Competence in oral communication - in speaking and listening - is prerequisite to
students' academic, personal, and professional success in life. Indeed, teachers deliver
most instruction for classroom procedures orally to students. Students with ineffective
listening skills fail to absorb much of the material to which they are exposed. Their problems
are intensified when they respond incorrectly or inappropriately because of poor
speaking skills. Students who cannot clearly articulate what they know may be wronglyJACA January 2000
judged as uneducated or poorly informed. Additionally, some speech styles of students can
trigger stereotyped expectations of poor ability: expectations that may become self-fulfilling.
Of equal concern, students who are unable to effectively ask for help from a teacher will
not receive it, and typically reticent students progress more slowly despite what may be a
normal level of aptitude