Accuracy, Fluency and a Parent's Complaint in Class 10 English
Rajkiya Uchcha Vidyalaya, Class 10: 52 students, five 40-minute English periods a week. Students decode the textbook reasonably and score well on fill-in-the-blank grammar items, but in a structured oral activity only 6 of 52 produced more than a one-word answer and 20 said nothing at all. A colleague insists that every spoken error be corrected immediately and gives a grammar mark for oral work; two students have stopped speaking since being corrected mid-sentence. The board pattern includes a 10-mark letter and a 5-mark grammar section. A parent has written to the principal that 'grammar is not being taught' because you use pair work and discussion, and the principal asks you to justify your method in writing before the next staff meeting.
1. How would you justify pair work and discussion to the principal without dismissing the parent's concern?
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I would concede the half of the complaint that is true and defend the half that is not. True: grammar cannot be left implicit if the board awards 5 marks for it, and if a parent cannot see grammar being taught, the teaching is invisible. Not true: that discussion displaces grammar.
The argument, in order:
- The exam itself requires production. A 10-mark letter is not answered by fill-in-the-blank knowledge; it needs an audience sense, organisation and formulaic phrases that are acquired by using them. Pair work is the cheapest way to get 52 students speaking inside 40 minutes; a whole-class question reaches perhaps eight.
- Silence is a measurable problem, not shyness. 20 non-responders is an affective-filter effect - students who fear public error stop producing output, and without output there is no feedback to give.
- The method is falsifiable. I would promise a target: from 6 to at least 20 students producing three or more connected sentences in four weeks, with a dated record to show at the staff meeting.
So the written note should include a visible grammar slot - ten minutes, form-focused, tied to the letter - and the oral work should be shown to serve it, not replace it.
2. Set out the four-week oral and writing plan, including what you would assess and how.
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Weeks 1–2: getting voices into the room.
- Pair work with rehearsed stems ('In my opinion… because…'), one minute each, then two pairs merge and report.
- Topics with low content load and high opinion: school timings, mobile phones, the local market. Content difficulty must not block speech.
- Record on a simple checklist: speaks at all / one word / phrase / three or more sentences. That gives the 6 → 20 evidence.
Weeks 3–4: from talk to the letter.
- Study two model letters, then joint construction on the board, then independent writing.
- Oral rehearsal immediately before writing: say the two main points to a partner, then write them.
Assessment: an oral rubric with fluency and message clarity weighted first, vocabulary second, accuracy last - and the grammar mark taken from the specific forms taught that week, not from every error. The written letter is marked on the board's format expectations plus accuracy.
Reasoning: speaking is not the reward for finishing the syllabus; it is the rehearsal that makes the letter writable. Accuracy is assessed, but on a defined, taught target so that the mark is fair and the student knows what to fix.
3. Formulate an error-correction policy for this class and explain the reasoning behind each rule.
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A single rule for all lessons would be wrong, so the policy is split by purpose.
- During fluency tasks (discussion, pair talk, oral report): no mid-sentence correction. Note two or three recurring errors on a pad and address them at the end, anonymously. Reason: interrupting output mid-sentence raises anxiety and has already silenced two students; the cost of the interruption outweighs the gain.
- Recast rather than repeat the error: if a student says 'he go to market', reply 'yes, he goes to market every day'. The student hears the correct form inside a meaningful reply.
- During accuracy work (the ten-minute grammar slot, the written letter): explicit, focused correction of the one or two forms being taught. Marking every error in a letter teaches nothing because the student cannot act on twenty corrections.
- Track errors. A simple tally sheet shows which forms recur, and those become the next week's grammar slot - this also answers the parent, because there is now written evidence of grammar being taught.
- Never use oral performance as a public example of failure. Correct the work, not the speaker.
Reasoning: correction is a tool with a cost; it should be spent where the student can use it, at the moment they can use it.