1. Drilling in the
Classroom
28 June 2013
Martin Sketchley
www.eltexperiences.com

2. Contents
• Discussion
• The theory of drilling
• Benefits & drawbacks of
drilling
• Activities to include
• Video review
• Any questions

3. Drilling in the
Classroom• When was the last
time you did any
form of drilling?
• When do you normally
do any type of
drilling?
• Can you think how
drilling could be
adapted?
• What are the
benefits and
drawbacks of

4. Drilling: The Theory
• Based upon the
‘behaviourist’
model of language
learning
• Included with an
‘audiolinguistic’
approach to
language teaching
• Continuous practice
will make perfect!

5. Benefits of Drills
• It develops learner confidence
• Helps learners get their tongues
round new words
• Picks up pace and maintains
student attention
• Develops ability to produce and
understand connective speech
• Less confident students can take
part and not get embarrassed

6. Drawbacks of Drills
• Drilling not looked upon as
communicative and more
‘Pavlovian’
• It is didactic
• Other teachers consider drills
as boring
• Students could just sit back and
hide behind others
• It can hurt!!!

7. Why Should We Drill?
• Drilling is essential for
pronunciation practice
• Drilling helps with the
automisation and memorisation
of language chunks
• Drilling can be seen as a step
towards fluency
• Drilling, if done correctly,
can work well

8. Activities in
Practice
• Circle drilling
• Silent drilling
• Emotional drilling
• Volume controlled drills
• Traditional drills

9. Circle Drilling
• Prepare a
number of
flashcards
• Get students
to sit in a
circle
• Get faster
and faster
during the
activity

10. Silent Drilling
• Prepare a dialogue:
“In a post-office”
“Hotel reception”
• Act the dialogue and
pronounce words
silently
• Repeat each utterance
until correctly guessed
by learners
• Then get learners in
pairs/groups to repeat
the dialogue

11. Emotional Drilling
• Prepare various pictures
showing differing
emotions
• Prepare separate cards
with target vocabulary
• Drill target vocabulary
as normal without emotion
pictures
• Then drill the vocabulary
again with the emotion
pictures

12. Volume Controlled
Drills• Drilling varying the
volume
• Start off soft and then
build up to a ear-
shattering noise
• YLs really enjoy this
type of drilling, but
then again so could
adults
• It is very easy and
requires very little

13. Traditional Drills
• Nominated drilling: the
teacher nominates students to
repeat
• Choral drilling: getting the
whole class to drill at the
same time
• Substitution drills:
substituting key vocabulary
with prompts

14. Video: Drilling With
Asian Learners
• Watch the
video of
Rachael
teaching YLs
• Afterwards,
discuss the
video with a
partner

15. Questions for
Reflection• When is the best time to incorporate
drilling?
• How frequently do you use drilling in
your classes?
• Do you think a focus on pronunciation
is a necessary part in every class?
• Do you think drills are a useful
technique in class and affect student
pronunciation?
• How comfortable are you at drilling
exercises?