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Paul Emmerson ROLO: REFORMULATE OUTPUT LIGHTLY BUT OFTEN

ROLO: Reformulate Output Lightly but Often (slideshow version)

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Paul

Emmerson

ROLO:

REFORMULATE OUTPUT

LIGHTLY BUT OFTEN

Reformulate is the key teaching technique in the language

feedback part of an Output Language focus lesson. It

means starting with what the students said and then helping

them to say it better.

Output means the students’ own words . (The recently coined

term ‘emergent language’ has the same meaning).

Lightly refers to moving on quickly to a new item in a

feedback slot, rather than the ‘heavy’ present -practice of just

one language item over a major part of the lesson .

Often refers to two things: 1) the fact that the teacher should

do feedback slots often, and 2) the fact that particular or

troublesome language items should be returned to often, as

recycling.

RO LO : D I AG NO S T I C L ANG UAG E F EED BAC K

Let’s begin with twelve practical examples taken from a real - l ife

lesson of mine, and then af terwards reflect.

While the students were speaking I made notes on phrases they used:

some good language, some language that needed improving, and

some phrases that of fered a chance to develop their language.

At the end I went to the whiteboard and gave feedback.

Let’s begin with twelve practical examples taken from a real - l ife

lesson of mine, and then af terwards reflect.

While the students were speaking I made notes on phrases they used:

some good language, some language that needed improving, and

some phrases that of fered a chance to develop their language.

At the end I went to the whiteboard and gave feedback.

At the top of each of the following slides you will see the words I

wrote on the board. Below that is a commentary that describes what I

actually did in class af ter writing up these words.

I said ‘I am living in Frankfurt ’ with a questioning tone in my

voice, and one student tentatively offered ‘ I have lived ’ . I

didn’t make any comment, but said to the group: ‘Is it a

temporary activity in progress right now, or is it looking back

at your life up to now?’ They said that it was the second one,

and I said ‘yes, good ’ and wrote up ‘ I have lived ’ .

Then I pointed to ‘since’. I said: ‘ Is it a point in time or a

period of time? ’ . After a short pause several students called

out ‘for’ and I wrote up the correct form and moved on.

I AM L I V I NG I N F R ANK F URT S I NC E T WO Y EAR S

I put a large tick on the board before this phrase, and

congratulated by name the student who said it. I said that it

was an excellent phrase, typical of business English.

I drew a very quick sketch of a ladder and mimed taking a

step, just in case there was anyone who didn’t understand.

I T ’ S A S TEP O N TH E CAR EER L AD D ER

After five seconds’ silence I said: There is nothing really

wrong with this, but there’s a much better, more businessy

word for ‘the important things of the product’.

Then I gave another five seconds’ silence. No -one volunteered

anything, so I crossed out ‘important things’ and wrote up the

first letter ‘f’. Still no -one volunteered so I wrote up ‘ fea ’ . Still

no-one volunteered so I wrote up ‘features’ and moved on.

I made a mental note that if time permitted at the end of the

feedback slot I might return to the question of features vs

benefits (a typical discussion point of interest to marketers).

TH E SAL ES PEO PL E H AVE TO TAL K ABO UT TH E I M PO RTANT TH I NG S

O F TH E PRO D UC T TH AT TH E C US TO M ER S WANT

I put a large tick on the board before this phrase, and

congratulated by name the student who said it. I said that it

was an excellent phrase for balancing two contrasting

arguments.

I then said: ‘Another good phrase for balancing two dif ferent

arguments is In general … although …’ and I wrote this up.

I asked one student by name to think of an example sentence

using the first phrase, with a context of talking about their

typical customers. They gave an example.

Then I asked another student for an example using the second

phrase. They gave one and I moved on.

O N TH E O NE H AND . . . , BUT O N TH E OTH ER H AND …

I said that there was nothing wrong with this phrase, but there

was another, more specific verb for ‘empty’ in this context.

Several students called out ‘unload’ and I wrote it up.

The student who said the phrase worked in the logistics area,

so I asked him what other verbs he uses with ‘containers’. He

suggested load/ship/fill/store/transport , all of which I wrote

to the left of a vertical line with ‘containers’ on the right of

the line.

He then said: ‘Oh yes, send them back empty – because they

arrive in Germany full but there aren’t enough products to

send back to China . ’ I added ‘send back ’ to the list and made

a mental note to ask him to talk more about this interesting

discussion point after the break.

W E EM PT Y TH E C O NTAI NER S AT O UR D I S TR I BUT I O N C ENTR E

No-one could suggest anything here, so I said: ‘There is one

word missing ’ .

