It has often been said that the golden rule in teaching English composition is ‘Prevent mistakes’. Mistakes can be prevented only by providing plenty of directed practice in correct forms of expression before the pupils is left free to say what he wants in his own words. The teacher needs constantly to remind himself that the pupils cannot think out correct expressions but can only produce them from the storehouse of their memory, suitably adapted to the situation of the moment. If the pupil does not know the correct combination of tenses in a conditional sentence or the correct order of words and the right change of tense in an indirect question no amount of intelligent thinking will lead him to the right form of expression. F.G. French in his book Common Errors in English has shown how a number of mistakes in English composition are the result of pupils trying to think out the correct expression. Correct structures are not learnt, moreover, after one hearing only. They need to be heard many times and also used many times before they become a permanent possession available for use when needed. For this, much practice and drill is needed.
One of the most difficult problems that faces the teacher of English is that of providing for adequate individual practice in expression in a large class. Wide differences in ability in the same class make this problem even more acute, for the teacher knows very well that his more backward pupils need a great deal of individual attention and opportunity to practise under supervision, but cannot afford to give the time to them. It is in a situation of this kind, with which every teacher is familiar, that group work may help.
The writer has used group work successfully with older pupils working through A S Hornby’s Composition Exercises in elementary English.
The class was divided into seven groups with five pupils in each, the bright and backward pupils being distributed more or less equally among the groups. The point to be practiced – say conditional sentences- was then explained and demonstrated to the class as a whole, using examples from the pupils’ own experience, as well as from the book. The brighter pupils were soon responding correctly to such questions as ‘If your father were a doctor, what would he do?’ then the first few sentences of the exercise were done with the class until it was clear that the better pupils understood what was expected. Then the sentences of the whole exercise were shared out between the groups, each group being given about four sentences to do. There were blackboards all round the classroom so each group was told to write up its sentences on a portion of the board. It is usually best to arrange for one of the more backward pupils to do the writing. He is then obliged to be an active participant and incidentally gets help with spelling from other members of the group. When the sentences are written up on the board the teacher can spot a mistake at once and see that it is put right. If there is not blackboard space available the sentence can be written in a rough notebook, still by the most backward in the group, and the teacher can move quickly from group to group to supervise. As the teacher has to look at eight or nine notebooks instead of 40 or 45 he is able to see the work of every group, so no mistakes are uncorrected.
It usually took about ten minutes to do an exercise in this way. After all mistakes had been corrected the pupils read through the whole exercise from the boards, a different pupil being called upon to read each sentence. Chorus reading by groups could be used here if desired. The blackboards were cleaned and a few of the sentences repeated orally.
One of the striking things about this experiment was the popularity of this method. Pupils never seemed to grow tired of doing exercises in this way. Children learn a great deal from each other, and even if they do nothing but write up what is dictated to them, the slower pupils hear those extra repetitions which they need and which the teacher has never the time to give. The bright pupil who would be bored if he had to listen to the teacher repeating the structure for the sake of the slower pupils, has no objection to repeating it several times himself to the same slow classmate. It is important, however, that the teacher’s preliminary demonstration and practice should be adequate. If it is not, and if the groups make a number of mistakes, this method in providing practice in mistakes and not incorrect expression does more harm than good, though not any more harm than doing and exercise individually without proper preparation. If the teacher notices that several mistakes are being made in the different groups he should stop the group work and repeat his own demonstration….
The fear is often expressed that if the exercises are done in this way the slower pupils will leave all the work to the brighter pupils. In practice, however, because the slower pupils are part of a small group and especially if they are chosen to be the scribes of their group, they learn more than they do by listening to an exercise done in the usual way. A number of variations can of course be introduced into the scheme described. If the teacher wants to test how much has been mastered by individuals he can ask any pupil to do any sentence from the exercise. He can give a home-work in which pupils are asked to write out five sentences which they did not do in their group.
