Teaching Quality Pack

TEACHING QUALITY PACK

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In this pack you will find a series of tasks as well as information and comments designed to be usedas a follow-up to the Pre-Service and Online Induction Pack.

The TQP is also a useful document for experienced teachers who wish to recycle concepts or focuson a specific aspect of their classroom practice. The pack will focus on three important aspects ofEFL classroom practice: Elicitation, Monitoring and Error Treatment

Pack Features:This booklet, contains summaries of essential points as regards Elicitation, Monitoring and ErrorTreatment

It is divided into four sections:

• Elicitation................................ Pag. 2

• Monitoring .............................. Pag. 10

• Error Treatment..................... Pag. 18

• Some more practical ideas... Pag. 28

Suggested Procedures:1. Choose the aspect(s) of teaching you would like to focus on more closely.

2. Read the tasks related to the aspect(s) chosen and follow the procedures suggested in thebooklet.

3. Read the comments that follow the tasks. If you want further practical examples or clarificationof any points, you can count on your branch mentor’s or manager’s support.


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ELICITATION

I. What is elicitation?

The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines elicitation as

“techniques or procedures which a teacher uses to get learners to actively produce speech orwriting”.

II. Why is elicitation important?

Eliciting student production is central to the teaching / learning process in two senses:

• a) it’s only when we elicit student production that we can check learning;• b) as the learners are being asked to produce language, they are obviously getting further

opportunities to use / practise the language they know, which is tantamount to saying thatthey’re being helped to recycle /consolidate their knowledge.

Thus, it is useful to think about elicitation in terms of both its “information value” for the teacher(i.e. as a tool for checking learning) and its “language learning / practice value” for the students.

TASK 1

Consider the situations below, in which the teacher can elicit contributions from the learners:

1) Exploitation of a picture during the pre-listening / reading stage of a lesson2) Pre-listening /reading discussion3) Picture-cued drill (i.e. a drill in which the teacher uses pictures, MMClass slides to prompt thelearners to produce the target language)4) Messenger-dictation [* See pg.9 for a description of this activity]5) Concept work done during the presentation of new language

• For each of these situations, consider the questions below and note down your answers.

a) What practice/ learning opportunities will the teacher’s elicitation create for the students?b) What information can the teacher obtain about the students’ learning process from thecontributions elicited?c) What decisions will the elicited language / contributions inform (e.g. about moving on to the nextstage of the lesson, departing from the plan or doing remedial work?)

When you have finished, compare your notes with the comments below and see to what extent theyoverlap.


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Comments:

• Activities 1 and 2 are basically fluency-oriented, and as such provide opportunities for thestudents to use the language they already know. It is important to note that activities like these can(and should) be seen as having two simultaneous aims: i) to establish the context and prepare thelearners for the following listening / reading activity; and ii) to recycle and consolidate languagepreviously taught. Needless to say, both aims will be better achieved if the teacher elicits studentcontributions which are as extended as possible.

The “language learning value” of effective elicitation in situations like the ones described in 1 and2 is obvious: language learning is not linear nor is there any guarantee that learners will learnwhat teachers teach immediately and / or fully. For internalisation to be really likely to take place,it is important that there are recurrent opportunities to practise / use already familiar language orlanguage to which the students have been exposed before. And - although it is the learners’responsibility to do the learning - it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide as many learningopportunities as necessary, as part of her management of the students’ progress. Such phases of thelesson as those described in situations 1 and 2 can be invaluable in providing further learningopportunities if the teacher is aware of their two-fold aims and elicits language effectively. It is alsoimportant to remember that - apart from the opportunity to consolidate language - such activities(if effectively conducted) will encourage peer teaching, i.e. there will also be the opportunity tolearn more from what other students produce.

The “information value” of the elicitation of extended contributions in fluency-oriented work isalso obvious: as the learners make use of their linguistic repertoire to get their messages across,the attentive teacher is being given evidence as to what language they can use comfortably, wherethe gaps to be bridged are, and so on. Needless to say, important pedagogic decisions can be madeon the basis of this information, e.g. what remedial work to do, what feedback to give to whom, andso on.

• Activity 3 is an accuracy-oriented activity, and likely to occur shortly after a new language itemhas been presented. The “language learning value” of this kind of controlled practice activity (i.e.that of providing the opportunity to “notice” and “memorise” the new language) will be enhancedif the teacher plans elicitation in such a way that the language the students produce is natural bothin terms of form and in terms of appropriateness to the context / situation. Thus, they will beestablishing links between form and use that will enable them to use the language practised bothaccurately and appropriately / naturally in real interaction later.

The “information value” of the student contributions elicited in controlled phases of a lesson liesin that they allow the teacher to monitor to what extent the learners are succeeding in achieving theaims defined for each step in their practice. It’s on the basis of this evidence that decisions can bemade about whether it’s possible to move on to the next step, or whether further practice or moreexplanations / models are needed.


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• Activity 4 is an accuracy-oriented activity, too, but more likely to be used to recycle /reviselanguage which has already been presented and practised previously. Its “language learningvalue” lies in the fact that - working collaboratively to write the dictation - the students have theopportunity to help each other “correct” any inaccurate sentences / phrases and - in the process -give each other explanations and examples, which can result in quite a lot of productive peer-teaching. Needless to say, monitoring their work carefully gives the teacher invaluableinformation about what remedial work is needed, and the opportunity to provide feedback and / orclarification while the activity is in progress or immediately after it has been completed.

• Activity 5 is different from the ones above by definition, in that its aim is not to give the learnersopportunities to use or practise language, but to check that they have grasped the concept of alanguage item which has just been presented. Thus, it is likely that the teacher will not beconcerned with eliciting extended contributions from them but will probably be asking “leadingquestions” which will help establish the concept clearly. There is, however, a very clear languagelearning gain for the students, as this concept work will ensure that the practice that ensues is notjust mechanical practice of form but that it will also help to establish and strengthen the linkbetween form and concept / use that will help them function as competent users of the languagelater. In terms of the information with which the students’ responses provide the teacher, it’s clearthat they can show whether or not understanding of the concept has taken place, and that thisinformation can therefore inform decisions as to whether further concept work, examples and / orexplanations are needed before the group can move on to the next step.

