Thursday, August 28, 2008
Slowing Your Speech
Wichita State University did a very interesting study on how children comprehend what another person is saying by the rate of speech that is spoken. Specifically, the study took place at the university's Child Development Center. The study supports the reasoning that if you slow the delivery of your speech down, a child will understand you more clearly. They say that an adult speaks almost 170 words per minute. The 5-to 7-year old processes 120 words per minute. And a high-school student processes 140 to 145 words per minute. This study proves that not all children understand what is being said or asked of them. We should speak slower to younger people so that they can easily interpret what we say.
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This article was enlightening to read because when I think about effective communication, the first thing that comes to mind is speaking loudly, not slowly. As I read this article, since it was geared towards elementary educators, I thought about how many young children are used to being yelled at by adults at some point throughout their day. Whether it is their parents or teachers, if a young child misbehaves, they are spoken to too loudly and too swiftly, and often in a discouraging way because of their behavior. It makes sense that a young child would be attentive to an adult speaking in an uplifting and encouraging tone if that adult were also speaking loudly and slowly. Since it is not a style of communication that a child is used to, they are more apt to be responsive and receptive.
I think that the best way to have good communication is to speak to someone in the way that you would want him or her to reply to you. For example, there is no need to yell at a person unless you want them to yell back. This concept also works if someone is yelling at you. The best way to respond would be in a tone that is much quieter, because they are most likely to imitate that sound. If this concept was applied to classrooms, I think we, as teachers, would see a drastic change in communication between ourselves and students. Also, if we teach students to communicate better than we would see a difference in the emotional and mental of health of said students.
This made me wonder how much and what parts of communication is our responsibility as teachers?
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