I believe, it depends on the standard of the students. Accordingly I plan my lesson. As I'm teaching English as a second language, I have to talk more when I'm given weaker students,whereas when I'm teaching the brighter students, I try to reduce my talking time as much as possible.

Ipoh, Malaysia
I think being 'balanced' is very important. As a teacher, we always encourage students to share their views among the peers using the target language. However, somehow the students may have difficulties in expressing themselves using the target language. They may have a lot of interesting idea but they do not know how to deliver them. In my opinion, this is why they need us, to be tuned in to their needs. We start eliciting what they are trying to tell by asking questions and giving them the vocabulary which are used in that particular field. Teaching also means facilitate and interact with the students!

Hussein Reiad, Egypt
In my country Education is still traditional. It is only imitating and dictating from teacher to students although there are computers , most people don't use them to learn only as a video. Really students don't speak only listen.

Amelia Utting, Britain
I often feel that I talk too much and don't give enough information and that my instructions could be a lot more concise. However, I find the quieter I am, when eliciting info for example, the more the class act as a group and students speak that otherwise wouldn't normally. The silent method?

Rasha, Egypt
I am the runner of the show as the class is over crammed and there is no possibility of dissecting it. They work their own minds rather than pool their resources.

Samir Ibrahim, Syria
I always try to break the balance I think I have because I want the classroom to be the students' stage as long as possible.

Nafisa Bintayeh, Yemen
I find that most of the TT happens at the beginning of the class or when explaining a grammar point. So I plan the lesson in such a way that I get the students involved in the lesson by planning pair and group work. As to grammar I would spend not more than 5 minutes to explain the lesson then would give a short activity to check on the students' understanding -in some cases I go back and explain using different approach / activities. Using the deductive and inductive approach to introduce a grammar point has saved a lot of TT.

Yolanda Mirela Catelly, Romania
Once you have grown aware of the importance of maintaining a balance, you start thinking of ways to cope with the time constraint without talking too much (too little time at your disposal and too high expectations from the students.
At this stage, my teacher talk is mostly represented by the class management/organization of students for the tasks and providing support to them when they are working in groups/pairs. It may be a good idea to replace teacher talk consisting of long explanations, examples written on board and so on, by using electronic means displayed on screen, such as a dictionary with taped pronunciation, a word document created by the teacher for that particular lesson, the net and other similar materials. They are different, varied and therefore definitely more memorable for the students, reducing both teacher talk and teaching time, and it is English spoken/written by native speakers.

Mohamed Abdel Rasoul, Egypt
I guess in most cases with all grades teacher should minimize his/ her talking time as far as possible even with beginners. Most of the time students should have opportunities to express themselves. Teacher should motivate students to talk and express themselves.

Ahmed Al-Ajmi, Oman
TTT ( Teacher Talking Time ) should be reduced in learning a foreign language in order to give more chances for the pupils to use the language. Teachers interfere only to clarify or introduce something new.

Ahmed Al-Ajmi
In order to develop students' mastery in a foreign language, more chances should be given to them inside the class to practise using the language. Therefore, teachers should reduce their talking time and encourage pupils to talk. Teachers interfere when needed only.

Iraj Shahmalaki, Iran
I think I must let my students talk in class for participating in learning process by asking some questions. Teaching and learning process is done by students and teacher.

Vera, Novi Sad, Serbia
I think that the best gain for students is in-between.
Students need to be prompted or drilled to say what is at their level. They need to develop some confidence to say something in the first place, especially if they are respected professionals in their own field who, more often than not, cannot allow themselves to say an incorrect sentence and sound incompetent (their view). The bottom line is that students can better learn by experimenting with whatever language they've got (and being later corrected) than if they only listen to the teacher. Listening to the teacher only (further) develops their listening skills (which they may have mastered by watching TV or listening to their interlocutors) but does little to improving their own speaking skills.

Elke Lerman, USA
I currently have a beginner class, and I find it hard to convey instructions to them, so I have been having difficulty coming up with good student-centered activities. I have had them play concentration(match game)and interview each other. When I have had intermediate and advanced classes I had a good balance, got the students talking a lot.

Abderrahim Khoumich, Morocco
Beginner students need to hear the new language via their teachers as an input, but this input should be as simple as possible.

Maria Fernanda, Colombia
I think that the teacher talking time varies depending on the level of the student. Thus, in the first stages they need to listen as much as possible, but then they start applying all that knowledge and is when they start producing orally in a higher amount.

Christopher Monorien
l think having a good balance is the most productive strategy. This is because it gives the teacher the opportunity to be heard and the pupils to be actively involved in the teaching and learning process. Learning therefore becomes an interesting activity

Clare Teasdale, Belgium
I work with small groups of adults and use a student centred approach thereby encouraging them to speak. I have become increasingly aware of the importance of my talking, in giving them totally natural English in terms of both the expressions / vocabulary used and the pronunciation / intonation. The amount of talking I do depends very much on the level of the group and on what's going on in any particular lesson.

