- S Ainslie and

Mistakes and
Lrted-ability
: can be
feedback
In a rvidel.v-quoted study, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliarr found that feedback on students'work
probablyhas more effect on achievement th.an any other single factor (B1ack and Wiliam rgqS).
rrt St,ch fornrutive assessment (see page 329) is, they believe,'at the heart of effective teaching'
(rgg8: z). They based this assumption on an extensir.e reading of the research evidence
avrilable to them. Richard Cullen agrees, shorving how the teacher's'follorv-up moves'when
a student has said something'play a crucial part in clarif,ing and building on the ideas that
antage ofi the students express' (.zooz: tz6).It is importrrnt, therefore, to make sure that the feedback we
give is appropriate to the students concerned and to the activity they are inr.olved iu, and that
lve recognise feedback as a crucial part of the learning process.

A Students make mistakes

One of the things that puzzles rnany teachers is why students go on n-raking the same mistakes
even rvhen those mistakes have been repeatedly pointed out to them. Yet not all mistakes are
the same; sometimes they seem to be deepl,v ingrained, yet at other times students correct
themselves i,vith apparent ease.
In his book on mistakes and correction, Iulian Edge suggested that we can divide n-ristakes
into three broad categories: 'siips' (that is mistakes r,vhich students can correct themselves once
the mistake has been pointed out to them),'errors' (mistakes which they can't correct themselves
- and lvhich therefore need explanation) and 'attempts' (that is r,vhen a student tries to say
something but does not 1zs knor,v the correct wly of saying it) (Edge 1989: Chapter z). Of these, it
is the category of 'error' that most concerns teachers, though the students' 'attempts' lt ill tell us a
lot about their current knor,vledge - and ma,v r'vell provide chances for opportunistic teaching.
It is rvidel,v accepted that there 1re two distir-rct sollrces for the errors which most, if not all,
students displal'.

o Lr'interference': students r,r,ho iearn English as a seconcl language already have a deep
knoivledge of at least one other language. \trhere that Lr and the variety of English they
are learning come into contact r.vith each othe there are often confusions which provoke
errors in r learner's use of English. This can be at the 1evel of sounds: Arabic, for example,
doesnothaveaphonemicdistfitctionbetween lf landlvl,andArabicspeakersmaywellsay
ferry tvhenthey mean very.Itcan be at the 1er,e1 of grammar, where a student's first language
has a subtly different system: French students oftel.r have troublewith the present perfect
because there is a similar form in French but the same time concept is expressed slightly
differently; lapanese students have probierns with article usage because Japanese does not
use the sarxe system of reference, and so on. It ma finall be at the 1evel of r.vord Llsage,

t37
 -
CHAPTER 8

where similar sounding words have slightly different meanings: librera in Spanish means zoor),'
b o okshop, not library, embarasada means pregnant, not embarrassed.
and thr
studeil
o Developmental errors: for a long time now researchers in child language development have formul
been aware of the phenomenon of 'over-generalisation'. This is best described as a situation discuss
where a child whostarts by sayrng Daddy went,they catne,etc.perfectly correctly suddenly their nr
starts saying D addy goed and they comed. What seems to be happening is that the child starts
to
Burde
'over-generalise' a new rule that has been (subconsciously) learnt, and, as a result, even makes tA'tra
mistakes with things that he or she seemed to have known before. Later, however, it all
gets
praise r
sorted out as the child begins to have a more sophisticated understanding, and he or she goes
combir
back to saylng went and camewhtfe,at the same time, handling regular past tense endings. in the {
Foreign language students make the same kind of developmental errors as well. This It is
*Sfue is more nicer than him where the acquisiti on of more fot
accounts for mistakes like use, sut
comparatives is over-generalised and then mixed up with the rule that the student has learnt conten
of this kind are part
- that comparative adjectives are formed with an adjective + -er.Erfors them ir
of a natural acquisition Process' creatir'r
When second-language learners make this kind of error, therefore, they are demonstrating newspa
part of the natural process of language learning. Developmental errors are part ofthe students' say ratl
interlanguage, that is the version of the language which a learner has at any one stage of Apat
development, and which is continually re-shaped as he or she aims towards full mastery. ways ir
Especi[y when responding to errors, teachers should be seen as providing feedback and
helping that re-shaping process, rather than telling students offbecause they are wrong.
an
(o
B Assessing studen Performance ASI

Assessing student performance can come from the teacher or from the students themselves. or
thr
B1 Teachers assessing students SUl

Assessment of performance can be explicit when we say That was really good, ot implicit
when, during a language drill, for example, we pass on to the next student without making
any comment or correction (there is always the dange however, that the student may OE

misconstrue our silence as something else). w(

Students are likely to receive teacher assessment in terms of praise or blame. Indeed, one
oM
of our roles is to encourage students by praising them for work that is well done. Praise is a
vital component in a student's motivation and progress. George Petty sees it as an element F-
of a two-part response to student work. He calls these two parts'medals' and'missions" The
medal is what we give students for doing something well, and the mission is the direction
we give them to improve. We should'try to give every student some reinforcement every
lesson' (zoo4:72) and avoid only rewarding conspicuous success' If, he suggests, we measure
every student against what they are capable of doing - and not against the group as a whole
in a task or
- then we are in a position to give medals for small things, including participation
evidence of thought or hard work, rather than reserving praise for big achievements only.
:a
\lhile it is true that students respond well to praise, over-complimenting them on their t-'
work - particularly where their own self-evaluation tells them they have not done well - may t-
prove counter-productive. In the first place, over-praise may create'praise junkies' (Kohn

138
 T,llSTAKES AND FEEDBACK

i-.h means zoor), that is students rvho are so addicted to praise that they become attention seekers
and their need for praise blinds them to what progress they are actually making. Secondl
students learn to discriminate between praise that is properiy earned and medals (in petty,s
ment have
formulation) that are given out carelessly. This is borne out in research by Caffyn (r9s4,
l situation
discussed in Williams and Burden ry97: 134_l{6) in which secondary students demonstrated
suddenly
their need to understand the reasons for the teacher's approval or disapproval. Williams and
1d starts to
Burden also point to the ineffectiveness of blame in the learning process.
r e n makes
'. it all gets
What this suggests is that assessment has to be handled with subtlety. Indiscriminate
praise or blame will have little positive effect indeed it will be negatively received
rr she goes - - but a
combination of appropriate praise together with helpful suggestions about how to improve
.'rdings.
r''e1l. This
in the future will have a much greater chance of contributing to student improvement.
i tnore for
It is sometimes tempting to concentrate all our feedback on the language which students
use, such as incorrect verb tenses, pronunciation or spelling, for example, and to
has iearnt ignore the
content of what they are saying or writing. Yet this is a mistake, especially when we involve
rd are part
them in language production activities. Whenever we ask students to give opinions or write
creativel whenever we set up a role-play or involve students in putting together a school
rlnstrating
newspaper or in the writing of a report, it is important to give feedback on what the
.e students' students
say rather than just on horv they say it.
:e stage of
l' mastery. Apart from tests and exams (which we will consider in Chapter zz), there are a number of
ways in which we can assess our students'work:
dback and
\frong. o Comments: commenting on student performance happens at various stages both in
and outside the class' Thus we may say Good, or nod approvingl and these comments
(or actions) are a clear sign of a positive assessment. When we wish to give a negative
assessment, we might do so by indicating that something has gone wrong (see
emselves. Cz below),
or by saying things such as That's not quite right. But even here lve should acknowledge
the students'efforts first (the medal) before showing that something is wrong and
- then
suggesting future action (the mission).
:r implicit \'\hen responding to students'written work, the same praise-recommendation procedure
ut making is also appropriate, though here a lot r'vill depend on what stage the students'writing
is at. In
Ldent may
other words, our responses to finished pieces of written r,r,ork will be different from th6se
we give to help students as they r,r.ork with written drafts (see Dr below).
rdeed, one
Praise is a Marks and grades: when students are graded on their work, they are always keen to know
.n element what grades they have achieved. Awarding a mark of 91rc for a piece of writing or giving
a
sions'. The B+ assessment for a speaking activity are clear indicators that students have done well.
: direction When students get good grades, their motivation is often positively affected provided
-
:lent every that the level of challenge for the task was appropriate (see page 1 0 1 Bad grades can
). be
-e extremely disheartening. Nor is grading always easy and clear cut. If we want to give grades,
fiIeasure
as a whole therefore, we need to decide on what basis we are going to do this and u.e need to be uble
to
a task or describe this to the students (see chapter z2.,cz onmarking tests).
rts only. When rve grade a homework exercise (or a test item) which depends on multiple choice,
r on their sentence fill-ins or other controlled exercise t,vpes, it will be relatively easy for
siudents to
may understand how and why they achieved the marks or grades which we have given them. But
r'-e11 -
ies' (Kohn it is more difficult with more creative actir.ities rvhere we ask students to produce spoken
or

139
 CHAPTER 8

written language to perform a task. In such cases otir awarding of grades n il1 necessarily be or ask
somewhat more subjective (see Chapter zzC). It is possible that despite this our students will also ar
have enough confidence in us to accept our judgement, especially where it coincides with to add
their own assessment of their work. But where this is not the case - or rvhere they compare ASSCSSI

their mark or grade with other students and do not agree with what they find - it will be how tl
helpful if we can demonstrate clear criteria for the grading we har.e given, either offering Self
some kind of marking scale (see page 381), or some other written or spoken explanation of ofact
the basis on which we have made our judgement. knor'l
Awarding ietter grades is potentially arvkward if people misunderstand r,vhat the letters in con
mean. In some cultures success is only achieved if the grade is'A, whereas for people in other Thi
education systems a'B' indicates a good result. If, therefore, rve rvish to rely on grades iike ofLan
this, our students need to be absolutely clear about r'vhat such grades mean - especially if many
we wish to add plus and minus signs to them (e.g. C++ or A-). skill ar
Though grades are popularwith students and teachers, some practitioners prefer not to arvard studer
them because they find the difference between an A and a B difflcult to quantift, or because they
can't see the dividing line between a'pass' and a'distinction clearly. Such teachers prefer to rely LE\-E
on comments to give feedback. They can give clear responses to the students in this way without Cz
a
running the risk of grading them erroneously or demotivating them unnecessarily. c. Leve
o
!
If rve do use marks and grades, however, we can give them after an oral activit for a tl
piece of home"vork or at the end of a period of time (a r,veek or a semester).

o Reports: at the end of a term or year some teachers write reports on their students' F
Cr
performance, either for the student, the school or the parents of that student. Such reports
Level.
should give a clear indication of how well the student has done in the recent past and a
reasonable assessment of their future prospects.
o
It is important when writing reports to achieve a judicious balance between positive and
o
negative feedback, where this is possible. As with all feedback, students have a right (and a
desire) to know not only rvhat their r'veaknesses may be, but also what strengths they have D]
Lele
been able to demonstrate.
Reports of this kind may lead to future improvement and progress. The chances for this
o
are greatly increased if they are taken together with the students' o\{n assessment of their Br
a
.D
performance. tr Ler.c

E
u
BA Students assessing themselves
Although, as teachers, we are ideally placed to provide accurate assessments of student I
.(]
performance, students can also be extremely effectir.e at monitoring and judging their own
-o
= Az
Ianguage production. They frequently have a very clear idea of how well they are doing or c Leve
o,
have done, and if we heip them to develop this awareness, we may greatly enhance learning.
Student self-assessment is bound up with the rvhole matter of learner autonomy since if o

we can encourage them to reflect upon their own learning through learner training (Chapter
23, Bt) or when on their own away fiom any classroom (see Chapter z3D), r,r,e are equipping c
n A1
them with a powerful tool for future development. G AITE
u-
Involving students in assessment of themselves and their peers occurs n hen we ask a class E break-
Do you think that's right? after rvriting something we heard someone sa,v Lrp on the board, -J throug
level
o
140
 l

