Practicum Week :5

Date : 15th September 2022

Topic of Journal : Short Attention Span among Students

1.0 Focused Issue

This week is the fifth week I am teaching at SJKC Chien Chi. One of the problems
that I encountered when teaching English to primary students is that students have
short attention spans. At the beginning of the introduction stage, students were
excited about the lesson and I received active participation from them. As I reached
the mid-practice stage, students started to lose focus. After a while, they began to
move around, chat with their friends, and find ways to get out of the classroom. They
give reasons such as a trip to the bathroom, refilling water, or throwing away trash.
The students had lost their focus and showed no interest in learning. This habit
seems contagious. This is because when one of the students loses focus, it will
interrupt his/her friends, which caused them to lose focus as well. By the end of the
lesson, half of the class had not paid attention to the lesson. One of my challenges is
dealing with students who have short attention spans during my lessons.

2.0 Analysis of the issue (Cause and effect of the problem)

A major cause of this problem is unattractive teaching aids. Today's students

demand engaging teaching materials. Usually, digital media component is
incorporated into lessons where students will be interested in the material. The usage
of textbooks is outdated for them and they find it mundane. Sooner or later, students
will lose their focus and that is the reason why they have short attention spans in the
classroom.

Apart from that, the learning approach that I used is also one of the causes for this
issue. I used a teacher-centered teaching approach for most of my lessons. This
means that I did most of the talking during the one-hour lesson. The students will get
bored and tired of listening to the lessons. As an example, we, as adults, found it
difficult to sit through lectures for an entire afternoon. Not only that but the way I
teach also contributes to this issue. My explanation is not engaging. I can see from
students’ faces that they are bored after listening to my instructions. This is due to my
monotonous speech and lack of enunciation. Thus, students have short attention
spans due to the teacher-centered teaching approach that I used in classrooms.
In addition, my students have short attention spans in my classes since my subject is
not engaging compared to others. It is normal for students to take a variety of
subjects in school as we want to cultivate all-rounders. However, English might not
spark interest among students. The reason for this is that they believe they will not
use it in the future. Therefore, it is not necessary to learn, especially in vernacular
schools where the mother tongue is the first language spoken followed by Malay,
then English. This situation caused the students to not take the subject seriously and
have short attention spans during lessons. An example would be not completing
homework and not paying attention when the teacher is teaching. Therefore, it is the
teachers’ role to emphasize the importance of learning English which will then have a
big positive impact on students in the future.

3.0 Literature Review

Attention, as defined in the study of Cicekci and Sadik (2019), is the state of mental
awareness and focus. Learning is ineffective when attention is inadequate and
inappropriate (Cicekci & Sadik, 2019; June 2005; Rosegard & Wilson, 2013). One of
the struggles that students face during lessons is maintaining their attention to
teachers. However, the overflow of content tires out the students and causes them to
turn their attention toward other things. (May, 2020). As a result, students will lose
their focus on listening to instructions. Bradbury (2016) suggests that if the lesson
were to exceed 15 minutes, the information would not be entirely absorbed by the
students. Similarly, Wankat, (2002) argues that although student attention is high at
the start of a lecture, it has reached a low point after 10-15 minutes. Each of them
agreed on a precise and quantitative time course of 10-15 minutes for students to
pay attention in class.

4.0 Suggestions and ideas to solve the issue

Based on the analysis that I have done on the identified issues, I have come up with
a few suggestions and recommendations that would help to battle my students’ short
attention span in learning. The suggestions and recommendations are as follows:-

(i) Creating memory games for students

(ii) Allowing students to take short breaks
(iii) Having friendly competitions in classrooms
5.0 Duration to solve the issue

One week

6.0 Follow-up action

I will make changes in my lesson by creating memory games for students. Memory
games help students to focus in a fun way so that they are able to concentrate when
something challenging is presented. This is because students will be attracted to the
games planned and show interest during the lessons. In the end, students will have a
longer attention span as they are attracted to the memory games planned by
teachers. Memory games do not have to be complicated. The games red-light-green-
light, I-spy, and Simon Says are suitable for boosting concentration. Memory
matching cards are also effective at increasing attention. Thus, memory games are
one of the ways to increase students' attention span in the classroom.

Apart from that, allowing students to take a short break between lessons is also one
of the effective ways to increase students' attention spans. As we know, students
especially young ones cannot sit still for long hours. Having to listen to a long lecture
for a whole 15 minutes might be tiresome and challenging for them. It is, therefore,
necessary to take short breaks between lessons of approximately three minutes.
During the break, teachers can lead students to do quick stretching activities or a
simple physical game. Using this method, students will get active and energized
again for the upcoming activities that are being planned for them. Students' attention
spans will be increased if they take short breaks between lessons.

In addition, having friendly competition is also one of the ways to increase students'
attention span. Competition is healthy and should be conducted frequently in
classrooms. The reason for this is that competition motivates students because it
challenges them to work harder while getting them more excited about learning.
When the lessons are exciting, students are more likely to pay attention to their
teacher. In the end, students will have longer attention spans due to the competitive
spirit among themselves. The teacher can conduct simple competition games by
dividing students into groups first. Then, simple games such as charades, hot seat,
hangman, and bingo will be played where they have to compete among themselves.
Thus, competition in classrooms will help to increase students' attention span.
7.0 Date of follow-up action

23rd September 2022

8.0 Effectiveness of proposed measures

My actions have proven to be successful. There has been an increase in the

students' attention span throughout the class. Students who were uninterested in the
subject the week before are suddenly the most active in class. The classroom is now
more lively than ever, and the students have performed well in terms of engagement
with the teacher. In short, I am pleased with the outcomes.

9.0 Conclusion

A student's attention span is short. As a result, becoming bored in class can be quite
detrimental. Bored students will likely skip class, pay less attention to the material,
and not complete homework. As a result, sooner or later, these students will lose
interest in learning the subjects. Sadly, teachers need to realize that boredom and a
short attention span among students are probably inevitable. This is, regardless of
the amount of group work, discussion, or any other active learning elements built into
the syllabus. However, teachers can help mitigate the problems of short attention
spans among students. This is done by teaching their students in a way that makes
the class as a whole more interesting, engaging, and relevant.
References

Bradbury, N. A. (2016). Attention span during lectures: 8 seconds, 10 minutes, or

more? Advances in Physiology Education, 40(4), 509–513.
https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00109.2016

Cicekci, M. A., & Sadik, F. (2019). Teachers’ and Students’ Opinions About Students’
Attention Problems During the Lesson. Journal of Education and Learning, 8(6), 15.
https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v8n6p15

May, S. G. (2020). The excess of content and the decreasing attention span in
students Get our Weekly. 1–5.

Rosegard, E., & Wilson, J. (2013). Capturing students ’ attention : An empirical study.
Journal Of The Scholarship Of Teaching & Learning, 13(5), 1–20.

Wankat, PC. (2002). The Effective Efficient Professor: Scholarship and Service.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.