HOW DO WE HELP STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THE CLASSROOM DURING

ENGLISH CLASS?

An Action Research
presented by
Elaine L. Figueras
Bryan J. Gonzaga

Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English

Abstract
This action research aims to determine how a teacher can encourage the
student’s participation in the class that would likely be the concern by the
researchers as pre-service teachers and will soon become teachers. The
current study also aims to determine the possible teaching strategies that
would mostly encourage learners to fully participate and give their full
attention during class discussion. Furthermore, the study uses quantitative
descriptive approach as research design. Researchers used pre-
determined survey questionnaire consist of 15 items and choose 15
respondents from University of Southeastern Philippines were selected
through simple-random sampling. The results of the current study reveal
that 8 out 15 of the students think that they are passive which hinders
them to become participative students. In addition students’ perspective in
terms of the factors that would likely affects the classroom participation is
the language problem followed by the cultural diversity, less experience in
classroom participation and communication apprehension. However, most
of the students strongly agree somewhat agree to the statement that they
usually like to work with group and pair activities. Also teacher’s active
interaction with students most likely encourages students to participate in
the class. The researchers recommend that in order for the students to
participate in class teachers should incorporate group activities and paired
activities in their lesson.
Keywords: classroom participation, participation
Introduction
Nowadays, recent trends in teaching and learning are emerging and proliferating.
Theories and principles are part of this also. One is Facilitation theory by Carl Rogers
which states that learning will occur by the educator acting as a facilitator, that is by
establishing an atmosphere in which learners feel comfortable to consider new ideas
and are not threatened by external factors (Laird, 1985). The role of teachers would
then be as facilitators rather than transmitters of knowledge (Vega, Q.C., & M.R. Tayler,
2005). They present themselves as model learners, display enthusiasm for their subject,
acknowledge limitation of their knowledge and remain open to new ideas (Silberman,
1996). Due to this, the significance aspect of learning responsibility shifts to learners
since pacing of learning is placed on them (Kane, 2004). Students become active
participants, engaging and indulging themselves in activities where they will become
active participants and constructors of their own learning. Another is Jerome Bruner’s
Constructivism theory whish sees learning as an active process in which learners
construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. In this
theory, the instructor should try and encourage students to discover principles by
themselves. The instructor and student should engage in an active dialog (i.e., socratic
learning). These recent theories and more challenged the conventional view of
education as the wisdom of traditional pedagogic practice where teacher is seen as the
knowledge vessel, and students are just to acquire from it. Recent emerging teaching
strategies are anchored with all of these theories and learning is not seen any more as
students being an empty vessels and teachers filling it up. In this implication, students
are not just to sit and just listen to the teacher any more. They are now encouraged to
participate and be active in constructing and discovering their own learning.
This research is all about the students’ participation in the classroom, its effects to them
and its implications to learning. This action research will discuss several styles and
strategies that would best instigate students’ participation in the class. Moreover, this
paper will also discuss several factors that impedes participation among students
specifically in an English class. Finally, this action research aims to find out factors,
strategies and styles that would foster students’ participation in the class.
Context
As pre-service teachers we have experienced teaching students as part of our task for
the Field Studies for several years now and we had conducted several demonstrations
that needed the attention of the learners. For all those experiences some students
hesitated to participate in the class. Our area of concern has arisen as a direct result of
our experiences as pre-service teachers when we are disseminated in the different
schools. Though some of the students participated but somehow there were few who
hesitated and ignored us. We undertake this action to determine how to encourage the
learners to participate in the classroom during English time and we wanted to help our
future students as we go on to our field of teaching to be participative in the class during
lesson proper and even group activities.
Why did I choose this topic?
Learning has never been the same as before. Before, learning is just seen as learners’
acquisition of knowledge from the teacher or learning before is “teacher-centered”
where teacher is seen as a vessel of knowledge and students are to get and just
acquire from it. On the contrary, nowadays, learning is not seen any more as “teacher-
centered”, instead, “student-centered”. Learners are the builders and makers of their
own learning, teachers are now seen as facilitators of learning not sources of learning.
Doing this, students must be indulged in authentic and real-life tasks and activities
where they will be able to discover learnings and new knowledge by themselves. It
remind us of the quote “don’t give man a fish, rather teach a man how to fish” which say
it all about teaching and learning in this present time. With this idea in mind, that
students are the makers and builders of their own knowledge, how would they be able
to do such and be active participants of their learning if they won’t participate and take
part in the teaching-learning process? This leads us to the idea that students’
participation in learning is very important most especially in the learning trend
nowadays. They would not be able to learn new things and even use their stock
knowledge or schema to form a new one if they won’t participate in their own learning.
Hence, given that kind of situation, learning will be of no significant and effective to
them. These are the primary reasons and justifications the led us to the idea of this
action research, that we have seen the importance and the significance of students
participation in learning.

