Research-informed teaching tips and advice for language teachers.

Tips Of The Trade!

On this page I am offering up a list of ideas that you can use to promote long-lasting learning. I cover the most important topics, draw from a number of sources, and present only the most pertinent teaching tips for you to keep in mind in your quest to get the best learning outcomes for your students. 

Aside from that, this page has also been created to encourage you to get involved. So, if you have any teaching ideas or would like to collaborate with me on a video highlighting some of your proven methods – then contact me here. I would love to hear from you.

Tips For Success - Fundamental (but not generic) Teaching Advice To Help You!

The following tips and ideas are based on experience and research - I hope you find at least some of these points helpful. ​​

Teacher Talk 

• Give clear instructions: The role that good, clear instruction plays in the smooth running of a class cannot be underestimated. It sets a good foundation for future learning and helps the students feel empowered because they understand what is required of them. There is nothing more frustrating for a student than not knowing what the teacher wants them to do. 

• Don't monopolize talk time: As a language teacher you should be trying to maximize the learning opportunities afforded to your students. In short, this means that you should talk less and let your students talk more (while you act as facilitator, guide, and support staff). Please take the time to check out my posts on classroom practices, reducing teacher talk time, and best practices for enhancing its effectiveness.  .

Teacher’s Questions (Check out my blog posts on the topic.)

• Use your questions wisely: Teachers may use questions in class for a variety of reasons. They might be used to help students focus on a particular aspect or element of the language, to exert disciplinary control, to get feedback, to check comprehension, or even to encourage student participation. Therefore, it is very important that a teacher knows how questions can be used for various pedagogical and classroom management reasons.

• ICQ: Instruction Comprehension Question: These questions are used to ensure your students really understand what is expected of them in a given activity. Good questions can be things like ‘Billy, what do we do first?’ or “Mary, if the ball hits the wall do I get any points?”

• CCQ: Comprehension Checking Questions: These questions can be used to check a student’s comprehension. Examples of good questions could be “Bob, where is the dog going?” or “What is the name of the dog?”

Develop Autonomous Learners

• Teach them how to fish: It is very important that educators teach their students how to learn. We can do this by teaching our students strategies they can use to develop their language skills outside of the classroom. However, before doing this, make sure you are aware of the most effective evidence-based learning strategies currently available (don't be one of those well-intentioned but misinformed educators who pass on learning myths).

• Habits lead to results: Help your students develop positive (and effective) study habits by coaching them in the art of time management, the importance of having a study routine, and goal setting. These three factors can all work together to help your students become more effective learners. Without good habits, the best advice and materials in the world won't yield many results.

• Creative ideas: Be creative in the way you foster autonomy, ownership, and a sense of personal accountability in your students. Check out the following blog post to see an example of how you can use tests to encourage students to take ownership and be accountable for their own study.

Be Professional

• Perception is reality: Being professional means more than just being on time to class and being prepared. Please check out my post on self-reflection for the professional EFL teacher for more ideas. 
• Dress the part: The way dress while you are teaching children and while you are teaching adults will probably not be the same. Regardless, no one respects a slob, so don't dress like one. Check out my blog post on dressing as a professional educator.
• Keep your knowledge up-to-date: As professional educators, it is our job to make sure we are providing our students with the most relevant, research-based advice and instruction we can in order to facilitate learning in the most effective way possible. This means we should place a high level of importance of continuous professional development.

Student Talk

• Have discussions: As teachers we should really try to ensure that our students get the opportunity to engage in real acts of communication. One way we can do this by encouraging our students to contribute their own ideas, thoughts, and opinions on things they find interesting, instead of just sticking rigidly to a set plan that is chosen and controlled by the teacher. (Note: This does not mean a teacher should not have a structure to their class, all it means is that we must allow our students to contribute to the class.)
• Understand the student's abilities: Increasing student talk time is very important, however with low-level students this can be a little tricky - since they don't have the linguistic ability to actually contribute a great deal (I know this from when I first began studying Korean - I wanted to talk, but I just couldn't). With low-level students it is very important to offer quality input and have students make examples and contribute as much as possible. It is also important for the teacher to provide exemplars for students to mirror.
• The learning environment matters: Encourage your students to make mistakes as this may reduce the amount of tension and stress the student may be feeling.
• Set realistic speaking goals: When you set speaking tasks and goals for your students, make sure your expectations match their abilities. Lower-level students may not be able to speak at length, even if they want to - so have realistic expectations. Also, on this topic, don’t misinterpret a student’s lack of speaking as “learner anxiety”, as often a student just does not have the ability to speak about a certain topic – yet! Remember scaffolding and ZPD, as these are key considerations to planning effective speaking tasks.