Still no-one suggested anything so I wrote in ‘as’ before ‘good’

in the phrase. Then underneath, in another colour, I wrote up:

(not) as … as …

I asked students to think of sentences comparing their own

company with a competitor, using this form. After hearing a

few with dif ferent adjectives in the middle I moved on.

W E CAN’ T D O I T G O O D AS TH AT EVERY T I M E

After five seconds I pointed to the word ‘hierarchy’ and looked

around the room. One student said: ‘hierarchy, it’s wrong ’ . I

said: ‘Yes, it should be hierarchic …? ’ and several said

‘hierarchical’. I said: ‘yes, hierarchical , it’s the adjective you

need here’ and I wrote it up.

I asked for a sentence with ‘hierarchical’, which a student

gave, and I moved on.

I T ’ S A VERY H I ER ARC H Y O RG ANI Z AT I O N

The students looked blank, so I wrote this phrase below:

We offer/provide a …….. service .

I asked them to think of a word for the gap. One said ‘personalized’

which I wrote in, and another said ‘ customized’ which I also wrote in .

Then below those two I wrote short l ines to show letters (______-____)

and I asked ‘what is the name of the person who makes a suit by

hand? ’ No-one suggested anything so I wrote in the first letters t and

m. One student called out ‘tai lor -made’ and I said ‘good’ and wrote it

up.

I then asked the group: ‘which of you offer a tailor -made service?’

and they all said they did. I made a mental note to ask the students

to prepare for homework a short presentation on ‘How We

Customize Our Services’. Then I moved on.

W E M AK E TH E S ERV I C E PER S O NAL TO TH E C L I ENT

I said: ‘Okay, I’m sure you can improve this ’ . Underneath I wrote Can you …………………………., please? One student called out ‘Can you say it again, please? ’ and I said: ‘Fine , but try that in place of it ’ and I fil led in the words Can you say that again, please?

I said this was a good phrase if you don’t understand something in a meeting. I asked what other phrases were useful for communication problems in a discussion.

One student called out ‘Can you give me an example? ’ , which I wrote up.

Another called out ‘Can you be more precise? ’ . I wrote up Can you be more sp……… ? I looked around, waiting for someone to complete it. No-one could. I said (with one more syllable added): ‘Can you be more spec………? and one student called out ‘specific’. I wrote up the phrase and moved on.

TEL L I T AG AI N , PL EAS E

I said to the students: ‘What is the meaning of turnover? ’ . One said ‘money coming in to a company ’ . I said ‘Yes, and can you think of another word with the same meaning ? ’ . Another student said revenue , which I wrote immediately above turnover .

Then I said: ‘And what is the meaning of budget? ’ . One student said ‘the money they give you for a project ’ and I said ‘Yes, so is that the best word here – does budget go with turnover? ’ There was a silence as students looked at the board.

I said: ‘The word you want is the turnover that you aim for ’ and I mimed setting a particular level on a vertical scale. One student called out ‘target’ and I said ‘good’, and wrote it up in place of ‘budget’.

Another student then asked ‘What’s the difference between target and objective?’ . I said: ‘actually there are four very similar words, aim and objective are perhaps a l ittle more general, and target and goal are more specific – they come with a number.

Then I moved on.

TH E TUR NOVER WAS L ES S TH AN H AL F O F TH E BUD G ET

I put a large tick on the board before this phrase, and congratulated by name the student who said it.

I made a mental note to return to the dif ference between suggest and propose if time allowed, but decided not to focus on it at that point.

Underneath I wrote up May I ………………………? and asked if anyone could think of other phrases beginning with these words that are useful in a meeting. Someone said: ‘ May I interrupt? ’ and I said: ‘Okay, but probably in this case you’d add a few more words as well’, and I wrote up May I interrupt for a moment?

I then drew an arrow between I and interrupt and asked what common small word could go here to make the phrase even softer. Several called out just and I wrote it in and moved on.

M AY I S UG G ES T S O M ETH I NG ?

After five seconds’ silence one student said: ‘I think the

problem is with good’ . I said: ‘Yes, it should be …? ’ and one

student said ‘well’. I crossed out good and wrote in well .

I asked the group if they knew any other adjectives beginning

well- . One student said ‘well -known’ and another said ‘well -

paid’ and I wrote them both on the board and moved on.

I T ’ S D I F F I C ULT TO F I ND G O O D - ED UCATED S TAF F

I wrote on the board the words above – in my notes I had

written pron (= pronunciation) before each one. For example

agenda had been said with a hard g , analysis with the wrong

stress, and crisis said as crise .

I didn’t refer to the mispronunciations, but just immediately

drilled them. Each time I said the word clearly a couple of

times as a model, then indicated with a sweep of my hand

(back of hand towards students) that I wanted choral

repetition. After a couple of turns of choral repetition I picked

out a few individual students to say the word.