What did I do to use this idea in my practice?

During our previous demonstration in a different schools that we were disseminated we
practiced different strategies to motivate learners to participate in the class. Like
praising them and even considering their answers whether it is congruent to the topic or
not. When my partner was still in her elementary days she remembered participated in
English class by reading a certain story which she do really liked. However, she
mispronounced a 1 word that made the class giggle at her which made her somehow
discouraged because her teacher did not take any action from that scenario but in her
high school it was changed because teachers complimented her participations. Back to
our high school days we were motivated to participate in the class when our English
teachers consider our answers and sometimes reiterate it to give emphasis on it even if
we delivered it not fluently in English. Moreover, “thank you” is a great word that made
us feel our answers was correct and encourages us to participate more. With that
experience in mind we applied that with our previous demonstrations and we also
applied the principles of teaching as part of our teaching principle’s lesson. As a matter
of fact, some students were very eager to participate in our class discussions because
we never disregarded their presence and even their capability and skills.
Theoretical Context
There are proponents, theorists and studies that would support and adhere to our
humble observations and insights about students’ participation in the class. As
Maznevski (1996) describes, participation in class is a valuable teaching method to
promote a more active involvement in learning. It allows students the opportunity to
receive input from others, to apply their knowledge and to develop public speaking
skills. In addition class participation provides a way in which teachers can gain a more
accurate idea of how well students understand the concepts being taught. Hence class
participation is don’t just enhance learning but also a way to assess students’ learning.
Robert R. Weaver and Jiang Qi (2005) also noted that those students who actively
participate in class discussions are likely to learn more than those who do not. Gives us
the notion that participation really affects one student’s learning. Moreover, Raymond C.
Jones (2008) also points out that participation also promotes sharing and contractual
application of knowledge. A proposition connected to the idea that learning is not just
done by one students but also by interaction with others as well. Adding to this, there
are two other factors that are likely to influence level of class participation as Sixsmith,
Dyson and Nataatmadja (2006) are personality and level of confidence. Students‟ lack
of confidence often feel intimidated when asked to participate in class discussion.
Speaking up in class is usually a frightening experience for introvert and shy students
as they do not like to be at the center of attention. They may also feel that their
understanding and knowledge of the topic is insufficient, and class participation may
result in embracement for them. As a result, they feel more safe and comfortable by not
taking active part in class discussions. However other authors and researchers noted
that, on the whole, students are more likely to participate in challenging and interesting
topics for which either there are no fixed answers or no prior preparation is required.
Review of the Related Literature
Class participation has been an issue over the years. Many researchers including
theorists have thought of the implications and the effects of students’ classroom
participation. Moreover, many researches have also showed factors that would affect
classroom participation and have given reasons for students' class participation in the
class.
Participation usually means students speaking in class: answer and ask questions,
make comments, and join in discussions. Students who do not participate in those ways
mentioned above are often considered to be passive and are generally penalized when
participation is graded (Lucy Cheser jacobs & Clinton I. Chase , 1992). Participation is
often equated with discussion, which typically involves a lengthy conversation with the
whole class. In addition, participation can also include short exchanges between
instructors and students, or within small groups of students (University of Waterloo,
n.d.). Although exploring students’ participation in the classroom has largely regarded
as an obstacle to overcome, also giving ‘speech’ a greater importance in education,
researches have examined the communication apprehension of students, their
willingness to communicate, as well as various instructor behaviors, and instructional
strategies as some of the factors that affect class participation.
Communication Apprehension McCroskey (1977)defined as “an anxiety syndrome
associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or
persons”. Although there are many types of CA, oral communication apprehension is
most common and has been shown to affect at least 15 to 20% of students (McCroskey,
1977). Aitken and Neer (1993) reported that CA is a major reason why students refrain
from posing questions. Despite statistics indicating that only 20% of college students
have high levels of CA, a much larger majority of students do not ask questions in the
classroom (Aitken & Neer, 1993). Unfortunately, as McCroskey (1977) found, CA has a
negative impact on learning and may cause students to avoid classes that 85 require
oral participation. Thus, interactive instructional methods such as required participation