 
Dealing With Problems

• Don’t get stressed: If a student makes a mistake just be patient. Learning a language inevitably requires learners to make mistakes (And why do we call it a mistake? It is not a mistake – it is a learning opportunity!), so don’t take it to mean they are ‘bad’ students or that you are a ‘bad’ teacher.

• Things will go wrong: Like Murphy said - “If something can go wrong, it will.”  It doesn’t matter how much you plan, sometimes in the classroom things do go wrong. The computer dies, the lesson is too hard, or the learners start arguing with each other. All of these things, and more, have happened to me. In moments like these it is best not to stress. Just deal with the problem in a logical, controlled, and methodical way. One bad lesson does not equate to a bad teacher. 

Homework

• Make homework meaningful: Yes, homework is important - but only the right type of homework (check out my post on Setting Meaningful Homework for EFL/ESL)
• Give the students a say: Sometimes it is a good idea let the students choose their own homework - this ensures that they are actively involved in their own learning process. As the teacher, you can act as a guide and offer advice about the pros and cons of the options your students are making - but in the end, let them make the decision after consulting with you (because in many cases, students don't know what is best without expert consultation).

 
Feedback & Corrections

• The way you make corrections and give feedback is very important to ensuring your students are learning in the most effective and efficient way. However, what is more important is the way your students action your feedback. Check out my post on offering feedback and making corrections in your EFL/ESL class.
• In the simplest of terms, the way a learner processes feedback has important implications on the quality of their learning. Simply giving implicit feedback is generally not enough - it also lacks rigorous scientific support (sorry, your "perception" surveys about feedback say nothing about the real impact feedback has in the long-term). If you want to give effective feedback and feedforward, at the very minimum, you need to think about the goal of the feedback, the cause of the error (not always easy to figure out), the type of error (i.e., was it related to explicit or procedural learning mechanisms), the difference between a knowledge and a performance error, and what action needs to be taken by the learner to address the issue (think about depth of processing and deliberate practice). Of course, this is not to say recasts and implicit feedback is pointless, it merely suggests that for better learning outcomes, feedback needs to be tailored and actioned - but don't overo it, or else it all gets too confusing (see references at the bottom for a good place to start your reading about effective feedback/feedforward). 

Create an Environment Conducive to Optimal Learning
In Things That Make Us Smart, Donald Norman (1993, 2014) identifies seven basic requirements of a learning environment:
1. Provide a high intensity of interaction and feedback (see above about the importance of feedback/feedforward).
2. Have specific goals and established procedures. (see above about DPOs)
3. Motivate. (students should feel supported and inspired)
4. Provide a continual feeling of challenge that is neither so difficult as to create a sense of hopelessness and frustration, nor so easy as to produce boredom. (see above about desirable difficulties) 
5. Provide the opportunity for direct engagement with the task.
6. Provide appropriate tools that fit the user and task so well that they aid and do not distract.
7. Avoid distractions and disruptions that diminish the learning experience

     MINI-LECTURE COMING SOON!!!

References

Luft, C. D. B. (2014). Learning from feedback: The neural mechanisms of feedback processing facilitating better performance. Behavioural brain research, 261, 356-368.

Metcalfe, J., & Kornell, N. (2007). Principles of cognitive science in education: The effects of generation, errors, and feedback. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(2), 225-229.

Norman, Donald A. 1993. Things that make us smart: Defending human attributes in the age of the machine. New York, NY: Addison-Wesley.

​Norman, D. (2014). Things that make us smart: Defending human attributes in the age of the machine. Diversion Books.

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