Managing the teaching and learning process
Teacher roles and interaction
Candidates must distinguish teacher roles: controller, organiser, facilitator, participant, monitor, resource, tutor, prompter, diagnostician. Match each to what the teacher actually does in a stage – monitoring is observing and listening without intervening; participating means joining an activity as an equal. Know interaction patterns (teacher to whole class, open class, pair, group, individual) and why each is chosen.
Instructions, eliciting and checking
Give short, sequenced, demonstrated instructions and check them. ICQs (instruction-checking questions) confirm the task is understood: Are you writing or speaking? Alone or in pairs? CCQs (concept-checking questions) test understanding of meaning, not procedure: If I say 'she used to live here', does she live here now? Use eliciting, nomination, scaffolding and graded teacher language to keep learners involved.
Correction and feedback
Decide when to correct (accuracy work versus fluency work), who corrects (self, peer, teacher) and how (recast, echo, explicit correction, finger correction, delayed correction after the activity). Feedback also includes praise and language feedback on recurring errors.
Traps
- ICQ and CCQ are frequently swapped in questions.
- Monitoring is not the same as interrupting or correcting on the spot.
- Heavy correction during a fluency task can raise the affective filter and reduce output.
- Group work is not automatically learner-centred, and teacher talk is not automatically bad.
Rule of thumb
Never ask 'Do you understand?' – learners say yes. Instead ask a question whose answer proves understanding: Which page, and how many questions? For meaning, ask a yes/no or either/or question about the situation, not about the grammar.