Lecture Method of Teaching
This is the method in which the instructors are imparting information to the students in terms of lesson plans and academic concepts within the classroom settings. Simply means of 'Lecture Method', teaching through lecture. It is the most convenient and inexpensive method that can be adopted for teaching sciences in our schools. It hardly requires the use of any scientific apparatus, experiment and aid material except the chalk-board. That is why it is often named as 'chalk and talk method'. However, it proves a great helping hand in covering the syllabus rapidly within the limited time and meagre resources.
For making use of this method, the teacher prepares his lecture about a particular topic from the text books and other available sources and then delivers it in the prescribed period to his students. There is hardly any interaction or exchange of communication between him and his students. The students remain quite inactive by being the passive listeners and recipients of the knowledge that usually come to them as showers of the rain. The teacher here usually adopts an attitude of no concern for what being heard or grasped by the students.
Features of Lecture Method
- Teacher explains the matter in simple and understandable manner.
- The method is particularly used in the secondary classes and above.
- This method can be used to motivate students, to clarify, to review and to expand contents.
- Lecture method is for imparting authentic, systematic and effective information about some events and trends.
- It gives the students training in listening.
- It develops good audience habits.
- It provides opportunities of correlating events and subjects.
- It enables the linkage of previous knowledge with new one.
Principles of Lecture Method
This method can be used for the following purposes-
1. To prepare the students to undertake plans or activities:- Whenever a group of students takes up a plan or action, it is appropriate that the teacher gives them an informal speech. This can prevent wastage of their time and energy in finding material about the topic.
2. To clarify:- There may be some aspects in any lesson which almost all the students find difficulty in understanding. Similarly, there may be some technical words in the lesson that the students do not know anything about. Students may not understand many theories clearly on their own. Through speech method the teacher can explain these technical terms and principles etc. Students' valuable time can be saved by a few minutes of teacher's speech.
3. To provide inspiration:- Whenever a new topic is introduced in the class, the teacher can effectively present some of its main aspects to the students by speech so that their curiosity is satisfied. This will facilitate the students to understand when the subject matter is presented.
4. To introduce additional content:- If students want more material than what is written in the text book, then the speech method is the best solution for this. Similarly, sometimes the information related to a subject in books is very brief or incorrect. Here the lecture method can be very useful. If the personal experiences of the teacher are presented in front of the students through speech, then they can prove to be very beneficial for them, but the condition is that the teacher knows how to present those experiences.
5. To summarize:- Sometimes students get nervous seeing the breadth of the subject matter. Therefore, there is a need that the entire subject matter should be presented to the students in a concise manner. This task can be easily accomplished by speech method. When students read books after listening to the speech, their study becomes more meaningful.
6. For giving homework:- The teacher should use speech while giving homework. It is good to give a short speech on whatever homework is given, its usefulness and how to do that homework etc.
7. To save time:- Speech method takes less time as compared to text book method. Many times such occasions arise that students need to save time. The time of the students can be saved by the speech method. Adequate subject matter can be presented in time by speech itself, which saves time.
8. For review:- The teacher can guide the students by giving a summary of the main aspects of a chapter through speech and can review the topic.
Merits of Lecture Method
- A well prepared and a well delivered lecture can make social studies interesting.
- Lecture gives the teacher an opportunity to come into immediate contact with the pupils.
- Lecture gives the pupils training in listening and taking rapid notes.
- Lecture saves time and energy.
- Good lectures stimulate brighter student.
- It facilitate rapport between the teacher and the taught.
- It is more useful for brilliant students.
- It helps the implementation of others.
Demerits of Lecture Method
- Makes students inactive
- There is a very little scope for pupil activity
- May include irrelevant material
- Discourage self-effort by the students
- Every teacher is not expert enough to deliver lecture
- The pupil lose opportunity to make self-study
- Lecture can soon result in monotony
- Lecturing is against the principle of 'learning by doing'
- An average students may not be able to fix up their attention to a lecture of 40-45 minutes