The comments above will have made it clear that effective elicitation is a pre-requisite, withoutwhich the teacher would not be able to make important decisions that concern the management ofthe students’ progress, and the learners would be denied the opportunities they need to recycle andincorporate the language they are being (or have been) taught. Eliciting language from thestudents, monitoring how well they’re doing, and taking action on the basis of the informationobtained are at the heart of success-oriented teaching.

The figure below summarises the points seen in this section:

• Why elicit?: • to check learning of what’s being taught (on the basis of whichdecisions can be made about whether or not to move on to the nextstage of the lesson);

• of what’s been taught previously or is presumed to be “known” (todetect the need for remedial work);

• to give students opportunities to use the language they know/are beingtaught;

• to recycle and consolidate their knowledge;• to boost their confidence;• to enlarge their linguistic repertoire.


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III. How can the effectiveness of elicitation be ensured?

Not surprisingly, the effectiveness of elicitation is closely linked to what the teacher says and doesto get the students to actively produce language. (If a “Yes / No question” is asked, for example, wecan only reasonably expect the students to produce “Yes” or “No”...) Let us look at the “casestudies” below to illustrate the point:

TASK 2 Consider the situations below, in which the teacher is trying to elicit contributions from the

learners. For each of the situations, consider the following questions:

a) What would you expect the learners to produce in response to what the teacher says / does?b) What are the relative advantages / disadvantages of the techniques in terms of their “languagelearning value” and their “information value”?

Make notes of your answers as you go along:

1. Teacher 1:- Look at the picture on page 51... OK?- How many people are there in the picture?- What are their names?- What are they doing?- Do they look happy?

2. Teacher 2:- Look at the picture on page 51. I’d like you to describe it... Look... How many people are there?What are they doing? Do you think they’re happy? Why? Tell me all about it!

3. Teacher 3:- (T. opens book) There’s a nice picture here, you know?... (T. looks at class)... Are you curious?Would you like to know what it’s like?... You can ask me questions then... Go on! (T. usesgestures/ prompts to get contributions from the students)... OK... (T. uses gestures to divide theclass into groups)... Group A... Group B... Group A, you can open your books and look at thepicture...You’re going to answer Group B’s questions now... Group B, go on asking questions...find out everything you want to know about the picture... Who wants to start?

Now, compare your notes with the comments below:


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Comments:

• Teacher 1 is probably getting short contributions from the students (e.g. “Two”, “John andMary”, “Dancing”, “Yes”), as a result of asking them questions which it would be unnatural toanswer with more than a short answer. There’s also the fact that it is the teacher that dominates thediscourse and makes all the decisions about how the topic develops. The reason for that is that it isthe teacher that the floor goes back to after each short answer, and it is the teacher that gets to askall the questions. Thus, although the students are being given the chance to use the language theyknow, they are doing so basically in terms of understanding what the teacher says and of exposureto the teacher’s language. But it would not be unfair to say that their active participation is beingminimised, perhaps unnecessarily. As a result, it is perhaps the case that they’re being denied theopportunity to consolidate their knowledge through having to make an effort to retrieve thelanguage they know from memory to express their meanings. As they are probably producing verylittle language, the teacher is also deprived of the information (s)he needs to be able to makedecisions about remedial work that may be needed, and is not in a position to make the notes thatwould allow her / him later to give feedback or clarifications that could be crucial to help thestudents progress.

It could be argued that the teacher could still get more extended contributions from the learners bysimply asking for complete answers to the questions, or by prompting them to make completesentences after they’ve given their short answers. However, neither of these ‘solutions’ succeeds inpromoting interaction which is natural by any real-life standards. (In real life, people simply don’tmake complete sentences to repeat what they’ve just said, nor do they usually give full answers toquestions which require short answers...)

• Teacher 2 is dealing with the same situation in a different way. Having “thrown” a number ofquestions all at one go at the learners, (s)he has given them as much exposure to the language andas much “practice in understanding” as Teacher 1. The crucial difference is that Teacher 2’sstudents will find themselves in a position in which they’ll have to make extended contributionswhen they take their turn (e.g. “There are two people in the picture. Their names are John andMary. They’re dancing...” and so on). Thus, the discourse to develop naturally with plenty of activeparticipation from them, without the teacher having to resort to subterfuges such as asking forcomplete sentences... As a result, there are more opportunities for the learners to use the languagethey are already familiar with, thus consolidating their knowledge more effectively. This isimportant not only from the perspective of their progress, but also from the standpoint of theirmotivation: nothing can be more motivating than the sense of achievement and the boosted self-confidence that ensue from being able to express oneself in the foreign language successfully, evenif not completely accurately (in grammatical or phonological terms). Inasmuch as there is morestudent production, there is also more information available to their teacher about their learningand the help they might need to improve. Thus, any inaccuracies in the learners’ production canlead to helpful remedial work later.


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It must be noted, however, that - for this kind of technique to work to its full potential - certainclassroom routines need to be established. A very important factor is for the teacher to make use ofwait time if the learners are not particularly forthcoming at the beginning; they’ll soon get into thehabit of filling the silence themselves.... (The “extra time” is especially important at lower levels,where the students are likely to take longer to comprehend what has been said and formulate theiranswers, but can lead to better learner contributions even at advanced levels.)

Encouraging gestures, eye-contact, and also visual aids of some sort (e.g. pictures or miming)which can give the learners ideas as to what to say are also important, as is planning teacherlanguage carefully to make sure that we know: i) what the learners can produce, and ii) how wecan get them to produce at their best.

Needless to say, for the learners to feel prepared to take the risks that making extendedcontributions entails, they need to be working in a constructive atmosphere in which errors aretreated naturally and positively and are seen as what they are: a natural part of the learningprocess, which can give rise to a lot of fruitful learning opportunities.