It has often been said that the golden rule in teaching English composition is ‘Prevent mistakes’. Mistakes can be prevented only by providing plenty of directed practice in correct forms of expression before the pupils is left free to say what he wants in his own words. The teacher needs constantly to remind himself that the pupils cannot think out correct expressions but can only produce them from the storehouse of their memory, suitably adapted to the situation of the moment. If the pupil does not know the correct combination of tenses in a conditional sentence or the correct order of words and the right change of tense in an indirect question no amount of intelligent thinking will lead him to the right form of expression. F.G. French in his book Common Errors in English has shown how a number of mistakes in English composition are the result of pupils trying to think out the correct expression. Correct structures are not learnt, moreover, after one hearing only. They need to be heard many times and also used many times before they become a permanent possession available for use when needed. For this, much practice and drill is needed.
One of the most difficult problems that faces the teacher of English is that of providing for adequate individual practice in expression in a large class. Wide differences in ability in the same class make this problem even more acute, for the teacher knows very well that his more backward pupils need a great deal of individual attention and opportunity to practise under supervision, but cannot afford to give the time to them. It is in a situation of this kind, with which every teacher is familiar, that group work may help.
The writer has used group work successfully with older pupils working through A S Hornby’s Composition Exercises in elementary English.
The class was divided into seven groups with five pupils in each, the bright and backward pupils being distributed more or less equally among the groups. The point to be practiced – say conditional sentences- was then explained and demonstrated to the class as a whole, using examples from the pupils’ own experience, as well as from the book. The brighter pupils were soon responding correctly to such questions as ‘If your father were a doctor, what would he do?’ then the first few sentences of the exercise were done with the class until it was clear that the better pupils understood what was expected. Then the sentences of the whole exercise were shared out between the groups, each group being given about four sentences to do. There were blackboards all round the classroom so each group was told to write up its sentences on a portion of the board. It is usually best to arrange for one of the more backward pupils to do the writing. He is then obliged to be an active participant and incidentally gets help with spelling from other members of the group. When the sentences are written up on the board the teacher can spot a mistake at once and see that it is put right. If there is not blackboard space available the sentence can be written in a rough notebook, still by the most backward in the group, and the teacher can move quickly from group to group to supervise. As the teacher has to look at eight or nine notebooks instead of 40 or 45 he is able to see the work of every group, so no mistakes are uncorrected.
It usually took about ten minutes to do an exercise in this way. After all mistakes had been corrected the pupils read through the whole exercise from the boards, a different pupil being called upon to read each sentence. Chorus reading by groups could be used here if desired. The blackboards were cleaned and a few of the sentences repeated orally.
One of the striking things about this experiment was the popularity of this method. Pupils never seemed to grow tired of doing exercises in this way. Children learn a great deal from each other, and even if they do nothing but write up what is dictated to them, the slower pupils hear those extra repetitions which they need and which the teacher has never the time to give. The bright pupil who would be bored if he had to listen to the teacher repeating the structure for the sake of the slower pupils, has no objection to repeating it several times himself to the same slow classmate. It is important, however, that the teacher’s preliminary demonstration and practice should be adequate. If it is not, and if the groups make a number of mistakes, this method in providing practice in mistakes and not incorrect expression does more harm than good, though not any more harm than doing and exercise individually without proper preparation. If the teacher notices that several mistakes are being made in the different groups he should stop the group work and repeat his own demonstration….
The fear is often expressed that if the exercises are done in this way the slower pupils will leave all the work to the brighter pupils. In practice, however, because the slower pupils are part of a small group and especially if they are chosen to be the scribes of their group, they learn more than they do by listening to an exercise done in the usual way. A number of variations can of course be introduced into the scheme described. If the teacher wants to test how much has been mastered by individuals he can ask any pupil to do any sentence from the exercise. He can give a home-work in which pupils are asked to write out five sentences which they did not do in their group.
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