pose a problem for apprehensive students. As he concluded, “the classroom teacher
can avoid hurting the communication apprehensive student. The teacher can eliminate
grading on ‘participation’” or the teacher can “avoid calling on communication
apprehensive students and forcing involuntary participation”.
Willingness to Participate McCroskey (1992) concluded that the Willingness to
Communicate (WTC) scale, which is a measure of an individual’s predisposition toward
approaching or avoiding the initiation of communication, is both reliable (with estimates
ranging from .86 to .95) and valid at the construct, content, and predictive levels.
Importantly, he argued that because 88 WTC taps into one’s preference to avoid or
approach communication, it is distinct from measures of anxiety or apprehension, such
as the PRCA-24, and measures of actual talking frequency, such as the Shyness Scale
which was previously called the Verbal Activity Scale. The correlation between the WTC
scale and the Shyness Scale has been reported as .41, whereas the correlation
between WTC and the PRCA-24 has been reported as -.52 (McCroskey J. C., 1992).
There is not a single predominant measure of actual talking frequency, but some
instruments measure behaviors that are observable to others while other instruments,
like the Shyness Scale, measure self-reported behavior (McCroskey, 1992). The WTC
scale contains three subscores regarding types of receivers (strangers, acquaintances,
and friends) and four subscores regarding communication contexts (public, meeting,
group, and dyad). Importantly, the WTC scale assumes that respondents are aware of
their avoidance and approach behaviors, and that individuals are in situations where
they are capable of making a free choice to communicate or not (McCroskey, 1992).
Thus, a classroom setting, especially one in which participation grades are used, may
not involve a situation wherein students feel they have free choice.
Instructor Behaviors. The behaviors of instructors can affect the participation of their
students. For instance, Myers, Edwards, and Wahl (2007) found that instructors whose
students perceived them to be verbally aggressive, in other words prone to attacking
one’s self-concept, generated less student motivation to communicate in class or
interact through participation. They suggested that instructors who use verbally
aggressive communication strategies may stifle student participation and involvement.
Rocca (Rocca, 2001)found that students reported being more likely to participate in
class if their instructor was nonverbally immediate. However, students also reported
being less likely to participate if their instructor was verbally aggressive. Interestingly, no
significant differences in participation were observed between male and female
students. Montello (1988) concluded that by making eye contact with students,
instructors could solicit participation. In addition, the arrangement of the classroom can
play a significant 94 role in either dampening or facilitating student participation (Wong,
C. Y., Sommer, R., & Cook, E. J., 1992). Moreover, in a live lecture experiment, by
Goodboy and Myers (Goodboy, 2008) found that teacher confirmation, which involves
recognizing and acknowledging the value of students as individuals, resulted in more
student participation. However, moderate levels of confirmation evoked more
participatory motives than higher levels of confirmation (Goodboy & Myers, 2008).
Importantly, the failure of instructors to express confirming behaviors was suspected of
stifling student participation and other communication behaviors (Goodboy & Myers,
2008). Instructors employing confirming behaviors, similar to caring, were suspected of
being more likely to stimulate student interaction in the classroom, since confirmation
leads to reinforcement of student talk (Goodboy & Myers, 2008). This also adheres to
Nunn’s (1996) findings that instructor behaviors such as the use of praise, calling on
students by name, and creating a supportive atmosphere were the most important
indicators of student participation.
Questioning. The frequency and types of questions asked by instructors are an
important variable influencing students’ participation. Questioning is perhaps always
part of a teacher’s instructional strategy and questions that students pose to instructors
can also spark not just classroom participation but also classroom dialogue. But,
students might be hesitant to ask many questions. Interestingly, Pearson and West
(1991) discovered that students ask very few questions in class. However, they
concluded that the scarcity of student questions was likely due to 96 poor listening and
a lack of question literacy (Pearson & West, 1991). Though, Dillon (1994) reported that
instructors’ questioning techniques not only fail to encourage participation but also tend
to discourage student thinking and comments. The use of statements by instructors
promotes student responses of a higher cognitive level and greater elaboration (Dillon,
1994), still many authors noted, “students who ask questions tend to be those who view
themselves as independent and self-confident”.
Cultural Differences. Cultural differences among students may also explain patterns of
participation. In one especially noteworthy investigation, Nakane (2005) conducted case
studies of Japanese college students’ silence in Western classrooms and found their
participation to be influenced by both cultural and contextual factors. Although both the
instructors and classmates found the Japanese students to be silent and reticent, the
perceptions and performances of classmates were discovered to have the strongest
