Discussion activities in teaching

Discussion activities are a way of communication between class members,whose aim is to facilitate understanding,assessment or judgment concerning certain problems.Such activities are helpful in fostering students' judgment and communicative abilities.However,they also have disadvantages, which include difficulties in management,time-consuming,and difficulties in foreseeing discussion re- sults.Therefore,teachers should pay attention to the design of questions for discussion,arrangement of seats,division of student groups,students' opportunities of making speeches,teachers' behavior in class, and evaluation of students' performance.