Compare and Contrast Essay - Lecture vs Class Discussion

Lecture vs. Class Discussion

            There are lots of teaching methods in educational science world. All these teaching methods serve a unique aim determined by the teacher directing any class. Out of all these hundreds of methods, some are used most and some are used least. Throughout this essay, two of the most commonly used methods will be discussed: lecture (by the teacher) and class discussion with their differences and similarities.

            As to start, they are both focuses on the different things during the class. The method of lecture by the teacher focuses on the teacher. In this method, teacher’s knowledge, handling, style, and expertise is very important at the point of being beneficial for students. On the other hand, the method of class discussions requires all the students’ participation in the lesson which means teacher plays a smaller role. Also, class discussion method may help students improve speaking skills of theirs.

            Secondly, these two methods have their own unique styles. In other words, they two cannot be very beneficial when applied to any class. For instance, Lecture method is more beneficial for theoretical lessons like Philosophy and History, for these kinds of lessons requires some skills like listening, note-taking, scanning and quick comprehension. However, class discussion method does not require too many skills as in the lecture. Students are supposed to listen, speak, ask and response. Besides, Class discussion method can be applied on lessons like Oral Communication.

            As the last difference, the atmosphere comes. In lecture, the atmosphere is more formal and not very relaxed. By the way, lecture requires some warm-up for the lesson at the beginning which makes lesson more strained.  On the other side of the coin, class discussion has a cozier atmosphere which is based on mutual conversation. Mutual conversation makes students feel relaxed and home. That is why class discussion has a cozier atmosphere.

            On the other hand, apart from differences above, there are also lots of similarities between these two teaching methods. To start with, they both require more than two students. I mean, on face-to-face and one-on-one lessons these are not convenient. Because these two requires some kind of traffic of knowledge in a group consisted of teacher and students more than two.

            Afterwards, they both target learning about the topic lectured or discussed. In other words, while a teacher is giving a lecture, he or she gives information, triggers students to think and wants to make information permanent. Correspondingly, on a class discussion, students and teacher speak and discuss on a topic. While doing this, they target to learn, share and make information permanent.

            Finally, these two methods require absolute concentration. On the lecture method, students have to be alert and concentrated; otherwise, they can lag behind and cannot fully understand the lesson. Similarly, on the class discussion method, if students do not listen and participate in the lesson, they can fall back and spend the entire lesson very useless. Namely, concentration is very crucial for both methods.

            To sum up, these two methods are mostly used ones. They resemblances each other and differ at some points. Before the lesson starts, the method should be determined by the teacher correctly according to requirements and type of the lesson. They both have positive and negative sides. When used correctly they will never bring negative outcomes.