Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
24 - Checking what students have learned
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
Teacher: Do you understand?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Good.
The short version
1 Checking students’ understanding of the target language is something which should occur regularly throughout your lessons, not just periodically in tests and exams.
2 It's important to resist the pressure to rush through and finish the textbook. The quality, not quantity, of learning is what matters.
3 Checking students’ understanding does not have to be a boring activity – there are many fun, active strategies which you can use to make it interesting as well as productive.
4 Although it's important not to ‘over-check’ during a lesson, checking should be a normal part of your teaching practice.
5 Asking concept checking questions is a very effective way to check students’ understanding, but they can be challenging for both students and teachers.
Introduction
Think about your general day-to-day classroom practice:
1 Why do you check what your students have learned?
2 When do you check what your students have learned?
3 How do you check what your students have learned?
Checking students’ understanding
Checking understanding is not something which only takes place in tests or exams. It should be a core part of your teaching practice, and what happens in your language learning classroom. However, you should also be careful not to ‘over-check’ as it can be quite demotivating for students to constantly be asked questions. When teaching in challenging circumstances, knowing why, when and how to test is even more important, because of the many other factors which make learning difficult.
• Classes may be multi-level (see ▸Chapter 10), meaning that there is likely to be a large gap between the strongest and weakest students. Students may therefore have different levels of understanding. Some may understand the new language quickly whilst others take more time.
• Large class sizes (see ▸Part III) make it more difficult to get accurate or individual data about students’ levels of understanding. You may therefore need to get more general or approximate data.
• Textbook issues (see ▸Part VI) lead to students facing difficulties in doing homework or checking their understanding after the class.
• Fewer learning resources (see ▸Part V) mean that students may not be able to write notes and make a record of what they learn in class. This makes it more important that teachers check regularly within classes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances , pp. 148 - 153Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021