EXPLANATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

I. EXPLANATION
When presenting new content the teacher needs to explain to the students how to use the new target
language be it vocabulary, grammar, language use, writing or speaking. The teacher has to explain
to the students the meaning, the form, the pronunciation and the uses of the language.
Lack of clear explanation of the four elements may hinder students output. The art of explanation is
the most crucial element in education; you cannot be a good teacher if you are not an expert in
explaining.
Presenting pronunciation, meaning, form and use
There aren’t clear rules on what follows what; the only rule is that pronunciation should precede form
with a view to helping learners to master the pronunciation of the target language and avoiding
negative transference.
e.g the present continuous
1. Meaning
The teacher may present the meaning of the present continuous tense by demonstration. They may
utter the sentence “ I am opining the door while opening the door.”while opining the door so the
learners will come to know the meaning of the sentence.
2. Pronunciation
The teacher pronounces and discusses the short forms or contractions, if need be they may transcribe
the words in phonetics and show the word stress.
I am and I’m opening the door.
3. Form (spelling)
The teacher writes on the chalkboard the sentence.
4. Uses
Teacher discusses the uses of the present continuous; it is used to express actions taking place at the
point of speaking, future tense…..
When to Give Explanations
Although there is explanation taking place throughout the lesson, it is mainly done at the presentation
stage and reinforced at the feedback stage.
We’ve discussed previously that explanation is crucial for language learning. However long
explanations may be obstacles in the learning process.
In a language learning class explanation ought to be given in the target language with a view to
providing the learning with exposure of the target language.

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Characteristics of Good Explanations
1. Clear
Good explanation should be clear, students shouldn’t have difficult in understanding it. The language
should be to the level of the learners; the finely-tuned input.
2. Efficient
Good explanation should be efficient; that is learners should grasp the meaning, the form, the use, and
the pronunciation of the new language as soon as possible. No beating about the bush.
3. Lively and Interesting
Good explanation should be lively and interesting, the students should be involved during the
presentation and the teacher should select activities of the learners’ interest.
4. Appropriate
Good explanation should be appropriate to the topic, the context, the level of the students and the
objective of the lesson.
5. Short
6. Coherent
Good explanation should follow a logical sequence of things
7. Consistent (no contradictions)
At the end of an explanation teachers need to check if students have understood it. Asking questions
like “Have you understood” is pointless because students may think they understood while they didn’t
or students may not want to admit they didn’t understand for fear of losing face.
The best way of checking if learners have understood is the use of concept questions.
e.g: In the teaching of the absence of obligation the teacher may use the sentence “You don’t have to
wear suit.” And ask the following concept questions
Is it necessary or important to wear suit?
Can I wear a suit if I want to?
Can I decide?
Who decides?

Guidelines in Giving Effective Explanations

1. Prepare
To know one thing does not necessarily give you the guarantee that you will succeed in teaching it to
learners. Even if you think you master the topic it is crucial to prepare how you will present it, because
you have to come up with techniques on how to make your students understand better what you
understand.
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You may use different techniques in presenting vocabulary of language among them; the use of visual
aids, illustrations, demonstrations, deductions, contextualization, timelines, a game and so on.
In this case even if you are an expert in the area, but do not think on the best ways of presenting your
content you may be condemned to fail.
2. Make Sure You Have the Class’s Full Attention
It is always good to prepare the students’ disposition before you explain to them. That is why the
presentation stage comes immediately after the lead-in stage when the students are still very fresh and
can concentrate. You will realize that towards the end of the lesson learners can hardly concentrate.
3. Present the Information More than Once.
Repetition is the mother of learning. A repetition or paraphrase of the key information is crucial;
learners’ attention wanders occasionally, so it is good to give them more than one chance to
understand what they have to. You do not necessarily need to present it the same way, you can present
the same content in different ways.
4. Be brief
Learners have short concentration span. So teachers ought to make their explanations short by
selecting the key elements.
5. Illustrate with examples
It is quite difficult to conceive abstract realities, therefore when these are followed by examples are
rather easily conceived.
6. Check Understanding
Asking the question “Have you understood?” is not enough. Learners may for various reasons say they
understood while they did not.

II. INSTRUCTIONS
It is advisable to give instructions in the target language because it creates an English atmosphere in
the classroom and it may also be a source of learners’ language acquisition.
How to Give Clear Instructions
1. Plan your instructions
Say only the essential information in simple (use simple vocabulary and structures that the children
will be familiar with), clear and coherent language (sequence the steps in a sensible order)

2. Create Silence
Before you give instructions you ought to make sure the whole class is paying attention to you and
make sure they are listening to you before you start.
3. Eye Contact
Make eye contact with as many students as possible.
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4. Voice
Find authoritative tone. Establish your authority and use it appropriately. Project your voice clearly.
5. Use short sentences; break the instructions into short sentences, one sentence for each key
information. Control the quantity and the complexity of what you say. Check your TTT. Say what you
want to say simply and clearly enough.
6. Be precise
Avoid saying things which are visible or obvious .e.g. I am giving you a piece of paper….
7. Coherence
Make sure that the steps are in a logical order, and that no steps are missing.
8. Use Gestures
Use gesture to foster understanding and clarify meaning. The art of giving effective instructions relies
heavily on the use of clear gestures to accompany the steps.
9. Demonstration
Use demonstrations rather than explanation whenever possible
10.Check Understanding
Check whether students have understood your instructions or no.
11. Set Time limit
It is always important to set time limit because it gives students a sense of pace.
12. Monitor
Once you’ve given instruction for a task and students start doing it, there is a need to check to make
sure that students are doing the activity that you asked them to do and help them if need be.

Task 1
Ok, everybody, would you, Maria, sit down. Now what you have to do is, when you, you take this
sheet of paper that I’m handing out now and keep it secret, and some of you are “A”, it’s written at the
top, and some are labeled “B”. Ok, can you see that? Don’t show your paper to anyone and then you
have to describe to your partner; sit face to face. Could you move your chairs around and describe
what’s on your paper so that your partner can find out what’s different, and you must agree; when you
find something, draw it on your paper.
Practice 1
1. Identify the essential instructions the teacher wanted to give.
2. Delete unnecessary language
3. Write out the instructions in the right order.
Task 2
 Sit opposite your partner (Wait while they move)
 Some of you are “A” (gesture to letter A)
 Some of you are “B” (gesture to letter B)
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  Do not show your paper to anyone (mime hide)
 Distribute the handout
 Some things in picture A are different from picture B
 Describe your picture
 When you find something different draw it.
 Check Understanding (what are you going to do?)

Or

 Ask a student to come in front of the class and sit opposite you.
 Give the handout to the student and take one yourself, making a bit show of keeping the
handout secret from each other.
 Pretend to be student A and do one complete example with student B so that the whole class
can hear
 e.g. A : Have you got a tree in your picture? B: Yes;
 A: Is there a bird on the tree? B: No. A: Oh, so that’s one difference in my picture: there is a
bird on the tree.)
 Distribute the handouts to the class: Now you do the same.

Revision Section
1. Discuss the role of input in the classroom.
2. Discuss the relationship between input and output.
3. What is the difference between the roughly-tuned input and the finely-tuned input?
4. Discuss seven elements in giving good instructions.
5. Talk about five characteristics of a good explanation.
6. Why should a teacher check understanding and why?
7. Discuss the steps of giving instructions
8. What are the four crucial elements a teacher should discuss when giving explanation of a new
content?
9. Why should explanations and instruction be short?
10. In which language should teacher explain or give instruction? Why?