Brainstorming in speaking teaching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

Topicality. Works of modern foreign language teacher can not be imagined without the use of new information technologies. It's not just hardware, but also new methods and forms of teaching. The task of the teacher is to create the conditions of practical language learning for each student, to choose such training methods that would allow each student to show their activity, their creativity, to enhance the student's cognitive activity in learning foreign languages.

Speaking skills in language teaching have been neglected and shifted to a secondary position after listening and writing. This is a surprising fact given that it is the skill that is most often used in communication. It is thought that about thirty-five percent of our daily communication is spent on speaking, forty percent on listening, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing. Speaking is an important skill. As we know the structure of the IELTS exam also places great importance on speaking. As a result of these demands, a great emphasis has been placed on a product‐based approach to the teaching of speaking skills. Students are taught to develop competence in particular modes of communication by using brainstorming. People have used brainstorming to generate ideas, and to come up with creative solutions to problems. This course paper explores the possibility of using brainstorming techniques in classroom to compliment the product‐based approach and help students develop the speaking skills to generate and express their ideas efficiently and creatively. 

This course paper explored the effects of brainstorming techniques on students’ perceptions of their speaking performance.

The rationale behind the brainstorming techniques used in this course paper is that the human brain is a pattern recognition machine. The brainstorming techniques are designed to expand the speaking skills of students have at their disposal when facing a speaking task. By thinking about a question from different perspectives, as well as exploring the perspectives of their classmates, students can develop the skills to help them access and develop a broader range of ideas in a speaking situation. 

Whether the lesson is based on practical or theoretical learning, brainstorming is a good way of helping learners to start to think about a topic. It can be an effective way to assess what students know at the beginning and end of a programme of study. Brainstorming can identify what students know as individuals, and can reveal the wealth of knowledge shared between members of a class. It can also help to identify any scientific misconceptions that students may have. This information is helpful because it can inform your planning, enabling you to pitch your teaching at the right level for the class in general, while differentiating tasks in response to the needs of individual students.

Topicality of using brainstorming as a useful technique in speaking teaching is the developing of cognitive activity of the students, to show advantages of using brainstorm in our educational system especially in teaching how to speak and encourage more active usage in the learning process in every language learning level.

The aim of course paper:

To study brainstorming in teaching process as an effective method to speaking teaching to the learners at the English language lesson.

The objectives:

1) To examine the challenges that students face while using brainstorming in classes and their solutions;

2) To identify opportunities for the use of brainstorming in speaking teaching;

3) To identify the effects of using brainstorm on students;

4) To characterize the concept of brainstorming.

The object: foreign language learners.

The subject: determine the effect of brainstorming on teaching speaking.

The methods:

• study of the experience of primary sources;
• modeling;
• statistical methods;
• sociometric method.

The intended outcome of research is to formulate the tips for good practice in improving learners’ listening skills using brainstorming

The research methods include:

• how to develop a research question;
• methodology;
• methods of data collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. BRAINSTORMING AS A USEFUL TECHIQUE IN SPEAKING TEACHING

1.1 Origin and variations of the brainstorming technique in pedagogy

 

Brainstorming is a group or individual creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its member(s). The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Osborn claimed that brainstorming was more effective than individuals working alone in generating ideas, although more recent research has questioned this conclusion.[1] Today, the term is used as a catch all for all group ideation sessions.

Advertising executive Alex F. Osborn began developing methods for creative problem solving in 1939. He was frustrated by employees’ inability to develop creative ideas individually for ad campaigns. In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by employees. Osborn outlined the method in his 1948 book 'Your Creative Power' on chapter 33, “How to Organize a Squad to Create Ideas.”[2]

Osborn introduce into science two principles, these being :

• Defer judgment;
• Reach for quantity.[3]

Following these two principles were his 3 general rules of brainstorming, established with intention to :

• reduce social inhibitions among group members,
• stimulate idea generation
• increase overall creativity of the group.

Focus on quantity: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming to facilitate problem solving through the maxim quantity breeds quality. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.

Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'. Instead, participants should focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate unusual ideas.

Welcome unusual ideas: To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking may provide better solutions.

Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a process of association.[3]

 

brainstorming activity conducting

 

Osborn notes that brainstorming should address a specific question; he held that sessions addressing multiple questions were inefficient.

Further, the problem must require the generation of ideas rather than judgment; he uses examples such as generating possible names for a product as proper brainstorming material, whereas analytical judgments such as whether or not to marry do not have any need for brainstorming.[3]

There are some other definitions of the brainstorming: 
1) Brainstorming is a process designed to obtain the maximum number of ideas relating to a specific area of interest. 
2) Brainstorming is a technique that maximizes the ability to generate new ideas. 
3) Brainstorming is where a group of people put social inhibitions and rules aside with the aim of generating new ideas and solutions. 
4) Brainstorming is a time dedicated to generating a large number of ideas regardless of their initial wort. 
5) Brainstorming is a part of problem solving which involves the creation of new ideas by suspending judgment. 
6) Brainstorming is the creation of an optimal state of mind for generating new ideas. 
7) Brainstorming is the free association of different ideas to form new ideas and concepts.

Variations

Brainstorming has such types like:

• Nominal group technique

Participants are asked to write their ideas anonymously. Then the facilitator collects the ideas and the group votes on each idea. The vote can be as simple as a show of hands in favor of a given idea. This process is called distillation.

After distillation, the top ranked ideas may be sent back to the group or to subgroups for further brainstorming. For example, one group may work on the color required in a product. Another group may work on the size, and so forth. Each group will come back to the whole group for ranking the listed ideas. Sometimes ideas that were previously dropped may be brought forward again once the group has re-evaluated the ideas.

It is important that the facilitator be trained in this process before attempting to facilitate this technique. The group should be primed and encouraged to embrace the process. Like all team efforts, it may take a few practice sessions to train the team in the method before tackling the important ideas.

• Group passing technique

Each person in a circular group writes down one idea, and then passes the piece of paper to the next person, who adds some thoughts. This continues until everybody gets his or her original piece of paper back. By this time, it is likely that the group will have extensively elaborated on each idea.

The group may also create an "idea book" and post a distribution list or routing slip to the front of the book. On the first page is a description of the problem. The first person to receive the book lists his or her ideas and then routes the book to the next person on the distribution list. The second person can log new ideas or add to the ideas of the previous person. This continues until the distribution list is exhausted. A follow-up "read out" meeting is then held to discuss the ideas logged in the book. This technique takes longer, but it allows individuals time to think deeply about the problem.

• Team idea mapping method

This method of brainstorming works by the method of association. It may improve collaboration and increase the quantity of ideas, and is designed so that all attendees participate and no ideas are rejected.

The process begins with a well-defined topic. Each participant brainstorms individually, then all the ideas are merged onto one large idea map. During this consolidation phase, participants may discover a common understanding of the issues as they share the meanings behind their ideas. During this sharing, new ideas may arise by the association, and they are added to the map as well. Once all the ideas are captured, the group can prioritize and/or take action.[4]

• Breaking the rules technique

In this method, participants list the formal or informal rules that govern a particular process. Participants then try to develop alternative methods to bypass or counter these established protocols.[5]

• Directed brainstorming

Directed brainstorming is a variation of electronic brainstorming. It can be done manually or with computers. Directed brainstorming works when the solution space (that is, the set of criteria for evaluating a good idea) is known prior to the session. If known, those criteria can be used to constrain the ideation process intentionally.

In directed brainstorming, each participant is given one sheet of paper (or electronic form) and told the brainstorming question. They are asked to produce one response and stop, then all of the papers (or forms) are randomly swapped among the participants. The participants are asked to look at the idea they received and to create a new idea that improves on that idea based on the initial criteria. The forms are then swapped again and respondents are asked to improve upon the ideas, and the process is repeated for three or more rounds.

In the laboratory, directed brainstorming has been found to almost triple the productivity of groups over electronic brainstorming.[6]

• Guided brainstorming

A guided brainstorming session is time set aside to brainstorm either individually or as a collective group about a particular subject under the constraints of perspective and time. This type of brainstorming removes all cause for conflict and constrains conversations while stimulating critical and creative thinking in an engaging, balanced environment.

