Getting adult students to speak more can be challenging. Sometimes, students can answer questions quite confidently, but their responses are short and predictable. You ask a question, they give you a sentence, you ask another question and the cycle continues.
Of course, we want our students to speak, but we also want to help them develop the skills to keep a conversation going, explain their opinions and express themselves more freely. Here are nine techniques I use or come back to when I want to encourage my adult students to say more.
1. Ask questions that are difficult to answer in one sentence
One of the simplest ways to encourage students to speak more is to ask better questions. Instead of asking questions that invite a straightforward yes or no answer, try asking something that requires students to think, consider different perspectives or explain a contradiction.
For example, instead of asking general questions about work, like:
Do you like your job?
Try:
What are the best and worst things about your job?
Why is working from home so convenient but not always a good idea?
Why do people complain about their jobs, but rarely do anything about it?
Questions like these naturally encourage longer answers because students need to explain their thinking rather than simply state a preference. I particularly like questions that bring two contrasting ideas together because they give students more to explore.
If you're looking for more questions like these, have a look at our 50 Questions with a Catch.
2. Teach students how to say more
Sometimes, students don't give longer answers simply because they don't know how to develop them. They have an opinion, but they need a little help turning it into a more detailed response.
I like giving students a simple framework they can refer to whenever they express an opinion. For example, after stating their opinion, they can:
- Explain why they think that.
- Give an example.
- Compare the situation with something else.
- Describe a personal experience.
- Explain why the alternative might not be a good idea.
You can also use this framework to ask follow up questions.
Let's say a student answers: I prefer working from home.
You can encourage them to expand their answer by asking Why?, Can you give me an example?, How is it different from working in an office? or What would be the biggest disadvantage of working from home?
You can also give students this framework as a visual reminder so they can use it independently, without waiting for you to ask follow-up questions.
With lower-level students, I'd go a step further and provide sentence starters, such as
One reason for this is...,
For example,
In my experience...,
Compared with... and
On the other hand....
This gives them the language they need to develop their answers while still allowing them to express their own ideas.
3. Ask follow-up questions and show genuine interest
This might sound obvious, but I think it's worth reminding ourselves that a speaking lesson doesn't always have to feel like a series of questions and answers.
When my students tell me something, I try to react to what they've said and ask questions that I'd naturally ask in a real conversation. If a student tells me they've changed jobs, I might ask what prompted the change, whether they're happier now or what surprised them about the new role.
The important thing is to respond to their actual answers rather than simply moving on to the next question on your list.
I find it helpful to think of myself as a conversation partner rather than a teacher. When students feel that we're genuinely interested in what they have to say, the conversation can become much more natural.
Of course, we still have a teaching role, but we don't need to make every interaction feel like a classroom exercise.
4. Give students prompts to help them continue speaking
Another technique is to give students a specific instruction about what to do after they've answered a question. Rather than asking them to say more in general, give them a small challenge that helps them develop their response.
For example, after answering a question, students have to continue their answer using one of these words or phrases:
But... to introduce a contrast or a problem.
And... to add another idea.
So... to explain a result or consequence.
On the other hand... to consider a different perspective.
Imagine the question is Would you like to live abroad?
A student might say Yes, I'd love to live abroad because I enjoy travelling.
Now ask them to continue using but: But I'd probably miss my family and friends.
Or ask them to use on the other hand: On the other hand, living abroad could be a great opportunity to experience a different culture.
This technique gives students a clear, manageable task and helps them practise connecting ideas instead of producing isolated sentences. You can also turn it into a quick speaking challenge by asking students to draw a card or choose a random prompt to decide how they must continue their answer.
Our Say More set gives you ready-to-use cards to help your students develop their answers in this way.
5. Give them something to disagree with
Sometimes, students need a little provocation to get a conversation going. If we ask about familiar topics and invite them to share their general opinions, we might get perfectly reasonable but rather predictable answers.
Instead, introduce a statement that challenges a common belief or presents a slightly controversial point of view. It doesn't have to be particularly serious. In fact, a little exaggeration can make the discussion more enjoyable.
For example:
Working from home makes people less productive.
Adults don't need hobbies. They need to learn how to relax.
