Breaking the silence: empirical insights on encouraging quiet students to speak out in law classes

Abstract

For law students, particularly law undergraduates, actively engaging in class discussions is crucial not only for their learning but also for their future careers. However, research in legal education and my own teaching experiences reveal that a substantial number of law students remain quiet during class discussions. Existing research on why students are quiet primarily focuses on the context of US law schools, which differ from the settings of other regions such as the EU or UK. Using two surveys and one intervention, this research explores the obstacles preventing quiet students from participating in discussions in the context of a Scottish law school and tries to improve their participation in class discussions. The findings reveal that the obstacles preventing quiet students from speaking out differ from those affecting active students. Quiet students are more likely to be hindered by subjective factors such as social anxiety or shyness, whereas active students tend to be influenced by objective factors such as whether they have prepared for class discussions. Additionally, as the semester progresses, the inhibiting effects of these obstacles on quiet students decrease significantly, compared with active students. These findings imply that strategies for encouraging quiet students should differ from those for active students. To encourage quiet students to speak up in law classes, lecturers should focus on alleviating subjective anxiety or shyness and helping them quickly become familiar with the module setting. Finally, the article further discusses the pedagogical value of class discussion for quiet students, despite the fact that this is not their comfort zone.