Let the Teacher Talk Brian Tomlinson

We’ve made a huge mistake in being dogmatic about teacher talking time.

Some quotes from google ‘It's amazing how almost every new EFL teacher has the same problem-talking too much. It's so standard that the phenomenon has a name: TTT ( teacher talk time). The whole idea is to reduce it.’

‘TTT stands for Teacher Talking Time, and that's something you can't have too little of.’ ‘Make sure you limit the time you spend talking and maximise the time your student(s) spend talking. Talking is the one thing they can't do outside class.’ ‘you should do everything to maximise STT and minimise TTT.’

Here are some basic tips for reducing TTT and increasing STT: Don’t read out the questions for them to answer from the worksheet. They can do that and it gives you an opportunity to work on some pronunciation with them. If you have planned a pair work activity and have an odd number, get them to work as a group. Never become a student in your own class. Keep instructions short and model the activity exactly as you want them to do it so you don’t need to give lengthy explanations.

We’ve instructed teachers to cut down on teacher talking time and yet:

Teachers need to talk to their learners in the classroom in order to:

1 Provide exposure to the target language in use. 2 Engage their learners cognitively and affectively. 3 Develop a positive rapport. 4 Provide communicative feedback. 5 Model functions other than just interrogation and instruction.

Let’s reduce TTT.

Yes. Let’s cut down on: Teacher Teaching Time.

And let’s increase: QTTT Quality Teacher Talking Time.

By making use of: 1 Teacher performance 2 Responsive teaching 3 Teacher intermingling 4 Teacher task participation and

5 Teacher chat ‘the most authentic and meaningful exchange between student and teacher’

Conclusion Let the teacher talk!