Participants are asked to adopt different mindsets for pre-defined period of time while contributing their ideas to a central mind map drawn by a pre-appointed scribe. Having examined a multi-perspective point of view, participants seemingly see the simple solutions that collectively create greater growth. Action is assigned individually.

Following a guided brainstorming session participants emerge with ideas ranked for further brainstorming, research and questions remaining unanswered and a prioritized, assigned, actionable list that leaves everyone with a clear understanding of what needs to happen next and the ability to visualize the combined future focus and greater goals of the group.

• Individual brainstorming

"Individual brainstorming" is the use of brainstorming in solitary. It typically includes such techniques as free writing, free speaking, word association, and drawing a mind map, which is a visual note taking technique in which people diagram their thoughts. Individual brainstorming is a useful method in creative thinking and has been shown to be superior to traditional group brainstorming.[7][1]

• Question brainstorming

This process involves brainstorming the questions, rather than trying to come up with immediate answers and short term solutions. Theoretically, this technique should not inhibit participation as there is no need to provide solutions. The answers to the questions form the framework for constructing future action plans. Once the list of questions is set, it may be necessary to prioritize them to reach to the best solution in an orderly way.[8]

"Questorming" is another term for this mode of inquiry.[9]

 

 

1.2 Brainstorming as a technique for teaching speaking skills

 

Brainstorming is an effective for initiating discussion with additional potential as an assessment tool. It enables the teacher to find out more about the children’s learning as work progresses. Teacher can assess the children’s prior knowledge, what the children are learning and what they have retained about a particular topic. It is an opportunity for teachers to assess where the gaps are in the children’s knowledge and understanding and which aspects of teacher’s teaching have worked well.

The purpose is to generate as many ideas as possible within a specified time-period. These ideas are not evaluated until the end and a wide range of ideas is often produced. Each idea produced does not need to be usable. Instead, initial ideas can be viewed as a starting point for more workable ideas. The principle of brainstorming is that you need lots of ideas to get good ideas.

Brainstorming has a wide range of applications. Since 1930, it has been used successfully in business for invention and innovation. In the language classroom, brainstorming is often used in teaching speaking.

Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.

Teaching speaking refers to many things:

✦ produce the English speech sounds and patterns;

✦ use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the sound language;

✦ select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter;

✦ organize thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence;

✦ expressing values and judgements;

✦ using the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses (fluency)

Many linguists and language teachers agree that students learn speaking skills best through “interacting”. Teachers should try to use “real” situations that require communication and collaboration (working together) between students.

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristics of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas.

Researchers in the language‐learning field have shown much interest in the area of learning strategies in recent years. Bejarano Et Al (1997) discovered the important role played by small group interaction in helping students develop learning strategies. Very little research however has looked at the effectiveness of learning strategies such as brainstorming in the teaching of productive skills such as speaking.  Richards (1990) found that student interaction was an important part of developing the cognitive skills involved in generating ideas, and found brainstorming was an effective way of achieving this. Results from this study showed that students who were trained in brainstorming techniques were more efficient at generating and organising ideas than students in a control group.  Rao (2007) found that students who had been trained in brainstorming techniques and used them regularly over a twelve‐month period produced measurably higher results in speaking tasks. In addition to this, an attitudinal survey showed that students who participated in this research project felt positive about the effectiveness of the brainstorming techniques.  

Some learners are more successful than others. In order to find out why, Rubin and Thompson studied the characteristics of good learners. Four of these characteristics are discussed below. These may explain why brainstorming is a useful tool in classrooms.

• Learners Organize Information About Language

Learners try to organize their knowledge. As teachers, we can try to facilitate this organization by using suitable warm-up activities. A warm-up activity can remind our students of existing knowledge. At the same time, it can direct their minds towards ideas that they will meet in the main activity. In this way, it provides a link between new and existing knowledge.

However, each learner has a different store of existing knowledge organized in a unique way. A textbook or teacher presentation can never use this knowledge to its best potential. In many warm-up activities, the teacher and students can be frustrated because the organization of language in the warm-up activity is different from the organization in the learners' minds. This mismatch is a block to good learning. Brainstorming invites the learners to organize existing knowledge in their own minds. Many learners have a large passive vocabulary which does not translate directly into productive capabilities in the classroom. Brainstorming can help to activate this. It works to mobilize the resources of the student by creating a series of connecting ideas. This leads to an organization of language. The links which appear on paper created in word mapping are visible evidence of this organization. At this point the learners will be better oriented to the topic and better motivated to fill the gaps in their knowledge.

