Why Don't Students Want to Speak?

We've all experienced awkward silence in the classroom.

It’s your students’ time to speak, they hesitate, and silence grows. You ask more questions, and still silence. Now what?

These pits of silence can happen despite our most enthusiastic efforts to engage learners. Scott Thornbury’s observation from Big Questions in ELT cuts to the heart of the issue;

“Why are some learners unwilling to communicate? There are at least three likely sources of learner reticence: a social-cultural one, a psycholog...