-./
NlISTAKES AND FEEDBACK

sarilybe or asking the class the same question when one of their number gives a response. We can
entswill also ask them at the end of an actir.ity horv well they think they have got on or tell them
-
des with to add a rvritten comment to a piece of rvritten work they have completed, giving their own
-ompare assessment of that work. We might ask them to give themselves marks or a grade and then see
t ivill be horv this tallies rvith our own.
offering Self-assessment can be made more formal in a number of rvays. For example, at the end
ration of of a coursebook unit we might ask students to check what they can now do, e.g. 'Now I
know hor,v to get mv meaning across in con-".ersation/use the past passive/interrupt politely
re letters in conr.ersation', etc.
:rn other This kind of self evaluation is at the heart of the 'can do' statements from ALTE (Association
ades like of Language Testers in Europe) and the Common European Framervork (CEF). Students * in
ecially if many different languages - can measure themselr.es by saying r,vhat they can do in various
skil1 areas. The ALTE statements for general overall ability (giving six levels from Ar-Cz), give
:to award students clear statements of ability against r,r,hicir to measlrre themselves:
ause they
[ir to rely LEVELS Listening/Speaking Reading Writing
ir-ithout Cz CAN advise on or talk about CAN understand clocuments, CAN lvrite letters on any
' O
a
c Level 5 complex or sensitir.e issues, correspondence and reports, subjcct and full notes of
understar-rding colloquial including the finer points of meetings or seminars n,ith
i., for a r!=
references and dealing complex texts. good expression and accuracy.
=
confi dentlv rvith hostile
<luestions.
;tudents' - Cr CAN contribute effectir.ely to CAN read quicklv enough CAN prepare/draft
h reports Level 4 meetings and seminars rvithin to cope rvith an acrdemic professiontrl correspondence,
50
ast and a o\\rn alea ofl,ork or keep up
J-
course, to read the meclia take reasonablv accurate notes
a casual cornersation rvith a for ilrformation or to in meetings or lvrite an essay
a
sitive and g()od degrcc ol flLrencr. copinE understand non-standaril lr,hich shou,s an ability to
c \\ith abstract expressiorrs. correspondence. communicate.
ht (and a -
o Bz CAN follorv or gir.e a talk or.r CAN scalr texts for reler.ant CAN make notes while
ey have
Level - a familiar topic or keep up a information, rnd undestand someone is talking or r,vrite a
o conversation on a fairly rvide detailed instructions or letter including non-standard
es for this range of topics. adr.ice. requests.
rt of their o Br CAN express opinions on CAN understand routine CAN write letters or
E Level z abstract/cultural matters in inlormation and articles, and make notes on familiar or
a limited rva1, or offer advice the general meaning of non- predictable matters.
u within a knorr.n area, irncl
E routine information within a
understand instructions or familiar area.
f student tlo1 public announcements.
-heir own -l Az, CAN express simple opinions CAN understand CAN complete fbrms and
doing or EI Level r or requirernents in a familiar strarghtfonr.ard infbrmation rvrite short simple letters or
:l
arning. a context.
e
t ',r,ithin a knor.vn area, such as postcards reiated to personal
r.'- since if !l
trl
UI
on products and signs and information.
sin-rple textbooks or reports
Chapter *:l on familiar matters.
:quipping xt
!l Ar CAN understand lasic CAN r-rndelstand basic CAN compiete basic forms,
,ii
JI
ALTE instructions or take part in a notices, instructions or and r.r,rite r-rotes including
lsk a class .,t
qt break- basic tactual conr.ersation on a inibrmation. times, dates and places.
he board, hl through predictable to.ric.
jl
^-l
JL level
FrGriRE 1: overrll general ability AIrE l.els at http://u,$nv.alte.org/can do/general.php
i41
 CHAPTER 8
-
A final way of formalising an assessment dialogue between teacher and student
is through
a record of achievement (ROA). Here, students are asked to write their
own assessment of
their successes and ditficulties and say how they think they can proceed. The teacher
then
adds their own assessment of the students' progress (including grades), and
replies to the
points the student has made. A t,vpical RoA form can be seen in Figure z.

Student name: Subject:

Student comment

Signed: Date:

Teacher comment

Signed; Date:

Grade(s)

FTGURE 2: An ROA form

Such ROAs, unlike the more informal journal and letter rvriting rvhich students
and teachers
can engage in, force both parties to think carefully about strengths and weaknesses
and can
help them decide on future courses of action. They are especialiy revealing
for other people, :
such as parents, who might be interested in a student,s progress.
\\4lere students are involved in their own assessment, there is a good chance
1-

that
their
understanding of the feedback r'vhich their teacher gives them will be greatiy S

ehanced as
their own awareness of the learning process increases.

c Feedback during oral work

Though feedback - both assessment and correction can be very helpful during
- oral work,
teachers should not necessarily deal rvith all oral production in the l_
same way. Decisions about
how to react to performance will depend upon the stage of the lesson, the activit
the type of
mistake made and the particular student who is making that mistake.

C1 Accuracy and fluency

A distinction is often made between accuracy and, Jltrency. We need to decide whether a a

particular activity in the classroom is designed to expect the students' complete b,

accuracy - as
in the study of a piece of grammar, a pronunciation exercise or some vocabulary work, l1-
for
example - or whether we are asking the students to use the language as fluently i!
as possible. We
need to make a clear difference between'non-communicative' and'communicative'activities
(see page 70);whereas the former are generallvintencled C.
to ensure correctness, the latter are
designed to improve ianguage fluency t:
142
 q'
:ent is through
ssessment of exampie,
e teacher then
: replies to the
:s and teachers
i:sses and can
: other people,
.nce that their
.'' enhanced as
::ng oral work,
)ecisions about
L:r', the tYPe of
.rde whether a
. .lCCUraCy - aS
:.arY wOrk, fOr
a. possible. We
tive' activities
:. the latter are
NlISTAKES AND FEEDBACK
Most students want and expect us to gi\e them feedback on their performance. For
in one celebrated correspondence m1n). years ago, a non-native-speaker teacher
was upset rvhen, on a teacher training course in the UK, her English trainers refused to correct
any of her English because thev thought it u,as inappropriate in a training situation. 'We find
that there is practically no correcting at all,' the teacher wrote, 'and this comes to us as a big
disappointment' (Lavezzo and Dunford 1993: 6z). Her trainers \'vere not guilty of neglect,
horvever. There was a principle at strke: 'The immediate and constant correction of al1 errors
is not necessarily an effective rvav of helping course participants improve their English,' the
trainer replied on the same page of the journal.
This exchange of vielvs exemplifies current attitudes to correction and some of the
uncertainties around it. The received r.ielr. has been that lvhen students are involved in
accuracY r'vork, it is part of the teacher's function to point out and correct the mistakes the
students are making. \\'e might call this'teacher intervention'- a stage where the teacher stops
the activity to make the correction.
During communicative activities, holvever, it is generally felt that teachers should not
interrupt students in mid-flor.r, to point out a grammatical, lexical or pronunciation error, since
to do so interrupts the communication and drags an activity back to the study of language
form or precise meaning. Traditionall according to one r.ierv of teaching and learning,
speaking activities in the classroom, especi;rl1y activities at the extreme communicative end of
our continuum (see page 70), r,r,ere thought to act as a 'stvitch' to help learners transfer 'learnt'
language to the'acquired' store (Ellis r98z) or a'triggerl forcing students to think carefully
about horv best to express the meanings they u,ish to convey (Swain ry85 zq9). This view
remains at the heart of the'focus on forms'vielr,of language learning (see Chapter:). Part
of the value of such activities lies in the r.arious attempts that students have to make to get
their meanings across; processing language for communication is, in this view, the best r,vay
of processing language for acquisition. Tacher intervention in such circumstances can raise
stress levels and stop the acquisition process in its tracks.
If that is the case, the methodologist Tony Lynch argues, then students have a lot to gain
from coming up against cornmunication problems. Provided that they have some of the words
and phrases necessarv to help them negotiate a way out of their communicative impasses,
they rvill learn a 1ot from so doing. \A/hen teachers intervene, not only to correct but also to
supply alternative modes of expression to help students, they remove that need to negotiate
meaning, and thus the,v may deny students a learning opportunity. In such situations teacher
inten ention may sometimes be necessar),, but it is nevertheless unfortunate - even when we
are using'gentle correctioll'(see page 145). In Tonv Lynch's words,'... the best answer to the
question of when to intervene in learner talk is: as late as possible' (L,vnch ry97: 324).
Nothing in language teaching is quite that sin-rple, of course. There are times during
communicative activities when teachers may \'\ant to offer correction or suggest alternatives
because the students' communication is at risk, or because this might be just the right
moment to dralv the students'attention to a problem. Furthermore, when students are asked
for their opinions on this matter, they often have conflicting views. In a survey of all the
students at a language school in south London, Philip Harmer found that r.vhereas 38 per
cent of the students liked the teacher to do correction r,vork at the front of the class after the
task had finished, 6z per cent liked being corrected at the moment of speaking (zoo5: 74').If
 CHAPTER 8

is worth pointing out, too, that intensive correction can

be just as inappropriately handlecl
during accuracy lvork as during fluency rvork. It often depends
on hor,v it is done, and, just
as importantl Ivho it is dotre to. correction is a
highly p..ror,oi business and clraws, rnore
than many other classroom interactions, on the rapporlt
tetr,veen teacher and students. A,d
as Philip Harmer's study suggests, different students
have different preferer.rces.
For ail these reasons, we need to be extremely sensitir.e
about e way \^/e give f-eedback
and the wav we correct. This means, for e-rample, not
reacting to absolt.ly Jr".1. mistake
that a student makes if this rvill denrotivate thai particular
student. It means j,rdglrg just the
right moment to correct, taking into account the pret'erences
of the group and o'f ir.dirl.1.rul
students' In communicative or f1uenc1, activities, it rerns
cleciding if an urhen to i,tervene
at all' and if we do, lvhrt is the best way to do it. Perhaps,
too, if lve have tirne, we shoulcj talk
to our students about feedback and correction and expl.rin
to them rvhat we intend to do, and
r'vhen and wh1', and then invite their ou'n comments
so that we can make a bargain r,vith them
(see page 77) about this aspect of classoom
experience.

C2 Feedback during accuracy work

As suggested above, correction is usualh'made up
of tr.vo distinct stages. In the first, teachers
show students that a mistake has been made, ancl in
the second, if necessar the,v help the
students to do something about it. The first set of
techniques we neecl to be ar.vare of, then,
is devoted to shorving incorrectness. These techniques
are only really beneficial for what we
are assuming to be language 'slips' rather thrn embecldecl
or systematic errors (due to the
interlanguage stlge the students has reached). when
lve show incorrectness, \,\e are hopir-rg
that the students will be able to correct themselves once
the problem has been pointeci out. If
thev can't do this, however, we wilr need to lnove on to
arternative techniques.
o showing incorrectness: this can be done in a number of
crifferent rvays:
t Repeating here ,ve can ask the student to repeat u,hat
they harre said, perhaps b sayingAgairt?
1,
which, coupled with intonation and expression, lvill indicate
that sornethirrg irr,i .l.or.
z Echoing this can be a precise r'vav of
rin-pointing an error. we repeat r,r,hrt the student
has said, ernphasising the part of the utterance
that r,vas wrong, e.g. Flight 3o9 Go to paris?
; j.l; (said rvith a questioning intonation) or
s/ze sAID me? It is an extremely etficient way of
shor,r.ing incorrectness during accuracy work.
3 Statement and cptesfion: we can, of course, simply say Gootl try, bttt that's not qttite right
or Do people thiflk thot's correct? to indicate that something
l-rasn't quite worke.l.
4 Expression: Ivhen ll'e know our clrsses well, a sirnple facial expresrio, o, a gesture (for & Feed
The r
example, a r'vobbling hand) may be enough to indicate
that something dJesn,t quite a sigr
lvork' This needs to be done with care as the rvrong erpression
or gesture can, in certain behar
circumstances, appear to be mocking or cruel.
to thr
5 Hinting a quick i'vay of helping students to activate rules they already know (b,t r.vhich
encot
thel'have temporarily'misiaicl') is to gir.e a quiet hint.
we might jusr s1y the word, tense it. Or
to make them think that perhaps they should have
used the past simpte rrther than the
present perfect. \'ve could say countable to make contrl
them think about a concord mistake fluenr
they hal'e tnade, or rcl/ to iirdicate they have chosen
the r,vrong r,vord. This kipd of hinting
depends upon the students ancl the teacher sharing ways'
metalartguage (linguistic terms)
which, lvhen Ivhispered to stuclents, will help then-r to correct
themselr.es.
144
:
 MISTAKES AND FEEDBACK

handled 6 Reformulation: a correction technique which is widely used both for accuracy and fluency
' work is for the teacher to repeat back a corrected version of what tl-re student has said,
:. and, just
;-i\-s) more reformulating the sentence, but without making a big issue of it. For example:
ients. And said me I was Late.
IT:DENT: She
TEACHER: 0h, so she told you you were late, did she?
e ieedback I mean I was very unhappy and ...
ITUDENT: 0h yes, she toLd me. So
rlmistake
ng tust the Such reformulation is just a quick reminder of how the language should sound. It does
,ndividual not pr.rt the student under pressure, but clearly points the way to future correctness.
r intervene Its chief attribute - in contrast to the other techniques mentioned above - is its
st-Lould talk unobtrusiveness.
i ro do, and In all the procedures above, teachers hope that students are able to correct themselves
r -,' ith them once it has been indicated that something is wrong. Holvever, where students do not
know or understand what the problem is (and so cannot be expected to resoh.e it), the
teacher will tvant to help the students to get it right.

o Getting it right if students are unable to correct themselves or respond to reformulation,

rst, teachers we need to focus on the correct r.ersion in more detail. We can say the correct version,
rer help the emphasising the part r,vhere there is a problem (e.g. Flight 309 GOES to Paris) before saying
ie of, then, the sentence normally (.e.g. Flight SO9 goes to Paris), or we can say the incorrect part correctly
i.rr what we (e.g. Nor 'go'. Listen,'goei).If necessar we can explain the grammar (e.g. I4re say I go, you
due to the go, we go, but for he, she or it, we say'goes'. For example,'He goes to Paris' or'Flight 309 goes to
: are hoping
Paris'), or the lexical issue, (e.g. We use'juvenile crime' tvhen we talk about crime committed
r'nted out. If by children; a'childish crime' is an act that is silly because it's like the sort of thing a child wotild
,7o). We rvili then ask the student to repeat the utterance correctly.
We can also ask students to help or correct each other. This works well where there is
.:tttgAgant? a genuinely cooperative atmosphere; the idea of the group helping all of its members is a
::t't Ciear. powerful concept. Nevertheiess, it can go horribly wrong where the error-making individual
.: t}-ie student feels belittled by the process, thinking that they are the only one who doesn't knorv the grammar

. GO to PLt'1,' or vocabulary. We need to be exceptionally sensitive here, only encouraging the technique
--.ie nI \!-. where it does not undermine such students.As we have said above, it is worth asking students
for their opinions about u,hich techniques they personally feel comfortable with.
j ' .rl r]lllc '.:::' -