If a student mispronounced a word I didn’t say anything but

asked another student to say the word and then returned to

give the first student another chance.

( P RO N ) AG ENDA ANALY Z E/ ANALY S I S F R E I G H T NEUTR AL C R I S I S

Finally, I returned to some of the words and phrases already

on the board (including all the functional phrases), and drilled

them. In this particular case I returned to:

features

hierarchy hierarchical

Can you say that again, please?

Can you be more specific?

turnover target

May I just interrupt for a moment?

agenda analyze analysis freight neutral crisis

ROLO is a way of doing diagnostic language feedback, at the board, following any speaking activity.

A ROLO approach to language focus will usually mean this lesson shape:

Output in a task → Language focus (non-pre-selected)

rather than this:

Language focus (pre-selected) → Practice

I think most Business English teachers, and all 1:1 teachers, eventually end up doing a lot of ROLO-style language work through force of circumstances.

Now let’s reflect …

Reformulate is the key teaching technique in the language feedback slot. It means starting with what the students said, and then helping them to say it better. ‘Better’ means coming closer to achieving the same meanings in English as the students can achieve in their own language.

Output means the students’ own words, in speech or writing.

Lightly refers to moving on quickly to a new item in a feedback slot. It contrasts with the ‘heavy’ presentation-practice of just one language item over a major part of the lesson. In terms of language acquisition, ‘lightly’ means allowing students to restructure their developing knowledge of English slowly in their own way through the gradual accumulation of insights.

Often refers to two things:

1) the fact that the teacher should do feedback slots often – in my view immediately after every speaking activity2) the fact that particular or troublesome language items should be returned to often, as recycling.

R-O-L-O

Reformulation is a sophisticated form of correction. Instead of saying ‘No, it should be … because …’ you use eliciting and guiding to help students to find better language for themselves. In the process, other related words or forms come up in class, and so language development happens at the same time in a natural way.

‘Language development’ means helping students to increase the complexity and richness of their language: to achieve meanings in English closer to those they could achieve in their own language.

But I think there is still also a place for some good, old-fashioned error correction and accuracy work, as long as it is done with a light touch. Students won’t thank you – and in-work business students won’t pay you - for helping them to speak pidgin ever more fluently.

Reformulation?

Correction?

Development?

Good question!With no easy answer.

If a student looks at you and asks for a word you give it of course. But make sure you just give the word and say nothing more, and then write it down and return to it in the feedback slot later as it may just get spoken and not remembered.

The problems start when the teacher begins to explain: this takes the students out of their world of constructing their own meanings in their head and listening to other people, and back into the world of the classroom, language forms and taking notes.

If they go backwards and forwards between these two mental worlds of a) meaning and b) form, then it becomes confusing and destroys much of the fluency. Incidentally, it also means that students are deprived of the chance to practise paraphrasing when they don’t know a word.

On-the-spot help during the task?

or

Feedback at the board after the task?

And finally a review of how to ROLO,

drawing out the main points

from the twelve examples at the beginning …

While the students are doing a speaking

activity, make notes on areas of their

language where you can help them

improve.

Write down the whole phrase you heard to

keep the context.

What to write down? Trust your instinct.

Grade according to the students’ level.

You don’t have to use everything that is in

your notes.

When the task finishes, make sure you

leave time for a feedback slot! You don’t

want the students to leave the lesson

thinking ‘all we did today was talk’.

Teacher

takes notes

during a

speaking

activity

ROLO

General guidelines:

Keep the feedback slot fast-paced,

covering perhaps 10 – 12 items

over 15-20 minutes.

Remember this golden rule for

boardwork: give enough co-text on

the board to provide a context.

Look for occasional chances to do

mini personalized practice.

Remember pronunciation as well as

lexis and grammar.

Remember to include some

examples of good language.

Teacher

goes to the

board and

runs a

feedback

slot

ROLO

Procedure at the board:

① Write up the whole phrase, exactly as you

heard it .

② Stand back and allow five seconds si lence.

③ Use guiding/eliciting/coaching to help

students to reformulate their own language.

④ Remember to develop and extend language,

using the phrase on the board as a starting

point, as well as correct i t .

⑤ If guiding and eliciting don’t work, write up

the improved language quickly and with no

fur ther fuss and then move on. Don’t try to

teach a major new grammar area in a feedback

slot: unless you are a very experienced teacher

you wil l dig a big hole for yourself.

Procedure

at the

board

ROLO

Great! So ROLO is the answer!

No it isn’t. Nothing is.

Or rather, everything is.

That’s all folks!

For many more ideas visit my website …

Take a look

at my self-

published

book

Management

Lessons

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