Ministry of higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan termez state university

1.2 Importance of discussion method in ESL
Group discussion plays a vital role in a student’s life. Group discussions in the classroom are not only beneficial for a student’s social skills only but also enhance their educational development and learning too. Some of the benefits of GD in a student’s life are discussed below.
Enhance Critical Thinking: Group discussion is used in a classroom to improve learning, asking open-ended questions will encourage critical thinking and help students think for themselves
Help with Understanding: Group discussion use to help students to understand a topic or concept deeply which will stay for a long time in their minds.
Improve Communication Skills: It is also used to improve communication skills as it can encourage students to become more confident in speaking up and asking questions. This will help them improve their communication in the long run because it should make them more confident to ask if they’re stuck and need help.
Improve Interest in Lessons: It improves learning, as group discussion invites the students to be the speakers. This helps students as it can maintain their focus and concentration to hear another voice instead of listening to the same teacher, which holds their attention.
Provide the Feedback: When learners discuss and explain the concepts to each other aloud in a group, it helps the teacher to hear if they have learnt a concept or not. This is a perfect feedback on teaching. It means that, if the teacher sees that they don’t understand something clearly, they can help them by stepping in and adding some more context or information in their discussion. Discussion as one of the most challenging teaching methods can also be one of the most rewarding.
Using discussions as a teaching method allows stimulating critical thinking. As a rapport establishwith students, teacher can demonstrate appreciation their contributions at the same time.Discussion presents a challenge them to think more deeply and to articulate their ideas more clearly.
Frequent asked questions whether by teacher or by the students provide a means of deep thinking, learning the concepts of the subjects.
Discussions may occur among members of a dyad, small group, or whole class and be teacher-led or student-led. They frequently involve discussion of a written text or instantaneously views present in mind. Discussion can also focus on a subject content, problem, and issue. An important advantage of discussion is that students get ability in the construction of knowledge, understanding and interpretation.
For result oriented, effective discussion teacher should summarize the major ideas, appropriate points. He should integrate student responses in the discussion promoting student-teacher and student interaction. Verbal and non-verbal cues should be used to encourage participation. Balance between controlling the group dynamic and letting group members speak requires. Organizer should show respect for all questions and comments. 5-10 seconds to think and formulate a response should be given to participants. If 10-15 seconds pass without anyone answer and the students are giving puzzled look, rephrase question. Teacher should not apt to answer questions, which will create a condition students will hesitate before answering.
Impact of group discussion in ESL classes
Discussion as one of the most challenging teaching methods can also be one of the most rewarding.Using discussions as a teaching method allows stimulating critical thinking. As a rapport establish with students, teacher can demonstrate appreciation their contributions at the same time. Discussion presents a challenge them to think more deeply and to articulate their ideas more clearly even for .Frequent asked questions whether by teacher or by the students provide a means of deep thinking, learning the concepts of the subjects.
Descriptive survey method was used for present study. 200 male and 200 female students of middle classes were randomly selected as sample. 2 groups were prepared as control group and experimental group. Both groups were consists of 100 male and 100 female. Control group was taught using traditional teaching method while experimental group was taught using discussion method. After teaching they were tested for learning using self-prepared test paper. Collected data was tabulated and comparatively analyzed using mean, standard deviation and value as statistical tools.¹⁰
Students learn a new language structure (i.e. grammar point) or vocabulary words, take a quiz, do well, and then a few days later they are unable to produce the structure or vocabulary. What happened? Where did it it go?
First, let’s look at Inter-language. This is the language that a learner speaks that is on a continuum between his native language (L1) and the target language (L2).

Initially, language input becomes intake or part of the short term memory of the learner. This is consciously attended to and learned by the learner. When structures and vocabulary become uptake, part of the long-term memory, it is considered subconscious and acquired. The uptake is the proficiency level of the learner.
When students take a quiz on the new material and do well it is because they are being assessed on their short-term memory (intake). When new material comes along and that older materials has not moved on to long-term memory (uptake) it is replaced by the newer material. That’s why the grammar structure they knew so well for the quiz is not as easily produced a few days later….and the reason we need to spend so much time reviewing for final exams at the end of the school year.
So, this begs the question, “How can we help students acquire language so that it becomes part of their uptake (long-term memory)?” The answer is not complicated and involved, but does take persistence and consistency. It comes down to providing as much comprehensible input as possible to students, both listening and reading. The more exposure students have to input that is comprehensible to them the more likely the language will become uptake and make its way to the long-term memory. Again, this is mostly a subconscious process in which language is acquired so comprehensible inout is the most effective tool. This is yet another reason to use the target language as much as possible (90-100%) in the second language classroom.
I want to end with a quick word about learning grammar and vocabulary, as opposed to acquiring. Steven Krashen, who is best known for his input hypothesis (i+1), does speak to the usefulness of studying and learning grammar and vocabulary. He describes this learned language as a monitor that assess output that originates in the long-term memory for accuracy. This learned, often intake/short-term memory, language is useful in writing as well because the writer has the time to reflect and monitor the output. When communicating interpersonally in real time the output is often less accurate with novice and intermediate students because the more accurate and native-like language has not yet made its way to the long-term memory.