Sadaf, Pakistan
For me teaching is a communication and becomes effective only if the participants are equally active. I think I have a good balance because the knowledge we impart to our students requires comprehension which only comes through discussions.

Liba Attallah, Czech Republic
I mostly try to reach a balance, however I somehow tend to speak less with more advanced students and give them more space to express their ideas, while beginners need more listening to gain time to develop their ear for the language.

Teresa Ferrero, Italy
I have noticed that native speaker-teachers let the students speak much more than non native speaker-teachers of English. In my opinion this is because we tend to teach a lot of grammar and make comparisons between the two languages. While native speakers use the language 'naturally' and so they tend to be more conversational.

Yo Veraart, Belgium
I really have to pay attention not to talk too much. Automatically you already talk a lot in your lessons (giving instructions, explaining, ...)The emphasis should be on student's activity. So I put as many as possible speaking opportunities for my students in my lessons. THEY should get the chance to train THEIR speaking skills. I don't have to prove it anymore that I'm good at speaking. I've already done that by getting my teacher's diploma.

Stuart Pillinger, UK
Obviously a teacher must never crowd out the students' spoken output but a dynamic classroom atmosphere of lively speech stimulates spoken exchanges, encouraging the less confident students to join in the fun. The more language that is generated, the more students hear, the easier and more natural it becomes for them to use what they hear.

Rebecca S. Hudson, UK
It's true that students learn a lot from their teachers, especially when they are starting out. The teacher must be an example, therefore listening as well as speaking is the art of fine conversation. Strike a balance.

Sye Afroz Dashrafi, India
Talking more is never essential as the balance and clarity hold the key to communication. To be intelligible is a tough task unless the students are fully involved and have read the subject before hand. Without pandering to pedantry and keeping things simple does a lot of good in in any class.

Marly MacFarlane, Brazil
I think teaching should be as close as possible to the real language situation students will encounter when in an English speaking country. Thus, they should talk but listen as well. Sometimes I encourage them to speak a lot in class but there are times when they listen to me a lot, and we always have a real good time in class. a good balance, that´s the measure.

Clenis, Venezuela
I think we have to give opportunities to the students to talk that is the way they can learn and we see they are learning.

Halfaoui, Algeria
Here in Algeria, we are applying the competency based approach i.e the teacher must stop being the sage on the stage. He must be the guide on the side. I speak as little as possible.

Mr Lion, Chile
I think that there must be a balance between the TTT and the STT. Remember that we are the first and maybe only contact that our students have with English, so at the beginning we have to present the language and then let the students practice and produce it. In this way their confidence, fluency and accuracy improve.

Prabha Muthukrishnan, India
Teacher talking and students participation has to be well balanced. The students have to be given chance to talk. After all the aim is to help the pupils think and express their views. A good teacher is more of a guide than a mere lecturer.

Nitin, India
It is correct that the students learn what their teacher says, but to check what the students have understood, it is teachers' responsibility to hear her students...that too regularly.

Maria Magdalena Rua, Argentina
I think I have a good balance of teacher talking time in the sense that I try to reduce or expand my talk according to students' rapport. What I mean is that I adapt my talking time to the group's needs and activities involved.

Patricia Aguilar, Mexico
I speak when I have to explain, or when I have to model the task. For me it's more important that my students speak; most of the times the students don't have the opportunity to practice in any other place. It delights me when I listen their progress.

Zahira, India
I suppose to children who have very little resources of language exposure to good English is essential. Reading aloud stories, listening to native speech in cartoons like the Noddy series and getting them to enact plays could be tried in classes with 60 students sitting on the floor.

David Sanchez
I think I have a good balance because you have to let the students talk as well by asking questions, that way they show their points of views.

Asif Chowdhury, Bangladesh
I do reckon, teaching is like an art; as an art cannot be imbalanced between its audience and itself, similarly, teaching cannot be out of track from the range of a teacher for the sake of his/ her students; it must go in balance where he/ she is the speaker when his/ her students are the listeners and he/ she needs to do the same when his/ her student speaks out!

Radha Parikh, India
I like to use cooperative learning strategy of a mix of both large group (teacher talk), and small group (student talk) with student presentations on assigned readings.

Kareemah, Trinidad
I speak when I need to explain and enunciate something, and then I allow for interaction among students. I love to hear them talk and give their views, it allows me to guage their level of understanding on the topic.