• Teacher 3 has created an information gap by simply asking some of the students to look at thepicture, while others ask them questions. The setting up of the activity has allowed for exposure tothe teacher’s language and for practice in understanding and responding appropriately. As in theexample above, the use of this technique has maximised the opportunities the learners are given touse their linguistic repertoire, and more information will be available to their teacher about theirstrengths and weaknesses than if (s)he had asked all the questions and the students had onlyproduced the answers.

Like in the previous example, for this technique to work well, it is important to bear some points inmind during implementation. The following figure summarises the most central ones:

Points to bear in mind:

• Plan elicitation carefully, bearing in mind what the students already know, and deciding what tosay to elicit it from them in such a way that the resulting interaction is as natural as possible.

• In planning what and how to elicit, remember that - in most cases - it’ll be appropriate to aim toobtain contributions which are as extended as possible.

• When planning elicitation, also consider what visual aids, miming, gestures and body languagemight help the students.

• Remember that wait time is as important as teacher language in eliciting contributions from thelearners.

• Having succeeded in getting the learners to produce language, listen carefully to what they say,and then act on the information you’ve extracted from their production (e.g. by eliciting a morenatural realisation when a student produces halting language, by giving feedback, by treatingerrors or by preparing remedial work).

Remember that a non-judgmental, constructive attitude to errors is an essential component of asuccess-oriented atmosphere. But this is not to say that errors should not be treated. Quite the


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contrary, if treated constructively and at the right time and in the right manner, they’ll give rise tohighly beneficial learning opportunities and the process will enhance the learners’ motivation andboost their confidence.

IV. How can effective cues be given?

It will be clear from what has been said above, and your experience will tell you, that there are anumber of ways in which clear cues can be given and these may include:

• verbal cues: questions / incomplete utterances• visual clues: pictures / miming / blackboard drawings / gestures (used to give the learners ideas

as to what to say)• wait time• gestures used to prompt learners to speak (e.g. a hand movement used to nominate or to

encourage a learner to continue)• gestures used to give feedback on what has been said• “encouraging noises” made by the teacher to show interest in what is being said• body language which signals interest and empathy It is important to note that, whatever cues you decide to use, it is essential that their use should beplanned carefully to ensure that they are suitable (e.g. in terms of Ss’ level) and clear.

It is also important to note that, having elicited contributions from their learners, the three teacherswe have observed monitor their production carefully and then take corrective action as appropriateon the basis of the information they have obtained. It is likely - as a result - that their learners willexperience success.

The text below summarises much of what has been said about elicitation in this pack:

“Elicitation is one means of ensuring students’ active involvement in a lesson. It consistsin trying to encourage them to come out with what they already know (or even half-know) and trying to avoid spoon-feeding them. Used successfully, it can help build upstudents’ confidence in English. It keeps students alert and shows that you value whatthey have to contribute. It can also serve a useful diagnostic function. In some casesstudents may have a passive or half-digested knowledge of the item that you will begoing on to teach, in which case it is a good idea to elicit what they do know and thenwork on it with them as a basis for the next stage in your lesson.

Elicitation involves giving cues. These may be questions, gestures, facial expressions,incomplete words, and so on. There must be proper feedback to guide students towardsthe target expression. There are potential difficulties. Cues must be given clearly, so thatstudents know what you want from them. You must develop quick reactions to deal withwhat may be unexpected responses from the students. Finally, it is useless to continue totry to elicit something that is not yet in your students’ repertoire, once you have


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established that it is unknown to them. In this case it is quite appropriate to revert tostraight language input or information giving.

When doing a listening or reading comprehension task with students, elicitation is aparticularly useful first stage. Before the students hear or read you could give the title orthe topic of the passage - or show a striking visual connected with the topic - andencourage them to say what they know about it, or to give you any of the items ofvocabulary that they think are connected with the topic. This has two major teachingbenefits. First it allows students to share their knowledge with each other - they can pickup or be reminded of vocabulary and other language items through listening to their classmates and not to the teacher alone. Your role is to collect ideas on the board and tocorrect any inaccuracies in what is being shared. The second benefit is that it sets upexpectations in the students’ minds, which will help them when they come to read orlisten to the passage. Coming to a comprehension task with some ideas ready to beconfirmed, or not, by the text itself tends to lead to greater initial success than coming toit completely cold.”

(from Language Teaching and Learning, The British Council 1993: 25)

Note:* A messenger dictation requires a short text which is selected on the basis of its “recycling / consolidation

value” and which is written on slips of paper (one short sentence or phrase per slip). In the classroom,students work in groups. Each member of each group will in turn act as the messenger, who has to go tothe front of the class to read what is written on a slip of paper, and then come back to the group to dictatethe sentence or phrase (s)he has just read. The group has to write the dictation collaboratively (perhapstaking it in turns to actually write each phrase/sentence, with the help of the other members of the group)as quickly and as accurately as possible. The teacher only has to show each messenger a slip of paper,making sure that the sentences are in the right order for each group to be able to reproduce the text.(Having a set of slips per group helps to avoid the problems that might arise if different groups work atdifferent paces.) The group that finishes the dictation first without making mistakes or making only minormistakes) will be the winner.


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MONITORING

I. What is monitoring all about?

Monitoring consists of “keeping your eyes and ears open all the time”, and involves the areas ofchecking learning, checking progress, checking motivation and providing feedback.

TASK 1

Consider the four terms mentioned above and associated with monitoring. What do youunderstand by each one of them? Think about it, and then read some possible definitionssuggested below:

• Checking Learning - strategies used to verify whether the stated objectives of the lesson wereachieved, and gather evidence regarding students’ ability to process and appraise newinformation. (Ur, P. 1996).

• Checking Progress - strategies used to “throw some light on the match-up between teaching

and learning”, in other words, the way the learners act on the input provided throughout a seriesof lessons. (adapted from Wajnryb, R. 1992)

• Checking Motivation - strategies used to verify whether the learners “are likely to synchronise

their roles willingly with the teacher’s roles; and are likely to co-operate with the teacher in thevarious processes involved in the classroom”. (Wright, 1987)

• Feedback - information that is given to the learner about his or her performance of a learning

task, with the objective of improving this performance. (Ur, P. 1996)

Now that you have compared your own interpretation with the suggestions given, try and analysethe relationship you see between the four terms. In terms of classroom procedures, how do thefour interrelate, and how can one lead to the other?