influence on participation. In silent gaps following invitations to participate were filled
when peers and instructors took over the floor. In turn, this take-over served to further
silence Japanese students who needed more time to organize their thoughts due to
language proficiency issues and culture-specific communication styles. Because
Japanese students are typically not familiar with voluntary participation in class, it is
challenging for them to re-enter the discussion once the direction of talk has shifted
unless explicit invitations to participate are issued (Nakane, 2005). One implication of
this study is that “we need to recognize the importance of turn-by-turn negotiation
processes in participation as well as roles of classroom participants’ perceptions when
we look at silence in native and nonnative or cross-cultural communication”. Thus,
Nakane recommended the use of longer wait time and modes of written participation to
better accommodate non-native students. On the other hand, Hirschy and Wilson
(2002) argued that cultural differences and various learning styles influence student
participation. More specifically, learning styles differ among various racial, ethnic, and
cultural groups (Anderson, 1988; Dunn, R., & Griggs, S. A. , 1995). In the classroom,
the problem is that “many students experience a gap between their natural learning
style and how material is presented, contributing to a feeling of not fitting in, or
alienation” (Hirschy & Wilson, 2002, p. 91).
These are just some of the most widely known factors affecting participation, but,
Weaver and Qi (2005)found that students’ perceptions are essential in shaping their
classroom participation as well. Structural variables such as class size, opportunities for
participation, instructor authority and power, instructor-student interaction both in and
out of class, and students’ fears of instructor criticism or classmates’ disapproval
influence reported levels of participation. Student demographics and attributes such as
age, year in school, degree level, biological sex, amount of preparation, and reported
confidence level also influence reported levels of participation. Although now dated,
research by cognitive psychologists demonstrates that active processing is required for
long-term learning (Nunn, 1996), it is arguable whether active processing requires oral
student participation. Active learning, which is what extant literature indicates is
imperative, includes both collaborative learning, meaning alternatives to the lecture
format, and cooperative learning, meaning group work in non-competitive situations
(Hirschy & Wilson, 2002). Thus, the claim that active learning necessitates oral
participation during discussion overstates the available empirical and theoretical
evidence. The claim that learning necessitates oral participation grades is an even
further stretch of the available evidence on the importance of active learning since there
is nothing inherently oral about active learning that should require students to orally
participate in class discussions.
To engage the students in Participation in a classroom is an important method of
teaching. It provides the students opportunity to receive input from fellow students, to
apply their knowledge and to enhance public speaking skills. From the Participation of
teachers can get a more accurate idea that what is the understanding level of students
about the concept being taught (Maznevski 1996).
Related studies
An action research conducted by Rina D. Kumar (2007) entitled “Students’ Classroom
Participation for Improved Learning in an English Language Skills Course” focuses on
the ways of improving interactive teaching and learning in the English Language Skills.
In her study she established that teacher-pupil interaction is very important to create the
positive attitude in the learner. Furthermore, teacher probing and monitoring induces an
interactive environment around the learners. This study Kumar (2007) also shows that
students agreed that they enjoyed doing paired activities.
A study published by the English in Action (The Classroom Practices of Primary and
Secondary School Teachers Participating in English Action, 2011) in Dhaka,
Bangladesh entitled “The Classroom Practices of Primary and Secondary School
Teachers Participating in English in Action” focused upon the use of English by teachers
and students, the extent of teacher and student talk time, the nature of the teachers’
talk, as well as the nature of the activities that students took part in. The study English in
Action (2011) shows that when the teacher applied number of activities in which
students are speaking in pairs, groups or chorusing, increase number of students
participated in the class. Thus, most classes students were not interactive at all and the
students only participated by answering the questions asked by the teacher.
Another study conducted by Shaheen Majid (Majid, 2010) entitled “Enriching Learning
Experience through Class Participation: A Students’ Perspective explore students’
perceptions of class participation and its benefits, barriers to their participation, and the
motivational factors that may improve their class participation. His study shows that
Asian students strongly agreed that they take part in the class discussion to “learn from
other” and “to clarify requirements for assignments and projects. Furthermore, most
students agreed with the statement that class participation helps them organize and
clearly express their thoughts; other popular reasons for class participation were “to
improve my language skills,” to obtain better grades in tests and examinations” and “to
improve my soft skills”.

