partner than they can alone.
Gradually start enlarging group activities by having each pair’s work feed into larger teams
formed by combining pairs. Shy students feel more comfortable when they have a partner to share
the responsibility of their input to the larger group so this dynamic helps them feel safer
contributing to the discussion. They can also benefit from working with the same teams regularly as
this gives them a sense of familiarity and trust where they are more comfortable sharing their ideas.
Build up group size in this way and start exposing shy students to the more outgoing ones as they
gain in confidence [4, 14-18].
Shy students have a high level of intrapersonal skills but a low level of interpersonal skills.
Intrapersonal skills are defined as the ability to hear and analyze your own thoughts, and are
therefore vital to the learning process. Though you can’t actually teach intrapersonal skills, you can
mound and develop them by demonstrating how important they are in making good personal
choices. Good intrapersonal skills are the foundation of good interpersonal skills, so building the
students’ self-belief in this way will help them to participate in a group environment.
Students need to work in a collaborative or social setting in order to develop good
communication skills.