Neli Kukhaleishvili, Georgia
I think I have a good balance. I make my students speak more through eliciting the information which is through asking questions, requiring to expand the topic and working in pairs and groups. I notice that they become bored if I exceed TTT , they are more enthusiastic when they express their opinions as they see that they are producing the language.

Prakash.G.U, India
I think it's very necessary to balance because teaching is all about talking at same time to make learners to think & reflect.

NgocAnh, Vietnam
I always try to balance the time for student talk and teacher talk. I expect my students to talk more but actually student talk in my class tends to be in the form of "Teacher initiate, students response. I want to take up some sort of "conversational model"

Zabi, Afghanistan
I think I need more to speak more. That is what I really feel. It delights me while teaching is in progress. On the other hand it is changing the students ideas of what I just give for discussion.

Russia
I am currently teaching at the Agricultural University and the number of hours for foreign language is very small, 2 hours per week to be exact. The questionnaire survey I have made has shown that students are greatly interested in English and they give preference to developing speaking skills. So, I try to arrange a lesson so that to balance all the activities and talk only when it is really necessary i.e. when I am doing speaking exercise.

Abdenbi Rami, Morocco
We should make the students believe that teachers would like to listen to them.

Indira Narayan, Hyderabad India
Teacher talking time (during class time), I feel, depends on the subject taught.Some subjects, like English Literature require more 'talking' whereas some subjects need less of the talking and more of blackboard activity. When your students listen to you 'with their eyes' , you can conclude that your teaching and talking time is right.

Venezuela
I love to talk, but I think it is a mistake because the students need to interact with the teacher, and also they need time to think about what they are learning.

Erika Oláh
Hello, I think if you are a non-native teacher it's a better idea to use recordings more than speak yourself.

Omer Bashir, Sudan
I think it depends, whether you're teaching beginners, intermediate or advanced. In beginner classes I think you have to spend a little more time than in advanced classes.

Tatyana Letyaikina, Kazakhstan
I admit that I talk too much, I'd like to talk less, but every time my students need some supporting or guiding question. I try to balance it with pair or group work and let them express themselves with some back-up structures or phrases.

Viviana, Argentina
Now that I see the results I think it is possible we teachers have a mistaken idea of how much we talk, because most students always say that they feel they don't have enough chances to talk, and are always asking for more conversation time. I do believe though that if we don't really have that balance, we should have it as a goal. Students need to have a role model in the target language, but if they don't practice, the point of learning language for communication is lost.

Stacy Kurokawa, Japan
In terms of giving instructions and addressing the whole class, I guess the ideal is about 10% of the class time whereas I think I might be sometimes reach 20%. In a one-to-one lesson, I think I speak about 40-60% of the time, whereas it should be 40 or less shouldn't it?!

Ecuador
As a teacher trainer, I do have to talk and model for NNS, but I do work hard to get students (usually teachers themselves) involved in the communication process via active small group work

Barbara Race, France
I hope I get a good balance. With the advantage of being English, my role model is good so my students do hear correct English, albeit with a slight Northern accent. When I teach French, I make far greater use of cassettes because French is not my mother tongue nor my first language.

Marni Jamil, Malaysia
Teacher talk is important in a language classroom considering the fact that the educator is indirectly teaching the students on how to listen, which helps improve their listening skill other than speaking, reading and writing. The question is the allocation of time. For me, equal balance of time distribution is essential. In this case, both parties which include the teacher and students have to participate in the classroom discussion. For instance, a teacher acts as a facilitator who initiates verbal communication rather than being a person who dominates the whole teaching and learning process. All in all, teacher talk should be kept to a minimum and with the right approach in teaching by the teacher; everyone will be able to benefit from the lesson itself.

Ursula Huancas, Peru
Well, When we teach basic levels we speak a lot, but with the others I consider that setting the activities (giving instructions) is the only time for us to talk. The key is to prepare speaking activities to make them use the language, in that way TTT can be reduced.

Jane, Greece
I think it depends, to guarantee that the students learned something, more talking should be done by them but if students didn't understand the explained lesson, so more explaining should be needed. In lessons of speaking, the teacher is only a listener while the students do more of the talking.

Clelia Stiles, Italy
During my teaching career I have gone from one extreme to the other. Clearly both over talking and reducing talking to a few curt instructions, seems to disconcert the average Italian student. Having said that, the role of the quiet teacher, hovering about in the background for some reason makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand when I do polarise attention I feel guilty. When I am aware of being garrulous, I try to compensate by keeping mum in another session. I wonder whether this is normal.

B.Sivakami,India
Teachers should allow the students to discuss among themselves a lot. They should be trained to think over the topic to be discussed. I think, interactive classes are very beneficial to the students as they prepare them to be self- reliant. Outside the class room, they have little chance to use the language learned in the class in the villages and semi-urban areas especially.