...':.ked. :: Feedback during fluency work

: -: {aSIUIC The way in rvhich we respond to students when they speak in a fluency activity will have
- ;l,esn't q,,i-.. a significant bearing not only on how well they perforrn at the time but also on how they
- :n, in cert.r,:- behave in fluency activities in the future. We need to respond to the content, and not just
to the language form; lr,e need to be able to untangle problems which our students have
:.,tr ibut which encountered or are encountering, but r'r,e may well decide to do this after the event, not during
:,:e rord tense it. Our tolerance of error in fluency sessions will be much greater than it is during more
,:rer than the controlled sessions. Nevertheless, there are times when rve may wish to intervene during
:rrrd mistake fluency activities (especially in the light ofstudents'preferences - see above), just as there are
-,rd of hinting ways we can respond to our students once such activities are over.
.ristic terms) o Gentle correction: if communication breaks down completely during a fluency activity, we
miry uell have to intervene. If our students can't think of what to say, we ma) want to prompt
t45

-*-
l

I
 CHAPTER 8
-
them forwards. If this is just the right moment to point
out a ranguage feature, we may offer
a form of correction' Provided we offer this
help with tact and dicretion, there is no reason
why such interventions should not be helpfirl. But however
we do it, our correction will be
more'gentle': in otherwords,wewill not stop thewhole
activityand insist on everyone saying
the item correctlybefore being alowed to continue
with their discussion.
Gentle correction can be offered in a number of ways.
we might simply reformulate
what the student has said in the expectation that theywill
pick up our reformulation (see
page 145), even though it hardly interrupts
their speech, e.g.
STUDENT t: And when I
go on hoLidoy, I enjoy to ski n the winter
and I Like to surf in
the summer. yes, they ore my
favourtes.
TEACHER: Yes, I enjoy skiing, too.
sruDENTt: Ah, yes, I enjoy skiing.
sruDENT z: I don't enjoy sking. Its
too coLd. Whot I like is ...
It is even possible that when students are making
an attempt to say something they are not
sure of, such reformulation or suggestion
may help them to learn something new.
we can use a number of other techniques for showing
incorrectness, too, such as echoing
and expression, or eyen saying I shouldn't say
x, say y, etc.But because we do it gentl and
because we do not moYe on to a'getting it .ight'
,tug., our intervention is less disruptive
than a more accuracy-based pro.edure
-ould be.
However, we need to be carefi'rl of over-correction
during a fluency stage. By constantly
interrupting the flow of the actity, we may bring it
to a staidstill.'what we have to judge,
therefore, is whether a quick reformulation or
a quick prompt may help the conversation
move along without intruding too much or whether,
on th. contrur it is not especially
necessary and has the potential to get in the
way of the conversation.
Recording mistakes: we frequently act as observers,
watching and listening to students so
that we can give feedback afterwards. such observation
allows us to give good feedback to
our students on how weil they have performed, arways
rememberin! tnui *. want to give
positive as well as negative feedback. D
one of the problems of giving feedback after the event
is that it is easy to forget what
students have said' Most teachers, therefore, write
down points theywant to refer to later, and
some like to use charts or other forms of categorisation
io help them do this, as in Figure
3.

rrcunn 3: A chart tbr recording stuclent mistakes

In each column we can note down things we heard,

whether they were particurarly good or
incorrect or inappropriate. we might write down *according
errors such as to my opinion tn
the words andphrases column,or*Ihaven'tbeenyesterdayinthe
grammar corumn; wemight
record phoneme problems or stress issues in the
pronunciation column and make a note of
places where students disagreedtoo tentatively D1
oibluntly in the appropriacy column.
we can also record students'language performance
with audio or video recorders. In this
situation the stdents might be asked to esign
their own charts like the one above so that

146
 t--../
MISTAKES AND FEEDBACK

,\re may offer when they listen or watch, the too, will be writing down more and less successful language
e is no reason performance in categories which make remembering what they heard easier. Another
ection willbe alternative is to dide students into groups and have each group listen or watch for something
en'one saying different. For example, one group might focus on pronunciation, one group could listen for
a third looks at the effect of e physical
the use of appropriate or inappropriate phrases, while
-reformulate paralinguistic features that are used. If teachers want to involve students more if
- especially
nulation (see they have been listening to an audiotape or watching a video - they can ask them to write up
any mistakes they think they heard on the board. This can lead to a discussion in which the
class votes on whether they think the mistakes really are mistakes.
;urf n
Another possibility is for the teacher to transcribe parts of the recording for future study.
However, this takes a lot of timel
o After the event: when we haye recorded student performance, wewill want to give feedback
to the class. We can do this in a number of ways. We might want to give an assessment of
an activit saying how well we thought the students did in it, and getting the students to
E they are not
tell us what they found easiest or most difcult. We can put some of the mistakes we have
ne\\,.
recorded up on the board and ask students first if they can recognise the problem, and then
ch as echoing
whether they can put it right.
it gentl and
Alternativel we can write both correct and incorrect words, phrases or sentences on
:ss disruptive
the board and have the students decide which is which.
When we write examples of what we heard on the board, it is not generally a good idea to
Br- constantly
saywho madethe mistakes since this mayexpose students in front oftheir classmates. Indeed,
1\-e to judge,
we will probably want to concentrate most on those mistakes which were made by more than
conversation
one person. These can then lead on to quick teaching and re-teaching sequences.
rot especially
Another possibility is for teachers to write individual notes to students, recording mistakes
they heard from those particular students with suggestions about where they might look for
:rrstudents so information about the language * in dictionaries, grammar books or on the Internet.
d tedback to
: rr-ant to give
W Feedback on wrtten work
o iorget what The way we give feedback on writing will depend on the kind of writing task the students have
:r to 1ater, and undertaken, and the effect we wish to create. When students do workbook exercises based on
, Ln Figure 3.
controlled testing activities, we will mark their efforts right or wrong, possibly pencilling in
the correct answer for them to study. However, when we give feedback on more creative or
rasy communicative writing (whether letters, reports, stories or poems), we will approach the
task with circumspection and cleqly demonstrate our interest in the content of the students'
work. A lot will depend on whethel We are intervening in the writing process (where students
are composing various written drafts before producing a final version - see Chapter r9, Br), or
i1ar1y good or whether we are marking a finished product. During the writing process we will be responding
,,i.,,opinionin
rather than correcting.
mr; wemight
rake a note of D1 Responding
r1umn.
When we respond, we say how the text appears to us and how successful we think it has been
orders. In this (we give a medal, in other words) before suggesting how it could be improved (the mission).
above so that
Such responses are vital at various stages of the writing process cycle (see page 326). The

t47
 CHAI'TER 8

t)- -
T'\
comments u/e offer students need to appelr helpful and not censorious. Sometimes they will
be in the mirrgin of the students'rtork or, on a complrter, they can be r'vritten as viewable
comments either by using an editing program or by writing in comments in a different
colour. If rve want to off-er nlore extensive comments, we mly need a separate piece of paper
- or separate computer docunent. Consider this example rn rvhich the teacher is responding
in the form of a letter to a student's frrst drafi of a composition about New Year's Eve:

Past I looked up ... lntroductio n

it seen'ed
General Famtly celebrations tn
present Uruguay are very
tmpartant.
People usually send
greettngs ta each ather...
Past ???? Concl usion

FrcuRE 4: From Process \\rt'itin.gbv R \\hitc and V Arndt (Pearson Edr-rcation Ltd)

This type of feedback takes time, of course, but it can be more useful to the student than
a draft covered in correction marks. It is designed specificall1. for situations in rvhich the
student r,r,ill go back and revier,v the drrfl before producir-rg a new version.
I
When we respond to a final rvritten product (an essay or a finished project), we can say
what rve liked, holv we felt about the text and r.vhrt rve think the students rnight do next time -

if they are going to r,vrite something sirnilar.

Another constructive way of responding to students' written work is to show alternative
ways of rvriting througl-r refonulation (see Cz above). Instead of providing the kind of
comments in the example above, rve might say, I would express this paragraph slightly dffirently
Jrom yotr, and then re-write it, keeping the original intentior-r as far as possible, but avoiding
any of the language or construction problems r.vhich the student's original contained. Such
reformulation is extremely useful for students since by coilparir.rg their version lvith yours
they discover a lot about the language. However, it has to be done sympathetically, since we
might end up 'steamrollering' our own view of things, fbrcing the student to adopt a different
r.clice from the one they rvanted to use.

l-.
 L-_
Nf TS'IAKES AND FEEDI]ACK

resthey will Correcting

as viewable N{any teachers use correction codes to indicate that students have made mistakes in their written
a different u'ork. These codes can be r'vritten into the body of the text itself or in the margin. This makes
:ce of paper correctiotl much neater and less threatening than random marks and contments. Different
responding teachers use different symbols, but Figure 5 shorvs some of the more common ones.
Er-e:
Svmbol Meaning Example error
5 A spelling error The asnwer is obyious
wo A mistake in rvord order I like ver), much it.
G A grammar mistake I ant going to buy some fitrrLiture5.
f \Vrong verb tense I hvc scen hint vesterdav.
C Concord mistake (e.g. the subject People is angry.
and verb agreentent)
I Something has been left out. He told I that he was sorry.
WW Wrong rvord I ttnt interL'stetl o11 jozz rnusic.

{} Something is not necesstr\,. He was not {too} strong enough.

?M The meaning is unclear. Tltat is n t ery cxcitel ohotosraph.
? A punctuation mistake. Do yotL like tontlon.
Flt Too forn-ral or informal. Hi Mr Franklin, Thonk yotL for your letter .

rcLrRF. 5: Correction syntbols

In order for students to benefit fror-n the use of s1,161s such as these, they need to be trained
in their use (see D3 belon ).
We crn also correct by puttilrg ticks against good points (or another appropriate symbol,
such as, for erample, a circie if the lessons are taking place in Japan) ancl underlining
problems. We crn lr'rite suntntarising comments rt the end of a student's work saying r,vhat
:udent than
\'vas appropriate and lvhat needs correcting.
r rrhich the

.,fe can say

DA Training students
cr next time
If students are to benelit from our feedback on their r,r,riting, they need to know what rve
mean and whrt to do about it. This involr.es training them to unclerstand the process.
We might start by ivriting incorrect sentences on the board, such as *I don't enjoy to watch
lternative
TV. Students come up to the board and underline the mistake in the sentence (e.g. I clon't
:he kind of
'.
enjoy to watch IV). Actir.ities like this get them used both to the idea of error-spotting and
ili.lferently
also to the convention of underlining. Later we can give them several sentences, some of
ut avoiding
which are correct and some of u,hich are not. They have to decide rvhich is which.
iined. Such
We can now introduce students to correction syrnbols. We crn go through tl-rem one by
iiith yours
one, sholving examples of each category. Once ive think students have grasped their meaning,
li-. since we
lve might get them to tryz sig the sr.mbols themselves. In the following example (Figure 6),
:a different
the teacher hars tvped up some student i,vork exactly as it was written by different members of
a group. The story is on an overhead transparency. Students from a diff-erent group tried to
use the correctiott symbols (see Figure 5) they had recentlylearnt about to correct the piece,
with partial success:

149
CHAPTER 8

5o
Once upon a time, a butif pnincess lived in a castle by a niver'
tol
1 )-l
She was very cleven the

She always read and studied.

l: Fr
Howevel she fiaJlteen the gen9fous natune around hen, where she was living, I,

5of j
she had a sterothen that hte her very much. -':
.
she had.iffi
It was a veny lovalW. Gr .i:
:::
One day, hen stepmother bought a basket of red apples from the local market.

The stepmothen pLl#ed poison in apples. -:.

--i

Her dog saw what ffi stepmother dL, so, when the stepmother gave the .::
apple to hen, hen dog jumped and ate the apple. Then, thef Oog OieO.

FIGURE 6: Students use correction s1'rnbols

:

The teacher then discussed the students'efforts wi the class.

Once students have had a good chance to get to know how to use correction symbols, we Bu
can start to use them when looking at students'work.

lnvolving students
So far we have discussed the teacher's feedback to students. But we can also encourage students :
to give feedback to each other. Such peer review has an extremely positive effect on group :-
cohesion. It encourages students to monitor each other and, as a result, helps them to become
better at self monitoring. Iames Muncie suggests a further advantage, namely that whereas
students see teacher comment as coming from an expert, as a result of which they feel obliged
to do what is suggested, even when we are only making suggestions, they are much more
likely to be provoked into thinking about what they are writing if the feedback comes from
one of their peers (Muncie zooo). Thus when responding to work during the drafting stage,
peer feedback is potentially extremely beneficial. However, in order to make sure that the
comment is focused, we might want to design a form such as the one suggested by Victoria
Chan (zoor) where students are given sentences to complete such as My immediate reactions
to your piece of writing are ..., I like the part ..., I'm not sure about ..., The specific language errors
I have noticed are ..., etc.
In her book on writing, Tiicia Hedge letting the students decide (with teacher
suggests
guidance) what they think the most important things to look out for in a piece of writing are
(Hedge 1988: 54). They can give their opinions about whether spelling is more important than
handwriting, or whether original of ideas should interest the feedback giver more than, sa
grammatical correctness. They can be asked for their opinions on the best grading system, too.
In consultation with the teacher, therefore, they can come up with their own feedback kit.
 MISTAKES AND FEEDBACK

l
We can also encourage students to seif monitor by getting them to write a checklist of things
to look out for when they evaluate their own work during the drafting process (Harmer zoo,1:
rzr). The more we encourage them to be involved in giving feedback to each other, or to evaluate
their or,r,n work successful\,, the better they will be able to develop as successful writers'

D5 Finishing the feedback Process

Except where students are taking achievement tests (see Chapter zz, At),lvritten feedback is
designed not just to give an assessment of the students'r,vork, but also to help and teach. We
give feedback because rve want to affect our students' language use in the future as well as
comment upon its use in the past. This is the formative assessment we mentioned briefly at
the beginning of this chapter. \\4ten we respond to first and second written drafts of rvritten

l
a

assignment, therefore, we expect a new version to be produced which wili show how the
\
students have responded to our comments. In this way feedback is part of a learning process,
and rve will not have wasted our time. Our reason for using codes and symbols is the same:
if students can identif. the mistakes they have made, they are then in a position to correct
them. The feedback process is only really finished once they have made these changes. And if
students consult grammar books or dictionaries as a way of resolving some of the mistakes we
have signalled for them, the feedback we have given has had a positive outcome.
If, on the contrar,v, r,vhen we return correcfed work, the students put it straight into a file or
lose it, then the time rve spent responding or correcting has been completely wasted.

