How to give clear instructions to students

Whether you teach children or adults, you know how important clear instructions are.  No matter what the subject or what the audience is, you’ve learned that the success of any activity is all in the instructions.  Without clear instructions, at best, there's a lot of confusion as students figure out what they are supposed to do.  At worst, chaos begins to brew, and not a lot of learning is happening.  This is not ideal, especially if you spent time preparing a labor intensive activity. ​Here are 7 key steps that any instructor can follow to minimize classroom confusion and maximize student success......

Giving Clear Instructions is more than just telling students what you want them to do.  We have, as educators, all seen the results of when students understand what to do and when students do not understand what to do.​ ​Making sure that students are prepared for an activity is more than scaffolding their language learning.  Instructions need to be scaffolded as well.  As you read this scaffolded process, notice how the students/participants are being step-by-step from “huh?” to “ahh!”

1. Break things down.  If the activity has several parts, give the instructions part by part.  Once students complete one segment, stop the class and get them going on the second part.  This helps students focus on each section piece by piece.  Key Question:  How do I break the activity down into chunks? ​
   
2. Explain the activity. Telling students what they are doing and why helps students connect with the task.  We don’t need to go into great detail; an overview is fine.  Providing students with the purpose behind the activity, invites them into the activity.  Key Question:  How do I tell them succinctly what they should do and why?
3. Create a step by step outline.  Having the instructions clearly and succinctly written on the board not only keeps the teacher focused when explaining the activity, but also gives students an anchor when they are doing the activity.  At any point, they can refer to the steps and redirect themselves.  Key Question:  How do I simply the instructions?
4. Let students see what the activity looks like.  Modeling for the class first shows students what it will look like.  Showing and telling is an effective way to reach all types of students.  It’s also the first step in scaffolding students into being successful.  Key Question:  How can I show them what it should look like?
5. Experiment with a student.  Modeling the activity with a student is the next step in scaffolding.  They have just see the teacher do the activity; doing a piece of the activity with a student, increases confidence and understanding how to complete the task.  Key Question:  How do I model this with a student to boost success?
6. Assess their understanding.  Having the students tell and show you what they are supposed to do is the best way to take the pulse of the class.  When two students model the activity without the support of the instructor, the entire class gets a chance to clarify their understanding.  Key Question:  How do get the audience to show me they are ready?
7. Repair misunderstandings.  If the students seem confused, stop the class, repair the confusion, and restart the activity.  Students will get more out of the activity that you have prepared.  You’ll work less by not having to go from group to group retelling the instructions.  Key Question:  How do I redirect the class effectively and efficiently?

More on Giving Clear Instructions Here.

John Kongsvik and his team at TESOL Trainers provide hands-on professional development on giving clear instructions.Our teacher training workshops on giving clear instructions can make teaching and learning more effective and more efficient. Contact John Kongsvik to learn more about our training in SIOP, TESOL, and more.

by Beatriz Meneguetti | Posted at 09:00h in Teacher Development 5 Comments

It seems such an obvious concept and such an easy thing to do, but then, you set up a task, or ask for an action, and it does not come up as imagined. Sometimes, students just understand or get partial information on what they are supposed to do and so, undesired behaviour comes to play.

For me this is a constant struggle and I see lots of teachers in the same situation.

Instructions are not something to be overlooked, in fact, giving the right sort of instruction is crucial to a good flow of a lesson and performance of an activity.

Failing to do so can result in a huge waste of time, not to mention a series of interruptions with the very same questions or, what I call ‘interrogation mark faces’.

Very recently I had to get in contact with a reasonable number of students to request a certain task to be developed and presented. I wrote the instructions, read, re-read and read again in order to guarantee that it would not be misleading. I really tried to follow the basic rules of it as:

Get students’ attention;

1. Be clear;
2. Use short sentences;
3. Be chronological;
4. Support students;
5. check understanding.

To my surprise, most of the students seemed to have understood it, but when the homework started to get back to me, only a very small number of those students were able to fulfil all the requests.

At first, I went back to my instructions, tried to improve them and send them all again by e-mail. This second time, more students were able to complete the task as demanded, but still some were not. Frustration was the feeling but we cannot give up.

Reading authors talking about giving instructions, two basic rules seem to be present in most of them:

1. Instructions need to be kept as simple as possible; and
2. Instructions need to be logical.

As a teacher, we need to ask ourselves questions such as:

1. What is the core command I am trying to convey?
2. What students must know to complete the activity?
3. Which info needs to be given first?
4. What materials are needed?…

There are some tips for the success of instructions delivery:

1. Try and be short, simple and precise;
2. Attract students attention first;
3. Give all the instructions prior to the beginning of activities;
4. Make use of body language, written commands, etc… Do not only count in spoken language;
5. If possible, demonstrate the task;
6. Be consistent about the way you give instructions so on the long run it will make students lives easier;
7. Don’t through your instructions – groups them in order to build a repertoire of instructions and how they worked. In the future, you will only improve what you have already done before without so much trouble.

All in all, being clear is the best way to reduce the possibilities of interruptions and misunderstandings. Producing well delivered instructions teachers will help all sorts os students – from attentive to more dispersive ones.

From my point of view, this is the most important quest of a teacher.