These studies are relevant to the current study because the current study also sought to
find out what could be the best strategies that will encourage learners to participate in
an English class. Moreover, these studies are connected to the current study because it
revealed that group activities, paired activities, teacher-pupil interaction will greatly
encourage students participate in the class.
Methodology
This study uses a quantitative descriptive approach, describing the views of the
respondents towards class participation and the best strategies that would best
encourage class participation. A 25-item questionnaire about students’ participation was
used in order to elicit data from our respondents. Respondents are pre-service teachers
of the University of Southeastern Philippines. They were randomly selected with
different levels of English ability. The gathering of the data happened in a certain room
in one of the buildings in USEP and data gathered will be interpreted and analyzed with
the use of Microsoft Excel software to encode scores and Microsoft word software to
visually represent results.

Results and Discussions

Descriptive Statistics of Respondents' Performance on the Instruments
After the collection of the data through the instrument described above, the gathered
data were calculated and analyzed. The following tables present the descriptive
statistics of the participants' performance on the instrument.
 Table No. 1
8.2
8
7.8
7.6
7.4
7.2
7
6.8
6.6 active
6.4
passive
respondents'
view if they
are active or
passive
participants in
classroom
discussion

Table no. 1 shows the respondents’ view if they are active or passive participants
in classroom discussion. 47% or 7 out of 15 respondents say that they are active
participants in classroom discussion, while 53% or 8 out of 15 respondents say that they
are passive participants in classroom discussion.
This implies that most students could really think of themselves as ‘passive’ learners,
and this impedes their participation in the class. In addition, this affects their level of
self-confidence hindering them to actively participate in the class for they will have that
thought that they are passive, and that of they will learn when they will just listen and
listen to the teacher. Now as teachers, it is very important that we should always try to
do everything to encourage our students to be active and let themselves take part in
their own learning. Using diverse and differentiated kind of instruction would be very
helpful for a diversified class, thus giving every student an equal opportunity to learn
and letting them take part in learning and discovering new things themselves.

TABLE NO. 2
yes no

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
do you prepare
questions when
you come to
the classroom?

Table no. 2 shows results from the question if the respondents prepare questions
when they come to the classroom. 27% or 4 out of 15 respondents say that they
 prepare questions when they come to the classroom, while 73% or 11 out of 15
respondents say that they don’t prepare questions when they come to the classroom.
This suggests that a lot of students nowadays would just go to the class; enter the
classroom with no preparations. This only means that teachers should always be
prepared not just being equipped with teaching strategy and pedagogy, but also with the
future undertakings one teacher may encounter as he\she enters in the class. In
situation like this in which student won’t really prepare themselves when they come in to
the classroom, teachers should employ strategies that would best instigate and motivate
them to participate. Also, creating a classroom environment that is not threatening
would let them not just to participate in the class but also to ready themselves as they
enter the classroom.

