You must be aware of the criticism which is often leveled against lecture as a teaching method - yet most of you must be using this as a   primary mode of teaching. The reasons are simple - lecture is one of the most cost - effective method which can transmit a large amount of information to a large number of students. Given the current situation, there is no doubt that lecture as a teaching method is here to stay for a long time to come.

Problems

Let us give you some guidelines to make best use of lecture as a teaching method. A certain amount of lecturing is inherent in any course, specially to build up basic theoretical knowledge, which must be gained before we can use other interactive methods like tutorials or small group discussions. Lecture, however, is unsuitable for teaching of skills or promoting attitudinal change. It is a one way communication in which students largely remain passive. Unless you are sensitive to your audience, you may not know whether or not students are taking interest in what you are saying. You may have little opportunity to clarify meanings or to handle the wide diversity of abilities and attitudes which the students represent.
You must consider the communication problems before taking your lecture. you must study the nature of your audience, adapting the topic to their interests and understanding. You should organise your material in a manner which is effective and use aids where appropriate. You should also plan for variation in your presentation, including time for questions and discussion, which will reveal how much learning has taken place.

Planning the lecture : Before you plan your lecture, you should try to find answers to the following questions :

Who is your audience ?
What is the purpose of your talk ?
What is the time available ?
What is the subject matter ?

knowledge of the audience will help you to know the baseline level of knowledge on which you will have to build up. It may be helpful to start with a general discussion or ask questions to get opinions. This approach will help you to make last minute adjustments, if necessary.

Making a plan

Knowing the purpose of your talk (e. g. giving general information, giving detailed information, changing attitudes etc.) will make it easy for you to select appropriate material and to decide on the most effective way to present it.

A good lecturer respects the clock by adjusting his lecture to suit the time available. You should appreciate that it is better to have an audience still interested and wanting to know more after a short and fully used period, than to have them tired and uninterested after a long and boring talk. It may be interesting for you to know that the sag period in the interest of the audience occurs after about 20 minutes and hence you should plan your delivery in such a way that the interest is maintained. This can be done by appropriate use of humor, interesting examples, rhetorical questions and audience participation.

Preparation

Subject matter is crucial for a good lecture, for lack of knowledge about it means a sure death for the lecture. It is important to speak from your own knowledge and experiences but at the same time you should keep the needs of the audience in mind. It is a good idea to mark a few basic headings under which you can list ideals. Jot down the material by consulting reference books, texts, previous notes etc. After you have collected the material, categorise it into 'must say',' should say', and 'could say'. What do you want your audience to remember at the end of your lecture ? Put your emphasis on this and narrow down your subject matter accordingly, bearing in mind the time available.

There is plenty of evidence to show that people remember a greater percentage of short talk rather than a longer one. Do a little well, rather than a lot badly. Remember the iceberg. Only a small part of the total mass of information available at your disposal may rise above the surface. But this visible part is as truly supported by the rest as in case of an iceberg.

You should make a special effort to plan the concluding part of your lecture. In addition to giving a brief recapitulation of various points, give some indication of where we go from  here. The quality of your conclusion is more important than what you think.

Practical Tips

• Arrive a few minutes before the scheduled time, giving yourself time to overcome any anxiety you may have. You can also use this time to check and arrange your teaching aids.

• You can speak from your notes but do not put your nose into them. Do not read entire lecture - the students feel more interested in your experiences rather than a literary oration.

• Speak from a posture that is comfortable to you, avoid pacing up and down on the stage like a caged tiger !

• Be poised, courteous and sincere. Careless choice of language or humor may create blocks to communication.

• Establish eye contact with your audience. Looking out of the window or down at the notes blocks communication. Talk to whole class and not just the front row. Do not fix on a particular student or a group of students.

• Any action or gestures should be natural and spontaneous. Mannerism are distracting and should be avoided. Try to avoid learning on the table or putting your hands in your pockets.

• The tone of your voice should be modulated to convey confidence, emotions, emphasis and indignation. Speech should follow the rate of thoughts - don't be afraid of a pause or silence. They can be used to let an idea sink in.

• Use everyday language avoiding slang. Prefer short and familiar words, keeping sentences if the audience is unknown to you.

Before we end this discussion, let us again remind you that rehearsal and practice are the only two things that will make you good at lecturing. Try to use the technique of microteaching and you will really be surprised at the results that you get.