The Role of Teaching Democratic Culture in Enhancing Structured Classroom Critical Debates

Abstract

Since speech is an inherent part of language and regarding the importance of debates inside classrooms among learners and teachers in teaching, it is important that they get conducted under specific conditions to ensure their healthiness. One of the most important conditions to win a healthy debate is applying democratic culture. This study is a response for a call for clarity about students’ difficulties in debates. The present dissertation attempts to delve in the role of the implementation of democratic values in enhancing structured classroom critical debates. Initially, the scene is set for a reconsideration about culture in general and its omponents. Then, spotting light on democracy to pave the way to the main term of the present dissertation. Thus, it is hypothesized if democratic culture is applied in education, it would promote respectful and inclusive communication, encouraging active participation, and develop important international values and skills such as critical thinking skills. This investigation aims at exploring the debate difficulties of students, and how teaching or applying democratic culture can eliminate them and enhance the classroom debates and fostering critical thinking skills. To verify the suggested hypothesis and to give consistency to the present study, a questionnaire have been submitted to a sample composed of 60 third year students at Mila University and Constantine University, plus an interview was conducted for 7 teachers from the English department at Mila university. The findings indicate that there is a huge lack in debating competences among learners, which prevents them from creating healthy debates inside classrooms. Besides, the results of the analysis confirm and ecommend that teachers’ role is important in guiding during debates on one hand, and in teaching democratic culture on the other hand.