Holding a discussion
In class or in exams you will often be asked to discuss an issue. One of your goals in this context is to keep the discussion going and to respond to what others say. For example, the examination grid for B1 oral exams in Bavaria has one criterion called “Gesprächsfähigkeit/Strategie” with the following description:
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flexible and spontaneous interaction with interlocutors1, if necessary using appropriate strategies skilfully (= flexible, auch spontane Interaktion mit den Gesprächspartnern, ggf. unter geschickter Verwendung geeigneter Strategien)
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successful reponse to the interlocutors’ contributions (= gelungenes Eingehen auf die Beiträge der Gesprächspartner)
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fluent contributions (= flüssige Äußerungen)
Playing the devil’s advocate
Keeping a discussion going may be more difficult if everyone who takes part in the discussion is of the same opinion. One strategy in this case is to play the devil’s advocate. To quote the Collins Dictionary, to play the devil’s advocate means to “express an opinion which you may not agree with but which is very different from what other people have been saying, in order to make the argument more interesting.”
If you want you can openly tell the others about your strategy. For example, you could say: “Let me play the devil’s advocate. People who disagree with what you just said might reply to you XYZ. What would your response be?” This may help you if the opinion you will present is unpopular.
Asking questions
True discussions should be an exchange of ideas and opinions. The last thing you will want to do in this context is to hold a monologue. Instead you should at some point in the discussion ask the others questions.
If you want to give another person the opportunity to voice their opinion, ask open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are questions which require more than a simple yes or no answer. They typically start with the question word how, why or what.
You may want to ask other people about their views on a topic:
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What are your thoughts on XYZ? What do you think of XYZ?
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What’s your opinion on XYZ? In your opinion, what/why …?
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How do you feel about XYZ?
Or you may want to ask them about solutions to a problem:
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How would you go about XYZ?
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What examples can you think of XYZ?
Reacting to other points
In a true discussion (as opposed to a series of monologues), people react to each other. To be able to react to the other people in the discussion you have to first listen, and then, when you speak, try to reference what others have said.
The simplest way of doing so is to agree or disagree:
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I (completely) agree (with you on XYZ).
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That’s a good point.
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I couldn’t agree more (with you on XYZ).
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Yeah, but …
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I’m not sure I agree with you on …
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I’m sorry but I do
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I’m afraid I disagree …
You can then continue to support or refute2 the other person’s argument while (repeatedly) referring back to what they said.
If you only want to partially agree or disagree, you can use one of the following phrases.
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I’m not sure about that.
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It’s (only) partly true that …
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It is not as simple as it seems.
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I see what you mean, but … / I see your point, but …
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I agree with you in part / to some extent, but …
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On the whole, I agree with you, but …
If you only partially agree, you will have to explain to what extent you are of the same opinion and to what extent you see things differently.
Bonus tip: Give concrete examples
This is not necessarily a discussion strategy but a basic part of every argument: For every argument you make, try to give concrete and detailed examples.
I decided to include it in this post because concrete examples give other people in the discussion more opportunities to react. They can ask you questions about your example, add a different example of their own to support your argument, or use your example to refute your argument.
Exercise
With one or two peers, pick one of the following prompts to discuss. Pick 5 phrases from this post, which you want to use in the discussion and copy them to a prompt card. Then set a timer and try to keep the discussion going until the alarm sounds.
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We should introduce school uniforms at our school.
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Smart phones should be allowed at school at all times.
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We should all become vegetarians.
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“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.” - Gore Vidal
Sources
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/de/worterbuch/englisch/devils-advocate
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/how-to-express-your-opinions-in-english/4755937.html
https://www.eslbuzz.com/how-to-express-agreement-partial-agreement-or-disagreement-in-english/