DEBATE

TEACHING STRATEGIES: DISCUSSION METHOD

 DEBATE
What is DEBATE?
• is the CONTENTION in argument; dispute
controversy; discussion; especially the discussion of
questions of public interest in Parliament or in any
assembly. (Almazan, 2013)
• It is an EXCHANGE OF ARGUMENTS between two
teams or individuals. (Sanchez, 2014)
• Debates are used to TEACH AND TO PERFORM
THE APPROACH TO A CERTAIN TOPIC from
different point of view. (Sanchez, 2014)
 PURPOSE OF DEBATE

• Rigorous and Critical Thinking

• Academic Skills
• Mental and Emotional Maturity
• Academic and Occupational
Achievement
• Rigorous and Critical Thinking
One of the most important skill that the debater
has to learn and gain.
Debate participation promote problem solving and
innovative thinking helps students to build links
between words and ideas that make concepts
more meaningful.
Debaters are taught to synthesize wide bodies of
complex information, and to exercise creativity
and to implement different ways of knowing
• Academic Skills
Debaters excel in written and oral communication
thus greatly improve their reading comprehension.
Students become comfortable with new concepts
and unfamiliar technologies and languages, and
gain access to wide array of new information such
as college-level philosophy, history, public policy
and current events.
Debaters become self-directed learners allowing
them to control of their education experience and
continue to learn throughout their lives
• Mental and Emotional Maturity
Debate requires students to engage serious
subject matter in a mature and professional
environment.
Debaters show more maturity in the face of
adversity and tend to develop strong
relationship with peers, other students, and
most especially on their self.
Debate increases self-confidence by helping to
teach them the skills to become competitive
adults.
• Academic & Occupational Achivement
Skills that were acquired as a debater leads them
to notable academic achievement.
Academic performance is common to all
debaters, regardless of their academic
excellence.
Beyond their academic careers, debaters tend to
enjoy success in the world of industry.
Most of the top executives, politicians, high-
ranking officials and notable teaching staffs are
good debaters which improves their leadership
skills that makes them capable to lead a
community or school.
 ADVANTAGES OF DEBATE
1. Enhances Interpersonal Skill
2. Fun
3. Enhances Public Speaking Skills
4. Analytical Skills
5. Analytical Skills
6. Research Skills
 ENHANCES INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
•An additional benefit of getting
involved is building friendships with
teammates who enjoy similar
interests.
•People tend to communicate verbally
and non-verbally to other people as
they share insights and opinions to
other people.
•It builds teamwork and camaraderie
and establishes sportmanship leading
frienships at the end of the activity.
 •The vast majority of tens of
FUN
thousands of students who
compete in debate
tournaments each year will tell
you its fun
•For every person, the
experience is a little different,
but generally the thrill of the
competition, camaraderie of
teamates, and the travel
opportuities make debate fun
• We joke around, laugh
together, and share ideas with
one another
 ENHANCES PUBLIC SPEAKING
SKILLS
• Debate provides a non-
threatening environment to
practice these skills so that you'll
have the skills necessary to do a
great job
• This increases your chances of
doing well in important
interviews for jobs and
scholarships
• As public speaking skills are
developed. The level of anxiety
the debater has will greatly
decrease as it boost confidence
to speak in front of the crowd
 ANALYTICAL SKILLS
• The ability to critically analyze a
problem and propose workable
solutions is invaluable.
• This is a skill that debate best
teaches and high-level business
people and professionals possess.
• It can sharpen student’s critical
thinking skills and let them examine
the topic they’ve been given.
• Instead of passively accepting
information, they’re forced to hone
that material and throw out
concepts and theories that don’t
make sense and adopt ones that
do.
 DISADVANTAGES OF DEBATE
1. Debates Can Be Hurtful
2. Repetition Shapes Views
3. Confirmation Bias Can Occur
4. Students may not be familiar with debate
systems and as an assessment method
5. Debates are time-consuming (e.g. time
for research and preparation, time for
presentation of each group)
 DEBATES CAN BE HURTFUL
• Arguments, even intellectual
ones, can generate hard
feelings between opposing
camps.
• Although academic
arguments are supposed to
be driven more by logic and
research than by emotion,
many students will feel
threatened or even
demeaned by views that
challenge their perceived
rights or sense of identity.
 REPETITION SHAPES VIEWS
• Repetition of an opinion increases its popularity.
• There is a study which suggests that the side
switchers in a school debate may have been drawn
to the position they became most familiar with -- their
assigned position -- rather than to the most
reasonable and best supported claim.
• Due to social influence, people tend to believe on
what is repeatedly discusses (without backup or
evidence) to support their claim
 CONFIRMATION BIAS CAN OCCUR
• Students in debate come to
thoroughly understand both sides of
the resolution, having researched
each extensively, and learn to think
critically about every argument that
could be made on each side.
• Watching debates probably
intensifies a priori opinions and
leads students to cherry-pick
evidence that supports their pre-
existing positions while ignoring
contradictory evidence.
• These behaviors result in arguments
that suffer from what's known as
confirmation bias.
 STUDENTS MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH
DEBATE SYSTEMS AND AS AN ASSESSMENT
METHOD
• Due to lack of knowledge, or sometimes
ignorance, students may not have
courage or motivation to be curious on
the rules and guidelines of debate
• Lack of involvement in the actual event
may be a factor. Students are not
engaged in social issues in which they
tend to analyze and formulate arguments
to be debated
 DEBATES ARE TIME-CONSUMING
• Students needs lots of time to prepare in
order to build confidence to defend or
rebutt the informations and arguments
thrown on each parties
• Research is one of the most time
consuming preparation in order to make
an effective argument
• Debate needs a lot of practice in order to
enhace our communication skills