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