Coursebook strategy boxes are thin. Listen for the moments when strategies are needed and teach them as they arise: backchannelling, follow-up questions, fillers, repair and clarification, vague language, hedging.
Highlights
- Backchannelling (“yeah”, “really?”) plus follow-up Wh-questions, taught together.
- QAAA for discussions: A asks a question; B answers, adds a point, asks back.
- Fillers (“you know”, “I mean”): raise awareness; let your own speech model them.
- Repair: “Sorry, what was that?” / “Do you mean…?” instead of a bare “What?”
- Anecdote retelling: retell several times, adding one strategy each time.
- “There may be loads of opportunities to upgrade learners’ conversation skills, you’ve just got to know what to listen for.”
Limits
Experience-based; no research cited.
Apply in my context (Claude)
- QAAA maps exactly onto the KET/PET Speaking Part 2 interaction criteria (interactive communication) and IELTS Part 3 extension. Make it a classroom routine poster.
Connections
Plan KET and PET speaking around the assessment criteria · Fluency rests on memorised word-groups · Why pairwork fails - fix the task, not the students