Monitoring students’ participation in order to check their learning and involvement is one of thekey issues related to success orientation.(Induction Pack )


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Comments:By consistently checking students’ level of learning / progress as well as their level of motivation /interest, teachers develop their awareness of the two dimensions of the learning process:• cognitive-linguistic - general level of accuracy and fluency• affective-motivational - general level of interest, willingness to participate in the activities

proposed and interact with the teacher and the other students.

“Keeping their eyes and ears open”, teachers are able to perceive patterns of behaviour in thecourse of their lessons, in other words, they are able to detect whether• a particular student shows the same positive/negative reaction regardless of the activity• the students in general show the same positive/negative reaction in relation to certain kinds of

activities

This careful observation will enable the teacher to reflect on the possible causes of these reactions,and also think of possible ways of solving detected problems or building on positive aspects.

II. The context of monitoring

Monitoring of students’ participation to check their level of achievement and involvement takesplace while classroom activities are in progress. However, the act of monitoring does not occur inisolation, but is part of a more general framework, depending on procedures that took place beforeand leading to procedures that will follow it.This general framework could look like this:

A) Planning long-term planning: awareness of general aim of level. Critically reading lesson plans:

- being aware of lesson aims- being aware of the appropriacy of activities vis-à-vis lesson aims- selecting aids/ resources to be used- identifying / selecting interaction patterns (if necessary).

B) Monitoring of activities in progress: observing and listening in. instructions: clarity, objectivity checking of understanding modelling checking whether students engage in the activity without difficulty observing without interrupting the flow of communication intervening if / when needed encouraging learner independence collecting feedback


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C) Feedback whole group: delayed correction

recycling of language remedial lesson(s) assessment of learning (raising group awareness)

individual: continuous / formative assessment catering for different learning styles assessment of learning (raising individual awareness)

TASK 2 Below you will see three classroom situations involving management problems which render

monitoring difficult or even impossible. Read them, and suggest the possible reasons that lead tothose situations, as well as possible solutions or preventive measures.

Situation 1:The teacher has planned a problem-solving activity for a group of adolescents at pre-intermediatelevel. S/he tells the class to form groups of five. After a confusing period, which lasts longer thananticipated, the students sort themselves out and the teacher starts giving them instructions for theactivity even before they have settled down. Later on the teacher notices that only two groups canactually do the activity.

• What do you think has led to this situation?• What can the teacher now do to enable students to perform the task?• How can he / she avoid a similar situation in the future?

Situation 2:The teacher has planned a reading comprehension lesson, in which a group of young adults have toanswer questions about a text. When checking the exercise, the teacher asks one student at a time toread the answers aloud, and either says “right”, and moves on to the next student, or says “wrong”,and provides the correct answer. By the end of the activity, the students’ level of interest and theirwillingness to participate have dropped considerably.

• What are some of the reasons why students may lose interest during correction of classroomactivities / homework?

• What procedures can be adopted to maintain students’ interest and motivation when checkingexercises?


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Situation 3:After introducing the use of “can” to express ability, a teacher tells 10-year-old children to gettogether in small groups, and gives each group a set of cards with pictures illustrating differentactivities. The students are supposed to discuss which activities they can or cannot do, and later onreport to the whole class. While walking round the class, the teacher notices that students aremerely showing each other the pictures and saying “yes” or “no”, or are talking enthusiasticallyabout the activities - in their mother tongue.

• What do you think has led to this situation?• What can the teacher now do to encourage students to use English in connected streams?• How can s/he avoid a similar situation in the future?

Comments:Situation 1It seems there are two reasons for students’ unsatisfactory production: the teacher did not make useof grouping techniques, which left students to sort themselves out with the consequent noise andpossible use of L1, and the teacher did not make sure he/she had everybody’s attention beforegiving instructions for the activity. It is also possible that the teacher did not check comprehensionof the instructions before the students actually started doing it.

Situation 2The students’ lack of interest during the correction of the task is probably due to lack ofappropriate, meaningful feedback, and the predictable way in which the teacher asked them toanswer the questions. It is also possible that the nature of the questions did not encouragediscussion or expression of opinions, which is in itself a demotivating factor.

Situation 3The students’ inability/resistance to use L2 while doing the task might indicate that they had nothad enough controlled practice of the target item (“can you...?”) before starting the group workactivity. It is also possible that instructions were not very clear, or that the purpose of the task wasnot clear to students. If they had, for example, to fill in a chart/take notes then report to the rest ofthe group, they might be more willing to participate.

To sum up, remember that in order to set up activities that will allow you to monitor students’production, it is important to

• Plan your instructions carefully, gauging your language to the students’ level of ability.

• After giving the instructions, check students’ understanding, by asking them to repeat orrephrase your words.

• Avoid asking questions such as “Do you understand?”, or “Is it clear?” These will, in allprobability, encourage students to say “Yes” - for fear of losing face in front of their peers - andwill not provide you with accurate feedback regarding their understanding.


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• Let students know that while they are working in pairs or groups, they are supposed to rely ontheir own knowledge and strategies to accomplish the task.

• Remember that students’ confidence in doing the task will probably result from a successfulcontrolled practice stage preceding the pair / group activity.

III. Monitoring learning and interest / motivation

In order to monitor students’ learning and their level of interest, motivation and involvement, it isessential to systematically observe their behaviour with a view to identifying recurrent patterns.These behaviours can provide indication of high or low levels of learning and involvement, such as

HIGH LOWLEARNING • accurate, meaningful production of

language• relevant questions or comments

• inaccurate language• questions or comments showing

lack of understanding

MOTIVATION • willing participation in activitiesproposed

• attempt at self- or peer-correction

• reluctance to engage in activitiesproposed

• disruptive behaviour, slouching,yawning, looking at the watch

TASK 3Peer Observation

Select a class in order to do some peer observation and focus on monitoring skills. Observe how the teacher monitors during the lesson (either throughout the lesson or during aspecific stage of the lesson). As you observe the teacher,

1. Notice how the teacher approaches individual students / pairs or groups. 2. List what s/he does to help the learners. 3. Consider how effective her/his attitude is towards students’ production and their involvement in

the task.