Sridevi Lazaras, India
A teacher has the quality of inspiring and motivating the students with his / her mesmerizing talks with some advisable tone. While teaching, the teacher speaks with the students to mold them as good and responsible citizens. So a teacher should balance both speaking and teaching in the classroom.

Greg, Italy
I guess talking during the class is important for the encourage to the students to use the language and inviting them to participate.

Niwat, Thailand
I think it's good to use two ways. Sometimes you must speak as little as possible but sometimes you may be talk too much.

A Ghani ,Pakistan
Teaching is two way traffic. Teacher must give time to students to participate in class activities and must encourage students to talk actively and ask questions.

Marie, Canada
It's embarrassing to think how much time I used to spend talking during my classes. And sometimes, it still happens. When I feel like the class isn't going smoothly and students aren't as interested as I want, I sometimes end up rambling along hoping to engage them. But slowly, I have minimized it. I try not to give an answer unless I'm sure no one else in the class knows it. That way, I can feel certain that my students are really being challenged.

JB, Taiwan
Teacher talk is underrated in the classroom. If you know your students, you can provide well tuned listening exercises and provide a model of natural speech far superior to anything in a textbook for everything from short answers to high-level discussion. Most students studying English in foreign countries have trouble finding comprehensible input; managed teacher talking can supply that.

Marcela, Mexico
I sometimes find it difficult to balance my speaking time and that of the students. At the end I believe the final decision is to do what proves more beneficial for the students and sometimes, they are not prepared to talk that much and simply benefit from a little participation and a bit more listening.

Shaun Dowling, Brazil
I vary my talking time depending on my learners. It is not the quantity of your talking time but the quality of it. That means the quality of input the teacher gives. Interaction is the largest part of talk in the class so it is the quality in what interaction is taking place. Asking more open ended questions, less drilling for drilling sake, personalization of material and the language being taught, and finally being less teacher controlled/fronted. There is a lot to learn from methods like Suggestopedia, the Silent way and Community language learning if you want to cut down you TTT and improve the quality of your lessons

Anthony O'Driscoll, Spain
When you think that a large proportion of our students ask to do more listening activities, on tape or on video, which, if it's from the textbook, can be a trifle 'uninteresting', what better than to listen to their teacher - it's real English, it's not scripted - as long as it's not a never-ending monologue!

Michelle, Germany
I talk less than I used to. But I find myself rushing to fill gaps in conversation, instead of giving my learners the space to contribute in their own time. As a learner, I remember being irritated by a talkative teacher. We all prefer to talk about what interests us rather than listen to what interests someone else. Surely, our training sessions are about giving our learners the opportunity to express themselves - with encouragement and correction, of course.

Pete Marsh-Hunn, Italy
TTT is necessary to give clear instructions, to start and wind up a lesson (homework) and to chat (thereby creating a supportive atmosphere in class). TTT obviously needs to be complemented by lots of STT (pairwork, groupwork, mingling activities) to give students the chance to use the language they are learning. A lot of TTT can be eliminated by use of gestures, by teaching in a more student-centred way, e.g. when going over the answers to an exercise, why not give a student the answers and let him/her do the job instead of you? When introducing a new grammar point, why not let the studnts try to work it out inductively rather than teach it overtly yourself?

Partha Sarathi Banik, India
Speech is a wonderful communicative tool.The teacher wants to communicate as much as do the students. Therefore, the teacher should see that the student does not remain a passive spectator, dumb, or, too scared to take active participation in the proceedings of the class. The student has to be coaxed and even goaded into "speaking" out his mind and make comments. The classroom has to be turned into a hub of verbal activities.

Noor Ul Islam, Pakistan
What can a teacher do,when he has a huge class.Where children are sitting on floors rather than desks? Where they are more than 60 in numbers? Where they cannot hear my voice? Although I speak in my full audible sound? Please give me a solution.

Sheila Vine, Germany
This has to be judged on the type of course and the number of participants.

Ian McGerty, Hong Kong
I know that TTT should be as little as possible but am still guilty of too much. Let the Sts think, let them speak I keep telling myself. Elicit, don't explain.

Cherry M Philipose, India
Teacher talk should be evaluated on the basis of what the teacher says rather than how much s/he talk. It's always better to create situations where students can join in and lead the teaching. The role of the teacher should be to moderate the class-talk and take it in the right direction. However, before trying that it's better to have an idea of the cultural demands of the setting. In the west it's perfectly appreciated if a teacher encourages students to talk more. But, in Asian countries especially South East Asia teacher talk is what is appreciated.

Bahittin Kahvec,Turkey
In my opinion, a balance is very important all time. But ,this may be big problem in the class.

Metin Aktaþ, Turkey
This is the education problem of my country. we need more native speakers as English teacher.