QUIET CHILDRENIN THE CLASSROOM:ON HELPINGNOT HURTING

OCfd

James C. McCroskey

Most teachers enter the profession tohelp students. Yet. with the possible ex-ception of parents, teachers have anunparalleled potential for harmingyoung people. Unfortunately, that po-tential is realized far more often than wemight think.

Almost without exception kinder-garten teachers tell me how delightfulthe little ones are when they first enterschool. I am tOld that almost all of themare warm, affectionate, and anxious tolearn. On the other hand, many secon-dary teachers tell me how miserablemany of the young people are by thetime they reach their classes. They aredescribed as cold, unresponsive, andhostile to learning. The consistency withwhich these comments are repeated hasled me to pose a question to students inmy graduate classes in instructionalcommunication: "What have we as a

profession done to produce this changein young people?" Although blame iscast at many factors-society in general,TV, peers-almost everyone has to con-ceed that the teaching profession mustadmit to a major share of the blame, atthe very least.

'While there are many things thatteachers do that harm children (for themost part unknowingly, not malicious-ly), I want to restrict my comments hereto things that teachers can do or avoiddoing to help one portion of our young

James c. McCro.fkey is Chairperson and Pro-fessor of Speech Communication at "VestVirginia Uni\'ersity.

people, the quiet ones.! After workingwith over five thousand in-service

elementary and secondary teachers overthe past eight years, I am convinced oftwo things: (1) most are not consciouslyaware that there are significant numbersof quiet children, and (2) their "com-mon sense" leads them to employmethods of "helping" quiet children thathave a much higher probability of pro-ducing harm than help.

Several years ago Daly and I reporteda study that indicated the extent of thenegative perceptions that teachers haveof quiet children.:! Since then we havereplicated that study time after time asa classroom exercise in our graduateclasses for in-service teachers. The results

are always the same. The striking thingis that the teachers do not realize whythey respond as they do. This does notdeny that the teachers have negativeexpectations of quiet children, but itdoes indicate that, for the most part atleast, these negative expectations existbelow the level of conscious awareness.This suggests that teachers' behavior to-ward quiet children probably is habitualrather than adapted to the individual

1 For additional information concerning theproblems of quiet people, see James C. Mc-Croskey and Virginia P. Richmond, The QuietOnes: Shyness and Communication Apprehen-sio1l (Dubque, Iowa: Gorsuch Scarisbrick, 1980).For specific applications to the classroom see,James C. McCroskey, Quiet Children and theClassroom Teacher (Falls Church, Va.: SCA,1977).

:!James C. McCroskey and John A. Daly,"Teachers' Expectations of the CommunicationApprehensive Child in the Elementary School,"HUlJ1anCommunication Research, 3 (Fall 1976),6--"'-I-.

COMMU~ICATIO~ EDUCATION, Volume 29, July 1980

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child. When asked what one should doto help a child that is quiet, the mostfrequent suggestion of the teachers withwhom I have worked is to "give themmore speaking experiences." While thisapproach may be helpful to some people,it is very likely to be harmful to most.Not all quiet children are alike.

TYPES OF QUIET CHILDREN

All quiet children have only one thingin common-they are quiet. Beyond that,

they are as different from one anotheras any other group of human beings. Ifwe wish to help quiet children, then,we need first to be able to determinewhy they are quiet and whether theyneed help. Let us consider some of thefactors that result in a quiet child.

Low INTELLECTUALSKILLS

The research that Daly and I have re-

ported indicates that teachers perceivequiet children to be less intellectUallycapable than their more verbal peers.Essentially this is a stereotypical re-

sponse. Like most other stereotypes, ithas some basis in fact, but not enough to

justify the general expectation. Whilethere is no meaningful general correla-tion between quiteness and intellectualability, some children who are verbalwhen they enter school become more

quiet as they discover that they are notas good at school work as most of theirpeers. It is quite normal for Johnny torefrain from volunteering to read beforethe class if he knows he is a poor reader.Nevertheless, this factor accounts for

only a small part of the variability inverbal output of young people. Re-member, there still are a lot of stupid,

verbal people in the world!