• Learners Find Their Own Way and Take Charge of Their Own Learning

Students who do not take charge of their own learning are unable to take full advantage of learning opportunities. This is a problem that faces many Asian students who are generally more reserved than western students (Tsui , 1996). Many teachers find that lack of self-initiative is usually more of a problem than lack of ability in conversation classes.

Brainstorming can help learners to take charge. Learners begin examining their existing resources and identifying gaps in their knowledge. The free association nature allows learners to become involved in the selection of language used in the speaking task.

• Learners Make Intelligent Guesses

The learner makes intelligent guesses, but the language classroom often works against this. Because of nervousness in a foreign language or fear of teacher correction, many students are afraid of using language unless they are sure that it is totally correct. This stops them making intelligent guesses and slows down learning.

Brainstorming can help students to learn to take risks. McCoy (1976) makes a strong argument in favour of learning problem-solving skills in order to reduce anxiety. There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers in brainstorming and no danger of teacher correction. By carrying out a simple brainstorming warm-up, students can obtain a sense of competence and feel more confident in making intelligent guesses.

• Learners Use Contextual Cues to Help Them in Comprehension

The learner uses the context of language to help in comprehension but the foreign language classroom can often seem artificial. Brainstorming allows the students to create a context for the subsequent speaking task. Relevant existing knowledge (content schema) can be called up from memory and can provide a context which supports comprehension and production in the subsequent speaking task.

As discussed in this section, brainstorming can help our students to become better learners, but equally importantly, students will benefit just by working in groups. They will learn language from each other and by interacting together they will become better communicators.

A research study on the use of brainstorming was carried out in Oral Communication classes at a Japanese senior high school. The students had studied English since junior high school, but it was their first introduction to spoken English. Many students carried out the speaking tasks very slowly which resulted in very little speaking time. Brainstorming was introduced as a short warm-up activity that could direct the minds of the students towards the speaking task and maximize their speaking time.

The study was carried out in six classes of 40 students. Each class was split into two groups by student numbers. Both groups were assumed to be at the same level of ability. Odd-numbered students did only the speaking task and acted as a control group. Even-numbered students did a brainstorming warm-up followed by the speaking task.

The type of brainstorming used was word-mapping. In word-mapping, students write one word in the center of the page and link other related words to it. Students did several examples in small groups and groups competed with each other to get the highest number of words. For each brainstorming session, the students were given only two minutes to encourage quick thinking and to reduce the time for worrying about mistakes.

The speaking task was a simple information gap involving the exchange of personal information. The students were given a time-limit of five minutes. Each piece of information exchanged was noted in a box on a worksheet. At the end of the task, the scores were counted. If a box was filled, a student got a point. There was no penalty for incorrect answers.

Since the goal of the task was to maximize student speaking time, a larger amount of information exchanged was assumed to mean a better performance. The score was assumed to be a suitable measure of this performance. Other variables were not considered. Changes in score were assumed to be due to the effect of the brainstorming session. The scores for the test groups and control groups are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

 

All of the test groups performed better than the corresponding control groups and the average speaking time was about 15% longer. The increases in speaking time for the individual groups ranged from 3.8% to as much as 25.3%.

Brainstorming had a strong positive effect on the atmosphere of the classroom and behaviour of the students. The students in the study got involved in the brainstorming immediately. In the warm-up, groups competed and got increasingly higher scores in each consecutive brainstorming. The average number of words written during the brainstorming rose from under 10 words in the first example to over 50 words in the last example. This seemed to indicate an activation of self-initiative.

In the test groups, the game-like activity of the brainstorming carried over into the speaking task. In addition, students had already worked with a partner before the main speaking task which helped to overcome shyness or anxiety. This probably helped the making of intelligent guesses. The students were familiar with the vocabulary in the speaking task because of the organization of knowledge and introduction of contextual cues in the warm-up activity. The whole pace of the task was much faster in the test groups and the students seemed to enjoy it more. Japanese was used very little by the test groups in the course of the task.