:rbols, we D6 Burning the midnight oil

'Why burn the midnight oil?' asks Icy Lee (zoolb) in an article which discusses the stress
of written feedback for students and teachers. For students, the sight of their work covered
in corrections can cause great anxiet,v. For teachers, marking and correcting take up an
te students enormous amount of time (Lee found that the zoo Hong Kong teachers she interviewed
on Sroup spent an average of zo-3o hours a week marking). Both teachers and students deserve a break
to become from this drudgery.
i rvhereas Along with other commentators, Lee has a number of ways of varying the amount of
'eel obliged marking and the way teachers do it. These include:
ruch more
Selective marking: we do not need to mark everlthing all the time. If we do, it takes agreal
t,mes from
deal of time and can be extremely demotivating. It is often far more ef[ective to tell students
fting stage,
that for their next piece of work we will be focusing specifically on spelling, or specifically
re that the
-_: onparagraph organisation, or on verb tenses, for example. We will have less to correct, the
br- Vrctorra
students will have fewer-red marks to contend with, and while they preparing their work,
it reactnns
students will give extra special attention to the area we have identified.
i;tage errors
Different error codes: there is no reason why students and teachers should always use the
tih teacher same error codes (seeDz above).At different\evels andfor drfferenttaskswemaywantto make
r' riting are shorter lists of possible errors, or tailor what we are looking at for the class in question.
ortant than teachers may decide only to mark some of the scripts they are
Dont mark all the papers:
:e than, sa
given - as a sample of what the class has done as a whole. They can then use what they find
!i-stem, too.
ih.re for post-task teaching with the whole class'
ci kit.
151
 I

CHAPTER 8

students can look at some

o Involve the students: teachers can correct some of the scripts and
of the others. As we saw in D4 above, peer correction has
extremely beneficial results'

we are not, of course, suggesting abandoning teacher feedback. But

\ve need to be able to
I
think creati'ei,v about t o*lt can best be done in the interests of
both students and teachers'
t
Chapter notes and further reading
o Analysing errors
On interlanguage ancl analysing errors, see H D Brown (zoo7: Chapter 9)'

o Teachers'attitudes to feedback and correction

teachers do not
In a fascinating teacher training activit R Thnner (1992) shows how
when they themselves are
necessarily enjoy the feedback methods which they use in
class

being corrected.

o Using transcripts for self evaluation

paul Mennim (zoo) reports on a speaking'process' approach to student presentations;
them, then gave a
students recorcled their presentations, transcribed and corrected
new transcription to the teacher who suggeste<l changes. only
then did they give the
presentation.

o Correcting written work

Harmer (zoo4: Chapter 7). For alternative feedback ideas, see K Hyland (tSSo)'
See J

o Written teacher feedback

In Yoshihito Sugita (zoo6) found that imperative comments from
a sma1l-scale stud1,,
teachers'nvere fr more effective on revisions than questions
or statements' which suggests
when respond by asking
that students need training to understand r,vhat to do teachers

questions and making suggestions' AV

Peer correction
peer-response trainig'
K Hyland (zooz: Chapter 6.2) rePolts on the beneficial results of

Online feedback
is somewhat
JKannan anil P Towndror,v (zooz) suggest that giving feedback online
and teachers have to be careful not to spend
problematical. Students make strong demands
more time than is reasonable.
:
:

L
152
lok at some -
Managing for
'esults.

be able to
,1 teachers.

SUCCESS

Classroom teachers do everything they can to make sure that their lessor-rs are a success.
Horvever, sometimes things don't work as weli as they had planned. There may be mairy
reasons for this, but the one that many teachers find most difficult to deal with is when students
fail to cooperate. This can disrupt the learning lvhich should be taking place and sometimes,
not r'vhen individuals get significantly out of control, lessons have to stop while the teacher re-
elves are establishes order. Such moments of disruption can be unsettling, not just for teachers but also
for students, especially since our aim, as classroom managers, is to promote student success,
rather than to become involved in damage-limitation.
Problem behaviour from students can take many forms; Paul Wadden and Sean N,{cGovern
ations;
list disruptive talking, inaudible responses, sleeping in class, tardiness arnd poor attendance,
la
failure to do homework, cheating in tests and unrvillingness to speak in the target language
r the (Wadden and McGovern t99r). Of course, their list may reflect the educational culture where
theywere teaching, rather than being universal. In other contexts we might add behaviours such
as insolence to the teacher, insulting or bullving other students, damaging school property and

i! ). refusing to accept sanctions or punishment. However, rvhat is characterised as indiscipline'...

depends on what counts as a well-ordered or disciplined classroom for the individual teacher'
(Brorvn and Mclntyre 1993: 44). Sorne teachers are more tolerant than others.
::-om
But whatever our orvn view of problem behaviour is, if rve are to manage for success, lve need
: sr,rggests
to knorv why it occurs, how to prevent it and, in the last resort, rvhat to do if it happens.
::king

A Why problems occur

Rose Senior (zoo6: Chapter 5) points out that when students come to class theybring rvith them
training.
their own personalities and their learning expectations. Their behaviour lvill also be influenced
by their current circumstances and by what happens in the lessons. There is allvays, as r,vell, the
hat possibility of interpersonal tensions between students and between students and their teacher.
ot to spend Students' personalities are close\ bound, up with their levels of self-esteem - how they feel
about themselves and what level of comfort and self-confidence they are experiencing. Self-
esteem is influenced by a large number of factors. At the most basic level, it is very difficult to
feel good about ourselves if rve are not safe, or do not have food to eat or warmth or shelter.
But once we have all those, we can still be both positir.ely and negatively influenced by the
people around us.

o The family: students' experiences in their farnilies har.e a profound influence on their
attitudes to learnittg and to authoritv. Sometimes indiscipline can be traced back to a
difficult home situation. Sometimes home attitudes to English, to learning in general, or
even to teachers themselves can pre-dispose students to behave problematically.

153
 CHAPTER 9

affect students'behaviour'
I,earningexpectations: previous learning experiences of allkinds
Even at the level of 'the last teacher let mestudents are influenced by what went before'
...',
unpleasant memories of
Their expectations of the learning experience can be coloured by
be the result of what
unhappy classroom experiences,ndtheir behaviour can sometimes
theywere previously allowed to get awaywith'
by the learning culture they are
Students' Iearning expectatiom ur. ulro powerfirlly affected
become ingrained without
operating in, where iros of thinking and behaviour may have
discuss the'norm of
uryorr" Jven questioning them. ZoltanDrnyei and Tim Murphey
too good in
mediocrity (iooZ: Ze) i" tt is context. This is the norm which says that being
too, about how students
lessons is not desirable or appropriate. And there are other norms,
etc.If these norms are
shouldbehave in lessons and aboutwhattheyshould think of teachers,
not confronted (see page r55), problem behaviour is likely to be an ongoing reality.

Approvaft a student's self-esteem may result partly from the way the
(see page 8z) and they are
teacher behaves'
not alone' Most
BCr
childre., seem to thrive on teacher approval
people who enjoy good rapport with their teacher are happy to get
that teacher's approval'
with the
frVt.r. that approval is lacking, their incentive to behave well - that is to comply
norms of the group - is often compromised'
the case but is often
students also look fo, approvai from their peers' This is generally
learning success but are
most noticeable in teenageir, *ho may not be very impressed by
of their peers' Problem
often amused o, u*ur. by the humour or anarchic behaviour
will have to reYerse
behaviour then becomes desirable rather than being a problem' Teachers
that concept and try to find other ways that students can meet with
approval.
however' we need
Despite the fact that students are often interested in their peers'antics'
people who lose out
to remind ourselves constantly that if a class gets out of control, the
students.
most and who are most resentfirl of that 10ss of control - are the
-
in class' In the first
What the teacher does: a lot will depend on how we, as teachers, behave
(and are therefore
place, students are far more likely t be engaged with what is going on
do not - or if they see
,rlik ly ro b. disruptive) if they have something interesting to do. If they
lessons - they are far more
i.t t,i
the teacher as unprepared and uncertain about what to do in their
level of concentration
likely to lose interest. If they lose interest, their incentive to maintain their
is lessened, and if that happens, they are more likely to become
disconnected with what is going
Petty points out"Most
on. That is when problem behaviour often manifests itself. As George
were created before the
of the discipline difculties experienced by teachers in the classroom
lessonstarted'(zoo4: ror).Irrother*ords,ifteachers arrive atthe classroom
doorwithoutaclear
greatly increased'
idea of what they are going to do, the chances of things going wrong
are

The way that we ,.u.i to inappropriate behaviour will have a

profound influence on
and fair' theywill be
our students' subsequent behaviur' If they see us as decisive, effective
learning successfirlly
far less likely to be isruptive in the future, and the chances of their
are enhanced.

Success and failure: as we saw in Chapter 5, success is a

powerful agent for the sustaining
of a motivation. If they achieve identifiable goals, our students are likely to remain
student's
engaged with what is going on. Part of a teacher's
job is to make sure that students recognise
page r38)'
th.i, u.hi"r"m"nts, ho*errer small those achievements actually are (as we saw on
154
 MANAG]NG FOR SUCCESS

\-10ur. If students do not see any evidence of their own success but are presented constantly
eibre. with failure (in tests, in classroom language use or in their teacher's attitude to their
:ies of classroom behaviour), then their incentive to behave within the limits set by the teacher and
rrat the group is greatly reduced. Failure is a powerfi-rl engine for problem behaviour. Teachers
need, therefore, to manage for student success.
Iey afe
External factors: some external factors may af[ect students' behaviour, too. If they are tired,
rthout
they will not be able to concentrate. If the classroom is too hot or too cold, this may result
rrm of
in students being too relaxed or too nenT. Discomfort then leads to disengagement. Noise
ood in
from outside the classroom can impact badly upon students' concentration. Teachers at
udents
primary level, especiall notice significant behaviour changes in different weathers: a high
-rns are
wind, in particular, tends to make their children'go wild'.

- '.: .
:haves.
:. Most
& Creating successful classrooms
,proval. Problem behaviour rarely occurs in successful language classrooms. When students are
rith the engaged, have a reasonable level of self-esteem and are experiencing success, there is no
incentive for them to behave badl disrupt lessons or create barriers between themselves
and their teacher or their peers. We need, then, to examine how we can try to ensure that the
is often
classroom is a success-oriented environment.
but are
'roblem
) reverse
B1 Behaviour norms
All groups * whether in education or anywhere else - have ways of behaving and quickly
'rl
\\-e need establish norms for this behaviour which delineate the ways things are done in the group. I
lose out
Eventuall of course, the norms of behaviour - if the group is big enough - can become frrll- 'rl
blooded cultural norms that a whole society adheres to.
School and classroom groups have their own norms of behaviour, too. Some of these
r the fi.rst are stated explicitly by a school (e.g. the wearing of school uniforms in some countries, no
herefore running in the corridor, etc.). Some are laid down by the school and the teacher (students
f ey see have to put their hands up if they want to ask a question; they must stand up when the teacher
tar more comes into the room; at the end of the lesson students must not pack their things away until
entration the teacher tells them they may); some seem to spring up from within the group itself (or are
rt is going the result of years of norms adhered to by previous groups which have been picked up by
rut,'Most current groups - e.g. the norm of mediocrity).
refore the If groups behave according to norms which have been laid down or picked up - or
out a clear informally arrived at - then it makes sense for teachers to become personally involved in the
eased. creation of norms which the group will adhere to. One way of doing this, of course, is for the
luence on teacher to say what behaviour is or is not permissible (for example, turn off all mobile phones
rer-willbe in class, no speaking while I am speaking, no eating or drinking in lessons). Whether or not
rccessfullY the students agree with these rules, they are obliged to obey them. However, these rules (or
norms of behaviour) will always be the teacher's rules rather than the students'. None of the
members of the group (except for the teacher) have had any agency in their creation. They
sustaining
'to remain have no ownership of these norms, but are expected to acquiesce to them.

recognise
Schools, just like any other group-based entities, need norms of behaviour if they are to
s

page r38).
function efciently. It is worth thinking, therefore, about how we can get the students' active

155
 CHAPTER 9
\le hflt
things we need to bear
aqreementwithsuchnorms;forifwedoso,theyarefarmore,likelytoadheretothemrather
i. teachin
#;;;;d into obedie-n' There are three SrouP

tan feel the,v have r-e lll

mind in order to achieve this'
rr,,e need to discuss
o
oNormsneedtobeexpliciffdiscussed:itisnoteffectivejusttotellstudentstoreadasetof
beha'iour'
t-,. ,or-ot'u'-tJutt"p'ufle 0n
rules about *fr"t i, .*ridered,o ,"r.y they are there' we
might give
explainingwh", ;;";;;; ""a a(
rhe rules with a group, them' Perhaps we can
tnJnrr of behaviour we expectfrom be
students h"rd.;;;:r.rtirr* necessary'
we can refer to it whenever
"
., ;";hjch hsts ths rules so that r-l
have a poster and \\'hy it is expected of them' they
If students understand what
is *r;;;;,hem just seem arbitrary
rd
i"il"l""t norms than if they
are far more likely to
conform ro these
and caPricious'
.

