Types of practice activity (terminology confusion!)

This is the first post in what I hope will be an occasional series, clearing up some areas of confusion with terminology. If anybody would like to correct what I’ve written, please do!

How do you classify different kinds of practice activity? Is it controlled practice? Semi-controlled-practice?Free(r) practice? What’s the difference?

Practice activities

First up, what exactly is a ‘practice activity’?

For the purposes of CELTA and Delta, a practice activity is one which gives learners the opportunity to use target language (grammar, vocabulary, pronuciation, or less commonly, discourse features) after they have been introduced in some way. They typically feature in a Present-Practice-Produce (PPP) model of teaching, though may appear in other models too.

Not every exercise is automatically a practice activity – there has to be some element of target language which is specifically being focussed on. It can also only practice something which has previously been introduced, so the initial ‘test’ activity in a lesson staged using Test-Teach-Test (TTT) is not a practice activity, because the target language hasn’t been introduced yet.

Practice activities are common features of coursebooks, and this is where Delta candidates need to know the difference: Paper 2 Task 2 asks you to analyse a set of materials, normally a coursebook spread, and you need to be able to identify what is and isn’t a practice activity, and what kind of practice activity it is.

Controlled practice

Controlled practice (a.k.a. restricted practice) only has one correct answer to each question / item. There are right and wrong answers, and these are unambiguous. There is a focus on accuracy.

Drills are examples of spoken controlled practice focussing on pronunciation, and sometimes form (in the case of a substitution drill).

Most grammar exercises which appear in the back of a coursebook, in a workbook, or in a book like Murphy’s English Grammar in Use, are written controlled practice. They might focus on form, meaning, use or a combination.

Complete the sentence with the past simple form of the verb in brackets ( ).

I ________ swimming yesterday. (go)

Written controlled practice with a focus on the form of the past simple

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Underline the correct option.

1. I went / have been swimming yesterday.

2. I went / have been to the gym three times this week.

Written controlled practice with a focus on the use of the past simple and present perfect simple

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Complete the sentences with the past simple or present perfect form of the verb in brackets ( ).

1. I ________ swimming yesterday. (go)

2. I ________ to the gym three times this week. (go)

Written controlled practice with a focus on the use and form of past simple and present perfect simple

Here are some other ideas for controlled practice, with pros and cons for each.

Semi-controlled practice

Semi-controlled practice has a limited range of correct answers to each question / item. There are right and wrong answers, but there might be more than one. There is a focus on accuracy.

Complete the sentences with can or can’t so they are true for you.

1. I ______ ride a horse.

2. I ______ play the piano.

3. I ______ swim 20 metres.

Written semi-controlled practice with a focus on the use of can / can’t

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The same activity could also be spoken as a kind of drill, with students standing in a circle. The teacher gives the first sentence. In turn, each student says the sentence so it’s true for them. ‘Starter’ sentences could also be suggested by the students (the original sentence would be chosen freely, but the drill part of it is semi-controlled as there are only two possible responses for each student).

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Student A: Say the sentence below. Choose which word to stress.

I don’t think he should get that job.

Student B: Decide what student A means:

1. Somebody else thinks he should get the job.
2. It’s not true that I think he should get the job.
3. That’s not really what I mean. OR I’m not sure he’ll get that job.
4. Somebody else should get that job.
5. In my opinion it’s wrong that he’s going to get that job.
6. He should have to earn (be worthy of, work hard for) that job.
7. He should get another job.
8. Maybe he should get something else instead.

[sentence taken from this website]

Spoken semi-controlled practice with a focus on pronunciation – stress for emphasis

Freer practice

Freer practice allows students to use whatever language they have at their disposal, though if the activity is designed well, it should encourage / enable them to use the target language. There are no correct answers. There is a focus on fluency, though the teacher may choose to do some error correction. This will most often be delayed error correction to maintain the flow of the practice activity.

Complete the sentences so they are true for you.

1. If my tooth was hurting…

2. I would visit my dentist more often…

3. If I ate less chocolate…

Written freer practice with a focus on the form of the second conditional

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Write something for FIVE of the things in the list.

• something you are planning to do in the summer
• a country you’d like to visit in the future
• somebody you wouldn’t like to go on holiday with
• a job you’d love to do
• a job you hate doing in the house
• somebody you find very easy to talk to
• something you’re afraid of doing
• a sport, activity, or hobby you love doing
• something you enjoy doing on Sunday mornings
• something you must do or buy urgently

[Taken from English File Intermediate 4th edition, p77 Ex 3f]

Written freer practice with a focus on the use of gerunds and infinitives

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Work in groups. Tell the others about what you have written and answer any questions they have.

[Taken from English File Intermediate 4th edition, p77 Ex 3g, following on from the exercise above]

Spoken freer practice with a focus on the use of gerunds and infinitives

What terminology would you like me to cover next?