AS a classroom technique, drilling has now become unpopular in some teaching contexts. But many classroom activities that are popular now are really drills in disguise guessing games, information gaps, personalized grammar practice, etc. Philip Kerr, an English teacher and teacher trainer in the UK, discusses how to use drills in English language teaching.
The most basic kind of drill is a repetition drill and the key to its success is for the students to know exactly what it is they should be repeating. A simple word probably only needs to be modelled once or twice before the students are asked to repeat. But a more complicated phrase may require more substantial modelling.
It may be helpful for the students if teachers point out the word stress on each word. For example, it may be helpful, in some way, to show that the "-s" in "resources" is pronounced /z/, and the "re-" at the beginning of the word is pronounced with a short /i/.
If teachers don't highlight these features in some way, the students may not know what it is they are supposed to be saying. It is through this process that teachers can encourage students to notice elements of the language that they might not otherwise have noticed.
People tend to remember things better when they are feeling positive about what they are doing. If drilling becomes robotic, unnatural or boring, it will be counterproductive. It's a time when students need to be alert and concentrate. Attention is positive, but tension is counterproductive, so teachers can give students a "break" by getting them to "mumble" drill (repeating to themselves or to a partner, but at their own time and pace).
Teachers need to avoid making students speak in the same order and overdoing individual repetition in large classes. Drilling works on the premise that it's better to show someone how to do something before you ask them to do it. With this in mind, teachers need to take time to show students how to say something modelling, highlighting, etc. If this stage of drilling is properly used, correction can be seen as an opportunity to re-model or re-highlight.
