Essential Tips for Effective English Conversation Drills: A Must-Read for Language Instructors

Drill practice is an indispensable element in teaching English conversation. However, mere mechanical repetition yields limited results. This article, based on insights from experts with years of English education experience, provides a detailed explanation of effective drill methods and key points to consider. By mastering these techniques, you can efficiently improve your students’ English proficiency.

1. Basics and Purpose of Drills

Drills refer to mechanical oral practice. Their main purpose is to shorten the “process time” required to “change and construct sentence forms in one’s head.”The basic flow of a drill is as follows:

By repeating this process, students habituate specific sentence patterns and expressions, enabling them to use them instantly.

2. Types of Effective Drills

1.　Substitution Drills

Substitution Drills involve replacing parts of a sentence. For example, an effective drill for practicing the third-person singular present tense might look like this:

his drill allows students to focus on verb changes (likes/like) by changing the subject.

2.　Transformation Drills

Transformation Drills involve changing the form of a sentence. For instance, they are suitable for practicing changing affirmative sentences into questions:

3. Structuring Drills

When structuring effective drills, it’s important to consider the following points:

1. Focus on the teaching point

• Clarify the drill’s purpose and direct students’ attention to specific grammatical structures or expressions.
• For example, when practicing the third-person singular ‘s’, change the subject to draw attention to verb changes.

2. Start with simple forms

• Begin with the simplest form of the drill.
• Repeat basic patterns until students can answer instantly.

3. Gradually increase difficulty

• Once students master the basic pattern, incrementally increase the difficulty.
• For example, change verbs or objects, or add adverbial phrases to lengthen sentences.

4. Use familiar vocabulary and phrases

• When practicing new grammatical structures, use vocabulary and phrases students already know.
• This allows students to concentrate on the grammatical point.

4. Key Points When Conducting Drills

When conducting drills, keep the following points in mind:

Timing is particularly crucial. Maximizing drill effectiveness requires giving Cues and Rewards at appropriate times.

5. Advanced Drill Techniques

For intermediate and advanced levels, combining multiple drill patterns can lead to more effective practice.Combining multiple drill patterns is particularly effective for learners at intermediate levels and above. When teaching grammatically complex items, combining multiple drill types can promote more comprehensive understanding and acquisition.Here’s a detailed explanation of how to combine multiple drill patterns, using conditional sentences as an example:

Example of Combined Drills for Conditional Sentences

1. Form Drill (Substitution Drills)

First, use Substitution Drills to help students master the structure of conditional sentences.

1. Display the sentence form on a whiteboard or screen:
   If I 〇〇〇〇, I ○○〇〇 yesterday.
2. The instructor gives Cues and the student responds:
3. T: “know his number”, “call him”
   S: If I had known his number, I would have called him yesterday.
4. T: “have time”, “join you”
   S: If I had time, I would have joined you yesterday.

In this drill, students focus mainly on verb conjugation and practice the basic structure of conditional sentences.

2. Meaning Consideration Drill (Transformation Drills)

Once the structure is established, move on to drills that make students think about meaning using the same examples.

T: “I didn’t know his number”, “so I didn’t call him yesterday”
S: If I had known his number, I would have called him yesterday.
T: “I didn’t have time yesterday”, “so I didn’t join you yesterday.”
S: If I had had time, I would have joined you yesterday.

In this drill, students understand the situation and practice converting it into appropriate conditional sentences.

3. Difficulty Adjustment

To further increase difficulty, you can make the following adjustments:

1. Mix past conditionals and past perfect conditionals
2. Present more complex situation settings
3. Include negative sentences and questions

Example:

T: “I didn’t have breakfast this morning.” “I’m hungry now.”
S: If I had had breakfast this morning, I wouldn’t be hungry now.

Benefits of Combining Drills

When combining multiple drill patterns, it’s important to always consider the learners’ level and progress, and make appropriate difficulty adjustments. Also, by clarifying the purpose of each drill and ensuring that learners are aware of what they’re practicing, more effective learning becomes possible.

Conclusion

Effective drill practice is a powerful tool for improving English conversation skills. It’s important to always be aware of the drill’s purpose, select appropriate types of drills, and implement them while adjusting difficulty. Also, by giving students opportunities to think and providing feedback at appropriate times, more effective learning becomes possible. Let’s use these techniques to efficiently improve students’ English proficiency.