SKILL DEFICIENCIES

Many children have inadequate com-munication skills. Some of these have

late developing language and/or speech

problems. Others may have adequatelanguage and speech production but areseverely deficient in social communica-tion skills. Many are verbal during the

pre-operational stage of their develop-ment but become quiet as they ap-

proach adolescence because they becomesensitive to their communicative in-

adequacies. If not overcome, this maybecome a life-long problem.

SOCIAL INTROVERSION

Socially introverted people prefer beingalone to being with others. Socialintroversion appears to be a fairlyfirmly established element of an individ-ual's personality which is developed inthe preschool years and continuesthroughout adult life. Social introvertstypically can communicate when theywant to but more frequently choose toremain quiet.

SOCIAL AUENATION

Some young people, particularly as theyreach the secondary sd1001 years, be-come alienated from their society and itsvalues and goals. They are likely to be

quiet in the classroom (or absent!) be-cause they see no rewards forthcomingfrom communicating. These young peo-

ple are, by far, the most difficult for theteacher to help.

ETHNIC/CULTURAL DIVERGDICE

The North American society encom-

passes a wide variety of ethnic and cul-tural groups. Among these there is greatdiversity in communication norms, lan-

guage, accent, and dialect. When ayoung person is placed in a classroom inwhich he or she represents a minorityculture, the person is likely to become

very quiet. While such persons mayhave adequate or even superior com-munication skills to survive in their own

PRACTICAL TEACHERS' SYMPOSlUM-241

COM~1UNICATlON APPREHENSION

Communication apprehension is an in-dividual's level of fear or anxiety asSO-ciated with either real or anticipatedcommunication with another person or

persons. As many as one young person infive may experience communication

apprehension, generally, across all ornearly all communication situations.~Iany others have apprehension aboutone or more specific communicationsituations, the classroom being but oneenvironment which can produce thisfeeling. People who are anxious or fear-ful about communicating generally be-come quiet or avoid the situationentirely if they can. Although some

young people enter kindergarten with ahigh level of communication apprehen-sion, the number of highly apprehensive

young people does not reach adultnorms until around the fourth or fifth

grade leveLs

person is to try to discover why the per-son is quiet. Ethnic/cultural divergence

probably is the easiest reason to identify.Communication apprehension also isfairl y easy to' diagnose.-! Some skilldeficiencies are easy to diagnose, othersare more difficult. Degrees of social in-troversion and social alienation are verydifficult to ascertain without formal

personality testing, which usually isbeyond the classroom teacher's author-ity. Low social self-esteem can best bediscovered in a private interview, if theteacher has a good relationship with the

young person. Presuming we can de-termine the factor or factors that arecausing quietness, let us consider whatwe can do to be of the most help.

subculture, they may be extremelydeficient in the skills needed in theirnew environment.

ON HELPING

The first step in helping the quiet young

THE SKILL DEFICIENT

The obvious answer to a problem ofskill deficiencies is a skills -training pro-

gram. Unfortunately, not every teacheris prepared to develop such a program.Problems of delayed language develop-ment and speech pathologies must bereferred to the. appropriate specialistselsewhere in the school system. Seriousharm can be done by well-meaning but

unqualified people trying to help youngpeople with these problems. Similarly,few teachers are qualified to develop atraining program for young people whohave inadequate social communicationskills. Specialists in interpersonal com-munication are needed to guide such

programs. Not even speech and Englishteachers, unless they have had specialtraining in interpersonal skill develop-ment, are in a position to help. Theanswer, then, is to do nothing unless youhave the necessary special training. Refer

LoW SOCIALSELF-ESTEEM

~Iany young people, particularly duringadolescence, feel that they are incapableof relating successfully with others intheir environment. This feeling is most

probably generated by a combination ofthe factors we have discussed above.Such young people typically considerthemselves to be "shy" and remain quietin most social situations, ,the classroombeing a social situation for people ofthis age group.

3 James C. McCroskey et al., "Teacher CoIIl-munication Orientations and the Develop-ment of Communication Orientations aIIlongElementary School Children: A Modeling Ex-pi:lnation." Paper presented at the ICA con-\'l"!,tion, Philadelphia, 1979.

