Instruction Checking Questions (ICQs)

He suggests the following: 

Here is a set of questions you can ask yourself when writing instructions into your lesson plans.  

If we stop here and think for a moment about how much time setting instructions like these would take, I think you might answer something like…”way too long”. I agree with you. We want instructions to be clear, concise, relevant, and easy to check. Number 6 above, is the most critical step when setting instructions.

To assess a student’s understanding of instructions, a teacher must ask an Instructions Checking Question (ICQs). These are quick questions that check if students know what they are doing. I recommend you work into your lesson plan, rather than trying to think of them on the spot. If you do this, you’ll likely only remember to ask “are you working alone?” or “are you writing anything down?” which more often than not, have little to do with the task itself. 

On eltresource.com I came across an article by Tim McLeish about the characteristics of good ICQs. He suggests that they:

• Are designed to help the teacher as much as the students
• Are tailored to the specific task
• Check understanding of all the relevant aspects of the task
• Contain two options so students can respond with x or y
• Are delivered while all students are looking at the teacher
• Are delivered snappily with appropriate intonation (i.e. They prompt a quick answer; students shouldn’t have to think first)
• Are scripted in advance
• Don’t patronize students
• Can sometimes be used instead of giving instructions, (if the task is very obvious and/or a task you know your students recognize e.g. a gap-fill)

He follows up with a list of various ICQs you can ask for different activities, like listening tasks, reading tasks, role-plays, matching exercises, etc.

Here are a few of the questions listed in his article (check out his article for a complete list):

•  How many people are you going to hear?
• Are you (real name) or (role play name)?
• Should you write the whole script or only notes?
• Are you reading the whole text or only paragraph one?
• How many times can you use each word – once or twice?
• How many words go in each gap?
• Are you putting them in the order you heard them or the order they actually happened?
• How many people do you have to speak to?
• How many questions do you ask each person?
• What do you do after you’ve written their name?

If you are stuck on how to give instructions clearly, the best advice I can give you is to record yourself giving them. Once you hear yourself giving instructions, you will know exactly what you need to do to improve them.