Accurate reproduction

The purpose of accurate reproduction stage is to give students controlled practice in the form of the new language. We will look at three stages of this part of the lesson: choral repetition, individual repetition and cue-response drills.

a) Choral repetition. When we have explained the model, we ask the whole class to repeat the model together. This is choral repetition. The technique is useful because it gives all the students a chance to say the new language immediately, with the teacher controlling the speed and stress. It gives students confidence where individual repetition might cause anxiety. It also gives the teacher a general idea of whether the students have grasped the model. There are three things to remember about choral repetition:

· Clearly indicate (by conducting) when the students should start the chorus;

· Clearly indicate the correct stress during the chorus;

· Stay silent during the chorus so that you can hear how well the students are performing.

If we take our model sentence ‘ Flight 309 goes to Paris’, the chorus might go something like this:

T: (finishing the explanation) Flight 309 goes to Paris…flight 309 goes to Paris…everybody (T makes a gesture).

SS: Flight 309 goes to Paris.

T: Again. (gesture)

SS: Flight 309 goes to Paris.

We will have to decide how many choruses we need based on such factors as the difficulty of the model, the students, etc.

Choral repetition can be used during correction.

b) Individual repetition is conducted in three stages. The teacher nominates a student, the student responds, and the teacher gives feedback. Nomination (selecting the student) can be done by calling the student’s name or by pointing, although the latter should be done with care to avoid causing offence. We can summarise the procedure for individual repetition in the following figure:

 

If we continue with our sentence about flight 309, individual repetition might be something like this:

T: (finishing choral repetition) Again.

SS: Flight 309 goes to Paris.

T: Good…now Ann.

S₁: Flight 309 goes to Paris.

T: Good… Andrew.

S₂: Flight 309 goes to Paris.

T: Yeah… (T points to S3)

S₃: Flight 309 go to Paris.

T: Flight 309 go?

S₃: Oh…flight 309 goes to Paris. Etc.

With the first two sentences, the teacher gave feedback by acknowledging that the student’s response was correct. This was done by saying ‘ good’ and ‘ yeah’. The teacher might also say ‘yes’ or just nod. Some teachers say nothing at all, but pass on to another student. A lot depends on the individual students and the teacher. The main thing is that the students should be quite clear that the response was correct. S₃, however, made a mistake and so the teacher did not acknowledge a correct response, but rather showed incorrectness.

When conditioning individual repetition, we should be sure that we do not nominate students in a clearly discernible order, for this has the effect of making the drill less exciting. The students always know who is going to be nominated and when. A random order, however, keeps the interest level high since anyone could be nominated at any minute.

c) Cue-response drills take place when the students are working with more than one model. When we have presented the first model and organised choral and individual repetition, we will elicit the second model. If the students can produce the model, we might go straight to choral and individual repetition. If they cannot, we may go through an explanation stage again. When there has been adequate repetition of the second model, we start a cue-response drill in which we ask students to choose one of the two models based on a cue. We can summarise this procedure in the following way:

 

A cue-response drill is conducted in three stages:

Stage 1. Instruct: Tell the students what you want them to do. You might say ‘Tell me’ to indicate that you want a statement or ‘question’ to indicate that you want a question. Often the instruction is not actually said but is understood by the class.

Stage 2. Cue: Indicate which model you want the students to say. You might do

this by giving a cue word. Thus, you could say ‘Paris’ to get the response ‘Flight 309 goes to Paris’. You might mime an action. Thus, you could mime ‘smoking’ to get the students response ‘John smokes three packets a day’. You could also point to a particular picture or give a number (where you have previously assigned numbers to the models).

Stage 3. Nominate: Select the students you wish to give the response.

We can now see the whole process described so far in operation:

T: (conducting individual repetition) Juan.

S₁: Flight 309 stops in Miami.

T: Good… now can anyone tell me about flight 309 and Miami

(indicating the wallchart) … anyone?

S₂: Flight 309 stop in Miami.

T: Yes… good… but listen… flight 309 stop s in Miami… flight 309 stop s

in Miami… stop s … stop s …flight 309 stop s in Miami… everybody.

SS: Flight 309 stop s in Miami.

S₂: Flight 309 stop s in Miami.

T: OK…Keiko.

S₃: Flight 309 stop s in Miami.

(The teacher continues to conduct individual repetition and then says…)

T: OK…tell me…Paris… Juan.

S₁: Er…Flight 309 goes to Paris.

T: Good…Miami… Myra.

S₂: Flight 309 stops in Miami.

Notice how the teacher does not distort the word ‘stops’ in the explanation, presumably because he or she thinks it is not necessary this time. Notice, too, how the second model is elicited.

The teacher starts the cue-response drill with an instruction (tell me) but drops it the next time because all the students understand that this is what is required of them. When introducing subsequent models the teacher will do less and less explanation, sometimes cutting it out completely.

As soon as the teacher is confident that the students can manage the cue-response drill, and when all the models (usually between four and six examples) have been introduced the students can be put in pairs. One student can now act as the teacher, giving the cue, and the other can give the response. Then the second student gives the cue and the first one responds, etc. We would include this stage so that as many students as possible get a chance to practise. The teacher should make sure that this pair-work stage does not last too long, for if it does the students will probably lose interest.

In general, it must be emphasized that the accurate reproduction stage should be dealt with as quickly as possible. If it goes on for too long the students start to get bored and start making more mistakes: the drill is then completely counter-productive. The length of time will depend largely on the size of the class and the difficulty and number of models, but it’s rarely advisable to continue the accurate reproduction stage for more than ten minutes, and even that will often be excessive. After all, the accurate reproduction stage is only there to enable students to get to more creative parts of the lesson.