4 For a measure for elementary and juniorhigh school students, see McCroskey, QuietChildren or McCroskey et al. For a measure forolder children and adults, see James C. Mc-Croskey. "Validity of the PRCA as an index ofOral Communication Apprehension," Communi-cation Monographs. 45 (Aug. 1978). 192-203.

242-COMMUNICATION EDUCATION

the young person to someone who canhelp. Otherwise, leave a bad situationalone. Don't make it worse.

THE SOCIALLY INTROVERTED

Most social introverts do not have a

problem. While those of us who are ex-troverted may think they do, they arenot likely to agree with us. Teachersshould take steps to avoid causing thesocial introvert a problem in the class-room, steps we will outline later, butthey should not try to change the youngperson's personality. Not only areteachers not qualified to engage in suchpsychological manipulation, but also,if they try, they are treading ondangerous legal ground and are likelyto produce a very hostile young person.The answer, then, is leave the socialintrovert alone.

THE SOCIALLY ALIENATED

It is virtually impossible for the class-room teacher to hel p the sociall yalienated. Professional help is needed,but even that provides no guarantee forsuccess. Many socially alienated young

people have the potential to move fromthe point of being nonsocial to beingantisocial. A well-meaning but un-

qualified teacher can hasten this transi-tion by inept interference. The answer,then, is leave the socially alienatedalone. They have a problem, but wecan't solve it.

THE ETHNICALLY jCULTURALLY

DIVERGENT

Unlike the types of quiet young peoplediscussed above, the regular classroomteacher can take positive steps to help

this type of quiet person. The first stepis to become acquainted with the culturalnorms for communication of that young

person. This will enable the teacher todistinguish between behavior that is

normal for that young person and whatwould otherwise be seen as disruptivebehavior (e.g., back channeling by manyblack students). This is not much to askof any well-intentional teacher, but is astep taken by only a small percentage.The second step is to assure the young

person that her or his communication isacceptable to the teacher. While it isdesirable for all students to learn so-called "standard" American speech, a

young person's speech pattern is verycentral to that person's personality.Evaluation should never be made onfactors, such as accent or dialect, thatare not within the young person's con-trol to change rapidly. Third, everyeffort should be made to encourage otherstudents to accept the communication

patterns of this type of young person.Nothing can be more painful than jeer-ing by peers. The teacher should nevertOlerate such behavior. Finally, theteacher should consider the presence ofthe ethnically jculturally divergent an

opportunity to broaden the educationof all of the students. Encouraging theethnically or culturally divergent young

person to discuss an idea or issue fromthe vantage point of her or his culturewill strengthen self-esteem and alsomake the young person more socially ac-ceptable to the peer grOUp,

THE COMMUNICATION ApPREHE:\SIVE

The young person with high communi-cation apprehension can be helped. Themethod that has been found to be mosteffective and to require the least pro-fessional training for the teacher is

systematic desensitization.5 Programs forsuch treatment are low in cost andshould be made available in all schools.Short of providing such a program, we

5 James C. McCroskey, "The Implementationof a Large Scale Program of Systematic De-sensitization for Communication Apprehension,"Speech Teacher, 21 (Nov. 1972), 255-64.

should not expect the classroom teacherto be able to help a young personovercome communication apprehension.Giving this type of quiet y.oung personincreased speaking experiences or evenproviding communication-skills train-ing is more likely to make the problemworse than to be helpful. Both ap-proaches can be very helpful. but onlyafter the fear and anxiety problem isovercome.

It should be recognized that manyquiet young people are quiet for morethan one reason. The most commoncombination of causes is communication

apprehension and skill deficiencies. Aswe noted previously, such people arelikely to develop low self-esteem andconsider themselves shy. Helping theseyoung people requires treatment fortheir communication apprehension (first)and appropriate skills training. Eitherone without the other will not overcome

the problem.

O~ j\;OT HURTING

Helping the quiet young person requiresthe active participation of the classroomteacher. In situations where the teacheris unable to do what is necessary to help,it is still possible to take several s.teps toavoid hurting the quiet student. Harmcan come in two main ways: (1) makingthe young person even more quiet, and(2) aIlowing the quietness to interferewith the young person's learning andachievement. Below are several steps theteacher can take to avoid these harms.

