Professional Development - page 2

In this interactive June workshop, Evan Frendo cast light on current developments in corporate language learning. He discussed the implications of these for business English teachers, and talked about possible ways of adapting to new trends and requirements.

Evan kicked off his talk by painting a picture of the typical present-day corporate workplace. His main observation was that formal learning is increasingly fading out, largely due to faster and more agile work environments. Increasing time pressure often means no time for full courses. Instead, ‘microlearning on the go’ is rapidly becoming the new normal.

From Prescribed Learning to Learning on Demand

Evan pointed out that this new type of learning means that the learner actively “pulls” whatever knowledge is needed at any given time (‘learning on demand’). Traditionally, students would attend a full course, with trainers “pushing” all sorts of knowledge on them.

This general shift of focus from teacher to learner-controlled instruction means that the learner no longer sees the trainer as an all-encompassing learning resource. Rather, the instructor is one of an abundance of resources.

As digital content allows learners access to knowledge 24/7, tech tools are no longer an optional add-on. As a part of mainstream culture they are well-nigh essential at this point. This also means that informal learning (learning outside the classroom) is very much part of the equation, and that it’s part of the teacher’s job to help students optimise it.

Curating vs. Creating

Due to learners’ needs frequently changing in agile environments, we can increasingly see the role of the teacher as a curator – not creator – of materials. Providing personalised, bite-sized bits of information at the right time is key. With performance taking precedence over proficiency, teaching is no longer about imparting linguistic knowledge and Shakespearean eloquence. It is about ensuring that the client learns whatever language is needed to get the job done.

But how does a teacher or trainer best go about offering personalised content at the right time?

The Embedded Trainer

One of the ideas that Evan presented was that of the “embedded trainer”. In order to create an immersive learning experience, it’s best for the trainer to be part of the learners’ work environment. Evan talked about his own experience teaching maritime English to an intercultural group of learners.

Instead of teaching generic lists of vocabulary online or in a physical classroom, he visited his students on a ship. On board, Evan taught them exactly which vocabulary was required in different situations. This very effectively furthered their real-time capabilities.

Other examples of embedding include frequently asking for and implementing feedback, the “shadowing” of other teachers and learning from them, and keeping in touch with management for company-related information and resources. On the technical side, Evan recommended using Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS).

LCMS

In a nutshell, LCMS are extended data repositories for learning content. Traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS) include materials and organisational information, such as course details and dates, book recommendations, seminar facilities, etc.

LCMS go beyond mere course-related information and materials. For example, an LCMS may include all work-related emails a student has written in the past year. Trainers can then use these materials in class. It may also contain information on past and current company projects and lists of people involved. So if a client starts a new project, the teacher may track down a colleague with previous experience and bring them together for an informal interview as part of the learning experience.

LCMS are thus very hands-on teaching resources, as they contain relevant contacts and realia. Of course, the trainer needs to be in touch with and working together with management in order to gain access to a company’s data repository.

To get started, Evan recommended using free training courses on the internet to practice using LCMS.

Teachers’ Thoughts

We discussed Evan’s points in breakout rooms and together in the large group. While everyone saw the benefit of a hands-on, immersive approach, most teachers reported that there wasn’t much of a possibility for them to “visit” their students in work-related contexts. Moreover, management is usually inaccessible to individual trainers. Shadowing colleagues isn’t impossible, but still requires negotiation and networking, which is why most trainers refrain from it. Evan admitted that teachers are often part of a system that creates roadblocks, and one suggestion to remedy this was to work with smaller, more flexible companies if feasible.

The group agreed that while some kind of structure is necessary, flexibility is essential. Responding to individual learners’ shifting needs is crucial for trainers. Several teachers also talked about their experience with microlearning, which turned out to be surprisingly effective. They reported that a trainer can do a lot in a straightforward thirty-minute lesson, when the student doesn’t have more time. One trainer told the story of a student who, due to personal circumstances, missed most of his class. Although he only had a ten-minute lesson, he thoroughly enjoyed those ten minutes. Feedback was another thing we all deemed essential. As one participant put it, “You can only be as good as the feedback you get”.

