Students’ participation in classroom activities hasbeen a centre of various TEFL research.
In general, it can be affected by a variety of factors coming from teachers’ side, students’
side and others including classroom conditions, types and contents of activities, etc.
Concerning teacher factors, research focuses on teachers’ teaching methods, teachers’
knowledge, teachers’ characteristics, and teachers’ roles in those activities. For students,
their degree of participation can be different depending on their age, aptitude,
characteristics, individual variations, learning styles, attitudes and motivation, language
levels, learning habits, and gender differences. In addition, classroom factors such as
physical classroom conditions, available teaching and learning equipment, classroom
structures, and learning atmosphere can also have considerable effects on students’
participation.
Speaking skill is a comprehensive skill which involves students’ ability of listening,
reading and writing. In other words, students’ participation in oral activities are also
affected by all of the above mentioned factors though the level of effect may be different
compared to that of other classroom activities.
In order to increase students’ participation in classroom activities in general and oral
activities in particular, various techniques have been used including group work, playing
games, questioning, using advanced audio-visual aids like video, etc. Among those
techniques, group work has been most widely used and it turns out to be a very effective
technique.