In contrast, in the control groups, there was a general fear of making mistakes in the speaking task and many of the students were nervous. In addition, they were not as familiar with the vocabulary and had to be constantly reminded not to use Japanese.

The test-group students seemed to move towards the characteristics of the good learner through the warm-up and speaking task. The brainstorming activity achieved the goal of increasing the student speaking time.

Although, the study covers a narrow area, it shows that an increase in speaking time and a more positive atmosphere are two benefits that brainstorming can bring to speaking tasks. This can be seen as a result of guiding the students towards the characteristics of the good learner.

Brainstorming methods can be changed and adapted to meet the needs of class. As we become more confident with using brainstorming we may want to vary the ways we use it. Here are some variations on brainstorming that we can incorporate into our lessons:

Brainstorming: In addition to using brainstorming with the whole class, in small groups and in pairs, it can also be done or individually, with the results then shared with a partner or the class as a whole.

Brain writing: Each group is provided with a sheet of paper. After they have written one idea, they swap their sheet with another group. This is continued until the papers have passed around the class. This method allows students to build on other students’ ideas.

Pie storm: A circular piece of paper is divided into four or six sectors. Students brainstorm their ideas into these ready-made subsections. This method allows you to indicate to the students how to organise their thoughts into different categories.

Sticky notes: Each student or group of students writes one idea, question or thought on a small piece of paper or sticky note (such as a Post-it note). These small pieces of paper are then stuck on the wall or board. The teacher can move the pieces of paper around to organise the ideas into particular themes, eliminating any repetition.

Brain wave: Groups of students discuss a question or scientific concept. A representative from each group stands up and quickly presents one idea from their group. As they sit down, the next group’s representative stands to quickly present their idea – which must be different what to what went before. This is repeated until the class runs out of, or starts repeating, ideas.

Brainstorming contributes to the generation of creative solutions to a problem. It teaches students to breaks away from old patterns of reasoning to new unexplored paths of thinking. Problem solving has become part and parcel of teaching and learning process. Brainstorming can make group problem-solving a less sterile and a more satisfactory process. It can be used with your class to bring the various students experiences into play. This increases the richness of ideas explored, particularly before reading, listening and writing activities. Brainstorming is fun. That’s why it helps student-student and students-teacher relationships to get stronger as they solve problems in a positive, stress-free environment. We often use mainly 2 types of the brainstorming: individual brainstorming and group brainstorming.

Advantage of individual brainstorming is that students are free and do not worry about other people’s opinions and judgements, and can therefore be more freely creative. For instance, a student who hesitates to bring up an idea in a group brainstorming because he thinks its unworthy, might  be free to explore it in an individual brainstorming and find that it develops into something quite interesting. Students don’t have to wait for others to stop speaking before they contribute their own ideas.

There are however some downturns with individual brainstorming. In a group brainstorming, the experiences of the members of the group help to develop ideas thoroughly. This is something that might be missing in individual brainstorming where only the individuals experience come to play.

Group brainstorming may work in so many effective ways. Brainstorming brings the full experience and creativity of all members of the group to solve a problem. When individual group members get stuck with an idea, another member’s creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. Group brainstorming can therefore develop ideas in more depth than individual brainstorming. Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone involved to feel that they have contributed to the end solution. It reminds one that other people have creative ideas to offer. Brainstorming can be great for team-building and creating harmony within a team.

Nevertheless group brainstorming has some disadvantages. It can be risky for individuals. Valuable but unusual suggestions may appear irrelevant at first sight. That’s why, the teacher needs to be careful not to suppress these ideas. Group problem-solving must not stifle creativity.

 

 

1.3 The theoretical usage of brainstorming in teaching

 

Brainstorming is a group or whole-class technique for generating free-flowing ideas about a topic. It promotes creative thinking, encourages interaction, pools knowledge, and reveals to the teacher what students already know. We should not forget about the purposes of brainstorming. The main purposes of brainstorming are:

• identifying what your students know about a topic;
• establishing any scientific misconceptions they may have;
• drawing together the students’ shared knowledge;
• creating opportunities for students of all ability levels to generate and record their ideas and questions about a particular topic;
• organizing scientific concepts and ideas;
• developing the students’ speaking skills;
• developing acceptance and respect for individual ideas and differences.