The Takeaway

The biggest takeaway was that corporate language training is rapidly moving from a formal course setting to a learner-centred jigsaw puzzle approach. Curating fitting materials from all sorts of different sources, listening to and adapting to learners’ needs and facilitating an interactive, realistic learner experience are the best ways to stay ahead of the game in a rapidly changing corporate environment.

***

If you liked this article, Evan Frendo’s take on teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) may interest you.

Have you ever been to a conference or training session and taken copious notes, only to never look at them again? I certainly have! In this post, I’ll share how to use simple doodles and sketchnotes to make learning more accessible and fun.

Before I trained as a graphic facilitator and developed my sketchnoting skills, I had tons of notebooks filled with notes I never looked at again. Perhaps you’ve also filled your whiteboard with vocabulary and grammar notes, then taken a step back and realised how overwhelming it looks?

Looking back on my whiteboards from the past, they must have been quite dull for learners to look at, and to copy. I even tried taking notes digitally, but they weren’t appealing to review either. Now, each simple doodle I add makes them more meaningful, understandable and engaging.

The benefits of drawing

There are a multitude of reasons why every teacher should draw in class. I’m never sure where to begin, but one of the main benefits for me is understanding. As language teachers, our goal is to ensure that students have understood the content of our lessons. Adding simple doodles makes this a million times easier.

Take a look at image one. This was what the whiteboards in my ESOL literacy class looked like before I learned to use simple drawings. It’s just a list of words. My students would copy these into their notebooks, adding a translation in their first language.

Their notebooks then became a list of words with more words explaining the meaning.
This can be time consuming to read, and overwhelming, especially if your learners are neuro-diverse or developing their literacy skills. It’s also not particularly motivating to review.

Now take a look at image two. The doodles are certainly not works of art, but they make each word instantly more understandable. Students are also much more likely to remember each word.
A study by Wammes and Meade (see reference) found that people are more likely to remember new vocabulary if they draw it. This is called the ‘Drawing Effect’. So encouraging students to add doodles to their notes can help them remember.

I could write all day about the benefits of drawing and graphic facilitation, but I know you’d prefer to look at pictures. Here’s a sketchnote I created summarising some of the advantages:

But I ‘can’t draw’

Everyone can draw. If you can draw a circle, square and triangle, you can draw. Look at the sketchnote above. Most of the icons are made up of simple shapes. Even the alphabet and numbers consists of mostly lines and curves. Graphic facilitation isn’t about art. It’s about communicating through simple visuals. Take a look at my doodle of a foot in the whiteboard image above. There is certainly nothing artistic about it, but it gets the point across.

Drawing in class should be quick and convey meaning. Students don’t want to watch their teacher creating a masterpiece. Every one of the doodles above took me about the same amount of time to draw as writing the word itself. Some even gave students a giggle, started discussions and gave them the confidence to draw their own.

Graphic facilitation is based around international iconography. Just like learning a language, learning to communicate this way takes time and practice. It’s a visual vocabulary and once you know how to draw some basic icons, you’re flying!

Zero prep ways to use visuals in class

One of the things I love most about visual teaching strategies is that they have reduced my preparation time immensely. I now have a multitude of ready to go activities that I simply draw on the whiteboard, or display using an online interactive whiteboard or slides.

In this activity, I wanted to generate discussions and ideas sharing on study tips. I drew nine icons on the whiteboard; a notebook, a book, a laptop, a TV, a mobile phone, a face, a radio, a speech bubble and a whiteboard. You’ll notice that most of the icons use a rectangle in some way, so it was simple for students to copy them to their notebooks.

Once students had copied each icon to their notebooks, they discussed in pairs. They used each image as a visual prompt. They could then create their own questions, e.g., “What books do you read? What advice do you have for homework?”
To facilitate sharing advice, I gave them post-it notes and asked them to add their ideas. This got them out of their seats and gave them a chance to chat about their key takeaways.

