High School Student Perceptions of the Efficacy of Debate Participation

Exploring Parliamentary Debate as a Pedagogical Tool to Develop English Communication Skills in EFL/ESL Classrooms

“…Akerman and Neale (2011) identified communication and argumentation skills as a key finding which includes improved English when it is not the students' first language as evidenced by the study of Inoue and Nakano (2004) in Japan. Communication and speaking skills was perceived by students as the most important benefit of competitive debate in the surveys conducted in the US (Williams, McGee, & Worth, 2001;Littlefield, 2001). As the goal of this study is to introduce debating in the classroom in the ASEAN context, Cronin's (1990) study found that 74 percent of students from six university classes in the US indicated communication skills as the top benefit of debating.…”

The Lived Experience of High School Policy Debate in Oregon

“…The interview questions were designed based upon the review of literature, in order to focus the interviews on possible themes within the lived experiences of individuals participating in high school policy debate. The questions oriented the direction of the interviews, and some of the emerging themes mirror those shown by Littlefield (2001) and Fine (2001).…”

“…The knowledge that the participants gained through policy debate allowed them to have a better understanding of the world and provided a benefit within their academic studies. Littlefield (2001) observed that -debaters at the high school level learn a great deal about the topics that are selected for use during a particular school year‖ (p. 91). This knowledge is represented by both knowledge of the specific topics debated each year, but also knowledge of the way in which the political system in the United States works, and the way in which the United States' policy operates within the global community.…”

“…This study is significant because it provides the opportunity for participants to reflect upon their experiences and express in their own words how they perceived their lived experience of high school policy debate. Other studies have provided statistical analysis of the benefits of participation (Littlefield, 2001), or have used ethnographic techniques to describe the debate community (Fine, 2001). This study is able to describe the experience using the words of the participants in the study, rather than creating a numeric picture of their…”

“…Practice in this level of communication as students can provide the basis for such communication as adults, whether or not students opt to exercise their communication skills as adults. Littlefield (2001) analyzed student perceptions of the effects of participation in Policy Debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. He surveyed participants in debate at the 2001 National Forensic League National Tournament, using a self-selection method, allowing any student who was participating in a debate to participate in his survey.…”