Some students may initially be reluctant to speak out in a group setting, but brainstorming should be a relaxed, positive activity that encourages all students of all abilities to participate and express their ideas, while listening to and respecting the contributions of others. There are no right or wrong answers during a brainstorming session and all students should feel safe about contributing whatever comes to mind. Their ideas may be shared verbally, or captured on paper or on the board. These ideas can take the form of words, statements, questions or even drawings. This kind of rules you should suggest to your students.

• Take turns to contribute.
• Look at the person who is talking and listen to what they are saying.
• Value everyone’s ideas, even if you don’t necessarily agree with them.
• Everyone’s ideas should be recorded.
• Stop when the time is up.

Write down the set of rules you have agreed on a large piece of paper and display it on the wall.

As a teacher, your role is to facilitate the brainstorming activity. First, you will need to identify a suitable prompt. Next, you will need to decide whether the brainstorming will take the form of a whole-class or small-group activity. You may also wish to remind the students of the agreed rules at the start. You should then encourage discussion and involvement – which may be voluntary, or gently prompted. It may be necessary to guide the students as they share their ideas. If it is a whole-group activity, you will need to decide whether to record your students’ contributions on the board or not. With a small-group activity, it will be necessary for the ideas to be noted down in order for students to be able to report back to the rest of the class. In this case, you may wish to allocate the role of recording ideas and managing the turn-taking to a particular student. Either than student or another can then share a given number of the ideas with the rest of the class after the time is up.

At the end of the activity, you should do the following:

• Praise your students for their contributions;
• Organise their ideas systematically, summarising the key points and identifying any themes or patterns;
• Ask them what they found useful in the brainstorming activity. What did they learn that they did not know or think of before? What do they want to find out as a result of a brainstorming session?;
• Identify areas to follow up with your students in subsequent lessons.

John R. Hayes recommends following these steps in his book “The Complete Problem Solver.”

“Separate idea generation from evaluation. Start with the idea generation phase, writing down ideas as they occur, without criticism. You should welcome wild or silly ideas, and you should try to combine or improve ideas that were generated earlier. The hard part in this phase is to control your internal editor– the internal voice of criticism which may lead you to ignore an idea that seems too dumb or trivial. Just as with group brainstorming, when you begin to run out of ideas, you can review the list as a source to stimulate further production. When the ideas really have stopped coming, it is time to move on to the evaluation phase. Here you review each idea to select those that seem best for solving the problem.”

As it is said above both group and individual brainstorming can work perfectly well. We think that we, as teachers, should vary the types of brainstorming so that students may fulfill their needs according to their learning style. It is also possible to combine both types by having students carrying out individual brainstorming the results of which can be shared in a group brainstorming.  In the following description we will show how a group brainstorming should be done.

• Prepare the environment for the brainstorming to take place. Arrange the students desks in a manner that helps better students contributions.
• Depending on the level of students you can either write the ideas that come from the session yourself or appoint one student to record them.
• The ideas should be noted in a format that everyone can see and refer to. You may use the board or computers with data projectors.
• Define the problem you want students to solve clearly.
• Be sure that students understand that the objective of the session is to generate as many ideas as possible.
• After stating the problem, give students enough time to think the problem over on their own.
• Ask students to contribute their ideas.
• Make sure that you give all students a fair opportunity to contribute.
• Try to get everyone to contribute and develop ideas, including the quietest members of the class.
• Tell students that they may develop other students’ ideas, or use other ideas to create new ones.
• Tell students that criticism and evaluation of ideas are banned at this stage because criticism is risky and may stifle creativity and cripple the whole brainstorming process. This uncritical attitude among members of the group is of paramount importance.
• Encourage enthusiasm by providing positive feedback to all contributions without exceptions.
• Give free vent to students creativity and imagination. Let people have fun bringing  as many ideas as possible.

In classes brainstorming can be effective in a wide range of areas of instruction.

