What is the most common question asked in the English language classroom? “Do you understand?”!
And although I’ve been teaching for a good many years, I still fall into the trap of asking my learners “Do you understand?” only to find out at a later stage that they have, in fact understood something completely different or not at all. As a result, much time is then lost re-explaining the point or activity in question to individual learners at different times. Don’t make the same mistake – spending time checking understanding by asking the right kind of questions and you will save time later on!
The question is how we check that learners understand not only what they have to do but more importantly the language they have to use. Though there are a number of techniques from which teachers can select, I have found “concept questions” to be the most useful. “Concept questions” involves breaking a particular point into its ingredients of meaning e.g.
“I am living in Athens” means …
- it refers to a particular time – now,
- it is temporary,
- my living in Athens has a start time related to now,
- my living in Athens has a finish time related to now,
- there is likely to be change.
These ingredients of meaning or concepts can then be transformed into short answer concept questions for the learners:
- When are we talking about?
- How long will I live in Athens for?
- When did I come to Athens?
- When will I leave Athens?
- Will I stay in Athens?
In this way we ensure that not only the learners but also the teacher has a thorough grasp of the point in hand!
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