A New Approach to DebateI. Teachers’ hesitation: debate

A New Approach to Debate
   Teachers of English may hesitate to teach debate because they think it is beyond their students’ language ability, or proficiency. But debate can be a powerful tool. It can help students learn to speak naturally and to listen carefully.
   Professor Charles Lebeau teaches English and debate in Japan. He wrote "Discover Debate" with Michael Lubetsky. The book helps English teachers and learners understand how to carry on a simple debate.
   The "Discover Debate" approach has three stages: creating a visual aid to communicate an argument, presenting the argument and answering the other team’s argument. Each stage puts increasing demands on language ability. It begins with a pre-debate experience.
   When teaching debate to English learners, Mr. Lebeau recommends beginning with "controlled practice." Students work in pairs to practice saying opinions and giving reasons in short conversations. They learn to identify opinions and arguments about everyday topics, such as sports stars, foods, weather and habits.
   Teachers may be tempted to give students serious topics, such as "People should stop using nuclear power." However, Mr. Lebeau cautions that English learners may not have the necessary language ability to handle such topics. More serious topics often require special vocabulary and research.
   Mr. Lebeau’s classes in Japan are like many in universities: they have 40 to 50 students. He has students form debate teams of three or six, depending on the total number of students. Each team creates a visual aid to show their thinking on the topic. The visual is a house: a roof represents an opinion, pillars are the reasons supporting the opinion and the foundation is the evidence.
   In the next stage, students present their argument. They have to do some talking, but not too much.
   The third stage is answering the opponents’ argument. Here, debaters need a higher level of language ability. Mr. Lebeau recommends pausing for the opposing team to develop their answers, or refutations. Each team might go to a different area and discuss the weak points in the opposing argument.
   Students must first think about the arguments carefully. In "Discover Debate," Michael Lubetsky and Charles Lebeau include a guide to help students evaluate arguments. The evaluation also takes advantage of the visual aid of a house. Students are asked to look for flaws, or problems. They identify things that are either "not true" or "not important."
   Students can write easily remembered abbreviations on their opponents’ houses: "NT" for not true, "NAT" for not always true, or "NNT" for not necessarily true. These simple expressions make it easier for students to refute their opponents’ arguments.
   Traditional debate includes several cycles of presentation and refutation. For English learners, one cycle of presentation and refutation is usually enough practice. Mr. Lebeau says sometimes he asks the rest of the class to vote on which side won. Asking for audience feedback gives the lesson a good ending. But, he says, additional discussion depends on the situation and the level of the students.