There are various extension tasks to this activity – find someone who (wrote the post-it note), write your study plan, do a presentation on study advice, etc. It also lends itself well to various linguistic topics – future tenses (e.g. ‘I will’, ‘I plan to’), conditionals (“If I do my homework every day, I will…”), giving advice (e.g. ‘should’, ‘could’, ‘have you tried’).
Visual templates like these are not only minimal prep, but they are also extremely flexible. You can use, re-use and repurpose them in many ways.

Sketchnoting

Technically, sketchnoting is visual recording rather than visual facilitation. It involves capturing the key information in note form, supported with simple doodles. The drawing element provides an opportunity to think critically and process the information more deeply. This makes it easier to remember. It also makes notes much more fun to create and review.
Here’s a few examples I created for an online NATECLA event showcasing various action research projects for the OTLA.

In order to sketchnote, you’ll need to develop your visual vocabulary. As with learning a language, I recommend starting with high frequency icons. For me, as a language teacher, the most common ones are ones that represent reading, writing, speaking, listening and drawing. Why not get started by copying the ones in this article?

Conclusion

Using drawings and graphic facilitation techniques is perfect for the ELT classroom. There are so many benefits, it should wear a cape and fly.

If you’d like more information, I have tons of freebies, videos, podcasts and training courses at www.EmilyBrysonELT.com. You can download my free sketchnoting and graphic facilitation guides there too. Follow me on socials: @EmilyBrysonELT.

Reference

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282658904_The_Drawing_Effect_Evidence_for_Reliable_and_Robust_Memory_Benefits_in_Free_Recall

As teachers and trainers, do we ever really know whether the techniques and tools that we use are effective? The title of my talk at the ELTABB AGM on 11 February was “A third of a century in ELT — and none the wiser”? It was meant only partly as a joke.

In fact, I could have gone back even further than a third of a century. My first teaching job — indeed my first full-time job — was teaching “A level” economics at a school in south London in 1980.

I was 21 at the time and took the job because you needed no qualifications to teach at private schools back then. This meant I didn’t need to “waste” a precious year after university getting qualified. That, I’m ashamed to admit, was how I saw it at the time.

An Unqualified Success?

I realize now what I didn’t know then — that I had no idea at all what I was doing pedagogically. To be honest, I didn’t even know such a word or area of study existed. And I also realize now that I had no idea then whether my teaching was effective.

I didn’t know that I had no idea what I was doing and whether my teaching was effective.

Most of the schoolboys I taught seemed to enjoy my lessons. And most of those studying economics got excellent grades – irrespective of whether they were taught by me or one of the other three teachers in the economics department. And this was probably because the department had produced some excellent materials to help the students pass exams.

From Economics to Teaching English

Fast forward ten years and I was in Munich, armed with a newly-acquired CELTA Certificate, and was teaching “business English” to BMW managers and other employees.

In the one-to-one lessons with executives, we made extensive use of tape recorders, recording the clients as they spoke in English, then stopping the recording, giving the clients help to reformulate what they had said, getting them to record it again, giving them more help in reformulation, getting them to re-record and so on. At the end of the lesson, we gave the executives the tape to take home with them. I think we even asked them to transcribe the final versions.

If the clients were happy, all was well.

I remember thinking at the time that I had no idea whether this iterative method of reformulation was effective in the sense of helping our clients to develop their fluency, accuracy or general communication skills. It was just the method that we used. And if the clients were happy with it, and gave good feedback to the school, all was well.

Fortunately, no client ever asked me for the scientific evidence that this method worked or even asked why we were doing this. One did, however, say: “Can we forget all this and just talk about football and motorbikes. You can put whatever you need to on your lesson report, and I’ll sign it.” Note: I know nothing about motorbikes.

A Slight Improvement: Known Unknowns

I mention these incidents to illustrate two points. In the first situation, at the private school in London, I wasn’t even aware of the fact that I didn’t know whether my teaching was effective. The question never occurred to me. In the second case, at the language school in Munich, I was at least aware of the fact that I didn’t know. Some kind of improvement in my professional development, I guess.

I was at least aware of the fact that I didn’t know.

I’m not suggesting that all (or, indeed, any) teachers are as ignorant as I was back in the 1980s and 1990s. But maybe it is worth it for all of us to stop from time to time and ask what grounds we have for believing that our teaching is effective, assuming that we do.