4. Does the teacher’s monitoring foster learner motivation and learning in general?


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IV. What effective monitoring involves

“When students are engaged in an activity independent of you, you may need to keep an ear onwhat they are saying or glance at what they are writing. (...) Whether you help or correct willdepend on the task and what effect it will have.”(Gower and Walters, 1983, p.45)

While teaching a lesson, it is important to reflect on these “monitoring moments” with thefollowing questions in mind:• what is being checked at each particular moment - learning or involvement?• what may have caused high / low levels of learning and involvement?• is the monitoring technique chosen the most effective one for that particular moment?

These questions will lead you to consider ways to solve problems or build on the positive aspectsdetected.

TASK 4SPOT THE PROBLEM

Read the descriptions of classroom situations below. Each one depicts an instance of ineffectivemonitoring.

Identify what may have led to each situation.

1. During group work, the teacher approaches a group of learners engaged in a problem-solvingactivity and interrupts them asking in a loud voice if “everything is OK” or if “there is anyproblem”. The students in that particular group, as well as some others, stop talking and look at theteacher with a puzzled expression.

2. During group work, the teacher approaches a group of learners engaged in an oral activity andsits next to them. The moment the teacher sits down, the students interrupt the activity and startasking him/her questions. Some students in other groups also stop the activity in order to listen towhat the teacher is saying.

3. During pair work in a class of teenagers, the teacher walks round the classroom and monitorsstudents’ production. As he/she passes each pair, he/she stops to listen. While the teacher is nearthem, the students speak English. When he/she goes away, they start speaking Portuguese.

4. During pair work in a class of adult learners, the teacher approaches a pair who is engaged in aninformation gap activity and sits next to them. He/she does not say anything, but looks closely atthe students, who interrupt the activity and fall silent. Some other students nearby also stopworking.

5. The teacher sets up a group activity in a class of young teenagers and as soon as it starts joins oneparticular group, sitting next to them and listening in. Some minutes later he/she realises that


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students in other groups seem to be having problems with the activity, as they turn to each other toseek clarification of doubts.

6. The teacher sets up a group activity and when the students start working he/she starts circulating,so as to be available in case one of them wants to ask him/her a question. The teacher helps thestudents who seek assistance, but does not notice whether the others are on task or how well theyare performing it.

Comments:1. The teacher’s attitude is disruptive, as it interferes with the students’ pace of work. They may get

the impression that they are being pressed for time, or that the teacher does not trust theircapacity to work unaided.

2. It seems that “monitoring routines” have not been established with this group, and they tend torely too much on the teacher’s help. As a consequence, the students may try to monopolise theteacher’s attention whenever he/she comes near.

3. In this case students might regard the pair work activity as an opportunity to display knowledgeto the teacher, instead of an opportunity to increase their talking time.

4. Although the teacher is quiet, his/her physical presence makes the students’ self-conscious and isintimidating. Clear “monitoring routines” will make them aware that during pair/group workthe teacher will sit next to some of them in order to listen in. This awareness might minimisetheir embarrassment.

5. The teacher joined one of the groups too soon, without making sure that the other students knewwhat they were supposed to do.

6. The teacher is physically present but his/her eyes and ears are not really “open”. Withoutclosely observing and listening in, the teacher cannot really obtain information upon which totake action.

V. Guidelines for effective monitoring

TASK 5 As a follow-up to the previous activity, and taking into account all the issues discussed in this

printed material, suggest your own guidelines for effective monitoring.

Now read our suggestions:

• Listen in really carefully, don’t just circulate.• Observe, watch out for signals of involvement and interest (or otherwise!)• Make notes, so that you can take action on the basis of the information obtained.

“Monitoring what the students are doing is just as important a skill as teaching.”(Gower and Walters, 1983, p.45)


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• Avoid participation which can be disruptive.• Establish monitoring routines, e.g. encourage students to carry on with their work when you sit

next to them.• Observe whether the students are on task, and progressing as anticipated.• Be aware of your body language (it’s amazing how daunting it can be sometimes!)• Remember to use a “private tone of voice” if you need to talk to a particular student / group.• Avoid allowing one student / group to monopolise your time and attention.

Comments (taken from Gower and Rogers, 1983):Monitoring group / pair work• Once you have set up the activity, stand back and allow a short time for students to get on with

it. This will give you a chance to see which groups / pairs seem to be working satisfactorily, orhaving difficulties.

• Don’t interrupt, unless:- a particular group / pair has misunderstood what it is supposed to be doing (so put it right),- some of the groups / pairs seem to be on the verge of finishing (give them something else to do)- a particular group / pair seems to be a long way behind (provide encouragement)• Spread your attention, so that groups don’t feel cramped by your presence or neglected.• Be easily accessible.• Take notes, on which you can base future action - whole group remedial work or individual

feedback, via face-to-face interaction or notes handed to each student.

Monitoring individual reading or writing tasks• Make sure everyone has enough to do before you go round• Be discreet in your approach• Be encouraging• Make sure everyone has some attention.

Bibliography

Gower, R., Walters, S., 1983. Teaching Practice Handbook, London: HeinemanHarmer, J., 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching, Harlow: LongmanUr, P., 1996. A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge: CUPWright, T., 1987. Roles of Teachers and Learners, Oxford: OUPWajnryb, R., 1992. Classroom Observation Tasks, Cambridge:CUP


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ERROR TREATMENTCorrecting errors that students make when they speak or write is usually considered one of the mostdifficult tasks in language teaching.

I. Dealing with spoken errors

TASK 1 Here are three teachers’ approaches to correcting spoken errors.

Teacher A:

Teacher B:

Teacher C:

Think of yourself as a learner. Which teacher would you prefer? Why? To what extent does your preference as a learner influence your approach to error

correction?

I never let my students make mistakes. If they say anythingwrong, I stop them and make them say it correctly. I don’twant them to learn bad English from each other.

