Elena Kapshutar

Speaking feedback is one of those classroom routines that looks simple but turns out to be surprisingly hard. In the moment, teachers have to balance encouragement, fairness, time pressure and mixed levels, often in large classes. The result is usually one of two familiar patterns. The first is kind but vague: ‘Good job! Nice! Can you expand?’ Learners feel supported, yet many leave without knowing what to change. The second is thorough but heavy: a long list of corrections, usually focused on grammar and pronunciation. Learners can feel overwhelmed, and teachers often notice that the same issues reappear in the...