voice.

Teacher Talk vs Student Talk Lesson Evaluation

teacher_talk_v_student_talk_observation.docx
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See Some Examples & Resources:

Teacher Talk Vs Student Talk

Data Collections Systems
Tracking teacher and student talk can be difficult, however, tracking this information is essential for teachers as they try to understand what they students are really learning from their classroom lessons -- as well as shifting the classroom dynamic to a more student-talk-friendly atmosphere.. 
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A systematic approach to collecting data pertaining to how much the teacher and student talks provides accountability for the teacher's choice of strategies and activities. Utilizing a Socratic Seminar Evaluation form that keeps track of who participates and what comments they make could prove to be a useful data tracking tool.
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