Earning students’ trust may come down to tone of voice

(NewsNation) — In an unruly classroom, it’s easy to imagine the best way for teachers to get students to cooperate is to raise their voices with a strict tone. But research out of the United Kingdom suggests a softer tone may be more effective.

A new study that looked at the impact of tone of voice on kids between the ages of 10 and 16 suggests that the best way to win students’ trust is to speak with a supportive tone. It also showed that harsher tones lowered students’ self-esteem.

Because of the cultural and linguistic similarities between the U.K. and the U.S., the research could have implications for how teachers teach here as well.

The researchers recorded a number of teachers with varying tones of voice and asked interviewees how they would respond in a classroom setting if their teacher sounded like the recordings.

NewsNation interviewed Silke Paulmann, one of the researchers who conducted the study and the head of the Department of Psychology at The University of Essex, about her study and what she found.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

NewsNation: So what did you find when you played these voices for children?

Paulmann: What we found is that if teachers speak with a harsh tone of voice or what we call a controlling-sounding voice, then children anticipate that they would share fewer of their problems with teachers — so their intention to disclose to them is reduced. We showed that their well-being is affected. They feel worse after listening to harsh and controlling-sounding voices.

NewsNation: Are there any downsides to using a softer tone of voice, and would there be any upsides to using a harsher tone of voice?

Paulmann: Not while looking into this specific study, but I have data on brain responses that show that supportive tones of voice aren’t differentiated from neutral tones as quickly as controlling tones are differentiated from neutral tones.

That means that these harsh voices do capture attention. So, there could be an upside in terms of, OK, if I really want to make sure that someone hears what I’m saying, then it might be worthwhile to go down that route. But in our view, it should be used selectively.

NewsNation: Because of the lockdowns in the United Kingdom, you weren’t able to do this experiment in classrooms. How might this apply to real-world scenarios when teachers are in the classrooms and they’re speaking to their pupils?

Paulmann: We’d have to test that in the classroom for me to be sure. But I guess the way that we see these results — the combined bulk of research at this point in time is that we realize that children will build up expectations about their speakers. They’ll realize this is someone who either perhaps constantly uses this harsh voice and they’ll try to find a new teacher to disclose to.

NewsNation: How is it you came to study this topic?

Paulmann: It was inspired by a problem that existed in the teacher training community, where they said we have no evidence whatsoever on what effect tone of voice has on children yet we all feel that there must be a profound effect based on our experience.