them' We will actively negotiate

oNormscanbeiointlynegotiated:.ifwereallywantstuclentsto.buyinto,asetofrulesor
rve will go further ;;;;.";rlaining
.

norms of behaviour, agreed code of conduct'

what should go into our
list with ,,ri.i . t y .r"util1g u jointly i'clude details about
"r,
u",*,""rr1"u.rr", u'a stuclents)
coul<l
.:
kind of contract
The cocle (a
will be allowed to finish before
classroom behaviour (e.g. when ,"*"";;l;;iki,-,g, '1-"y
theyareinterruptecl),.1i,.u,shor'vofterrhonreworkisexpected,orestablishnormsof P
learner autonom,Y'
rvork rvith them'
Whenateacherandstudentshavedir,ergentviewsaboutr,r,hatisacceptableandrvhat
into account and try to
-
the students, ofirri,
is not, rve should take '
the students' first
reachers ;;;J io hold the discussion in
Holr,ever,ultimatelywervillhavetob"i,,,aboutwhatwearepfepaledtoaccept'
with iow-level classes,
class we lt,ii1 need
to show
];';;;;iiiii"*""r -
language. Wh;;;i; is,-,ot po,,ibt" t"pected andwhat is not acceptable'
quickly t"i;;to'gl] ttutplt"V;;;; ,.".r'"i a chart which says
P'

"'d a formuia *r..r. and stuclents Produce

bind both
Some teachers adopt
learner.I expect .i;, y;;. teacher/a.iearner' I tvill "L These
As your teacher/a
teacherandlearnerstobehaviourswhich,wilibemtrtuallybeneficial.
Whenacodeofconducthasbeen"-".,".'."\arrivedat(evenwhenbasedon.teacher
it has considerable
coming to an agreement -
_ with everyone having a say and
I direction)
to students. that;f,;",*,;g'i.a . te code, the1, themseives have
power. We can say
it'
responsibility for maintaining
E
oNormsneedtobereviewedandrevisited:justbecatrsewehavediscussedacodeof
:
of what
;;i;;', *t']t"d to be able to remind them
conductatthebeginningofaterrno.rsemester,itdoesnotmeanthatourjobisdone.When
norms
studenrs step outlide the "f of the code (say on a poster
will be n ud" ,rr.h easier if there is a copy
we agreed o,-r. ir-,o
we will
"'*li:T:1":i-J;.t;:tl'11", - that are not especiallv appropriate'
wavs
come up with new norms
with the groriurd get their agreement to
discuss the situation rj
to cover this new situation'
:

successful behaviour
BA How teachers can ensure rve have rvith our students
make a significant
The way \ve ,uort i lessons and the i";;;t successful learning'
sLlccess ancl' lvhen things are going well' to
contribution to a group's

156

I
 I,TANAGING FOR SUCCESS

rather \\,e have already seen that the rapport we establish with our students is crucial to effective
)ear in teaching and learning (see pages n3-u5). Without good rapport, creating an appropriate
group atmosphere and identity is extremely diflicult. But there are other things, too, whjch
we can do to ensure a positive class atmosphere.
1 set of
Lrscuss Startaswemeanto go on: students will find it extremely difficult if we onlybegin to insist
ht give on certain behaviour when things go rvrong. If, for example, rve wish to start our lessons in
1fe can a calm atmosphere, then we need to do that from the very first lesson by waiting for siience

essary. before we start the activities we have planned. If we have decided that we are in charge of
n, they who sits rvhere, then we should exercise that decision-making from the very beginning
bitrary rlther than asking students to accept this halfwa,v through the term.

Know what we are going to do: students are far less likely to cause problems if we give
:ules or them interesting things to do. They are far less likely to feel the urge to be disruptive if they
:gotiate understand that lve come to the lesson rvith clear ideas about what these things are, rather
har..e

nduct. than making it up as lve go along. This does not mean that we lvili always slavishly follow a
s about plan (we rvill discuss planning in detail in Chapter zr), but it does suggest that a rvell-organised
r before period of study and activity r,vhich has been thought about before the lesson has a far greater
rms of chance of success than a chaotic ill-thought-out (and uitimately fi'ustrating) one.

Plan for engagement students rvho are interested and enthusiastic do not generally exhibit
nd rvhat problem behaviour. When we plan our classes, therefore, we need to think holv we can
,h them.
engage students in a reading or listening text before starting detailed rvork on it; rve need to
do our best to introduce topics that are relevant to our students' experience.
:nts'first
Interest can be also be generated by a teacher's performance. There is no doubt that I
to show students can be engaged by the energy and enthusiasm oftheir teachers.
l.
hrch says
prioritise success: one of our most important tasks is to try to make our students successful.
ind both This does not mean making things easy all the time since that can provoke boredom or, at
the very least, disengagernent. But at the other end of the spectrum, if things are too
difhcult,
students become demoralised. What we wiil try to aim for, instead, are tasks, activities
n teacher
siderable and goals which challenge individual students but for which they can have a better-than-
lr-es have uu"rug. chance of success. Getting the ievel of challenge right is a major factor in effective
page r8) is
classrooms. Our use of praise (the medals and missions that we discussed on
also a way for us to show students holv successful they are being'
r code of
ne.When Equalityrules: in any dealings with members of the group, the group has to see that we treat
r of what in exactly the same way, irrespective of who they are. we should not show obvious
"u.ryorr" hold a grudge against particular stuclents. We need to treat events in
r a poster favouritism or appear to
the same r,vay each time they occur, too, so that students know exactlv what is likely to
happen

. ive will in certain circumstances. rr\4lat this means is that any student rvho behaves in a certain way is
t\f norms treated exactly the same as another student rvho behaves sin-rilarly in the same circumstances.
(and often
Praise is better than blame: a piece of research carried out four decades ago
cited) suggested that n hen students were tolcl off for inappropriate behaviour, had little
it
effect. However, even'difficult' students responded extremely positively when they
were
isnificant praised for appropriate behaviour (Madsen er al1968). Praise works, in other words. Students
,earning. (the
o." fu. more likely to avoid inappropriate behaviour if there is an obviotls advantage
t57
 CHAP'TER 9

teacher and the group's approval) in appropriate behaviour. However, as we saw on page
r38, praise has to be offered in the right way andfor good reasons if it is to be effective.

.ffi Modifying problem behavour

;:iii

Despite all our best efforts to create successful learning environments, things sometimes get
out of hand and students start behaving in inappropriate ways. The way we react in such
situations will determine not only how serious the event becomes, but will also influence the
attitude of the whole group in terms of their future adherence to the group norms which they
have agreed. Punishing problem behaviour is not in itself an attractive action, but turning it
into future success is.
When students behave disruptively or uncooperativel our flrst task is to f,nd out what the
problem is. We can then see if we can agree a solution with the student who is exhibiting the
offending behaviour so that we can set a target for them to aim at - one which will ensure
the success we are striving for. There are many things to bear in mind if we wish to achieve
these goals.

Act immediately: it is vital to act immediately when there is a problem since the longer a
type of behaour is left unchecked, the more difficult it is to deal with. Indeed, unchecked
behaviour may get steadily worse so that where it could have been deflected if it had been
deatt with immediately, now it is almost impossible to deal with. Immediate action sometimes
means no more than stopping talking, pausing and looking at the student in question (Brown
and Mclntyreryg342). Sometimes, however, it may demand stronger action.

Keep calm: in many students' eyes, teachers who have to shout to assert their authority
appear to be losing control. Shouting by the teacher raises the overall level of noise in the
classroom, too. We need to find some other way.
The first thing to remember is that whatever we feel like, we should never appear to be
flustered. Despite the fact that students sometimes appear to be attacking our personality and
threatening everhing we hold dear, we need to remember, in the words of a participant at a
conference in Montreal Canadain zoo5, that'it s just a job'. Somehowwe have to standbackfrom
what is happening and rather than taking it personally, we need to act calmly and carefi;lly.
When we are trying to modify student behaviour, we need to look disruptive students in
the eye, approach them, keep looking at them and speak in a measured tone. We can start
by asking them questions to find out why they are behaving in the way they are. This will
often be enough to defuse the situation. If more serious action is required, however, we will
adopt some of the methods described below.

Focus on the behaviour not the student: we should take care not to humiliate an
uncooperative student. It's the behayiour that matters, not the student's character. Though
it may sometimes be tempting to make aggressive or deprecatory remarks, or to compare the
student adversely to other people, such reactions are almost certainly counter-productive:
not only are they likely to foster hostility on the part of the student andlor damage their
self-esteem, they may also be ineffective in managing the situation. Students can easily
dismiss sarcasm as mere unpleasantness, but it is much more difcult to keep behaving in
ways which the teacher is criticising sensibly and fairly.

158

L-..
 MANAGING FOR SUCCESS

Iirke fhings forward: where a simple look or brief comment is not sufficient, we need to
think carefirlly about howwe respond.It is always better to be positive rather than negative.
It is usually more effective for a teacher to say Let's do this, rather than D on't do that.Tal<tng
things forward is better than stopping them, in other words. Our objective will be to move
on to the next stage of an activity or to get a new response rather than focusing on the old
,set one. In extreme cases, we may decide to change the activity in order to take the steam out
.'-:ah of the situation and allow students to re-focus. However, we should be careful not to base
i]-re such decisions only on the inappropriate behaviour of one or two students.
:ler- Other ways of going forward are to re-seat students, especially where tlvo or more of
:g rt them have encouraged one another. Once separated in an effective (but not humiliating)
wa students often calm down and the problem behaviour dies away.
: :he
. .he
Iirlk in private: it is appropriate to discuss in private and talk about
a student's behaviour
how to improve it. This is not always possible, of course, but disciplining a student in front
: -1fe
of his or her classmates will not help that student's self-esteem at all. Ideall we will try
to deal with problem behaviour with the student after the class, or at least privately in a
one-to-one situation, perhaps at the teacher's desk. If, however, we have to deal with the
lIL r1 situation in front of the whole grollp, the more private we can keep it - by speaking quietly
.-..d and approaching the student - the better.
George Petty suggests a three-stage approach to such conversations when dealing with
:ir-r-]es teenagers. He calls the stages a'chat', a'word' and a'telling off' (Petty zoo4: t7).In a'chat',
:ari\'I1 the teacher shows that he or she thinks the student is quite able and willing to solve the
problem and that the student has the teacher's respect. \A/hen offering a'word', the teacher
is being firmer and is exerting pressure so that the students can solve their problem. But in
!':it\'
a'telling off', the teacher is quite clear that the behaviour is unacceptable and that it needs
: the
to change right now. And whether or not we agree with Petty's threefold division, we will all
agree that we should try to deal with a problem - in the first instance - as lightly as possible
.,-r be
-. :ncl before graduallybecoming more serious or, finall imposing some kind of sanction.
--: aIt One way in which we can attempt to change students'behaviour is bywriting to them
11

'. -t.rl'll - general letter to each member of the class expressing a problem and asking students to
a
reply in confidence. In this way students have a chance to make contact with us without
--
other people listening or having to face us directly. However, this kind of correspondence
l:1.: ill
takes up a lot of time, and there are dangers of over-intimacy, too. Nevertheless, the use
--:-,:r.
of letters may help to break the ice where teachers have found other ways of controlling
:-: ", l--
-
t;.1--l
- :-- misbehaour to be unsuccessful.
Dealingwith indiscipline is often a matter of'pastoral'care, helping students to recognise
the problem behaviour and start to find a way towards changing it. This is far less likelyto
tr: a l:l happen in class with everybody listening, than in private ongoing communication with the
- -;gh student outside the class.
: - ,r1!
Use clearly agreed sanctions: we have already suggested that 'equality rules'. Quite apart from
"- - ii\ e:
the need for fairness to all students, this means that students need to know what the penalties
:: -heir
are for bad behaviour. They need to be aware that if X happens, Y will follow. There needs
: ..isih'
-. to bea gradual scale of action from a gentle reprimand (Petty's'chat'- see above) to removal
::1q in
from a lesson and, firrdly, to exclusion from a school - though we will do everlthing we can

159

-J
 CHAPTER 9

to modify the student's behaviour so that this does not happen. Now, when X happens, the
students lrow what to expect and they see it happer-ring. This provides a sense of justice and a
feeling of confidence in the system. \A4rat is less effective is either the teacher failing to impose
a sanction that he or she has warned the group about (in which case it immediately loses itt
power for future occasions), or imposing a srnction far more serious than the one which tl-re
students expect (in rvhich case they may lose respect at this arbitrary behaviour).

. Use colleagues and the institution: it is no shame to have disruptive students in our
classroom. It happens to everyone. So rvhen there's a problem, rve should consult our
colleagues, asking them for guidance. When the problem is threatening to get beyond our
E
control (for example, a pattern of disruption which continues for a series of lessons), we
would be well advised to talk to coordinators, directors of studies and/or principals. Thev
should all have considerable experience of the kind of problems being faced and wili be il
:

a position to offer the benefit of their experience.

Whatever sector \,\.e work in (primar secondar tertiar adult, state school or the private
sector), we will all experience problem groups and encounter problem behaviour at some
time in our teaching careers. N,fore often than not, the problem is minor and can be easil,v t

dealt with, especialli, if we can refer to a previousiy established code of conduct, and if our
responses to indiscipline are based on the principles and strategies rve har.e outlined above.
Hor,vever, as we have suggested, it is far more attractir.e to try to avoid such problems occurring :
by managing for success.

