A short study on how debate can be a useful tool in helping junior high school students improve second language acquisition

Résumé ou Introduction

Debate is an important and worthwhile way by which to engage students in real language communication. It differs from other forms of classroom communicative activities in that it affords students opportunities to think critically and interact spontaneously to real time questions posed by their peers. While other activities such as role playing, pair and group work and time spent on preparing for presentations are also beneficial to language acquisition, it is my belief that debate better allows students to voice their opinions in English and to listen to and engage in the opinions of their classmates. This is so because in order to win a debate, students have to persuade their peers of the validity of their opinions, which are ideally supported with factual evidence, and demonstrate more convincing dialogue than that of the opposing team.

To that end, this paper will explain in detail the steps adopted at one junior high school to ensure that all students are able to participate fully in a classroom debate and subsequent discussion. A survey was conducted among a group of 162 third year junior high school students to ascertain their views on debate. The findings of the survey will be analyzed and the procedure of the debate will be discussed.