Impact of Debate-Style Classroom Training on Teachers’ Skills, Classroom Environment, and Implementation Experiences

This thesis investigates the impact of a debate-style classroom training on teachers' skills, classroom environment, and their experiences in implementing debate activities. The study was conducted at a private school in Qatar, with a sample of 16 teachers teaching grades 1 to 8. The subjects taught by the teachers were Arabic, Social Studies, English, and History.

The study employed a mixed-methods approach, utilizing quantitative data from pre- and post-training assessments and qualitative data from teachers' written assignments and reflections. The findings suggest that the debate training had varying effects on different aspects of teachers' skills. Although the training did not lead to significant improvements in teachers' public speaking and argumentation skills, it had a significant positive impact on their classroom interaction skills. The lack of improvement in public speaking and argumentation skills may be attributed to factors such as the short duration of training, participants' prior experience, and the training modality's emphasis on theoretical aspects rather than practical application. However, the study revealed that the debate training significantly improved the classroom environment, as evidenced by the increase in Classroom Environment Scores and the teachers' successful implementation of debate activities in their classrooms. Teachers were able to adapt and apply the debating skills and techniques learned during the training to various subjects, using specific debate drills and generating contentious debate topics.

The positive impact of the training on the classroom environment aligns with the literature on students' perceptions of debate and its potential to foster a dynamic, inclusive, and intellectually stimulating learning atmosphere. The study also explored teachers' experiences in implementing classroom debates, highlighting the diverse and creative ways in which they incorporated debate activities, challenges they faced, and assessment strategies they employed. Teachers faced challenges such as time management, students' difficulty understanding debate formats and rules, and accommodating students with varying competencies. To address these challenges, teachers employed strategies such as providing constructive feedback, encouraging practice and motivation, and actively moderating debates. In assessing student learning, teachers demonstrated ingenuity and diversity in their approaches, using methods such as evaluating communication skills, peer assessment, rubrics, written assignments, and self-reflections. Initially, this study aimed to employ experimental methods by using control and treatment groups to understand the impact of this debate-style classroom training. However, due to the lack of compliance to the control and treatment conditions, a single group pre-test and post-test quasi experiment was carried out.

Nevertheless, this thesis contributes to the understanding of the impact of debate-style training on teachers' skills and classroom environment, as well as the experiences of teachers in implementing classroom debates in a Qatari private school context. The findings highlight the potential of debate as a versatile teaching tool, and the importance of providing teachers with adequate support and resources to effectively incorporate debate activities into their classrooms. Further research is needed to explore the long-term impact of classroom debates on student learning outcomes and investigate strategies for optimizing the design and implementation of debate-based professional development programs for educators.