Chapter notes and funther reading

Code of conduct
C Kyriacou (1998: Chapter 8) calls the establishing a code of conduct'pre-empting
misbehaviour'. This pre-emption involves establishing'c1ear rules and expectations
regarding classroom behar.iour'.

Self-esteem
Teacher appror.al is not just important for children. T Lowe (1987) cluoted diaries from
English teachers u,ho became students of Chinese. In their Chinese classes they were verv
keen for appror.al from their teacher of Chinese.

Teacher authority
R Senior (zoo6: Chapter,l) discusses their authority through purposeful
hor,v teachers establish
action and establishment of good teacher-student rapport (see pages 113-115 of this book).

Writing to students
On letter communication rvith students, see M Rinvolucri (1983, 1995). N Burbidge er a/
(r996) have a range of letter-rvriting activities for students, many of which involve letters to
and from the teacher.

160
 10
raPpens, the
iustice and a
Le to impose
telr. loses its
Gnouping
re tich the
students
ents in our
:onsult our
beyond our
essons), we
A Different groups
;ipals. They There is no real limit to the lvay in i,r'hich teachers can group students in a ciassroom, though
L,l rvill be in certain factors, such as over-crowding, fixed furniture and entrenched student attitudes, may
make things problen-ratic. Nevertheless, teaching a class as a whole, getting students to work
on their o\,vn, or having them perform tasks in pairs or groups all have their own advantages
the private and disadvantages; each is more or less appropriate for different activities.
ur at some
Lri be easily A1 Whole-classteaching
and if our
When people think of teaching and learning, they frequently conjure up a picture of students
ed above.
sitting in rows listening to a teacher who stands in front of them. For man this is what
s occurring teaching means, and it is still the most common teacher-student interaction in many cultures.
Though it has many limitations, rvhole-class grouping like this has both practical advantages
and disadr.antages.

Advantages of whole-class grouping:

- It reinforces of belonging among the group members, something which we

a sense
as teachers need to foster (williams and Burden :t97i7g).If everyone is involved in
the same activit then we are all'in it together] and such experiences give us points of
common reference to talk about and use as reasons to bond with each other. It is much
easier for students to share an emotion such as happiness or amusement in a whole-
class setting. Twenty people laughing is often more enjoyable than just two; 4o people
holding their breath in anticipation create a much more engaging atmosphere than
just the person sitting next to you. In other words, if language learning is a collective
irom
'ere very endeavour, then'learning takes place most effectivelywhen language classes pull
together as unied groups' (Senior zooz;4oz).

- It is suitable for activities where the teacher is acting as a controller (see Chapter 6, Br). It
is especially good for ging explanations and instructions, where smaller gior.rp, would
purposefi.rl
mean having to do these things more than once. It is ideal for presenting material,
rook).
whether in pictures, texts or on audio or video tape. It is also more cost-efficient, both
in terms of material production and organisation, than other groupings can be.
rcetal - It allows teachers to'gauge the mood'of the class in general (rather than on an individual
l letters to basis); it is a good way for us to get a general understanding of student progress.

- It is the preferred class sryle in many educational settings where students and teachers
feel secure when the whole class is working in lockstep and under the direct authority
of e teacher.
 CHAPTER 10

o Disadvantages of whole-class grouping:

thrn the individual. Everyone is forced to do the same thing
- It favours the group rather
at the same time and trt the same pace'
anything on their own'
- Tndivi<1ual stucients clo not have n-ruch of a chance to say
liont of the rvhole class sice to do so
- Nlany stuclents are disinciined to participate in
brings with it the risk of pr-rblic failure'
Chapter
not encourage studer-its to take responsibiliti, for their or'r'n learning
(see
- lt mir1,
z3). \V1-ro1e-class teaching thvout's the trrnsmission of
knor'r'ledge from teacher to
things for thernselves'
student rather thrn hnuirrg stuclents disco'u'er things or research
(see chapter 4,
- It is not the best rr,"q, to organise communicative ianguage teachir-rg
Ai)orspecificallytask-basedSequences(seeChapter4,A6).Comnrunicationbetween
groups of four or fi've' In
individuals is more difficult in a group of zo or 3o than it is in
less lbrmall and make
smaller groups it is easier to share materiai, speak cluietly rnd Cla
goodeyecontact.Ailoftlresecontributetosuccessfultaskresolution. n(
gre
Seating whole-grouP classes sol
\'\rorking as r whole group' One
There are many cliffererrt *.,l,r, of seating clrsses when they are t"]
(see Figure r).
of the most common is to have students serted tn orderly rorvs
tbr
T@
U U w@ U
bo..
(] are

U (] U ww [f
[] U (f w@ U
[f U [] wKs U Orderly rows
FIGURE 1:

hrs a clear view of all

There are considerabie advantages to orclerly rorv seating. The teacher
is easier rvith such a seating
the students and the str:clents can all see the teacher. Lecturing
lrrangement since it enables the teacher to mai.ntain e)'e contact
with the people he or she is
talking to'
activities are especially
Orclerly rows allolr' the teacher to r'vork wi th the whole class. some
grammir poit-rt, watching a video/
su|tecl to this kind of organisartion, such as explaining a
the board or an
DVD or a por,r,erpoint (or other computer-barsed) presentation, or using
overhead projector. lt is also useful when students are involved
in certain kinds of language
practice. Ii al1 the students are fbcusecl on a task at the same
time, the whole class gets the
,u1. -.rruges. It is ofien easier to create 1 good whole-c1ass dynamic rvhen stuclents are
sitting grollp - rather than n-rany - in orderly rows'
as one
(see Figure z) ' These are
TWo other contmon seating alrangemen fs are circle 1nd horseshoe
especially appropriate tbr sr-,iuller giorpr'(i.e. fewer than
zo students). ln a horseshoe, the
teacherlvillprobabll.beattheopenendofthearranget-neirtsincethatmaywellbewhere

t62
:-r-,a - .: f
t

:,.'.l.l >.'

a.. ahalrtei
I irl
.::lSeh-es.
- -
-..--'ic-1'-l
,-' :r L) et\\-een

'-:: or h\-e. In I-IGLIRE 2: Cilcle rnd horseshc'e

.-.11.1 mlke quite a strong statement about rvhat the teacher

classes which are arranged in a circle make
and the students believJ in. Witir all the
p"opl" in the room sitting in a circle' there is a far
quite
greater feeling of equality than rvheir the
teaer stays out at the front' This may not be
position'
so true of the horsesho. ,hup., rvhere
the teacher is often iocated in a commanding
e qroup. one rows' for example' is lessened'
but, even here, the rigidity that comes with orderly
With horseshoe and circle seating, the classroc'r
i' u Inott intimate place and the potential
talking, eye contact or expressive
for students to share feelings and information through
bodymovements(eyebrow.raising,shoulcler-shrugging,etc.)isfargreaterthanwhenthey
are sitting in rows, one behind the other'
tables (.see Figure 3)' whether they are
ln some classrooms students sit in groups af separote
working as a whole class, in groups oi in pairs.
In such classrooms, you might see the teacher
and helping out if they are having difficulties
walking around checking th-e students' work
_ prompting the studenti at this table, or explaining something
to the students at that table

in the corner.
I

@T
er r,iew of all
s.1ch a seating
:ie he or she is

: .lre esPeciaily
:.hing a video/
le board or an -
Lds of language FIGURE 3: SeParate tables

e class gets the is easy to arrange' Indeed' such an

ln students are A huge advantage of separate tables rs that groupwork
arrangement means that groupwork is likely
to be far more common than with other kinds
in n-rixed-ability classes (see Chapter
.:. l). These are of seating. Separate tabie seating is especially useful
students can beneht from concentrating on different
tasks
horseshoe, the 7C), where different groups of
, rr'ell be where (designed for different ability levels)'
163
 I

CHAPTER 10

Separate tablcs .li. ixore diificult to 'teach to' in whole-group

activities, depending, of A4 Pa irr
course, on the Lf the room and the group. It is also important
'ize to bear in mind that l-.
1-
,- -

students nla\ not l\'ant to be stuck r'vith the same three --

-1

or four students for ever. Nevertheless, ::... ---

*'he, students are r'orking togethe such a seating arrangement
is ideal.
Thee rre other r'vays of seating students, of course.
,-,,,- :
lim Scrivener, for example, suggests .1] . " :
groupings sr-ich as '.enemy corners' (ivhere two groups get
into opposite corners of the room),
opposing teams, and face-to-face (or back-to-back), where
students sit in rows to make pairs
(Scrivener zoo5: g9).
The point of ali these different sitting (and stancling)
arangements is that we should choose
the best one for the- students and, especiali the task.
tnrofu, ui*" can make a general statement
aboLrt it, it is rvorth pointing out that, where possible,
varying the seating u".rurrg"-.rts will
rnake our lessons more dynamic and enjoyable.

A3 Students on their own

At the opposite end of the spectrum from whole-class grouping
is the idea of students on
their own, rvorking iu pattern
a of inclividttalisecl learning]Thi, .u,, range fror-n students
doing
exercises on their own in class, to situations in which
teachers are able to spend time working
with individual students, or when students take charge of their
own leaining in self-access
centres or other out-of-c-lass environments (see Chapter
z3C). Such individualised learning is
a vital step in the development of learner autonony.
If lve r'vish students to I'r'ork ou their own in class, we can, for D
example, allow them to read
privately and then answer questions in<lividually; we
can ask them to complete worksheets or
rvriting tasks by themselves. we can give them worksheets r,vith
several different tasks and allow
individuals to make their or,vn decisions about which tasks
to do. we can hand out different
wot:ksheets to different individuals, depending upon
their tastes and abilities. we can allow
students to research on their own or even choose what
they want to read or iisten to
w'here this concerns exte,si-ue readirg (or'learner - especially
literature,- see Chapte r t7, At).
o Advantages of individualised learning:

- It allows teachers to respond to individual student differences

.l
in terms of pace of
t;iii learning, learning styles and preferences (see Chapter
58).
- It is likely to be iess stressful for students than performing in a rvhole-class setting or
talking in pairs or groups.
Grou
- It can develop learner autonomy and promote skills of
seif-reliance and investigation \\-e ca
over teacher--dependence.
rr-hich
- It can be a \va1' of restoring peace and tranquillity to a noisy and chaotic
classroom. Chapte
o Disadvantages of individualised Iearning: a prese
perlbrr
- It does not heip a class develop a sense ofbelonging. It cloes not encourage cooperation
in which students may be abre to help and motivate each differer
other. In gr
- \\hen combined with giving individual studenrs different tasks,
it means a great deal inr-ohe.
firore thought and materials preparation than whole-class
teaching involvesl \Ahen we interao
rvork r'vith individual students as a tutor or resource (see
Chapter 6, Br), it takes much an odd
more time than interacting rvith the trole class.
ntren la
161

)
 GROUPING STUDENTS
-
.epending, of A4 Pairwork
i mind that In pairwork, students can practise language together, study a text, research language or
\evertheless, take part in information-gap activities (see Example 7 in Chapter r7, Br). They can write
dialogues, predict the content of reading texts or compare notes on rvhat they haye iistened
iple, suggests to or seen.
t-,i the room),
o Advantagesofpairwork:
ro make pairs
- It dramatically increases the amount of speaking time any one student gets in the class.
;hould choose - It allows students to rvork and interact independently without the necessarry guidance
eral statement of the teacher, thus promoting learner independence.
ngements will
- It allolvs teachers time to work with one or trvo pairs while the other students continue
working.
- It recognises the old maxim that'trvo heads are better than one', and ir-r promoting
cooperation, helps the classroom to become a more rela-xed and friencliy place. If 1ve
f students on
get students to make decisions in pairs (such as deciding on the correct answers to
rudents doing
questions about a reading text), r've a1low them to share responsibiiity, rather thrr.l
trme working
having to bear the whole weight therlselves.
r-n self-access
,ed learning is - It is reiatively quick and easy to organise.

o Disadvantages of pairwork:
'rhem to read
Pairwork is frequentlv very noisy and some teachers and stuclents dislike this. Teachers
rt orksheets or
in particular worry that they rvill lose control of their class.
asks and allow
I out different students in pairs can often veer away from the point of an erercise, talking about
\re can a1low something else completel often in their first lar-rguage (see Chapter
7D). The chances
of misbehaviour are greater with pairwork than in a whoie-class setting.
ro - especially
It is not alr'vavs popular rvith students, many of r,vhom feel they woulcl rather relate
to the teacher as individuals than interact lvith another learner rvho ma,v be just as
Iinguistically weak as they are.
pace of
the actual choice of paired partner can be problematic (see Bz belou,), especialll. if
students frequently find themselves working with someone they are not keen on.
.s setting or
A5 Groupwork
nlestigation We can put students in larger groups, too, since this rvill allor,r, them to do a range of tasks
for
which pairwork is not sufficient or appropriate. Thus students can r,vrite a group story (see
-lassroom. Chapter r9C, Exampl e 7) or role-play a situation r,vhich involves five people. They ca prepare
a presentation or discuss an issue and come to 1 grolrp decision. They crn rvatch, write
or
perform a video sequence (see Chapter zoE); we can give individual stuclents in a group
te cooperation different lines from a poem u,hich the group has to reassemble (see page 297').
In general, it is possible to say that silall groups of around five students provoke greater
a great deal involvement and participation than larger groups. They are small enough for real interpersonal
r es.\\rhen we interaction, yet not so small that members are over-reliant upon each indiviclual. Becruse five
is
t takes much an odd number it means that a majority vielv can usually prevail. Holvever, there rre
occasions
when larger groups are necessary. The activit,v may demand it (see the poem activity mentioned

