Strategies for obtaining student attention in the university context: the role of the teacher's voice

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the strategies used by teachers at the University to catch the students’ attention, emphasizing the vocal resources. Eighteen teachers who give theoretical classes to students of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at an University on the State of São Paulo were interviewed. They were asked about their identity, career and means used to achieve the students’ attention in the classroom. The results showed varied use of teaching techniques, however with preference for the expository style. The strategies to get the student’s attention were combined in three kinds: 1) the teacher shown characteristics as, well structured language, articulatory definition, frequency fluctuation and vocal intensity, use of pauses and emphasis, visual contact with the students, request of attention or silence, use of gestures; 2) outward resources, as the use of audiovisual equipments, and 3) theorypractice relationship, when teachers contextualized the subject to the student, bringing their experiences to the classroom. Due to ineffectiveness of these strategies, they decided for changing the dynamics of the class, talking to the students and interrupting the discourse to create an expectation climate. It was concluded that the teachers valued the contents, the class type and the use of audiovisual resources on the teacher-student relationship and that the vocal resources were remembered and used as strategy to capture the students’ attention.