Today I want to talk about some controversial or slightly vague and confusing notions I’ve come across during my TKT prep course. They all relate to functions of teacher’s language in the classroom. Here are some pairs:
Concept checking vs. Eliciting
Very tricky pair as both techniques are used for extracting the info learners already know. But while concept checking (concept questions) usually follows newly explained material (e.g. “If it’s clear, please compose a pair of sentences to illustrate the difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple.”), eliciting deals with the information obtained some time ago (e.g. “What was the previous unit devoted to? What key words did you learn? Which of them fits into the gap?”).
Prompting vs. Encouraging
This one is easier—prompting refers to language (e.g. giving clues to help learner recollect a word or phrase) and encouraging addresses emotions (e.g. giving students some additional ideas during brainstorming if they are stuck).
Monitoring vs. Checking
Although seemingly different, those two have something in common. Both imply some kind of control. But monitoring is more about things going the right way (e.g. discipline, task completion, equal participation in a discussion), and checking is something more language-oriented (e.g. task correctness, understanding).
Conveying meaning vs. Explaining
We can convey meaning of a word or phrase, but we usually explain rules or peculiarities of language use.
Explaining vs. Eliciting
Explaining is feeding the info to the student, whereas eliciting is making learner come and take the info from his mind.
Hope someone needs this 🙂
AnTonymous 