165
 CHAPTER 10

poem)'
above, u,ere the number of students in a
group depends on the number of iines in the
orwemayWanttodividetheclassintoteamsforSomesameorpreparationphase.
o Advantages of grouPworlc
of talking opportunities for
- Like pairwork, it dramaticafu increases the number
individual students.
people in the group' personal
- Unlike pairwork, because there are more than two
are usually less problematic; there is also r
greater chance of different
relationships
opinions and varied contributions than in pairwork'
than pairwork, arrd
- It encourages broader skills of cooperation and negotiation
class. Lf irne Flowerdew (rgg8)
yet is more*private than r,vork ir-r frnt of the whole
foundthatitwasespeciallyappropriateirrHongl(ong,whereitsuseaccordedwith
students were comfbrtable
the confucian principles which her cantonese-speaking
each other's performance
with. Furthermore, her students were preparecl to evrluate
both positively and negatively where i" u igg"t group a natural tendency for self-
effacement made this less likel,v'
make their own decisions in the
- It promotes learner autonomv by allowitlg students to
grotip rvithout being told rvhat to do by the teacher'

-Althoughwedonotwishanyindividualsingroupstobecon-rpletelypassive,
nevertheless some students can choose their 1evel
of participation more readily than in

a lvhole-class or pain'vork situation'

Disadvantages of grouPwork:

-Itislikelytobenoisy(thoughnotnecessariiyasloudaspairworkcanbe).Some
feeling wich has been
teachers feel that they lose rr,rol, and the whole-class
painstakinglybuilt,p*uydissipatewhentheclassissplitintosmallerentities.
the focus of the teacher's
- Not all students enjoy it since they n oulcl prefer to be
find themselves in
attention rather than working rvith their peers. sometimes students
else'
uncongenial Sroups and rvish they could be somewhere
so that some are passive B
- lndividuals may fall into group roles that become fossilised,
whereas others maY dominate'
and ending groupwork
- Groups can take longer to organise than pairs; beginnir-rg
the class, can take time and be chaotic'
actir.ities, especialil. where people move around

46 Hinging the changes

when to teach the rvhole class or when to
Deciding rvhen to put students in groups or pairs,
upon a number of factors:
let individuals get on rvith it on their own will depend
to think about an issue r'vhich we will
The task if we want to gir.e stu<lents a quick chance
where they ha,e a chance to discuss
be foctrsing on later, uu.--uy put then-r inbuzzgroups
with it in a rvhole-class grouping'
or,buzz, the topic among th.-r"l"., before r,vorking
However, small groups *ilt t'," inappropriate for
many explanations and demolrstrations'
r,vhere workirg *itl, the class as one group
will be more suitable'

r66
 Li/ GROUPING STUDENTS

.he poem), \\hen students have lister-ied to a recording to complete a task or answer questions, r,ve
may let them compare their lnswers in quickly-organised pairs. If we \ /ant our students to
practise an oral dialogue quicld pairwork mav be the best grouping, too.
If the task lve wish our students to be involved in necessitates oral interaction, lve will
es for probablv put students in groups, especially in a large class, so that they all l-rate a chance
to make r contribution. If lve want students to lvrite sentences r,vhich demonstrate their
sonal understanding of new l.ocabular on the other har.rd, we ixa) choose to har.e them do it
lifferent indir.idually.
Although manv tasks suggest obvious student groupings, r,r.e can usually adapt them for
use with other groupings. Dialogue practice crn be done in pairs, br-rt it can also be organised
,and
with ti,r,o halves of the lvhole class. Similarlr,, ansr,r,ering questions about a listening extract
(rss8)
can be an individual activity or we can get students to discuss the answers in pairs. We can
edwith
also have a'jigsarv listening', rvhere diflerent students listen to different parts of a text so that
nfortable
they can then lreassemble the r,vhole tert in groups.
formance
tor self- Variety in lot depends on how the activity fits into the lesson seqllences we
a sequence: a
have been following and are likely to follorv next (see Charpter zr). If much of our recent
isions in the teaching has involved whole-class grouping, there may be a pressing need for pairwork or
groupwork. If much of our recent u,ork has been boisterous and actit e, based on interaction
betr'veen various pairs and grolrps, we rnay think it sensible to r1low students time to lr,ork
9,
individually to give them some breathing space. The advantage of having different student
adilythan in
groupings is that they help to provide variet1,, thus sustaining motivation.

The mood: crucial to our decision about uat groupings to use is the mood of our students.
Changing the grouping of a class can be a good way to char-rge its mood rvhen required. If
Some students are becoming restless r'vith a lvhole-class actii,it,r'' - and if they appear to have little
leen to say or contribute in such a setting - we can put them in groups to give them a chance
trties. to re-engage with the lesson. Ii on the other hand, grollps appear to be losing their way or
-her's not lvorking constructivel -,ve can call the r,vhole class back together and re-define the task,
hemselves in discuss problems that different groups have encountered or change the activiti..

are passive B Organising pairwork and groupwork

Sometimes we ma)r have to persuade reluctant students that pairwork and grouprvork are
uprvork worth doing. They are more likely to believe this if pair and group activities are seen to be a
ad be chaotic.
success. Ensuring that pair and group activities rvork well rvill be easier if lve have a clear idea
about hor,r, to resolr.e any problems that might occur.

ass or when to =
4 Making it work
)I S:
Because some students are unused to r,l,orking in pairs and groups, or because they may have
: rrhich we will mixed feelings about norking with a partner or about not having the teacher's attention at
ance to discuss all times, it mav be necessary to invest some time in discussion of learning routines. lust as
-lass grouping. \\e may want to create a joint code of conduct (see Chapter 9, Br), so we can come to an
emonstrations, agreement about n hen and hor,r, to use different student groupings.
One way to discuss pairwork or grollpwork is to do a group arctivity rvith students and

t67
 CHAPTER IO

then, when it is over, ask them to write or say how they felt about it (either in English or
their own ianguage). Alternativel we can initiate a discussion about different groupings as r-rtl -.

a prelude to the use of groupwork and pairwork. This could be done by having students
complete sentences such as:

:
I like/dont like working on my own because

I like/don't like working in pairs because.

l

I like/dont like speaking in front of the whole class because

They can then compare their sentences with other students to see if ever)one agrees. We can
also ask them to list their far.ourite activities and compare these lists with their classmates.
\\4ten we know how our students feel about pairwork and groupwork, rve can then decide, as
with all action research
(see Chapter z4B), rvhat changes of method, if an we need to make.
We might decide that we need to spend more time explaining i,vhat we are doing; we
might concentrate on choosing better tasks, or we might even, in extrenle cases, decide to Thrs i',. ,
use pairwork and groupwork less often if our students object strongly to them. However, lndi\ r!i-.,, :

even where students show a marked initial reluctance to working in groups, rve might hope,
'.i.rr,Ir'i .-.
through organising a successfl demonstration actir,ity and/or discussion, to strike the kind io d(r ',,, -,-:
of bargtrin we discussed in Chapter ,1, Bz. ,rke. :r-:
,llllrrll! ..-:
82 Creating pairs and groups nrake .r ..
Once we have decided to have students working in pairs or groups, ure need to consider how SLla1,..
we are going to put them into those pairs and groups - that is, who is going to work rvith ir'hen l-, -

whom. We can base such decisions on any one of the following principles: t'nisl-it l-. -

Friendship: a key consideration when putting students in pairs or groups is to make sure
that we put friends with friends, rather than risking the possibility of people working with
others whom they find difcult or unpleasant. Through observation, therefore, we can see
which students get on with which of their classmates and make use of this observation
later. The problem, of course, is that our observations may not always be accurate, and
friendships can change over time.
Perhaps, then, we should leave it to the students, and ask them to get into pairs or groups
withwhoevertheywantto workwith. In such a situationwe can be sure thatmembers of our
class will gravitate towards people they like, admire or want to be liked by. Such a procedure
is likely to be just as reliable as one based on our own observation. However, letting students
choose in this way can be very chaotic and may exclude less popular students altogether so
that they find themselves standing on their own when the pairs or groups are formed.
A more informed way of grouping students is to use a sociogram, but in order for this to
be effective ( and safe) , students need to know that what they write in private will never be seen
by anyone except the teacher. In this procedure, students are asked to write their name on a

168
 GROUPING STUDENTS

nglish or - piece of paper and then write, in order of preference, the students they like best in the class.

:pings as On the orher side of the piece of paper, they list the people they do not like. It is important
>ludents tl-rat they knor.v that only the teacher will look at what they have written and that they cannot
be oyerlooked tt hile they do this. We can now use the information they have written to make
sociograms like the imaginary one in Figure 4 (-> =Iikes' ""
-'> = doesn t like):

:s. We can
rsmates.
r decide, as
tLr make.
FTGURL,;l: Soci<rgran-rbasedon RolesofTeachersandLearnersbyTWright(OxfordUniversityPress)
roing; we
. decide to This rvill then allorv us to make informed choices about how we should pair and group
. IJowever, indivicluals. However, not everyone agrees rvith the idea of grouping and pairing students in this
Lrght hope, rvir ln the first piace, sociograms are time-consuming and fail to answer the problem of what
re the kind to clo rnith unpopular students. Secondl some people think that instead of letting the students'
likes ar-rd clislikes predominate,'the initial likes and dislikes should be replaced by acceptance
among the students' (Drrlvei and Murphey 2oo3: r7r). In other words, teachers should rvork to
make a1lstudents accepting of each other, r,roever they are paired or grouped with.
nsider how Sociograms mav be useflrl, though, r,vhen a class doesn't seem to be cohering correctly or
-,tork with r,vhen painvork and groupwork don't seem to be going we1l. The information they give us
n-right help us to make decisions about grouping in order to improve matters.

r make sure Streaming: lnuch discussion centres round u,hether students should be streamed according
orkingwith to their abilit,v. One suggestion is that pairs and groups should have a mixture of weaker
'. \ie can see ancl stronger students. In such groups the more able students can help their less fluent
r'bservation or knowledgeable colleagues. The process of helping rvill result in the strong students
.curate, and themselves being able to understand more about the ianguage; the weaker students will
benefit from the help they get.
rs or groups An alternatir.e view is that if lve are going to get students at different levels within a class
r-ibers of our to clo different tasks, tve should create groups in which all the students are at the same levei
a procedure (a level that will be ciifferent from some of the other groups). This gives us the opportunity

ng students to go to a group of r,veaker students and give them the special help which they need, but
iltogether so which stronger students might find irksome. lt also allows us to give groups of stronger
lormed. students more challenging tasks to perform. Hor,vever, some of the value of cooperative
Ler for this to r,r,ork - all students helping erch other regardless of level - may be lost.
:rer-er be seen Wherr we discussed differentitrtioru in Chapter 7C, r,ve saw how it was possible to help
ir name on a

169
 CHAPTER 10

individualstuclentswithdifferentabilitieseventhoughtheywereallinthesameclass.
once we start
Streaming,tt,"."ro,.,,.."-stofitinto.thisphilosophy..Howwer,thereisthedangertht,rt
deoralised' Furthern-rore' Cha
students in the werker groups might b..o-. * ::
groupingweakerstude'ntstogether''n't'-"4'o*ehowpredisP'osethenrtostayinthis
it successful differentiation
ho.ring th; motivation t *p.or. o.rt of
category.uth., tt-run together for
put indiYiduai students *:
hand,...";;;;;;we :- -'
through grouping, on the orher groups changes' depending
on
':
and the composition of iho'e
..'
individual acti'ities and tasks,
rhe tasks rve have .h; *t i.t implies that the grouping is semi-permanent
st."ur11irrg - : --.

thanthese rather more ad-hoc

arrangemerts' :: -

- is significantly less attractive -. '.1 :

ButinChapterT,C4wesridhol,l,realisticmixed.abilityteachingofteninvolvesusin in groups, too, --a
whole group despite the different levels' Tl.ris can be replicirted .

teaching the become frustrated while

though there is the danglr
ahva:ys
th;;;.r students^might
th."t of group cohesion
left behincl. Uo*"rrlr, the benelits in terms
the weaker ones might get Genc
-. 4:
maY well outu'eigh this'

ochance:wecanalsogroupstudentsbychance,thatisfornospecialreasonsoffriendship' since it de,'ands

rhis i't''yr*irtt'tasiestway of doingthings ,-_ ,
orlevel"f p;;i".ip;iion.
ability the cooperative nrture of rvorking -,a
very arbitrariness, stresses
little pre-plar"trg, "riuy its
together.
onervayofgroupingpeopleistohavestudentswhoaresittingnextorneartoeachother
r,rorkinpairsorSroups.Aproblem.**..,,,though,withstuentswhoalwayssitinthe
same pairs or grouPs' This
could
same place ,irr." i -iur], tl-r"t th"y *i11 ahvays be in the .-. '.' .:
period' -: -'
;i;.it. to bore<lom over a prolonged Here
poir*ort i, the 'wheels' scenario (Scrivener zoo5: 89) '
Another r,r,ay of organising
halfoftheclassstandinacirclefu.ingout*ur<ls,andtheotherhalfoftheclassstandinanand the inner ,. - -
a clockwise directio' _:
]

