Student Talking Time: Who Should Speak More in Your Classroom?
🎙 From the classroom: When I was observed teaching in Brittany, my observer timed every minute. I was talking for sixty-three percent of a forty-minute lesson. I thought I was helping. I was blocking practice. The target is 70–80% student talk.
💡 The Idea
STT (Student Talking Time) is the percentage of the lesson where students are speaking. TTT (Teacher Talking Time) is the reverse. More STT = more practice = more learning. A good rule: after a ten-minute input, give students fifteen minutes to use the language themselves.
🗣 Example
❌ High TTT: Teacher explains grammar for 15 min, then asks, ‘Any questions?’ → Silence. Students practised zero English.
✅ High STT: Teacher elicits and models for 5 min, then students discuss in pairs for 10 min → Each student practised many times.
🎯 Try It Now!
Think about your last lesson or a lesson you observed.
- Who spoke more — teacher or students?
- At what moments could the teacher have stepped back?
- Name ONE task you could add to increase STT by 10 minutes.
✅ Check Your Answers
✅ High-STT activities: pair discussions, information-gap tasks, role-plays, peer-checking, students asking each other questions, jigsaw reading/listening, student-led summarising.
Independent project — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.