I correct students sometimes, but not all the time. If we’re practising oneparticular language point, then I insist that they say it correctly. But ifwe’re doing a freer activity then I try not to correct too much. If I docorrect students, I try to do it in an encouraging way.

I try to correct errors as little as possible. I want my students toexpress themselves in English without worrying too much aboutmaking mistakes. Sometimes I notice points that everyone getswrong, and deal with them later - but I never interrupt students tocorrect them.


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Comments:Some teachers are often afraid of their students making errors. Like teacher A, they feel thatstudents might 'learn their mistakes', and so they must make sure that everything they say is correct.This idea derives from views of language learning which were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s_ the behaviourist theory; it was believed that language was learnt by repetition of correct formsuntil they became automatic, and so repeating incorrect forms would be harmful.

It is now widely agreed that language is not learnt in this way; rather it is a system of rules that thelearner has to acquire, and that 'trying out' language and making errors are a natural andunavoidable part of this process. Students' errors are a useful way of showing what they have andhave not learnt. So instead of seeing errors negatively, we should see them as evidence of thestudent's creative efforts to build a new linguistic structure. Obviously, when we try to preventstudents from making errors we are, in fact, missing an opportunity to analyse the cause of theseerrors and apply the knowledge gained from this analysis to the teaching process.

Most teachers would agree (like teacher B) that we need to correct some errors, to help studentslearn the correct forms of the language. Most students would also expect this _ there is a danger inteacher C's class that students might feel that they were 'not being taught properly'. But this doesnot mean that we have to correct students all the time _ if we do, it might make them unwilling orunable to say anything at all.(adapted from Doff, A. Teach English.)

II. Risks and chances

TASK 2 Think about these two learners. Comment on their possible attitude towards errors.

Imagine a teacher asking a class:Teacher: Who knows someone who is a mechanic?Eduardo: Aaah (Sei lá como se diz cunhado)... my friend is a mechanic.Teacher: Ok, can you tell us the names of any of the tools your friend uses?

Teacher: Who knows someone who is an engineer?Márcia: *The man who married with my sister is an engineer.Teacher: Oh, your brother-in-law is an engineer.Márcia: Yes, my brother-in-law is an engineer.


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Comments:Eduardo is the kind of learner who doesn't like taking risks. He is careful not to say anything unlesshe knows it is correct. Unlike Márcia, he would rather sacrifice meaning than make a mistake. Indoing so, he wastes opportunities to experiment with the language and learn how best to say whathe really wants to say.

But where does this attitude come from? Partly, it depends on the learner: some people like to takechances and some don't. But to a very large extent, it depends on the teacher. If the teacher wantsaccuracy above all things and never minds what ideas the students express, then that teacher willget attempts at accuracy: no mistakes and no learning steps.

TASK 3 Comment on these teachers' reaction to their students' contributions:

Teacher A: Has anyone ever seen a volcano? Ah, you have Tlapie. Can you tell us somethingabout it?

Tlapie: It was very big.Teacher A: Right. Anyone else? Yes, Kyoko?Kyoko: Yes, have see volcano. I’ was las’ year. I vis’ aunt near coast. There was -_ don

know how you call in Enrish _ tsunami, very big wave. There is big volcanounder sea. Make very big seas. Ver’ excitin’.

Teacher A: Goodness me! I wish I'd seen that! Thank you, Kyoko.

Teacher B: Why are you so late?Student: I’m sorry, my mother is take to hospital.Teacher B: No, not “is take”, she “has been taken” to hospital.

Teacher B: Why are you so late?Student: I’m sorry, my mother has been taken to hospital.Teacher B: Good!

(taken from Edge, J. Mistakes and Correction)

Comments:Teacher A is attentive to the content and shows Kyoko (and the other students in her group) that sheis interested in what they have to say by responding to her in a natural, communicative way.Teacher B (an obvious exaggeration for the sake of exemplification) reacts to the form of what thestudents say instead of to the content.It is important that we encourage answers like Kyoko's. Learners need the experience of beinglistened to as people with things to say.


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III. Why are learners' errors significant?

Learners' errors provide information about the stage they have reached in their language learningprocess, and about how far they still have to go. Errors provide feedback. They provide feedbacknot only for the teacher, but, far more important, they provide feedback for the learner himself.

Errors provide feedback for the teacher as to what students have been able to learn, what still needsto be learnt and if a different approach or different materials need to be used.

Errors provide feedback for the learner as to where he is and what he still needs to know: he findsout whether his hypotheses about the language are right or need to be reviewed.

The implications of the significance of errors are that learners must be allowed, not to sayencouraged, to take risks. They must know that risk taking is important in the learning process andthat they are not always expected to play it safe. It also means that their mistakes should, at somestage, be corrected, though this will not necessarily happen immediately.

IV. Students’ reaction to correction

You may have noticed that some students prefer to be corrected later in the lesson in order to getexplanations and understand the nature of the mistake. They probably do not like to be interruptedwhen they are trying to communicate or feel embarrassed, like many students do. Other studentslike to be corrected on the spot - it is an indication that the teacher is paying attention and helping.It is important that teachers find out their students’ preferences in relation to error treatment and dotheir best to encourage a positive attitude towards error correction. This can be done if the teachertalks to students about correction at the beginning of the term, shows them the importance of takingrisks in the process (and, consequently, of making mistakes) and shows them that even nativespeakers (and teachers!) make mistakes. It is also essential that, whenever an error is corrected, theteacher shows a non-judgmental attitude by treating it in as natural a manner as possible. Theteacher can also minimise mistakes in the classroom by giving clear instructions, by balancing easyand difficult tasks and by providing enough controlled practice before students attempt to use thelanguage more freely.

V. Types of errors

Besides treating errors differently according to students’ preferences, teachers should also considerthe types of mistake made in order to deal with them in the most effective way.The areas of language affected by mistakes may be:

• pronunciation (sound, sequences of sounds, stress, linking, rhythm, intonation);

• grammar (word form, word order, right elements but wrong construction);


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• lexis (word choice);

• appropriacy.

TASK 4 Look at a few common errors and try to identify the types of mistakes.