The best holidays are the ones where nothing goes according to plan.
Having too many choices makes life worse.
People who are always busy are often just bad at organising their time.
Ask students whether they agree, disagree or partly agree, then encourage them to explain their position. The aim isn't to start an argument. It's to give students something interesting to react to, question and explore.
6. Stop asking questions when you already know the answer
How was your weekend? How was your holiday? Did you have a good time?
There's nothing wrong with these questions, and sometimes they're a perfectly natural way to start a conversation. However, if we ask them every week, students quickly learn that a short answer is enough.
Good, thanks.
Nice, thank you.
Yes, I did.
And then we're left trying to find another question to keep the conversation going.
Instead, try asking something more specific that invites students to share a detail, a discovery or a personal reaction.
For example:
What surprised you about your last holiday?
What was the most unexpected thing that happened at the weekend?
What did you enjoy more than you thought you would?
Was there anything you would do differently if you could repeat the experience?
What was the highlight of your week, and why?
These questions encourage students to reflect on their experiences and give them a reason to say more. They also make the conversation more interesting for us because we're more likely to hear something we didn't already know.
For more questions that engage a real conversation, try our Conversation Cards.
7. Give students time to think before speaking
This is something I think we can all benefit from remembering: not every silence needs to be filled.
When we ask a question and a student takes a few seconds to respond, it's tempting to jump in with another question, rephrase the original one or offer a possible answer. We want to help, and we don't want the lesson to feel awkward. However, if we always step in immediately, we may be taking away the time students need to organise their thoughts and find the language they want to use.
Try asking a question and then waiting. Give students a little more time than feels natural at first. You can also tell them that they don't have to answer immediately and that it's fine to think for a moment.
For more complex questions, you could give them 30 seconds to make a few notes before they start speaking. This is particularly useful when you're asking students to discuss unfamiliar topics or explain a complicated opinion. They might have plenty to say, but they need time to work out how to say it in English.
8. Make students responsible for keeping the conversation going
If you're always the person asking questions, it's easy for students to become passive participants in a conversation. They answer your questions, but they don't necessarily learn how to take the initiative themselves.
One way to change this is to ask students to interview you. Give them a topic, such as work, hobbies, technology or everyday decisions, and ask them to prepare five questions for you. Their task isn't just to ask those questions, though. They also need to listen to your answers and ask at least one follow-up question each time.
You can model this first by showing them how a good follow-up question works. If you tell them that you've recently taken up a new hobby, for example, they could ask what made you choose it, how difficult it was to get started or whether you'd recommend it to someone else.
You can gradually make the task more challenging by asking students to prepare fewer questions and rely more on their reactions to your answers.
This way, they're practising several important skills at once: asking questions, listening actively, responding naturally and keeping a conversation going without relying on the teacher to do all the work.
9. Let students take the conversation in unexpected directions
Finally, I try to leave some room for conversations to develop naturally rather than feeling that I have to follow every question or activity exactly as planned.
Sometimes, a student says something interesting that leads to an unexpected discussion. Maybe they mention a decision they've recently made, a problem they've had at work or something they've changed their mind about. These moments can be great opportunities for speaking practice.
Instead of immediately returning to the next question on your list, consider following that thread for a little longer. Ask what happened next, why they made that decision or whether they've ever experienced something similar before.
Of course, this doesn't mean every conversation needs to turn into a long discussion. We still have lesson aims, time limits and language to work on. But if students are engaged and using English to express their thoughts, it's worth allowing a little flexibility.
I think this is also where knowing our students well makes a difference. The more we understand their interests, experiences and personalities, the easier it becomes to recognise which comments might lead to a meaningful conversation.
Your task for this week
You don't need to try all nine techniques at once. Choose just one and experiment with it in one of your lessons this week.
Perhaps you'll replace a few predictable questions with more thought-provoking ones, give your students a framework for developing their answers or simply allow a little more silence before jumping in to help. Notice what happens. Do your students give longer answers? Do they ask more questions themselves? Does the conversation feel more natural?
Small changes in the way we approach speaking activities can make a real difference to how much our students say. And the more opportunities we give them to develop their answers, react to others and keep conversations going, the more confident they can become at expressing themselves in English.
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