Repetition is one of the most common activities in any language course for beginners. Repetition is also used in SL.
Repetition help learners to retain new vocabulary, and to learn its pronunciation and intonation. There are different kinds
of repetition which should be combined to avoid boredom and enhance vocabulary learning.
Repeat after me is probably the kind of repetition most commonly used in the language classroom. Students can be asked to
repeat in groups – choral repetition or drilling – or individually. However, no teaching technique is suitable for all
classes and all teaching contexts. Choral repetition is no exception. Due to sound problems, choral repetition is not
recommended in SL. The sound of all the students speaking at the same time makes it impossible to distinguish who is
pronouncing correctly or not; thus, providing feedback is not feasible. Individual repetition is suggested, but always
making sure to vary the questions asked to each participant. For example, if you are presenting new vocabulary using images,
the following questions could be used:
- What is this?
- Is this a _____?
- Is this a ____ or a _____
- What is (next) to the ______
Prompting students to ask other participants is also another way to vary repetitions. Short dialogues performed
in pairs where each student takes turns to represent the two speakers in the dialogue.
We will describe other kinds of repetition next week. |
