ELT365 · Day 192 — Dealing with Silence
Idea — Silence in a speaking task is not always a problem. It may signal thinking or genuine engagement. Diagnose before intervening. Example — A three-second…
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ELT365 · Day 191 — Pronunciation in Productive Work
Idea — Pronunciation matters for intelligibility — can the listener understand? Not native-likeness, but enough accuracy to prevent communication breakdown. Example — A mispronounced vowel (‘ship’/’sheep’)…
ReadELT365 · Day 190 — Monitoring Speaking Tasks
Idea — While learners speak, the teacher monitors: listening for errors, noting effective language, ensuring the task is working. Monitoring is not hovering. Example — Good…
ReadELT365 · Day 189 — Feedback on Speaking
Idea — Feedback on speaking is either immediate (on-the-spot correction) or delayed (after the task). In freer tasks, delay is usually preferable — it protects fluency.…
ReadELT365 · Day 188 — Information-Gap Activities
Idea — In an information-gap activity, two learners hold different information and must exchange it to complete the task. Neither can finish without the other. Example…
ReadELT365 · Day 187 — Role-Play in Speaking
Idea — Role-play gives learners a persona and a situation, separating their language performance from their social identity. It reduces inhibition and produces target register. Example…
ReadELT365 · Day 186 — Designing a Discussion Task
Idea — A good discussion task has a genuine information or opinion gap — learners must talk because they don’t all hold the same answer. Example…
ReadELT365 · Day 185 — Freer Speaking Tasks
Idea — Freer tasks give learners a communicative goal with minimal language constraint. Success means achieving the goal, not producing a specific target form. Example —…
ReadELT365 · Day 184 — Controlled Speaking Practice
Idea — Controlled practice keeps language use tightly constrained — learners produce target forms with minimal creative choice. It builds form confidence before fluency work. Example…
ReadELT365 · Day 183 — Fluency vs. Accuracy
Idea — Fluency means communicating smoothly without excessive pausing or breakdown. Accuracy means using correct forms. Neither is superior — different tasks prioritise one. Example —…
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