Three Seconds Before You Tell — Eliciting
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Three Seconds Before You Tell
My best trainer had a rule: if you know the answer and your students might — wait. Three seconds of silence feels like three minutes in a classroom. But in those three seconds, a student will often speak. That’s eliciting. And a word a student produces is worth ten a teacher gives.
Eliciting = getting language from students rather than giving it to them.
Why it matters: students remember what they produce far better than what they receive (the ‘generation effect’ in memory research).
How to elicit:
1. Give a context: ‘If I’m very, very tired — what word describes this?’
2. Use visuals: show a picture, ask ‘What’s this?’
3. Give a definition: ‘A person who cuts hair is called a…?’
4. Give the first sound: ‘It starts with /ɛks/… ex-?’
1. Teacher shows image of a sleepy person. “How does she feel? What word?” (elicit: exhausted)
2. “What do we call the person who serves in a restaurant?” → “A waiter.” → “Good. And a woman?” → “A waitress.”
3. “In French, you say ‘je dois’. In English, we say… ?” (partial translation elicit)
Eliciting check
1. Why is eliciting better than telling? Students process and produce the language actively — it sticks better. The ‘generation effect’.
2. A student can’t find the word. What do you do? Give a definition, a first letter, a visual, a mime, or a synonym — not the word immediately.
3. What does TTT stand for in CELTA? Test → Teach → Test. The first T is a diagnostic eliciting stage — what do they already know?
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