STUDENT ERROR TYPE1. Why you are crying?2. No one doesn’t know the author.3. I’m here for two weeks. I’m leaving tonight.4. Please, remember me of the document we have to

send.5. (at a snackbar) Would you be so kind as to give me a

hamburger, please?6. I’m staying in a big hotel. /hótl/7. You are coming for supper, aren’t YOU?

Comments:1 - This is a grammatical mistake involving word order in the interrogative form;2 - Another grammatical mistake: a double negative;3 - Another grammatical mistake: this time, in the choice of the verb form to express the intended

meaning;4 - A lexical mistake: the wrong word was chosen;5 - This is a problem of style: the form used is too formal for the context;6 - A pronunciation mistake: wrong word stress;7 - Another pronunciation mistake: this time, in sentence stress (intonation).

VI. What to do

Having identified a mistake the teacher has to decide what to do. There are three ways in which theteacher may respond to spoken errors:• do nothing;• correct it immediately;• store it away for later.


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TASK 5

Look at the following comment made by a teacher and see to what extent you agree withhim/her:

My policy for correcting depends more on the stage of the lesson than on the nature ofthe mistake. If it’s a language input lesson, I think I correct all the problems that thestudents have with the target language with great attention, sometimes it may be just aslip of the tongue or it may be that perhaps the language hasn’t been presentedproperly, but at that stage of controlled practice I do correct a lot. But except whendrilling a model sentence I would not at that stage correct other things which are notdirectly related to the target language.

(taken from Bowen & Marks. Inside Teaching.)

Now, in the following table, write down situations in which you would choose to tolerate themistake, correct it on the spot or deal with it later in the lesson.

do nothing correct it on the spot correct it later

Comments:You probably remembered a time when you decided not to correct a student’s mistake becausestudents hadn’t learned the form yet or because students were engaged in a communicative activityat the freer practice or production stage and the error did not hinder communication. You mightalso have decided to tolerate the mistake because that was not your teaching focus in the lesson oreven because the student was too shy and was struggling to use the language. Language used inclass for social interaction, like talking about the weekend at the beginning of a lesson, may alsoinvolve no correction at all.

Teachers usually decide to correct mistakes on the spot when the wrong form produced is theirteaching focus at the presentation or controlled practice stage. They might also choose this attitudeif the mistake affects intelligibility or if the learner likes being corrected, but, in this case, theteacher should avoid interrupting the student too often. Learners who are very young may alsobenefit from immediate correction more than from later treatment as they tend to concentrate onmeaning and not to remember the forms used.


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The third option, delayed correction, may be a good choice when the mistake was made duringfluency work, does not affect comprehension but deserves further practice or explanation.Recurrent mistakes (made by the same or by various students) would be included in this group.One of the teacher’s hardest tasks in the classroom is to make a quick decision every time a mistakeis made by a student. As mentioned in the comments above, in order to decide how to treat an errorthe teacher needs to balance factors such as:

• intelligibility,• centrality to the teaching focus,• type of activity,• stage of the lesson,• type of mistake,• the learners’ level, age, preferences and needs,• the frequency of the mistake.

Unfortunately, there is no mathematical formula to combine these factors, but if teachers are awareof them, decisions are more likely to lead to positive results.

VII. Indicating and correcting spoken errors

Apart from deciding whether to correct a mistake or not and when to do it, the teacher also has todecide how to do it. There is a number of techniques the teacher may use both to indicate that amistake has been made and to make the correction itself. As far as correction is concerned, theteacher may decide to provide the correct form himself or to encourage self- or peer- correction.

You may have noticed that some teachers provide the correct forms themselves. They reformulatewhat students say and ask for repetition of the correct form. With this choral repetition moststudents feel at ease and are able to produce the right language.

Teachers may also encourage self- or peer-correction. The teacher may indicate that a mistake hasbeen made by using gestures (the finger technique) or by verbalising his/her rejection of theform produced by the student ("uh, uh", "no a"). A good technique is to ask for clarification usingwords such as "sorry?" or "pardon?" or to echo what students say with a rising intonation("husband?", "is?") and, once again, encourage peer- or self-correction.

An alternative option is to ask a question ("where’s the stress?"), or show examples by pointing tovisuals or to rules that have been explained before. Once again, the idea is to attempt to havestudents produce the right forms themselves.

Some teachers use humour to indicate the mistakes. However, teachers should be careful andconsider possible reactions by students. It is essential that a friendly atmosphere is built betweenteacher and students and that individual personalities are taken into consideration.


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TASK 6 Ask to observe a colleague’s lesson and focus on the following:

1. the ways in which the teacher indicates to student(s) that there is an error of some kind in theirutterance,

2. the technique(s) used to correct the mistakes and3. the students’ reaction. By student reaction we mean you should notice whether the student was

able to understand the correction and produce the right form, and if he felt comfortable (notembarrassed) with the correction.

Use the table below to register your observation.

INDICATION CORRECTION STS´ REACTION

VIII. What to do with recurrent mistakes

The fact that students have been exposed to language and teachers have provided explanations andpractice does not guarantee that students will not make mistakes. It takes them some time, a lot ofexposure and practice to internalise correct forms and to be able to produce them. Even when theyconsciously know the rule, they continue making mistakes when producing language. It isimportant that teachers monitor students’ production and recycle language as often as possible.Clearer presentations may be offered, further practice may be provided and remedial and self-accesswork may be suggested.


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IX. Delayed correction

Depending on the stage of the lesson, or the aim of the activity, this assessment can take the form ofon-the-spot correction or delayed feedback. Delayed feedback takes place after students have beeninvolved in a communicative activity, and the teacher brings to their attention the errors they havemade, commenting on how well they have performed linguistically.

In order to record the errors and organise feedback, the teacher can make use of pen and paper -listening in and writing down the errors that are made while the activity is in progress. When theactivity is over, the teacher can

• encourage the whole group to discuss the most prominent or serious errors from the list,

• ask pairs of students to identify the errors and correct them,

• give small cards to individual students, detailing the errors they made and suggesting remedialwork.

