How to Tame the Talkative Student

[shhhh]

I'm a new assistant professor, and I'm teaching my first graduate seminar.  I have a graduate student who completely dominants class discussion. To make matters worse, the quality of the comments is poor. The comments are mostly anecdotal stories. I want students to share their experiences relating to the course material, but I believe it needs to be situated within the empirical data. Whenever this student pauses, I try to relate their comment back to the reading and ask other students to join in.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about how to reel in talkative students in small, discussion-based courses. As an aside, I do not want to be rude. I do not want them to stop contributing. I simply want to give all of the students a chance to discuss the readings.

[styles]

I’d first talk with the Graduate Director (possibly the dept. chair but I’d go to grad director first) about this situation generally and get a sense of how the dept has handled such situations in the past. You can also ask about this particular student to find out if this is an issue with this student in other classes and ask the grad director his/her recommendation.

For what it’s worth, it sounds like you are doing what you can (and should) within the context of the classroom. It also sounds like it’s time to pull the student aside (outside of the classroom) and professionally explain to them that, while you appreciate his/her participation, he/she needs to be respectful of all students in the class by not dominating the conversation and giving his/her colleagues the opportunity to participate. I’d also reinforce to this student the importance of not over-generalizing from his/her personal experiences and that if he/she can’t back what they are saying up with empirical evidence then they should refrain from making empirical statements.

Hopefully you have an etiquette clause in your syllabus about disruptive students - if you don’t include one in the future. I wouldn’t threaten the student with action at this point just remind them of the clause and its importance. If the behavior continues, you can take action knowing that you tried to work with the student.

[A typical problem]

Memorize these useful words. "OK, good, let's hear from somebody else."
It is also good to take them aside, but frame it positively. Tell them that they are contributing a lot, and that's letting their classmates get lazy by not saying anything. Ask them to help you out by not always jumping in there, so others are forced to speak.

[styles]

˄˄

Wow, seriously?

1. This behavior is not "OK, good, let's hear from somebody else."…especially at the graduate level.

2. According to the OP, they are NOT “…contributing a lot,”

3. How exactly does this student’s behavior equate to “letting their classmates get lazy by not saying anything.”

Be direct with the student in a professional, but honest, manner.

[A typical problem]

^ Hey, that's a conversation I've actually had with a student, and it went over pretty well. Why? Because I pointed out the good parts of their behavior, rather than shaming them and making them feel defensive. The behavior was annoying, but it's good teaching to shape that toward more desired behavior, not kill the person's enthusiasm for the class. But then again, my student was just enthusiastic, and ended up working really hard on the final paper.

So sure, you can go in there all guns a blazing and tell them they're being unprofessional, but then you're probably going to get a sullen participant, if they even show up to class after that. Plus you're likely to then find the other students are less participatory, as it will take a while for them to adjust if they've been able to free ride on this person's, um... participatory nature. And yes, from my perspective as someone who has been through the graduate coursework, I do think that sometimes the classmates are being a bit passive or lazy if this is a graduate class. If you're in this kind of class as a student, you gotta jump in there if you're sick of listening to that one blowhard, not politely wait your turn.

Another classic intervention: "Any other comments? I want to wrap up this point and move on to the next discussion item." Just take a look at your notes and move on if it's getting unproductive. Or "interesting example, can anyone else frame that in terms of the reading for this week?" - that way you use your power as the instructor to authorize other people to jump in.

At any rate, fter you've had that first conversation, then you can start directly asking the overtalker to relate said stories to the class materials more clearly, as long as you can do it in a nice way. "Let's hear from someone else" is effective because it reminds people of conversational norms about fairness in a discussion, without it being unkind to the overtalker.