Where’s the Evidence?

Of all the presentations I’ve listened to at conferences over the past 30 years, few have had a greater impact on me than Russell Mayne’s short, provocative and entertaining talk at the 2014 IATEFL conference. It was titled “A guide to pseudo-science in English language teaching”. 

Mayne asked what the evidence was for the effectiveness of approaches such as “Learning styles”, “Multiple intelligences” and “Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)”. And his conclusion was that the evidence was often totally lacking.

In 2021, together with Carol Lethaby and Patricia Harries, Russell Mayne authored a fascinating book called An Introduction to Evidence-Based Teaching in the English Language Classroom: Theory and Practice.

The book looks at the evidence for a whole range of ELT techniques, including the use (or not) of the learner’s first language, the effectiveness of direct and explicit feedback versus implicit and indirect feedback, and the efficacy of various vocabulary-learning strategies, such as guessing from context and the use of monolingual versus bilingual dictionaries.

A Teacher’s Duty to Check

Having spent six years studying economics — and having a particular interest in the impact of economic policies — I have huge sympathy for evidence-based, empirical approaches, as opposed to using theoretical or ideological arguments, or purely intuition.

I guess that’s why I find the evidence-based approach to ELT so appealing. But I also know how frustrating evidence-based approaches can be. That was a key reason why I gave up economics. Often, the evidence was inconclusive or even contradictory. Sometimes, one is more confused after reading the evidence than one was before, and therefore reverts to intuition or prejudice.

Beliefs can make life simpler. But is this responsible when it comes to teaching?

Having firm beliefs based on no evidence — about teaching or anything else — can certainly make life simpler. But is this a responsible approach when it comes to teaching? Don’t we at least have a duty to our clients to see if there is any evidence to support the methods we are using? Or, worse still, whether there is actually clear evidence that these methods are ineffective.

A Little Wiser Maybe

On the internet, there are numerous versions of the quote, “The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know”, variously attributed to anyone from Albert Einstein to the singer Tony Bennett.

I need to check the evidence — even if that evidence isn’t always clear.

That’s exactly how I feel. I think I’m a little bit wiser now in that I’m more aware of what I don’t know than I was when I started teaching 43 years ago, or when I started in ELT 33 years ago. And I’m more aware that I need to check the evidence for my views and beliefs — in teaching and elsewhere — even if that evidence isn’t always clear.

What You can Do as an English Teacher

Teachers and trainers, often already overworked, shouldn’t allow themselves to become paralyzed or frustrated by studying masses and masses of evidence that is sometimes inconclusive. (That’s why the book referred to is so useful.)

Nor should they ignore the evidence of their own eyes, the subjective feedback from their clients — or that of their peers — as to whether their clients’ communication skills are improving. But casting a glance at the available evidence from time to time doesn’t do any harm.

Reference

Lethaby, C., Mayne R., & Harries, P. (2021). An Introduction to Evidence-Based Teaching in the English Language Classroom: Theory and Practice. Pavilion elt.

Have you heard of dictogloss? If your answer is no, don’t worry. In this post, I’m going to describe the procedure, list its benefits and potential pitfalls and finally show you a practical example of how I used dictogloss with a Business English class. Perhaps when you finish reading, you’ll be triggered to give it a go!

What is dictogloss?

Also called grammar dictation, dictogloss is a task-based procedure that involves reconstruction of a dictated text while trying to capture the information content as accurately as possible (see Wajnryb, 2013). The text could be dictated twice according to the author, but I usually dictate it three times for better results.

Here is a suggested procedure:

1. Preparation: a lead-in that activates previous knowledge and prepares learners for the listening.
2. Dictation: the teacher reads a passage or plays a recording three times. First, learners listen for the main idea. The second time, they listen and take notes. The third time, they expand on their notes.
3. Reconstruction: learners work in groups, compare their notes and reconstruct the text together.
4. Analysis and correction: learners write their texts on the board and get feedback from the teacher. Alternatively, they get a copy of the original text and compare it to their version.
5. The discovery step, added by Wilson (2003) is when learners reflect on their errors and become more aware of their linguistic gaps.

