This study is an attempt to gain insight into the verbal participation behaviour of firstrnyear students at Addis Ababa University, as they take part in group discussion inrnCollege English classes. The main aims are to investigate the extent to which studentsrndiffer in terms of verbal participation in group discussion, to explore the factors thatrnaccount for the differences, students' perceptions of low and high participators, andrnwhether students change their participation behaviour (increasing or decreasing inrnparticipation) and, if so the factors responsible for the change. Thus a longitudinalrndimension has been used in which students' views and behaviours are seenrndevelopmentally.rnThe main subjects of the study were 35 first year students at AAU Also 108 studentsrntook part in filling in a questionnaire. Data on verbal participation in group discussionrnwere gathered by means of audio and video recordings and different types ofrnquestionnaires (self-ratings, group member ratings, classmate ratings, and instructor'srnratings). Based on their participation level 18 students were selected for in-depthrnindividual and focus group interviews.rnAnalysis of the data indicated that there was a huge difference among students in termsrnof their verbal participation in group discussion: some were extremely silent (17.1 %),rnand others were very high participators (17. 1%), some times to the point of almostrnIVrntotally dominating other group members. Then students' (especially the silents' and therntalkers') views of the factors that accounted for the difference in participation wererndiscussed. It was also found out that by the end of the academic year or in the secondrnsemester some high participators became silent; and some very silent students becamernactive participants. Students' perceptions of the silents and the talkers has also beenrnpresented and discussed.rnThe thesis concludes by considering the implications of the findings for increased orrnmore equitable verbal participation among students in group discussion and the needrnfor research into internal and external variables affecting participation.