Score Your Lectures

1-20-99: The following suggestions were made by ESL students when they were asked by staff at the Teaching Resources Center at UC-Davis to say what lecturers could do to help them understand those lectures.  A "Scoring Scale" is suggested below that you might use to judge how you did for an individual lecture. (Yes, this is arbitrary and wasn't originated as a scale, but the effort might be instructive, even useful for teachers.)

1. Articulate. Rapid talk doesn't save time; it costs comprehension.
2. Say important parts noticeably more slowly for emphasis.
3. Start the class by telling the day's topic(s) to get students thinking about what they know, perhaps by displaying a preview or agenda on the board or classroom projector.
4. State your "argument," or thesis; then paraphrase it to get students used to seeing major course concepts in other words.  [Your test items don't echo concepts word for word, do they, even if students often try to default to a "word match" strategy to answer?]
5. Repeat the important ideas and words.
6. Ask questions to see how and how much students understand a particular concept--and listen for content not grammar in students' answers and questions.
7. Joke sparingly. ESL and dialect students may not share your vocabulary or your cultural values about what's funny.
8. Show it.  Visuals, demonstrations, and the like often clarify an abstract discussion.
9. Give students who are willing a head start by supplying an outline, notes, or background reading beforehand. [The needy students won't skip--and you can stop such previewing if they do skip class. If you're techy, or know a helpful student or staff member who is, you can post your preview to your course's website.]
10. Invite students to your office. Students may admit they need or at least accept help one to one without damaged pride--even with relief.
11. Group ESL students with English-proficient students; even introduce them to course mentors.
12. Tell students when and where you can be found.

If you do 10-12 of these "good teaching practices" routinely, consider yourself a lecturer who goes the extra mile.

6-9 = the extra half-mile

0-5 = the first step