Table no. 3

Questions Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly

Agree agree nor Disagree
disagree
3. I feel comfortable 20% 60% 20%
speaking in the
classroom discussion.
4. I really like when 20% 67% 13%
teacher is asking
questions in the class.
5. I like speaking even 13% 54% 33%
if I have a hard time
expressing my
thoughts when my
teacher is listening.
6. I have a hard time 19% 27% 27% 27%
expressing my
thoughts using English
language.
7. I feel nervous talking 7% 33% 33% 20% 7%
in the classroom
discussion.
8. I’d just rather let 20% 20% 40% 13% 7%
other people do the
talking.
9. I dare not ask 40% 33% 27%
questions in the class.
10. I like discussing 13% 40% 27% 20%
problems with
professor and
classmates in class.
11. I have problems in 7% 20% 27% 33% 13%
expressing myself
clearly in the public.
12. I really care how my 20% 40% 33% 7%
professor and
classmates think of my
answer in classroom
discussion.
13. I am satisfied with 20% 27% 33% 20%
more or less
participation in the
classroom discussion.
14. I like doing task in 13% 40% 27% 20%
pairs.
15. I enjoy participating 13% 60% 7% 13%
group activities.
16. I can perform best 36% 43% 14% 7%
when I work with the
same gender.
17. I perform better 22% 56% 22%
when a teacher is
moving around the
class.
18. I like it the most 23% 54% 23%
when we have so many
activities.
19. Class discussion 43% 25% 16% 16%
provides an
opportunity to openly
express different
opinions and
viewpoints.
20. Participation helps 69% 31%
in sharing of work
experiences.
21. Participation helps 62% 43%
receive immediate
feedback on different
opinions/questions
expressed by students/
instructors
22. Class participation 77% 23%
enriches my learning
experience.
23. Listening to 54% 46%
different viewpoints
widens one’s
perspectives.

Table no. 3 shows the views of the students about class participation. It shows if
students are strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly
disagree in instances and statements about class participation. The table shows
percentages of respondents who agree or disagrees with the statements. 54% to 60%
agrees that they feel comfortable speaking in class discussion, being asked by the
teacher with questions and that they like speaking even though they are having a hard
time expressing their thoughts. Though in the next item, there is an equal percentage of
students who agrees, neither agree nor disagree and disagree that they are having a
hard time expressing their thoughts in English. There is also an equal distribution of
respondents who agrees and neither agree nor disagree that they feel nervous talking in
the classroom discussion. In the next item 40% of the respondents neither agree nor
disagree that they’d rather let other people do the talking. On the contrary, most of the
respondents (33%) say that they have problems expressing their selves clearly in the
public. There are also 40% or most of the respondents agree that they’d dare not ask
questions in the class, likes discussing problems with professor and classmates in class
and that they care how their professor and classmates think of their answer in
classroom discussion. 33% neither agree nor disagree that they are satisfied with more
or less participation in the classroom discussion. On the other hand 40 to 60% say that
they like doing task in pairs, enjoy participating in group activities, perform best when
being worked with the same gender, perform better when a teacher is moving around
the class and like it the most when they have so many activities. In addition, 43% to
77% of the respondents strongly agree that class discussion provides an opportunity to
openly express different opinions and viewpoints, participation helps in sharing of work
experiences, participation helps receive immediate feedback on different
opinions/questions expressed by students/ instructors, class participation enriches their
learning experience and listening to different viewpoints widens their perspectives.
This table gives us a clearer picture of the viewpoints of the students about class
participation. We can draw from the results that students really participate when
engaged in activities most especially when it is in pairs or in groups. We can also infer
from the results that students would perform better when they can see that they are
being monitored and the teacher is hands-on in the progress of their learning. Though
they are really some who is still, not comfortable in speaking especially in public, but as
teachers, we should look and give more emphasis to the building of self-esteem and
confidence of our students. Moreover, most of the respondents strongly agreed that
class participation is an opportunity for them to express their opinions and thoughts,
helps them receive immediate feedbacks on their own opinions and thoughts. This
suggests that they have seen the vital role that the participation play in their own
learning; it’s just that, at times, they don’t have that motivation or maybe opportunities to
freely express themselves. Thus, engaging them in tasks and strategies that could
encourage them to participate in the class will be very helpful, not just letting them
participate but giving them that worth that their thoughts and opinions are worthy of
being heard also. Most of the respondents also say that they strongly agree that hearing
opinions from others for it widens their perspective and that participation enriches their
learning experiences. Hence, participation for them is not just about earning grades and
marks, but an opportunity for them to improve themselves as a holistically developed
person. Teachers should be able to see this as well, but students most wont be able to
realize it so we teachers can let them realize that their participation in the class is very
important, not just for grades sake, but for the betterment of their wholeness as a
person as well.

