Managing reluctant talkers to get them speaking

Managing the personalities in the room and trying to engage with everyone in the class can make a big impact on how comfortable learners feel. If they feel at ease with you, they will speak more readily. We'll look at some factors influencing how much learners speak and some solutions.

Teacher talking time

• Are you talking more than they are?
• Are you planning enough tasks that are not lead directly by you?

Solutions

• You have chosen the topic, but try to avoid saying how much you find it interesting. Your job is to find out how much they like it.
• Remember the paradox of the quiet child with a chatterbox for a parent. If someone talks too much, you have no need to talk. The constant stream of your chatter will put them off and may even throw them. Keep it simple with well-chosen questions and anecdotes. Focus on them, not on yourself and your opinions.
• Say only what you need to say about yourself or the topic. Try not to add in too many other ideas, keep to the topic. If you don't stick to the topic, you may lose some of the class. Less is more.
• When they respond with silence, do not overcompensate and fill their silence with your voice. Change direction, modify the task or give them something to read or write until they are ready to speak. Ask for choral repetition of things they need to practise.

Management of activities

• Are you jumping in too quickly to correct them?
• Are you finishing their sentences for them?
• Are you feeding too many ideas to groups working alone?
• Are you letting tasks drag on too long?
• Are you over-questioning learners?

Solutions

• Carefully plan your role and input. When will you speak? Why? Try to notice how much you are talking to avoid the mistake of babbling on.
• Questioning learners to introduce the lesson or to get them to speak about a picture will take planning. Be wary of asking only essential questions, and vary the question types to allow more than just a 'Yes' or 'No' answer.
• Allow more time for them to self-correct, finish a sentence or think of their reply to your question. First, they must process your question, then they need to think of a reply. What comes naturally to us takes longer for our learners. Do not be oversensitive to their thinking time.
• If they are really struggling, invite help and suggestions from other members of the class. This means you are not always setting yourself up as the one with all the answers. Encourage others to speak up.
• In our heads, we have an ideal scenario for how groups might work through a discussion, but that doesn't always happen. If they are talking in English and getting somewhere, let them get on with it in their own way.
• When you notice the learners are moving off the task to other things, do not be afraid to wind down an activity with some positive remarks about their performance. Then invite contributions from learners in a feedback session, if appropriate to the task.
• Always keep an eye on time and finish the lesson before the bell rings, rather than being cut off. You need to always end lessons with some positive comments about their performance, so give yourself time to do that.
• Remember that for lower levels, some dialogue and role-play work is very tiring and demanding, so keep it brief even if some of them seem to be having a great time. Give your lessons shape rather than letting the lesson drag on until they dry up or become bored.

Personality of learners

• Do you expect the same level of participation from all learners?
• Do you allow enough balance of tasks and not just constant speaking?
• Do you have some easily embarrassed learners?

Solutions

• We all bring our personality to the language class. Some people are naturally more talkative in their own language. Accept this and do not put pressure on shy learners to speak.
• Allow the less talkative to play a supporting role in group work by writing down group decisions. Remember that conversation is as much about listening and understanding as talking. Some shy learners might understand more than the ones who have a lot to say for themselves.
• Focus on very reluctant speakers to perform a task they have had time to practise. Respect their need for extra preparation.
• Some people hate role plays. That's natural, so don't keep forcing them to do them. Switch tasks.

Classroom dynamics

• Do you have any learners whose behaviour affects group participation?
• Are some learners reluctant to interact outside their usual group?
• Is it difficult to maintain use of English during lively tasks?

Solutions

• There will always be learners with strong personalities and these can influence the attitude of the whole class, so work at getting them involved and on task. Give them responsibilities like writing a question on the board, building a word list, or switching the tape recorder off and on.
• If one or two learners are having a significant impact on the classroom atmosphere, seek support from colleagues and agree on strategies that help everyone participate positively.
• Diffuse any confrontations by staying calm and speaking firmly and clearly. Make plenty of eye contact, speak in a non-threatening way, and praise any effort to speak, or work well.  Remaining clam is often an important part of managing challenging situations.
• Mix up pairs and groups regularly. Rotate working pairs during a lesson so learners have opportunities to work with a range of classmates and develop confidence in different groupings.
• Keep tasks brief and give learners things to solve, decide, work out. This keeps them working with you and then they will gradually work towards speaking more. Establish effective working routines first, then gradually encourage more speaking.

Further reading:

An introduction to reluctant talkers
Having fun with dialogues
Getting adults, teenagers and children to speak
Ways to encourage more English in class
Question techniques
Strategies for keeping attention
Getting the whole class talking
Short projects to get them talking

First published 2010
Updated 2025