teaching accuracy: drilling
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Teaching accuracy: drilling. MA lecture / ELT 2 December 201 1. When learners are given intensive practice of the new structure / language It is carefully guided and strictly controlled by the teacher Both form and meaning must be correctly formed and consolidated. Accuracy stage. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Teaching accuracy: drilling
MA lecture / ELT
2 December 2011
• When learners are given intensive practice of the new structure / language
• It is carefully guided and strictly controlled by the teacher
• Both form and meaning must be correctly formed and consolidated
Accuracy stage
• possibility of error is reduced to minimum - everything has to be corrected
• SS are given confidence in using the new language
• SS are given a chance to increase speed
• to practice form, meaning (pron.)
• SS can concentrate on only one language item / problem at a time
• This stage must be done immediately after presentation = accurate reproduction
Language must stay within students’ grasp that is, when a new piece of grammar is taught, there should be no new vocabulary!!!
should be done quickly and effectively, teacher should demand a high degree of accuracy from SS
• → moving from easier to more difficult drills / exercises
Drilling: a brief history
• derives from behaviourists’ theory (Skinner): stimulus -response - reinforcement
• can be mechanical, boring, meaningless - this is what we can avoid and make drilling:
• - realistic• - meaningful• - introduced with an appropriate expression• - used for a few minutes only• - used as a first stage only• It obviously helps students acquire fluency - a desired
goal in CLT• Certain patterns must become automatic! (chunks!)
Types of drill
REPTITION DRILL
• T: Let’s go swimming!• S: Let’s go swimming!• T: Let’s go dancing!• S: Let’s go dancing.• → more meaningful with word prompt only• T: cinema• S: Let’s go to the cinema!
SIMPLE SUBSTITUTION
• T: How many chairs are there in here?
• S: There are 4 chairs.
• T: tables
• S1: How many tables are there in here?
• S2: There is only one table in here.
• Prompts: windows, desks, boards, etc.
VARIABLE SUBSTITUTION DRILL
• T: I have been to Dublin.
• S: I have been to Dublin.
• T: Susan
• S: Susan has been to Dublin.
• T: Susan and her husband
• S: Susan and her husband have been to Dublin.
PROGRESSIVE SUBSTITUTION DRILL
Conditional:
It sometimes happens that Martha washes up the dishes, then her husband, John, is happy.
Prompts:
T: sometimes it happens. If Martha…..
S: If Martha does the washing up, John is happy. • T: It is John’s wish – perhaps she does it:
S: If Martha did the washing up, her husband would be happy.• T: Martha didn’t do itS: If Martha had done the washing up, John would have been
happy.
SITUATIONALISED DRILL
• Prompts: can be on board • (What a pity! That’s great, Oh, that’s all right!)• T: I can’t come to the party!• S: What a pity!• T: I can lend you some money.• S: That’s great!• T: I have a new boyfriend. • S: ……………………………• T: Peter has missed the bus. • S:……………………………. • T: Sorry, I’m late.• S: …………………………….
TRANSFORMATION DRILL
• Prompt:
• T: I went to see Harry Potter.
• S: Which film did you go to see?
• T: Robby Williams
• S: Which singer did you go to see?
• Students can give prompts: Lord of the Rings, U2, Hamlet, etc.
CLUASE COMBINATION DRILL
• T: He had a sore throat. He sang at the concert.
• S: Although he had a sore throat, he…
• T: raining, go on a trip
• S: Although it was raining, he went on a trip.
• T: headache, meeting, etc…
BALLOON TABLES
A FEW I’VE BEEN
THEY’VE BEEN
MILKBEER
APPLESCHAIRS
A LITTLE
[s1]
[s1]
A FEW I’VE BEEN
THEY’VE BEEN
MILKBEER
APPLESCHAIRS
A LITTLE
Picture prompts
Oral Drill types – in free practice
• 1, Guessing Drills • e.g. Think of your favourite colour/
country / pop group / animal / etc• others are guessing - meanwhile practise
the structure• e.g. Think of a foreign country your are
going to visit. Which one is it?• S1 “Are you going to visit Japan?” • S2 “ No, I’m not.
Oral drills / free practice
• 2, Imaginary situation
• similar to # 1 - information gap!!!!
• e.g. I’ve just bought a Mercedes. I haven’t got much money left.
• - Have you bought a ......yet? (suppose S1 has a list of what he’s bought)
• I suppose you have bought a............, haven’t you?
Oral drills / free practice
Student A Student B
33 2234
4576 61
675 145
879 701
123 45
204 76
Six principles to do drilling
• 1, Learners have to know what they are saying• - if they repeat structures but they don’t
understand what it expresses - waste of time• meaningful drill = cannot be performed correctly
without an understanding of the meaning of what is said
• mechanical drill = SS produce correct examples without needing to think about the meaning of the sentences
Six principles to do drilling
• 2, Let the learners hear the pattern several times - teacher = model
• 3, Break down a long utterance or expression into smaller parts / segments
• 4, Do not force individuals to speak until there had been some repetition in chorus
• 5, Keep the drill rapid and short (40-60 seconds for each drill) - Do not give more than 6 drills on one occasion
• 6, Give clear gestures to show who is to speak rather than give the names only
Chain drills
• to practise a particular structure over and over again either in a game format or through personalisation.
• e.g. I’m Csilla and I’d like to go to Chile. Next: My name is Béla and I would like to go to Brazil - etc. memory element!!!
• Possible structures to practice: I like doing.... I have never done/been I want/always wanted to do, / I would love to etc...
Seminar work
Drills:
• word / phrase / sentence prompts
• Pictures prompts / flashcards
• Mimes
• Audio prompts
• Practising giving prompts for different structures
READING
Using Repetition Drills • http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2006/10/using-r
epetition-drills.html• Drilling - Judicious Use of Brute Force in the
ESL Classroom• http://www.usingenglish.com/weblog/archives/00
0414.html• Drilling can be fun:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Mumford-Drilling.html