Resource centre - Ideas and techniques - Instructions
Some of the activities that we use in the classroom are fairly complex in terms of the way they're organised, and I doubt if there are many teachers who can honestly claim that they've never got a class totally confused by the way they've given instructions. How can you make sure that your instructions are as clear and comprehensible as possible? Sue Swift offers some guidelines...
1. Plan how you're going to give the instructions before you go into the
classroom, and make sure that you can explain them within the limits of the
language which the students can understand. For example, the following
instruction would be fine for an intermediate class, but would lose a group of
beginners: "You're going to hear a description of a famous person and you have
to guess who it is." For beginners, "Listen to my description of a famous
person. Who is it?" would be far more comprehensible.
2. Think too about the speed of your speech - slow down slightly if necessary -
and insert pauses to allow students to take in each piece of information before
you go on to the next.
3. Make sure that your instructions are fully explicit – don’t take anything for
granted. Because we are so familiar with the activity types, we often assume
that certain things are obvious. How often have you explained an activity but
forgotten to say explicitly "Don't show your information to your partner" - only
to find students happily doing just that.
4. Also think about how much you're going to explain at a time. If you have a
long, complicated, or two part activity, don't explain everything at once.
Explain the first stage, and check that students have understood before you go
on to the explanation of the next part. In some cases it is not necessary for
the students to have an overview of the whole activity before they start. In
this case, explain the first part, do the first part and then go on to the
explanation of the second part.
5. Don't start the explanation until you have the students' full attention. Make
sure they have stopped whatever they are doing, are turned towards you and are
listening.
6. Even in the first lesson, use English wherever possible. "Get into pairs"
won't be understood, but "You two, you two and you two" plus a gesture pushing
the students together will be.
7. However, if you speak the students' language, for very complex activities it
may be more efficient to use the L1 for explanations. This can be gradually
phased out as the students become more proficient:
a) at the beginning of the course, give the instructions in the L1, and then
repeat them immediately, as simply as possible, in English.
b) later on reverse the order: give the instructions in English first, and in
the L1 second.
c) as soon as possible, give the instructions in English only, but check
comprehension by asking the students to repeat them back in their L1.
8. Avoid using the imperative in your instructions. In most situations that the
students will find themselves, it will not be an appropriate form to use. In the
classroom it may be, but if they have constantly heard the teacher saying
"Repeat!" there's a good chance they'll use it themselves:
Native speaker: And so I was dropped right in it. Student: Repeat!
Instead, use request forms - for example "Can you repeat that?" - which provide
a good model for the students' own use of the language. This is especially
important if the imperative is more socially acceptable in the students' own
language (for example Italian) so that they are liable to transfer the use into
English.
9. Always check that students have understood your instructions before starting
the activity. The question "Do you understand?" is as good as useless. Students
may be too shy to admit that they don't understand, or may think they understand
when they actually don't. Make sure they demonstrate their understanding. This
can be done by:
a) asking them check questions - for example, for a roleplay : "OK, if you're
student A put your hands up... Right... who are you? And what's your problem?
And who is student B?"
b) asking them to repeat back to you the instructions. Don't choose the
strongest person in the group to do this. S/he is the one most likely to have
understood and your check needs to be directed to the students who probably
haven't.
c) asking two students to demonstrate the activity in front of the class, or for
a written exercise by eliciting the answers to the first two examples.
d) not giving instructions at all but asking students to look at the activity
and tell you what they think they have to do. This can be useful for activity
types which are already known the students.
10. As soon as the students start the activity, go around quickly to each pair
or group just to check they are on task. Don't stop to help or monitor one group
until you have checked them all. If only one group has not understood, then go
back and help. If several groups are off track, then stop the activity and
explain again, using the students who have understood to demonstrate to the
others.
Sue Swift has worked in the area of ELT for nearly 30 years as a teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer. She writes on EFL methodology and other issues connected with language teaching, and runs a site for EFL teachers - An ELT Notebook - eltnotebook.blogspot.com She also runs Business Talk, a company specialising in English language and communications skills training www.business-talk.it
What do you think of this article? Add a comment »
I think it is very important
to have articles like this one as I find it difficult to deal with instructions.
Very practical, hands on, very
usable.
I like to save articles like
this one for future reference.
This article gives a lot of
practical and useful suggestions for a very common problem. Thanks!.
Very useful article that most
teachers should read and reread from time to time to make sure they don't
forget. I still have problems with this!!!.
This is a useful article in
that it combines quite a variety of techniques that can ensure success with
different types of activities. The problem is equally prevalent in written
instructions for activities or tests. Students often barely glance at the
instructions because they feel ready to tackle the activity, until they get
stuck, and need to ask for help.
Thanks very much for this
useful information. It's a really good article about an important topic.
Why miss the opportunity to
use instructions as one of the only 'real' occasions to communicate in English
in the classroom, by speaking in L1 ? Use your knowledge of the students'
language, if you have any, to monitor understanding of instructions rather than
deny students the opportunity of exposure to genuine communication.
I have always had trouble with
giving insructions. Nothing is more annoying than having eyes just looking into
your eyes "I DO UNDERSTOOD NOTHING". Thank you Sue.
In the book, The Elements of
Style (Strunk and White), E.B. White notes that Professor Strunk, due to his
concise nature, always repeated his instructions three times and this is with
native speakers. Why don't we do the same for second language learners?
Very useful and interesting!
Thanks a lot!
I have always doubted whether
to use L1 when students do not understand my instructions or not. This article
gave me the idea to repeat my instructions in English immediately I use my
students L1. Actually it was easy but sometimes you just cannot think, Thank
you.
Great article!!! Very useful
and clear, Thank you very much!!!
Articles like this help us
teachers to elicit how to deal with an everyday situation and sometimes we
teachers, are careless in terms of instructions and wait for immediate answers
from our students, but how can they do that if they could not even understand
what is expected as a feedback?
Thank you. I was looking for
ideas and useful comments to explain to my 'young colleagues' - I also train
teachers - how things work inside a classroom. Most of the time we forget that
our pupils are young learners of English and need 'plain' and clear instructions
all the time. I saved this article and recommended its reading and talking
about. I use L1 to explain grammar rules and to make sure - at the end of the
lesson - that the learning objectives were understood by the majority of the
pupils. (Let's recap) I'm still looking for ideas about managing school
discipline - violent, anti-social behaviour - in high schools, especially among
low-achievers. Halima
Very useful, constructive and
brillant
My pupils are young learners.
Their ages are between 8 to 10. Their number inside the class is 25. They study
English as second language. They are a mixed ability class. I teach three
classes daily. Each class has one period which continue for 45 minutes. When I
try these methods, I am very tried. The time is not enough. So I give them the
instructions in their mother language.
I've learnt all of these while
I was taking the celta. I wish I had read these before I had taken the course:)
However, I havent recognized the importance of using L1 after I've explained
them in English. The suggestions are really useful. Thank you!
My question is: How about the
Ss who aren't able to speak english? because most students are not able to
express their feelings in english.
I found this article very
useful and as a teacher I too get frustrated when trying to explain instruction
to children and find that sometimes thought I knew exactly what I wanted but I
could only visualise it in my head. To verbalise something it requires you to
slow down and think of what the student knows. I sometimes find myself not
knowing where to start with an instruction especially when I am explaining an
entire activity. But in relation to what Mark suggested about repeating
instructions 3 times with native speaker, I would like to disagree with this
method as when on teaching practice our inspectors would eat us for doing that
as it sends out the wrong message to the children. It is felt that instruction
should only be given once to teach good listening skills and so that students
don't feel as though its okay not to listen the first two times.
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