Essay1

The reason why students are so quiet and passive in class.
Firstly, 100% english lecture seems to be the biggest obstacle. Students, who have been taught english through only the curriculum in Korea, are especially weak at "speaking" in english. So, they are afraid of speaking and expressing their opinion in english during the class.
However, foreign students who are fluent at english are also quiet and passive during the class. From this fact, I can guess that the immature english skill is not the only obstacle for students. The fear that my answer might be wrong is another possible reason why students are so passive in class. Even though students know the answer or want to express their opinion, they are afraid of translating it wrong. 
(Also, there is even a saying that "silence is golden." We have learned keeping silence is a polite manner. This thought leads us to rather to be silence than to say unclear things.)
Students would be more active to express their opinion at one to one situation, and this can be seen often during the break time and after class time. They don't mind to ask questions while they are not the center of attention. They are just not used to be the center of attention, so if a class tries together to make discussion active class, it will take some time, but students will eventually be active during class.  
http://news.donga.com/Main/3/all/20160602/78472342/1

 

+This is my personal opinion. Among five classes that Jong gave us, today's class(06.10) was the best example of encouraging and inducing students' participation during the class. He introduced the flow of thoughts and how to have question step by step for each biological concept. I, personally, could learn a lot from today's class.