Train-the-Trainer by DataHomeLab

3.9 Student Answers

3.9.1 Receiving the Answer

Show the respondent that you appreciate his effort by reinforcing with a statement such as "good point". Even if his answer was wrong, don't damn him: he must think that his answer has some merit. Wrong answers are often a good indication that a point has not been understood. Use a wrong answer to explain again the point you have made.

3.9.2 Responding to Answers

Confirmation of the correct response provides a number of benefits. It confirms to the student who answered the question that the response was correct. Students who may not have heard the student answer have the opportunity to hear the same answer repeated by the instructor. Also repetition of the student answer by the instructor provides aural reinforcement to aid learning.

Mention also needs to be made of reward for correct answers. That rewarding for correct responses aids learning, is an established principle in education psychology. Rewards take the form of the instructor saying "Good", "That's a good answer to a difficult question" etc. However, the instructor must consider that constant rewards, even for easy questions, will quickly lose their effect on students. In giving rewards, the instructor must consider the difficulty of the question and the ability of the student. What may be an easy question to the bright student may appear a difficult question for the less bright student. Rewards at the right time encourage students and maintain high motivation.

3.9.3 Dealing with incorrect Answers

If the instructor could depend on getting the correct answer to every question, instruction would be very easy. However, many questions asked by the instructor will often draw either the wrong response or no response from students. When this happens, the instructor must use careful judgement in deciding what to do next. The two major reasons for a student giving an incorrect response are either:

  1. The student does not know the correct answer, or
  2. The student did not understand the question posed by the instructor.

In dealing with incorrect responses the instructor must consider the following factors on which to base judgement:

  • Will perseverance with the question affect lesson timing?
  • Does the student answer indicate there is no chance of the student getting the correct answer?
  • Did question wording confuse the student?
  • Did the student give a partially correct answer?
  • Is the student lazy and attempting to avoid the effect of incorrectly answering the question?
  • How will your subsequent actions affect student confidence?
  • What are the student's abilities?

Drawn from Appendix 1: active listening as the substrate

Receiving the Answer mentions acknowledgement and reinforcement but does not specify how the instructor signals attentive reception. The Flight Safety Foundation / NASA manual fills this in with five graded active-listening techniques, treated in full in A1.4 Facilitation Techniques and reproduced here for the classroom application:

  • Non-verbal: nod, smile, make eye contact, sit forward, or otherwise indicate interest.
  • Short interjections: "Yes?", "Uh-huh", "I see", to indicate attention and encourage them to say more.
  • Echoing: repeat part of what the speaker said as a question directed back to the student (student: "we weren't sure if the gear was down"; instructor: "So you weren't sure if the gear was down?").
  • Reflecting: repeat what the speaker said in different words while retaining the same meaning (student: "we didn't communicate well"; instructor: "you didn't let each other know what you were doing?").
  • Expanding: expand on what the speaker said by implying more than the speaker intended (student: "we didn't communicate well"; instructor: "so if you had communicated better you could have avoided getting overloaded?").

The five levels apply to receiving any answer, including wrong ones. The Receiving the Answer instruction "don't damn him" maps onto the non-verbal and short-interjection levels: even a wrong answer is met with attentive reception before being worked. The most important aspect across all techniques is the tone the instructor conveys: the student must perceive genuine interest in what they have to say.

Drawn from Appendix 4: criticism as a gift

When a wrong answer or weak performance has to be addressed in feedback (rather than worked on the spot in the lesson), the A4.B.8 Giving Criticism discipline applies. 3.9 Student Answers does not develop this; Appendix 4 does. The single principle worth surfacing here is "criticism is a gift, which must be for the benefit of the receiver and not a release for the giver." A wrong answer is feedback to the instructor on the lesson plan as much as feedback to the student on their understanding. See 3.9 Student Answers for the in-lesson reception of the answer; A4.B.8 Giving Criticism is for the heavier corrective conversation that may follow.

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