Getting Students to Show What They Know As teachers, we know how important it is to check students’ comprehension. This is an essential teaching skill no matter what subject it is.
Being able to receive real-time evidence of learning is critical to keeping students moving towards the lesson’s objective.
From comprehension checking come a virtual cornucopia of benefits for both the teacher and learner.
Being able to receive real-time evidence of learning is critical to keeping students moving towards the lesson’s objective.
From comprehension checking come a virtual cornucopia of benefits for both the teacher and learner.
Benefits of Checking for Student Comprehension
Checking for Comprehension & ELLs - Comprehension checks engage students.
- Checking for comprehension helps self monitoring.
- Students clarify their own inner criteria.
- Everyone receives feedback in real time.
- Comprehension checks keep students on task.
- The teacher can assess individual students & class.
- Repairing small issues quickly stunts their growth.
Effective comprehension checking strategies support the teaching and the learning that occurs in the classroom. With so many advantages, it’s puzzling that we don’t check for comprehension as often as we should.
Some of the reasons teachers may shy away from comprehension checks have to do with how they may be perceived. The bulk of these perceptions can be summarized with the following teacher comments on why they do not do a lot of comprehension checks in their classrooms:
Some of the reasons teachers may shy away from comprehension checks have to do with how they may be perceived. The bulk of these perceptions can be summarized with the following teacher comments on why they do not do a lot of comprehension checks in their classrooms:
Misconceptions & Comprehension Checks
- It takes too much time.
- I don’t want to single anyone out.
- I do it already at the end of the lesson.
- My students’ level is too low for this to work.
Myths about checking for student comprehension...
Myth #1: Comprehension checks take away from instructional time
Time: As with any step in the lesson, comprehension checking costs time. The amount of time spent on comprehension checks depends on how they are done. There are both inefficient and efficient ways to check for student comprehension.
Contrary to what we may think, comprehension checks save time & help us get the most out of the time we have.
Contrary to what we may think, comprehension checks save time & help us get the most out of the time we have.
Effective Comprehension Checks
| Ineffective Comprehension Checks
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Ideally, the output should always be greater than the input. This is true in lesson planning (I’m not going to spend 4 hours preparing for a 45 minute lesson), teaching (students need to do more work than I do), and comprehension checking.
If the amount of time you spent on checking for comprehension was greater than its benefit, consider how to make it more efficient by examining the way you do them.
If the amount of time you spent on checking for comprehension was greater than its benefit, consider how to make it more efficient by examining the way you do them.
Myth #2: I don't want to single anyone out
Affect: Fearing that comprehension checks might psychologically damage a students’ ego, while a bit extreme, does highlight the effects our approach to comprehension checking has on students’ affect (emotional state).
Often, in our desire to ‘protect’ our students by not performing comprehension checks does more harm than asking them to show what they know.
More than likely, it is not comprehension checking that agitates a student; it’s how the comp check is done that may increase students' affect.
Often, in our desire to ‘protect’ our students by not performing comprehension checks does more harm than asking them to show what they know.
More than likely, it is not comprehension checking that agitates a student; it’s how the comp check is done that may increase students' affect.
Making comprehension checks SAFER
1. Safety: Students who feel safe to make mistakes won’t become as anxious with comprehension checks and will be more willing to take ‘risks’.
2. Attitude: The way we approach comprehension checks and the message we send when a student responds shapes students’ attitudes towards comp checks.
3. Frequency: The more often we check for comprehension, the more students grow accustomed to it and the more open they become to it.
4. Equanimity: Making sure we comp check students who have it and students who don’t shows equanimity; it’s not just the high level learners that do it.
5. Returns: Students who see benefits in comprehension checks, welcome them. We do this by using comp checks to help students clarify language & tasks.
Asking students to demonstrate their understanding in front of others can cause anxiety; how we frame this influences student’s affect {emotional state}.
A comprehension check that is done in a supportive manner produces less anxiety and more accurate results.
2. Attitude: The way we approach comprehension checks and the message we send when a student responds shapes students’ attitudes towards comp checks.
3. Frequency: The more often we check for comprehension, the more students grow accustomed to it and the more open they become to it.
4. Equanimity: Making sure we comp check students who have it and students who don’t shows equanimity; it’s not just the high level learners that do it.
5. Returns: Students who see benefits in comprehension checks, welcome them. We do this by using comp checks to help students clarify language & tasks.
Asking students to demonstrate their understanding in front of others can cause anxiety; how we frame this influences student’s affect {emotional state}.
A comprehension check that is done in a supportive manner produces less anxiety and more accurate results.
Myth #3: I check for comprehension at the end and that's enough
Frequency: There is no doubt that the end of a lesson is an essential place to check for student comprehension. It informs us of who met (didn’t) the lesson’s objective and informs us of what needs to be recycled or focused upon in the next class; yet, one or two comprehension checks per class is not enough.
Waiting until the end of the lesson to do a comprehension check also could produce unwanted consequences.
Waiting until the end of the lesson to do a comprehension check also could produce unwanted consequences.
Negative consequences of not comprehension checking throughout the lesson
- It could be too late in the lesson to go back and repair misunderstandings.
- Students could leave feeling confused or unsure of what they learned.
- If a point(s) had been made clearer, more students may have met the objective.
- Time may have been spent practicing the language incorrectly.
These consequences can be avoided by placing comprehension checks throughout the lesson. Normally, it’s much easier to redirect students once they get off track rather than waiting until they’re completely lost.
On-going comprehension checks encourage students to monitor their production & their peers.
Myth #4: The level of my students is too low to comp check
Level: It is true that a student’s proficiency level may impact how you check for comprehension. After all, less proficient students may have little language to understand or perform the comprehension check.
Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, look for ways to differentiate the task.
Teachers need to modify the way we check for students’ comprehension based on their language proficiency.
Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, look for ways to differentiate the task.
Teachers need to modify the way we check for students’ comprehension based on their language proficiency.
Differentiating comprehension checks
- Use visuals or gestures to perform the comprehension check.
- Encourage non-verbal responses from the students.
- Provide more wait time to the students.
- Use a limited number of varieties of comprehension checking strategies.
- Purposefully teach language students need to voice their comprehension.
The comprehension checks we use should reflect the focus of the lesson and the proficiency level of the learner.
Comprehension Checks = Learning Opportunities
Comprehension checks are learning opportunities for the teacher and for the students. Both learn what is comfortable and what needs more attention.
The more we check for comprehension, the more the teacher gets to
know the students and the more the students get to know themselves.
The more we check for comprehension, the more the teacher gets to
know the students and the more the students get to know themselves.
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TESOL Trainers is an educational consulting firm that works with educational institutions in the USA and abroad. We provide high quality professional development from Working with English Language Learners and SIOP strategies to Reflective Teaching Practices and Multicultural Education.
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Contact us for more information on we can help you support excellence in teaching and in learning at your educational institution or how you can become a TESOL certified teacher.
Our programs can be designed as traditional-style professional development, online, or a combination (hybrid course) of the two. We also offer world-class remote professional development.
In addition,TESOL Trainers has been offering the SIT TESOL Certificate course to people interested in teaching English overseas for the past 18 years.
Contact us for more information on we can help you support excellence in teaching and in learning at your educational institution or how you can become a TESOL certified teacher.
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