Instructor-led FD : Teacher Talk (Giving verbal instructions / advice in class)

This paper describes a faculty development session (FD) led by the author during Rikkyo University's Center for English Discussion (EDC) spring 2016 orientation.The FD's aim was to give participants the opportunity to consider, share, and compare views on how instructors give verbal instructions and advice to students in class.Participants' responses to stimuli provided in the FD, as well as their discussions of the questions posed, showed that there is widespread agreement on which factors, verbal and non-verbal, may contribute to the effective provision of classroom instructions.In addition, the examples of teacher talk they presented suggest that various approaches exist regarding how this language is framed, particularly when giving advice.Further consideration and analysis of these different approaches could help to create a taxonomy of styles for giving in-class advice to students, making it easier for instructors to chart and discuss this area of classroom management. ORGANIZATION AND MATERIALSScheduling the FD during the spring orientation session meant that an audience containing the majority of instructors who had at least one year of teaching experience in the program could attend; first-year instructors had alternative training sessions and three experienced instructors had other commitments, meaning there was a total of 30 participants.As the FD took the form of a workshop and close monitoring of participants working in groups was required, this number was split in two and the FD was conducted twice, one session following the other on the same morning.Each session lasted an hour.A large conference room was provided and tables were arranged to allow four groups of four to five participants to work together in each session.Keynote slides were prepared to introduce the rationale for the FD, share relevant ideas, and guide the participants through the activities.Also, marker pens and sheets of A3 paper were placed on each table for participants to note down ideas generated by the group.In addition, audiovisual equipment was set up to record the proceedings. PROCEDUREThis section of the paper contains a step-by-step description of how the FD was conducted.Relevant Keynote slides are included in the text for ease of understanding (The full complement can be found in the appendix).