• Pre-reading 
  Teachers ask questions that are central for the overall comprehension of the text and students try to give as many answers to them as possible. The questions must involve a wide variety of possible answers.
• Pre-listening 
  The same as above. Students come up with as many answers to open-ended questions.
• Pre-writing 
  A topic can be fully brainstormed in an individual or group brainstorming (or a combination of both) to generate a s many ideas as possible. At home students use their notes to prepare an outline and write the first draft to be edited in class.
• Grammar 
  In order for students understand how grammar works they should explore it instead of having the teacher explaining everything. It would be an interesting experience for students to brainstorm how different structures are used, what their meanings are and how they are formed.
• Vocabulary 
  Students are often faced with difficult vocabulary. It is a good idea to teach students how to use a dictionary, but it would be better if students use brainstorming sessions to find the meaning of difficult vocabulary using the context. Again, encourage students to provide their guesses and accept all of them even the wildest ones. Only later with the help of the teacher students try to evaluate them and pick up the most appropriate definitions.

Conventional group problem solving can often be undermined by unhelpful group behavior  . And while it's important to start with a structured, analytical process when solving problems, this can lead a group to develop limited and unimaginative ideas.

By contrast, brainstorming provides a free and open environment that encourages everyone to participate. Quirky ideas are welcomed and built upon, and all participants are encouraged to contribute fully, helping them develop a rich array of creative solutions.

When used during problem solving, brainstorming brings team members' diverse experience into play. It increases the richness of ideas explored, which means that you can often find better solutions to the problems that you face.

It can also help you get buy-in from team members for the solution chosen – after all, they're likely to be more committed to an approach if they were involved in developing it. What's more, because brainstorming is fun, it helps team members bond, as they solve problems in a positive, rewarding environment. While brainstorming can be effective, it's important to approach it with an open mind and a spirit of non-judgment. If you don't do this, people "clam up," the number and quality of ideas plummets, and morale can suffer.

We often get the best results by combining individual and group brainstorming, and by managing the process according to the "rules" below. By doing this, we can get people to focus on the issue without interruption, we maximize the number of ideas that we can generate, and we get that great feeling of team bonding that comes with a well-run brainstorming session.

To run a group brainstorming session effectively, follow these steps:

          Step 1: Prepare the Group

First, set up a comfortable meeting environment   for the session. Make sure that the room is well-lit and that you have the tools, resources, and refreshments that you need.Consider who will attend the meeting. A room full of like-minded people won't generate as many creative ideas as a diverse group, so try to include people from a wide range of disciplines, and include people who have a variety of different thinking styles. When everyone is gathered, appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session. This person shouldn't necessarily be the team manager – it's hard to record and contribute at the same time. Post notes where everyone can see them, such as on flip charts or whiteboards; or use a computer with a data projector. If people aren't used to working together, consider using an appropriate warm-up exercise, or an icebreaker  .

Step 2: Present the Problem

Clearly define the problem that you want to solve, and lay out any criteria that you must meet. Make it clear that that the meeting's objective is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Give people plenty of quiet time at the start of the session to write down as many of their own ideas as they can. Then, ask them to share their ideas, while giving everyone a fair opportunity to contribute.

Step 3: Guide the Discussion

Once everyone has shared their ideas, start a group discussion to develop other people's ideas, and use them to create new ideas. Building on others' ideas is one of the most valuable aspects of group brainstorming.

Encourage everyone to contribute and to develop ideas, including the quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.

As the group facilitator, you should share ideas if you have them, but spend your time and energy supporting your team and guiding the discussion. Stick to one conversation at a time, and refocus the group if people become sidetracked.

Although you're guiding the discussion, remember to let everyone have fun while brainstorming. Welcome creativity, and encourage your team to come up with as many ideas as possible, regardless of whether they're practical or impractical. Use thought experiments such as provocation   or random input   to generate some unexpected ideas.

Don't follow one train of thought for too long. Make sure that you generate a good number of different ideas, and explore individual ideas in detail. If a team member needs to "tune out" to explore an idea alone, allow them the freedom to do this. Also, if the brainstorming session is lengthy, take plenty of breaks so that people can continue to concentrate.

So here are the mainly problems while using brainstorming in teaching:

• Lack of student involvement
• Noise
• Cheating in exams
• The students may not attend the class
• The students may not listen to the teacher
• The students may not do their homeworks or tasks
• The students may come to the class on purpose
• The students do different kinds of things in the class such as sleeping or drawing pictures etc.