Table no. 4

Factors Affecting 1 2 3 4 Responses Mean

Classroom Participation Score
Language problem IIIIIIII IIIII I 14 1.5

Cultural diversity I IIIII IIIIIIII 14 3.43

Less experience in II II IIIII IIIII 14 2.57

classroom participation
Communication III IIIIIII III I 14 2.14
apprehension

Table no. 4 shows four factors that affects classroom participation and how the
respondents ranked these factors according to which they think is the highest factor that
 really affects classroom participation. Mean scores for each factor indicate its average
score and since “1” is the highest ranking, the item with the lowest mean is the one that
was ranked the highest and the highest is the last. Results show that the factor that the
respondents ranked the highest is language problem, second is communication
apprehension, third is less experience in classroom participation and last is cultural
differences.
This implies that for students, the topmost factor that affects classroom participation is
language problem, language problem maybe a speech defect or language anxiety. This
could really impede student’s participation in the classroom because it could lower down
their self-esteem and confidence. This could be the major and the problem that most
students encounter, and teachers can always and should always do everything to
remediate this. One is through exercises that promote improvement on speech
problems and that students would be able to see opportunities for them to improve and
hone their selves. Also, this comes now the idea that behaviors of teachers can affect
the participation of their students. Now as teachers, we should always learn how to
value each of our student’s opinions and thoughts and most importantly embracing the
individual differences of our students. It is very important that students would be able to
see it from us that we promote fairness and equality in the classroom, and that we
employ strategies in which everyone will be able to participate. One great way also in
dealing students with speech defects and anxiety, is letting them love and be motivated
in your subject. One great way of doing this is that students should be able to see it
from you first, that you love what you are doing, in that way students can be instigated
to love your subject also and adding to this is the strategies that you employ in the
class; It should be engaging, authentic and that every student would be able to relate.

Significance of the research

As this study conducted, researchers have in mind the vivid perspective on how we are
going to encourage our learners as we will soon to become educators in the future. So
the significance of this study is to reveal what a teacher could do in his /her class to gain
active and participative learners. The information obtained base on the result helps
instructors determine appropriate starting point and instructional level for lesson. In this
case we can be able to enhance the participation of the students in the class and
improve their learning.

Conclusion and Recommendations

After analyzing the data gathered shown by the tables above, the researchers conclude
that group activities and paired activities have a great contribution to the participation in
the class of the students. Also, student-student and teacher-student interactions in the
teaching and learning process work in many rewarding ways. First, it enhances the
learning process and secondly facilitates good relationship between the teacher and the
learner and amongst learners. If applied in right doses and at appropriate occasions, it
reinforces learning through peer interaction. There are many ways that a teacher could
incorporate these activities as part of his/her daily lesson. In that way students might
likely encourage pursuing their studies and might also have the great impact to their
learning. Teachers should also address the factors that would hinder them to participate
in the class specifically language problem through interactive communication in the
class. Moreover listening to what a student wanted to express even if they had a hard
time expressing their thoughts would somehow let the students feel they were given
importance of the teacher.

In improving the students’ passive to active participation in the class, we as researchers

recommend that teachers should incorporate group activities and even paired activities
in every lesson that they will have. Moreover, active interaction in order to avoid
hesitation to the part of the learners and giving attention to student’s view of things
should be part of the lesson as a teaching-strategy for this will encourage students to
participate in the class.
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