Among all the factors that can help learning, giving clear instructions is considered to be crucial (Tesol Trainers, Inc., 2015). The most significant variable which affects students’ achievement is classroom management (Marzano & Marzano, 2009; Hattie, 2009), and giving clear instructions is one of the issues which affect classroom management directly. Rhalmi (2010, p.1) claims that “the most important point that determines how successfully students will learn is the way instructions are formulated” and suggests there is close connection between how teachers give instructions, and good performance of tasks on the part of students.

What can we teachers do to make our instructions clear?

Here is a list of 10 simple steps you can follow:

1. Get students’ attention. Gather the group together and signal you are about to tell students what to do. You can do so by putting up a hand and/or asking for silence. It is of paramount importance that you wait until you do get full silence. If you don’t, you will most probably have to go over your explanation again once those students who were still chatting pay attention to you.

2. Be clear, specific and concise. (Breiburd, Nacamuli Klebs & Vázquez, 2017). Three conditions need to be met: instructions need to be specific which means “relating to one thing and not others” (Cambridge Dictionary), i.e. being precise and specified; concise, which involves “expressing or covering much in few words” (www.Thesarus.com). Also, your instructions need to be easy to understand. Therefore, refer to one particular thing at a time, and avoid over-lengthy, ‘over-wordy’ explanations, which may confuse students with too much information that is not needed. At lower levels use simple language (no complex structures), short sentences, and true cognates (transparent words) where possible.

3. Project your voice. Classrooms may be quite big and may hold a large number of students. Therefore,  you need to choose a spot in the room where your voice reaches everyone and all students can hear what you are about to say.

4. Provide visual support. Use gestures and body language wherever suitable and possible. Back in 1967, Dr. Albert Meharabian broke human communication into three components: words, which account for 7%; tone of voice, 38%; and body language, 55%. This means that what we say carries only 7% of the message. And, although not all researchers agree with that number, everyone does agree that non-verbal communication overshadows verbal. If most of a message is conveyed by communication which exceeds words, our instructions will need to reflect that as well.

5. Assumptions. Do not take for granted that students understood what you have explained. Dartnell (n.d., p.1) claims that “the message received might differ from what we actually meant.” She also reminds us of the saying ‘assumption is the mother of all mistakes’. Even if most of our students may be focused and ‘tuned-in’, this may not be the case for all. As a result,  you will need to take a further step before you set the activity going, which is ‘checking’ they have understood what is required of them.

6. Checking. Seek for an explanation on the part of the students where they state two things: what the nature of the task is (i.e. what the task consists of) and a description of the behaviors that are expected from them. This may take, for e.g., the form of one student ‘paraphrasing’ what the teacher has said. Let them use the language they handle: remember that other students may find it easier to understand utterances at their own level of interlanguage rather than complex book rubrics. Personally I believe that at beginner levels, some L1 may also be allowed, since the purpose of this step is to clarify what to do, rather than to test how much English they can produce.

Another way of checking is doing a dry-run or a practice-run (i.e. a rehearsal), where students will see the activity in action and how to solve it.

7. Complex tasks. Break down a complex activity into simpler and shorter steps. This will keep the whole group advancing together more or less at the same speed, and will prevent students from losing the overall thread. A few key words numbered on the board to keep students focused is a good idea as well.

8. Mark the beginning of the activity. This will help you maintain the pace of the lesson, as, since all students will start at the same time, most students will end (more or less) at the same time.

9. Assign a time limit. Remember that it is the teacher’s job to allot how much time each activity takes, which is of paramount relevance to maintain the momentum throughout the lesson (Richards & Lockhart 1994). Also, students need to be aware of how much the activity takes to that they organize their own time.

10. Warning! If you notice any problem crops up, there are misinterpretations or the meaning of a word/ couple of words is blocking the right development of the activity, do not try to solve it on a one-student-at-a-time basis. Just stop the activity as a whole, gather students’ attention, repair misunderstandings, mark the new beginning, and let students finish the activity.

Last but not least, remember that after you have given proper, clear instructions and students start working, walking around and monitoring their work is always a good idea!

Débora Nacamuli Klebs

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Bibliography

Breiburd, S., Nacamuli Klebs, D. & Vázquez, E. (2017). Aportes para el Manejo del Aula: 10 pautas básicas para el profesor novato de escuela secundaria. Revista Diálogos Pedagógicos. Año XV, Num 30. (pp. 93-104). Facultad de Educación. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Córdoba. Argentina

Dartnell, A. (n.d.). 7 Tips on how to give Clear, Understandable Instructions to Staff. Lifehack. Available at: https://goo.gl/LNZqac (Retrieved: July 2017)

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses relating to Student Achievement. New York: Routledge.

Marzano, R. & Marzano, J. (2009). Kaleidoscope. Contemporary and Classic Readings in Education. Copper, J. & Ryan, K. Editors. (12th Edition) Belmont: Cenage Learning Inc.

Rhalmi, M. (2010). Practical Teaching Tips for Giving Instructions. Available at: https://goo.gl/gZvnPe  (Retrieved: August 2016)

Richards, J. & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: CUP

Tesol Trainers, Inc. (2017). Clear Instructions in the Classroom: What do Clear Instructions look like in the Classroom? Everything teaching TESOL. Available at: https://goo.gl/pYCxiU (Retrieved: July 2017)