Why should I use dictogloss?

To begin with, it’s interactive and collaborative. Text reconstruction, analysis and discovery is a sequence that enables learners to notice their linguistic gaps. This means there is minimum teacher intervention, which is crucial; ideally, we want to step back and promote learner autonomy when teaching adults.

Another benefit of dictogloss is that it helps practise all four skills. Here’s how:

• Listening is practised during the dictation AND when learners are interacting later. They are listening to each other and meaningfully trying to communicate, which is why we should have an English-only rule here.
• They practise note-taking (writing) when listening, as well as spelling, syntax and sentence structure when reconstructing the text.
• Speaking is common when they are interacting with each other negotiating meaning and putting the text together.
• Finally, they’ll be reading a lot as they compare their own texts to the source texts.

Moreover, although it was introduced as a grammar dictation, dictogloss can help students improve their knowledge of lexis and phonology. For example, it can enable noticing and learning collocations, binomials, trinomials or other lexical chunks; furthermore, learners are likely to repeat the whole chunk as an item in the reconstruction phase. Finally, as Wilson (2003) wrote, dictogloss raises awareness of features of connected speech and other fast speech phenomena, helping learners compare the written to spoken form.

An example of dictoglossing

“Looks good on paper, but how can I actually use it??”, you might ask.

Here’s how I used it to introduce grammatical collocations for describing trends, a language point that often comes up when you’re teaching business English classes. For those who are not familiar with the terms, collocations are “predictable combinations of words” (Lewis, 2009:51), and grammatical specifies that they include both content (e.g. verbs, nouns etc) and grammar words (e.g. prepositions). In this lesson some grammatical collocations were: peaked at, dropped by, levelled off.

I chose a graph, but you can use charts, or any other visual content that might be used in presentations. Most of the time, you can find them and the relevant texts in coursebooks or authentic materials. (Or how about an infographic? Read our article here for more inspiration! – Ed.)

Just follow these simple steps…

I then followed these steps 1-5:

Step 1: As a lead-in, students tried to make sense of the graph and what it is about. Then, they did some brainstorming, e.g., think how they would describe what they see in their own words.

Step 2: I read the text that described the trends depicted in the chart. I told them it was someone’s notes when describing these trends in their presentation. Remember you can also play it as an audio clip. They followed the steps as mentioned above.

• Listen once to get the main idea. No need to take notes.
• Listen again and take some notes.
• Listen one more time and expand on your notes.

Step 3: Students formed groups of 3 or 4, compared their notes and reconstructed the text together.

Step 4: Finally, I projected the text on the whiteboard. They compared it to theirs and noticed their errors. You can also give them a copy of the text if you cannot project it.

Step 5: I elicited which parts they found difficult. Some of their gaps included unfamiliarity with the content words (peak, drop), or the prepositions they collocate with (at, by, off), as well as the weak forms of the preposition in fast speech.

(Extension): Focus on form, meaning and pronunciation. I usually extend this stage with some practice activities. For example, I asked learners to copy the form of the collocations in their notebooks. Then I asked them to categorise these collocations depending on what they describe:

• upward trend
• downward trend
• stability

Finally, I highlighted stress and any connected speech happening between words.

Apply and Practice

Next, I gave my students new graphs and charts, and asked them to practise using the phrases they had learned.

Things to consider:

• Avoid using texts that are too long. I think 5-8 lines is sufficient.
• It might be challenging (though not impossible) to use dictogloss with lower levels. I actually taught an entire A2 course using dictogloss and my students loved it. I advise you to explain the term and procedures of dictogloss in L1 the first time you set it up. Then, every time you want to use it, just say let’s do dictogloss, and they’ll know what it is.
• In monolingual classes, students might rely on their L1 during the text reconstruction stage, so I often set an English-only rule. It’s also a great way to practice language for authentic communication like: What did you hear? What did you write in…? I heard something else. I’m not sure, etc.

Over to you

What do you think? Will you give dictogloss a try?

Or have you used any of the other techniques in our Journal, such as Motivating Students with Rhythm and Rhyme?