As regards error correction, “the basic principle is that students learn more effectively if they areguided in such a way that they eventually correct themselves rather than if they are given thecorrect version of something straight away (Gower and Walters, 1983)”.

Teachers may:• allow the students to produce utterances, and experiment with the language, without interrupting

the flow of communication;• take notes while the activity is in progress, in order to show to students, later on, that some

utterances were not accurate;• isolate the parts of the utterances that were wrong, and indicate precisely what kinds of errors

were made;• try to involve all the students in the correction process, so that individual students don’t think

they are being picked on.

X. Dealing with written errors

Dealing with written errors also implies the teacher has to balance several factors and makedecisions. Different techniques may also be used depending on the kind of written work, on its

purpose, on the teaching focus, on the students’ level and on the teacher’s aim when givingfeedback.

Clearly a major part of the teacher’s job is to assess the students’ work, to see how well theyare performing or how well they performed.

(Harmer, J., The Practice of English Language Teaching, p.237)


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TASK 7 Select a piece of writing developed by one of your students. Correct the written piece of work

and then analyse your correction with your Branch Mentor, explaining the rationale behind themarking process.

When marking written work, teachers should:

• encourage self- or peer-correction as much as possible (e.g. use of a code)• use some minutes of class time for correction• be selective about mistakes (e.g. the most serious ones or mistakes in verb tense choice)• make correction look neat and not aggressive• respond to content as a reader, not only as an assessor• point out positive aspects of students’ work• offer suggestions of ways to improve

Bibliography:Bowen, T. & Marks, J. Inside Teaching. Oxford, Heinemann, 1994.Doff, A. Teach English. Cambridge, CUP, 1988Edge, J. Mistakes and Correction. London, Longman, 1989.Hubbard, P, Jones, H, Thornton, B, & Wheeler, R. A Training Course for TEFL. Hong Kong,

OUP, 1983Teaching and Learning in Focus - Volume 6. The British Council, 1984.


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SOME MORE PRACTICAL IDEAS

Apart from the ideas given in the body of this pack, here are some more that you might want to try:

More ideas for elicitation

• If you want to elicit a series of contributions from different students (e.g. when doing acollaborative oral narrative or an association game) without intervening to nominate, you coulduse some sort of “hot potato” (e.g. a soft ball or a fluffy toy). When a student finishes what hehas / wants to say, (s)he throws the “hot potato” to another student, who then has to take the turnto speak. (N.B. – This type of stimulus will not work well with restless students.)

• If you want to elicit plenty of contributions from the students during the pre-listening/readingstage of a lesson, you could write some words / phrases taken from the text on the blackboard inrandom order, and then get the students, in groups, to try to reconstruct the contents of the text.If the words chosen are slightly ambiguous, different predictions will be generated and interestwill be enhanced when the class listen to / read the text to check their predictions.

• An alternative to the activity above is to write quotes from the text on the board and, again ingroups, ask the students to speculate about who could have said that to whom, and why. Again,they will predict a context for the utterances, and more interest will be generated if the quotesalso have a degree of ambiguity.

More ideas for monitoring of classroom activities: establishing monitoring routines

• If your students tend to stop their pair/group work when you approach to monitor, you could saysomething like “ Don’t let me interrupt you, I’m just listening”, or “Carry on, I’m just listening”.

• If your students look at you as if they were about to ask you questions, gently gesture to them togo back to their work, and at the same time (while still smiling) look at your notepad and go onmaking notes.

More ideas for treating spoken errors:

• If you want to indicate that a mistake has been made, roughly in the same way as you would ifyou were using the “finger technique”, you could use cuisenaire rods instead of your fingers.When giving a model, place the rods (different colours, different sizes) where the students cansee them, leading them to associate each rod with a word. When a mistake is made, point to therod that stands for the word that contains the error or has been left out.

• If you want to “personalise” the feedback on language you give after a fluency-oriented activity,use a sheet of paper per group to note down mistakes while you monitor the activity. Havingtaken meaning-oriented feedback and praised the groups for accomplishing their task, give eachgroup their feedback and ask them to correct the mistakes made (which are now ‘anonymous’).


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Monitor this activity, too, and give help / further explanations if necessary, to ensure successfulcorrection. (NB: the groups can be asked to produce “posters” with the corrections, to share theresult of their work with the rest of the class, and this can be left on the notice-board for sometime.)

• A variation on the activity above is to ask the students themselves to note down anything theythink is a mistake (or anything they wanted to say but didn’t know the word in English for) whilethey’re doing their fluency-oriented task. After the activity, they can add their notes to theteacher’s and request the group to clear up their doubts.

• If you want to encourage peer-correction / peer-help but think the students might feelembarrassed if you asked another student to correct what they can’t produce accurately, youcould establish a routine whereby they themselves say “Help” or “Pass” when they are in doubtabout something, or when you have indicated a mistake which they feel they can’t correct.

More ideas for correcting written errors

• If you want to indicate where mistakes have been made and what kind of errors they are withoutusing a code such as SP= spelling, WO= word order, etc, you could circle or underline differentkinds of mistakes using different colours. Having done that, you could ask the students to workin pairs or in groups to correct the mistakes that have been indicated in their assignments.

• If you feel your students need personalised help to be able to overcome their difficulties, youcould write a number next to their error and write comments at the end of the work (positivecomments, rules, explanations, questions for clarification, etc.).

• If you want the whole class to work together on correcting common errors, you could write aselection of these, taken from a recent writing task on the board or on a transparency, and dowhole-group correction.

• A variation on the idea above is to divide the class in groups, write sentences with mistakes onthe board and have a competition in class. (The teacher calls out a sentence and a group correctsthe mistake to score points.)

• If you want to make sure that a neat copy is produced after the errors have been corrected, youcould place the inaccurate sentences on the board under a heading that reads “Don’t”, then getthe students to write the correct sentences down on slips of paper which they would then stick upon the board to build up a new column under the heading “Do”.

The above are only some of the good practical ideas that abound in each branch. Most of thosedescribed above have been contributed by branch staff, whom we would like to take the opportunityto thank warmly once more. Perhaps you would now like to get together and add to the list?

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