DEVELOP A COMMUNICATlON-

PER:\IISSIVE CLASSROOM

If communication with other studentsand with the teacher is unrestricted, it is

much more likely that a student, even aquiet one, will engage in communica-tion. Such a climate is developed whena teacher reinforces stUdents for com-

PRACTICAL TEACHERS' SYMPOSlUM-243

municating with others. While thistype of classroom atmosphere also en-courages some conversations which arenot directly conducive to learning, theoverall impact is supportive of thelearning process for all students, not justthe quiet ones. An important considera-tion in this type of classroom is avoidingpunishment of communication. Com-munication itself should never be the

object of punishment. Disruptive be-havior, of course, must be controIled.However, the teacher must make clearto all students that it is disruption thatis being punished, not communication.Otherwise, quiet students, particularlythose with high communication appre-hension, will observe others beingpunished for communicating and willlearn that if they keep quiet they canescape this punishment.

E;\/COURAGE, NOT REQUIRE,ORAL PERFOR:\!.fu~CE

The use of oral performance in theclassroom is a valid and important in-structional strategy. However, what isvaluable and beneficial to some childrenis not necessarily so to others. Forcinghighly apprehensive, ethnicaIly diver-gent, or skill deficient young people toperform orally is harmful. It will in-crease apprehension and reduce self-esteem. Thus, the teacher should permitand encourage oral performance butnever require it from quiet students.

PROVIDE ALTERNATIVES TO

ORAL PERFOR:\!ANCE

It is almost never necessary for a studentto perform oraIly to demonstrate learn-ing (the notable exception beingoral communication instruction). Theteacher should develop alternative meth-ods for the student to demonstrateachievement. Allow students the choiceof oral or written forms whenever

244-COMMUNICATION EDUCATION

possible. Even the teaching of readingdoes not require oral reading in frontof peers. Many reading experts nowargue that oral reading is ,the leastbeneficial element in the traditional

reading program. The quiet student isplaced in a very bad position when oralperformance is the only alternative todemonstrate achievement. Her or his

inadequacies in oral performance areinterpreted, incorrectly, as low achieve-ment in other areas.

AvoID RESTRICTIVE SEATINGAsSIGNMENTS

Classrooms have high, moderate, andlow interaction areas. The highest arenear the front and center. The lowestare along the sides and in the rear. Oneof the potentially most harmful thingsa teacher can do is to force a quiet stu-dent to sit in a high-interaction area ofthe class. While the student is not likelyto talk any more in such an area thanif he or she were seated elsewhere, thethreat of communication will be felt

much more consistently. Under suchpressure it is more difficult for theyoung person to concentrate on thesubject matter being taught, and learn-ing will decrease. Allowing students toselect their own seats avoids harmingquiet students.

AvoID GRADING 0:-: PARTICIPATION

Class participation should be soughtand encouraged, but penalties for non-participation should be eliminated. Re-

member: A student who is listening ismore likely -to be learning than a stu.dent who is talking. Grading which isbased on participation not only penalizesstudents who are afraid to communicate

but also unduly rewards those studentswho are very verbal. Evaluation shouldbe based upon what a student knows,not how much a student talks.

A FINAL WORD

Teachers want to help and to avoid hurt-ing young people. The special group ofstudents we call "quiet" can be helpedand we Can avoid hurting them. Thesuggestions above are steps in the rightdirection. They are not panaceas. Ourfield has come a long way toward under-standing the problems of quiet peopleand has developed a few par:tial solu-tions. This essay has attempted to pro.vide advice based on our current state of

knowledge. Many more years of exten-sive research and field testing will berequired before we will approach thelevel of being able to fully understandthis problem facing so many of ouryoung people, much less being fullycapable of overcoming the problem. Inthe interim we must do what we can to

help and to avoid hurting the youngpeople in our classrooms. We must con-stantly keep in mind that most of us aremoderately to highly verbal people. Weare different than the quiet people withwhom we work. 'Vhat makes good com.moa sense to us may be the worst thingwe could do for someone who is quiet.