So, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE, fellow teachers, comment on the language AND on the content.
=D
What’s the drill for getting our students’ month around language?
As many other techniques in the ESOL area, drilling is a quite controversial one. Some teachers say it is pointless and boring whereas many say it is old-fashioned. However, a point has to be clear in our minds when planning a drilling exercise: What is our aim when making our students repeat ourselves?
What is drilling?
According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, a drill is “an activity which practises a particular skill and often involves repeating the same thing several times, especially a military exercise intended to train soldiers.” Well, now I am absolutely sure many teachers are frowning upon the idea of using a military technique in the classroom (although I also can spot some mean grins). Gently tucking the dictionary away, drilling as a teaching resource is to make the students repeat words or utterances for a given period of time.
It first appeared in the scenario of language teaching in the 60s as one of the central pillars of the audiolingualism approach. There, drilling was used to “promote mechanical habit-formation”* in order to develop accuracy on pronunciation and command of the structures. Those would end up leading to fluency. Cutting a long story short, supported by structural linguistics and fiercely attacked by Chomsky, this approach, thus the drilling technique, started falling from grace.
So, why drill?
In contrast to the aim of drilling in the audiolingualism approach, it is possible to face it as a tool to model and memorize the target language, as a way to fix pronunciation and as an important resource to get rid of fossilized mistakes. When repeating words or utterances, features like intonation, stress, linking sounds can be internalized.
Especially in lower levels, in which students have not acquired enough autonomy yet, drilling is useful to make them confident enough to use the new language in a less controlled moment of the lesson. By getting their mouths around, students might feel more comfortable before experimenting what they have just learned.
It is important to outline, though, that drilling is not, by all means, a tool for grammar or lexis internalization. First of all, because it is not a communicative exercise; it is the repetition of a model aiming the restrict practice of something new to the learners. Secondly, a teacher can only state her students have internalized the target language after seeing them using it different contexts and freer activities.
How can I drill?
There are some different drilling techniques. As far as practicing is concerned, choral and individual drilling are more efficient. Choral drilling consists in the teacher modeling and the group repeating in unison. At that moment, the teacher is able to listen for pronunciation/structure mistakes without exposing her students. Repeat it twice or more, depending on the response, correcting if necessary. To prevent students from dubbing in large groups, drill in groups of 3 or 4.
After having drilled in choral, it is less likely one of them make a mistake, thus the teacher can ask one or two students to repeat alone. If a mistake pops up, it is advisable to ask one or two students to repeat it properly and then come back to the one who has mispronounced. For example:
Teacher: vEgetables
Student 1: vEgetables
S2: vegetAbles
S3: vEgetables
S4: vEgetables
S2: vEgetables
It a way of not exposing the mistake and raise S2 awareness about his own mistake.
There are other ways of drilling like the substitution drilling, which is recommended for grammar and focus a little bit more on the structure. For example:
Teacher: Ski. I can ski. Play tennis. I can play tennis. Ski...
Student 1: I can ski
Teacher: play tennis
S 2: I can play tennis
Teacher: ride a bike
S3: I can ride a bike**
If you are drilling longer sentences, an alternative to not lose the pace of the sentence is drilling backwards. For example:
Teacher: a rug.
Students: a rug.
Teacher: a rug and a big TV.
Students: a rug and a big TV.
Teacher: there’s a rug and a big TV.
Students: there’s a rug and a big TV.
Teacher: In my living room there’s a rug and a big TV.
Students: In my living room there’s a rug and a big TV.
Again, it is crucial the teacher bear in mind why she is drilling for. The technique will be chosen according to the language being taught.
Conclusion
Drilling can be an useful technique to make students comfortable in the presence of a new language item. It helps to build their confidence by giving them an accurate model to follow and not exposing their mistakes.
What can hinder the learners in their effort to reproduce the language accurately is the improper moment of the lesson in which the drilling takes place. Repeating something meaninglessly will not help as much as a meaningful repetition. Drilling has to (I would say must) happen after the clarification of meaning, so it does not end up being a mere parroting, but an effective and far-from-being-old-fashioned way of practice.
References:
* Bowen, Tim. Teaching approaches: what is audiolingualism?
** Russel, Alex. Drilling - Judicious Use of Brute Force in the ESL Classroom.
*** ESOL teaching skills taskbook. Unit 2 – Drilling techniques.
**** Kerr, Phillip. Minimal resources: drilling.