Let us know in the comments!

***

References

Lewis, M., 2009.Teaching collocation. Hove: Language Teaching Publ.

Wajnryb, R., 2013. RBT: Grammar Dictation. Oxford University Press.

Wilson, J., 2008. How To Teach Listening. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Longman

Giving feedback is one of the most underrated parts of language teaching, especially when it’s supportive and motivational. Peter Ryan explains how to use positive feedback to propel your students and clients to achieve their learning goals faster and with more fun.

I didn’t use to do feedback very much in my formative years, or didn’t know how to do it, apart from a few throwaway comments here and there: “Good job” and “Well done”. When I did start to give feedback, I would just copy what other teachers were doing: highlighting errors on the board and asking students to correct them at the end of the lesson.

Today, I deliver feedback very differently to how I was taught back then. While completing my Delta, I worked very closely with students and their output, making them feel proud about what they had produced while enjoying the process of listening to or reading their ideas in real-time.

Giving feedback to my students and clients is now an integral part of my lessons, and something I cherish about being a teacher. It is a time when learning is very meaningful for students and a time when progress can be quite tangible.

WHEN to give feedback to students

Knowing when to give feedback to your students is key. Giving feedback at the end of the lesson can be useful as it leaves the students feeling warm and motivated. They are walking out of the lesson knowing their teacher listened to their ideas and helped them in certain areas (or highlighted their strengths).

With this idea of students’ well-being and energy in mind, it’s also good to give feedback directly after a student’s speaking practice as it spurs them on to take more risks during the rest of the lesson. I like to work on fluency at the start of the lesson and as much as possible throughout. After a good chunk of speaking time, feedback takes 4-8 minutes to get through. [The British Council has some great resources – Ed.] 

Once they get used to this method, students approach speaking tasks in various, experimental ways: trying to sound natural, focusing on accuracy, extending their ideas, working on active listening, and so on. For these approaches to work, your students need to have a strong task to dive into.

Real-time benefits

Another reason to give feedback directly after they have worked on their output is that the ideas will still be fresh in their memory.

Immediate correction can also be useful mid-speaking, especially when students need your help or if a communication breakdown has occurred. It’s up to you if you want to disrupt their flow of speech to correct a persistent error. I would wait until they have completed their idea, as it may be more memorable to them.

For writing, as well as giving feedback after a completed draft, I like to give students time to write a little before I go and check on them. I check to see if they are practicing the target language (I don’t force it though), adhering to the genre conventions, and making general comments about the content. This helps the students to understand and get more comfortable with the idea that writing is a process.

WHO should give feedback

Culturally speaking, some students will expect their teacher to be the one, and only one, to give feedback. However, there are advantages to getting the students to give feedback to each other once you’ve trained them how to do so. A transferable skill like this is something they may need to practice for the corporate world, for instance, a team-lead giving feedback to their teammates. Students will benefit from practicing to find the strengths and weaknesses in their peers’ work. They will have a fair idea of what to look for if the lesson has a particular aspect of language as a focal point. Students who are particularly good at this will look for things outside of this focus.

Another caveat to teachers giving feedback is that students often don’t believe them, especially when it comes to highlighting their strengths. Hearing feedback from their peers, from multiple angles also, will give them encouragement that their language capabilities are stronger than they think. Everyone can’t be wrong in the class when they have received objective feedback.

It is also worth getting the students to reflect on their own work. This gets the students to think deeply about the thinking or coding process they undertake while they are speaking. Also, the feelings they express enable the teacher to unlock what’s going on in the student’s head. This metacognitive activity can be very enlightening for all involved. Again, it takes time for students to get used to this practice, but being a reflective practitioner is a pretty outstanding skill to have in the business world.

WHAT to feedback to your students

Grammar will be high on the list for students, as well as mistakes. However, there is so much more to focus on: all four language systems – grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and discourse – the strengths and areas to work on, and how to change, develop and extend ideas in different ways. I live by these criteria and have noticed slow and steady improvements in my students in terms of output, energy, and motivation.

