Types of drilling

We all want our students to remember everything we tell them for the rest of their lives. 

However, the reality is different, and after a while, it turns out that the majority of the rules and words are forgotten, and even the pronunciation is not perfect. Is it about your students? 

If yes, this article is definitely for you because after reading it you will get rid of this problem by implementing a new stage to your lesson plan, making it more diverse and memorable and generally boosting your confidence in what you are doing. 

So, fasten your seatbelts and let’s go!

First and foremost, let’s start with the definition.

Drills are a type of a very controlled practice because in every exercise students have no or very little influence over what is said.

Drills are often performed chorally, but can also be done individually. Pair and group drills are possible too. 

Drilling gained popularity as a part of the audio-lingual method which can be generally characterized by:

However, in the 1960s it lost its popularity as it became clear that audio-lingual method placed too much emphasis on memorization and practice while undervaluing the importance of context and general knowledge in language learning. That is why it fell short of building communicative competence. 

Still, we continue using certain elements of this method (like drilling), as it obviously has some advantages.

The importance of drilling can’t be underestimated. 

The advantages of implementing various drilling techniques are the following:

Well, are there any cons to using drilling? The answer is yes. 

If drilling is done in the wrong way (wrong time, type, material), you may face the following struggles:

And now let’s look through the key principles of drilling in order to avoid the problems mentioned above:

The answer is extremely simple: almost anything. 

Here are some ideas on potential items  for drilling:

Learners must comprehend the drills’ objectives for them to be effective. Nobody benefits from the endless repetition of language that has been stripped of context.

Whether you choose a PPP model or a task-based approach, drilling may be easily and productively incorporated into many different sorts of classes.

If you are working with spoken language, drilling may come after the language focus stage. 

You might wish to incorporate drilling later for corrective purposes if you feel like students could not catch the new material straight away. Or you may use it as a tool for correction after a fluency task.

The most common way of drilling is repetition drill, which is done in chorus. However, there are so many other ways to drill. 

Here are those that we are going to discuss further:

A repetition drill is done simply by repeating the sound, word or phrase. Still, there are plenty of very interesting variation: 

Of course, simple repetition drills are not the most amusing thing ever. That’s where chain drills and back-chaining might be helpful.

This is the simplest way to conduct it. However, you may go further: create small dialogues and drill functional language with the help of chain drills. 

For example:

When it comes to back-chaining, it is particularly good for the pronunciation of long and difficult words. 

At the end you get a full word. Here is how you can practice back-chaining with the word “consequence”:

See more examples in the video below:

It is especially effective when students can work in pairs, for example:

For this task you may prepare some flashcards with the ideas and let students practice by creating a number of small dialogues through substitution. 

Here is a video on how it may be done:

For example:

You may also see this video for a better understanding:

Undoubtedly, this is the most original type of drilling. 

It turns out to be extremely engaging and competitive, so it’s definitely something you need to give a try to. 

Here is how music drill sounds:

To sum up, there are so many ways to create fun and not repetitive drilling tasks, avoid students’ boredom and enjoy the benefits of the drilling. What about you? Do you use drilling? What is your favorite type? Don’t forget to share in the comments!