The o,-r,., .,r.il ,"rolu", in

outer circle facing inwards. -
circierevolv.,i,-,-u,-'anti-clockrvise<lirection.W}rentheyaretoldtostop,studentswork : I:'--
*t'il1:Jr":r"*,1ffi:Jff'$y (i, the order thev are sitting)
givi,g each student in the class : - _-:.:
be a group'
grouP together, all the Bs to
a letter rronl e to 8,. fr. nor" urt all the As to form a - :: -

-a'
alitheCstobeagroupand'oo"'Dtpt'tdinguponthesize'oftheclass'lvemightendup
a problem if the task is
appropriate'
with groups J"r. irr"n frve, rrr, ,ni, *"y""", be '.:
"r
Wecanalsoarrangerandomgroupsbyaskingpeople.:g.]:".oftheirchairsandstand
r the line and December at
the
(*itr,, I";;;;"";
in the order of their birthdays "; five
"r-,
and'so on' We can make groups of
We can then group the fi'$ fi';;; ,-.
other). '"to'-'d people in different
jr."rr, or p"oj. *i r-, or without giasses, or of
people .u.u.ir-,g;;.f o,
ciass)'
o...rpotio"' (if lve are in an adult often have a
to note that n-roclrn computer language laboratories
It is interesting ,,o. have to decide who
so that the teacher o.,
random pairing and grouping p.og.u*
should work rvith rvhom'

oThetask:sorr.retimesthetaskmaydeterminervlroworkswithlvhom.Forexample,ifrte comPare cultur'-

r :'4'r
a multilingu.l group) to
want students from different.o.rr,.i*^iin ..r'rr,y do not work togethe:
*" *ru
j' to ensure that students from the same
practices, people who ar'
.f.ot t1-re object of tt-,. .".r.ise)' If the task is about
(since that woul<l

t70
 GROUPINC STUDENTS

Ii]]C C1ASS. interested in particular ieisure activities (sport, music, etc.), that might determine the make-
rrqer that up ofthe pairs or groups.
e \\'e start
Changing groups: just because we put students in groups at the beginning of an actir.ity
in this
:ar-
does not mean that they have to stay in these groups until the end. The group may chirnge
rentiation
while an activity continues. For example, students malr start by listing vocabulary and then
)Eether for
discuss it first in pairs, then in groups of four, then in groups of eight - or even 16. In an
,ending on
intervielv activit students can start working in tr.vo main groups and then break into smaller
)armanent
groups for a role-plav. If groups are planning something or discussing, members from other
groups can come and visit them to share information and take diflbrent information back
olves us in
to their original group. A longer sequence may start r.vith the teacher and the whole class
roLlps, too,
before moving between pairwork, individual rvork and grouprvork until it retllrns back to
rtedwhile
the whole-class grouping.
p cohesion
Gender and status: we need to remember that in some contexts it may not be appropriate
to have men and women working together. Similarh,, rvhen groupir-rg students we may
tiiendship,
want to bear in mind the status of the individuals in their iives outside the classroom.
it demands
This is especially true in business English groups where diflerent tiers of management,
t f rvorking
for example, are represented in the group. \Ve will need, in both these scenarios, to make
ourselves aware of rvhat is the norm so that we can then make informed decisions about
r each other
how to proceed.
ns sit in the
This could We make our pairing and grouping decisions based on a variety of factors. If r,ve are concerned

about the atmosphere of the rvhole class and some of the tensions in it, we may trlr to make
,-<: 89). Here friendship groups - always bearing in mind the need to foster an acceptance for rvorking
, stand in an with all students in the group er.entually (see above). If our activity is based on fun (such
rd the inner as Example 7, Jtilia's story, on page T7), we ma"v lear.e our grouping to chance. lf, on the
rdents work other hand, we are dealing rvith a non-homogeneous class (in terms of level) or if we have
some students who are failing behind, we rnay strearn groups so that we can help the weaker
r are sitting) students while keeping the more advanced ones engaged in a different activity. We might, for
group,
r be a example, stream pairs to do research tasks so that students with diffring needs can work on
uqht end up different aspects of language.
lppropriate. One final point that needs stressing is that we should not always have students r.vorking
rs and stand with the same partners or group members. This creates rvhat Sue Murray humorously refers
:mber at the to as ESP-PWOFP (English for the Sole Purpose of doing Pair \4rork u,ith One Fixed Partner)
ke groups of (Murray zooo: 49). She argues persuasively that mixing and moving students around as a
e rn different course progresses is good for classroom atmosphere and for individual engagement.

otten have a BB Procedures fon pairwork and groupwork

r decide who Our role in pairwork and groupwork does not end when we have decided which students
should rvork together, of course. \\'e have other nratters to address, too, not only before the
activity starts, but also during rnd after it.
rample, if we
pare cultural Before: when we want students to work together in pairs or groups, we r,r,ill want to fbllolv
rLrrk together an'engage-instruct-initiate'sequence (see page 68). This is because students need to feel
ople who are enthusiastic about what they are going to do, they need to know r,vhat they are going to do,
and they need to be given an idea of llen they rvill have finished the task.
171
 CHAP'l'FR 1O

when, for example' students

Sometimes our instructions u,ill involve a demonstration -
or when rve. want them to use cards (see
are going to use a netv informatior-r-gap activit,Y
Chapteru,C3).Onotheroccasions,whereanactivityisfamiliar,wemai'simpiygivethem \\-e
an instructiou to practise language the,v are
studf ing in pairs, or to use their dictionaries to
en
find specific bits of informatior-r' th,
Thesuccessofapairworkorgroullvorktaskisoftenhelpedbygivingstudentsatimewhen fl
a clear framework to
the activity should finish -and then sticking to it' This helps to give them
r,vork r,vithin. Alternatir.ely in lighter-hearted
activities such as a poem dictation (see Example
finishes first' Though language learning
i on page 335), rve can encourage groups to see no of
is not a contest (except, p"rt uir,l p..rorru1 one),
i, game-like activities'"' a slight sense
(Nuttall lqg6: 16+)'
competition between groups cloes no harni .'.
stuclents should understand and
The important thing about instructions is that the :
agreeonwhatthetaskis.Tocheckthattheydo,wemayaskthemtorepeattheinstructions,
first language'
oi, ir, *orrolilrgual classes, to translate them into their I TOUE
u'e have a number of options' We
During: r,r,4rile students are working in pairs or groups
the class (or at the back or an'vhere
could, for instance, stand at the frot or the sicle of
a

$'ho appears to be stuck' disengaged

else) and keep an eye on $'hat is happening, noting : ' a)
pair or group from some
or abotit to frnish. In this position \\.e can tune in to a particular oE
distance ar,vaY. We can then clecide r'r'hether to go over and help them' o
t/
Analternativeprocedureisoftenreferredtoasmonitorlng.Thisiswherewegoround h
grollps either to help them rvith
the class, r,vatching and listening to specific pairs and h
for later comment and r'vork' For
the task or to collect examples o] *not thev are doing tl
exampie,wecanstaywithagroupforaperiodoftineandtheninterveneifandwhen rl
in mind rvhat n'e have said about
we think it is approiriat" o, l-,"..rsar alr,r'ays bearing
(see Chapter 8' Cr)' If students are
the ditl'erence betu,een accuracy and fluency rvork
involve<I in a discussion, for example, rve might
correct gently (see Chapter 8' c3); if we
they are planning' or trying to
are helping stuclents r'vith suggestions ubo.rt something
resource or tutor (see chapter 6, Br)'
move a discussion forwards, we can act as prompter,
they are doing rather than giving
In such situations we will often be ,.rpon,lirg to what
li correctionf-eedback.Wewillbehelpingthemforr'vardslviththetaskthevareinvolved
lil,i,, we will do our best to encourage or
in. where stuclents fa1l back on their first language,
persuade them back into English'
an ideal opportunity to work
when students ur. *orkirrg in pairs or groups we have
from our attention' we also have a
with indiviclual students r,vhom we feel ,"or,ld benefit
about student progress' and seeing
great chance to act as obserl.er, picking up intbrmation
we monitor' intervene or take
if we rvi1l have to 'troubleshoot' (see belorv). But horvever
so in a way that is appropriate to
part in the rvork of a pair or group, it is vital that we do
ih" ,trd",-tt, it-lvolved ancl to the tasks they are involved in'
oAfter:rvhenpairsandgroupsstopu,orkilrgtogether,weneed-toorg}nisefeedback(see
cluring the groupwork session and'
chapter 8). we warlt to 1et therr discuss ,"hot o..rr.ecl
lvherenecessaracldourownassessmentsarrdnrakecorrections.
session, our feedback ma1-
where pairlt ork or groupwork has formed part of a practice
take the forn of har.irrg o f.ou pairs or groups
quickly demonstrate the language tl-rey have

t72
 C]ROLIPING STUDENTS

tr-rdents been using. We can then correct it, if and when necessar and this procedure r,vill give both
:ds (see those students and the rest of the class good information for future learning and action.
;e them Where pairs or groups have been working on a task with definite right or wrong answers,
.aries to rve need to ensure that they have con-rpleted it successfully. Where they have been discussing
an issue or predicting the content of a reading text, we n ill encourage them to talk about
re when their conclusions lvith us and the rest of the c1ass. Bv comparing different solutions, ideas
:rt-orkto and problems, everyone gets a greater understandir-rg of the topic.
,\ample Where students have produced a piece of lvork, we can give them a chance to demonstrate
learning this to other students in the class. They can stick rvritten material on noticeboards; they can
sense of read out dialogues they have u'ritten or play audio or video tapes they have made.
Finall it is r.ital to rernember that constructive feedback on the content of student r'volk
lnd and can greatly enhance students'future motivation. The feeclback lve give on language mistakes
uctions, (see Chapter 8C and D) is only one part of that process.

ions. We
84 Troubleshooting
When we monitor pairs and groups during a grouprvork activitl,, we are seeing hor,v well they
nwvhere
are doing and deciding whether or not to go over and inten ene. But we are also keeping our
engaged
e)es open for problems which we can resolve either on the spot or in future.
)n-I some
Finishing first: a problem that fiequently occurs r,vhen students are r'vorking in pairs or
to round groups is that some of them finish earlier than others rnd/or show cleariy that they have
em with had enough of the rctir.ity and r,vant to do something else. We need to be ready for this and
;ork. For have some r.vay of dealing rvith the situation. Sa,ving to them OK, 1o u can relaxfor a bit u,hiLe
nd when the others Jinlslr maybe appropriate for tired students, but can make other students feel that
Lrd about they are being igrrored.
lents are When \,ve see the first pairs or groups finish the task, lve might stop the activity for the
l_ if we
); whole class. That removes the problem of boredom, but it rnay be very demotivating for the
tn,ing to students who haven't yet fir"rished, especially wen they are nearly there and have invested
ter 6, Br). some considerabie etlbrt in the proceclure.
an giving One way of avoiding the problems we have mentioned here is to have a series of
involved challenging task-related extensions for early finishers so that r'vhen a group has finished
)urage or earl we can give them an activity to complete ivhile thei, are r'vaiting. This will shorv the
students that they are not just being left to do nothing. \\4-ren planning groupwork it is a
\- to work good idea for teachers to make a iist of task-relrted extensions and other spare activities that
iso have a first-finishing groups and pairs can be involveci in (though see page rz9).
Lnd seeing Even where we have set a time limit on pair- and groupwork, we need to keep an eye
ne or take open to see horv the students zrre progressing. \,!'e can then make the decision about when
opriate to to stop the activity based on the observable (dis)engagement of the students and how near
they all are to completing the task.

lback (see Awkward groups: when students are r,vorking in prrirs or groups ive need to observe horv well
'ssion and, they interact together. Even where lve have made our best judgements * based on friendship
or streaming, for example - it is possible that apparently satisfactory combinations of
iback may students are not ideal. Some pairs may find it impossible to concentrate on the task in
: they have hand and instead encourage each other to talk about something else, usually in their first

173
 CHAPTER 1L)

langtrage.Insomegroups(insomeeducationalcultures)membersmaydefertotheoldest
personthere,ortothemaninanotherwisefemalegroup.Peoplewithloudvoicescan
dominate proceedings;less extrovert
people lnay not fu'tiiip-utt fully enough'
*uy U. lost when paired or grouped with
stu<lents
stronger t'"::-T1'"t

IrrsuchsituationswemaYneedtochangethepairsorgroups'Wecanseparatebest
frierrcls for pairlvork' *" *, put
all the high-sta'.,, f,g.,,., in one
Some weak

group So that students

1
irrothergrollpsdonotha.,.todefertothem'WeCanstreamgroupsorreorganisethemin
all group members gain.the most
from the activity'
other rvays so that
Onelvayoffinclingoutaboutgroups'tnparticular'issimplyto.observe'notingdown
reveal a continuing
hor,v often each student speaks.
If two or three observations of this kind
the kind of action suggested above'
f ur,..rr, we can take

A The
Chapter notes and further reading
o Whole-class teaching of the
see R Senior (zooz)' On the management
On the advantages of ivhole-class learning,
rvholeclassaSagroup,trvoexcelientbooksongroupdl.namicsare-[Hadfield(lggz)andZ
Drnyei ancl T N'IurPheY (zoo3)'

o Pairwork and grouPwork ,-

of pairwork' see S Haines (rqql)'
On the advantages uid di'udt'u"tages
MCourtrrey(r9q6)looksatbothpairr'vorkanclgrouprvorkfororaltasks.JReid(rg8z) (r995)
about css gtot'pi''g' and T Woodward
found that students have <lefinitt "it'u'
about issues related to pair- and
groupwork'
rvorries
a number of different seatings
and groupings for
IVIHebden and J Nlasor-r (zoo3) suggest
diflerent rctivities rvith younger learners'

it
i. r
\- il -r:.

:'- -

174