Grammar

When focusing on grammar, of course, feedback their control of the target language being practiced in the lesson, but also include items of language that have been covered already (or what was covered in previous levels), so it feels as if language isn’t being restricted. It’s up to you to include items of language that you haven’t covered in your courses yet. If you feel the other students would benefit from something a student had said, it could make that student feel incredibly proud of their work. I wouldn’t correct anything the student hasn’t covered yet as that wouldn’t be fair.

One final thing on grammar: I don’t point out to students that an item of language is a typical mistake or a false friend, as some students want to think in their L2. To illustrate an example of this, my German teacher said to me not to confuse ‘man’ in Deutsch with ‘man’ in English. However, I had never made this error and like to approach words as they are in Deutsch. I don’t think, “Oh, that’s an English word”. But, because the teacher had now made it salient to me, I might make this error in the future. My teacher was making generalisations about certain language learners which weren’t true for me. I’d imagine a number of other language learners also approach learning in this way.

Vocabulary

For vocabulary, feedback as much as you can – highlight their strengths and what needs improving, too: highlight rare lexis, word combinations, phrasal verbs used, and so on. Doing so can create a learning opportunity for the other students. They can learn new or recycle old language that their peers are using. This is what I love about my job now: I enjoy listening to my students and showing them what I loved about their ideas. Students are also interested in what their friends had said so I give them this opportunity.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation, which is often out there in the development wilderness, can have its day in the sun if focused properly. Try to feedback strengths and weaknesses in areas such as word stress, pitch movement manipulation, final consonant sounds, and so on. Any pronunciation areas that affect meaning construction will get the students to focus on them at the same level as grammar and vocabulary.

Discourse

Discourse is particularly important for business students. Give them feedback on how well they transition from speaker to listener and vice-versa. How do they react to ideas? How do they build conversations? Do they reference forwards and backwards? Things like this can get the students to think long and hard about their conversations with others. They can also give the students a lot of confidence when navigating these contexts.

Mistakes

While mistakes are important to feedback, so are strengths. Your students need to know that what they are saying is working. Focusing on the positives can energize and propel them forward to work on something new, make them not play it safe, and take risks. Saying to the students, “Your grammar had good control in most parts today, but, here, you said ‘must can do’ when you have to say…’ isn’t fair; what was well-controlled about the grammar? It is better to show them exactly how good their grammar was. This leads us to:

HOW to deliver feedback

Using the board can be great as the students have a record of their work. However, the board only has so much space, and ink can be hard to come by. Besides, if the ink is too faint, if the writing is not big enough for those sitting at the back of the room, or if they strain to see what you have written, they will switch off.

An easy workaround: digital feedback

For all my students and clients, I thus use Google Docs which show them clearly what they have done in each language system, all colour coded.

Green represents good control or rare use of the language. Improvements are shown via a correctional arrow – here I like to show the error beside its correction to make things memorable. Finally, I recast, reformulate or show synonymous utterances in blue.

I use the document as a base for further discussion on their ideas. I might probe them to teach the other students the words they used, think of synonyms, think of formal or informal equivalents to words, think about the connotations of words, and so on.

Students can take this feedback and access it anywhere. They never lose it either as they can hit the ‘last edit’ button at the top to check the document’s history. I always advise students to transfer the language they like into their notebooks that evening to promote revision strategies. This document works well for online classes and one-to-one classes. Of course, it’s also suitable for face-to-face group classes – the students just need to scan the QR code for the document (you can find it in the URL).

Going digital then eliminates all the problems outlined above with regard to board work. Moreover, it allows you to write a lot more feedback and enjoy your job listening to the students’ work in a positive way.

The same goes for writing. I give them an online portfolio to add their entries or work on their drafts. Feedback is similar to speaking but with writing I also add comments to their document to give the students an opportunity to correct their work or just to give them praise when control of the language was particularly good.

Students normally take this feedback into their next draft or new writing which they enter into the same document. Students never lose their work either which can be true with paper.

I hope this article has helped and best of luck with your feedback sessions with your students.

And for some other useful online tools, why not check out our article Go Digital Like the Teaching Pro that You Are! 5 Amazing Online Tools for English Teachers? – Ed.

***