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When you’re teaching ESL to a group or in a one-on-one setting, giving helpful feedback to each student is essential. Providing actionable, encouraging feedback can be a little more difficult when you’re teaching English online, but it’s still a necessary part of the job. Feedback can help you structure your future lessons based on your students’ needs, and it can also help you retain students longer in the competitive world of online English teaching.

Here are 7 ideas for giving constructive feedback in your online ESL classroom.

1. Provide feedback using the student’s current knowledge 

Your students most likely don’t speak English fluently (that’s why they’re taking your lessons!). Keeping this in mind when you’re giving them feedback can save you and them a lot of frustration. Since you’re their teacher, craft your feedback in a way that they’ll understand. Use short and concise sentences, level-appropriate vocabulary, and don’t overwhelm them by giving too much feedback at once. 

2. Give real-time feedback after the student finishes speaking 

Giving real-time feedback can give your students a confidence boost, and it can also help you make sure you’re understanding their needs. The most important aspect of real-time feedback to remember is to let your student finish speaking before you provide verbal feedback. If a teacher constantly cuts off a student to correct minor errors, this can be demotivating and discouraging for the student. 

It’s especially important to wait for the student to finish speaking when you’re in an online ESL environment. Technology has its limitations, and when two people speak at the same time online, the sound can become distorted and incomprehensible. This can lead to awkward pauses, frustration, and a generally bad experience for the student. 

3. Nonverbal feedback can encourage the student

While you should always allow students to finish speaking before providing verbal feedback, it’s important to give nonverbal feedback while they’re speaking. Whether it’s staying focused on your screen, nodding, smiling, or something else, nonverbal feedback encourages students and lets them know you’re actively listening. If you just sit and wait for your student to finish without giving any nonverbal feedback, your student may think your computer froze!

4. Ask the student to self-assess

The typical teacher-student relationship is pretty straightforward. The student communicates in English and the teacher corrects the student or gives advice afterwards. While this is an effective way to learn English, it does have its limitations. Students tend to become dependent on feedback from their teachers. This is why it’s important to ask your students to assess themselves. 

Asking them what mistakes they think they made or how they can improve their English skills encourages your students to think about their own needs. When they explore their own areas of improvement with you, you’ll be able to identify knowledge gaps and understand what they need and want to focus on during their online lessons. 

5. Provide feedback based on the content of the lesson

Online ESL lessons tend to be pretty flexible, especially if you’re creating your own teaching materials. However, you should always have an objective or direction in each lesson. Be sure and cater your feedback to the content of each lesson to avoid confusing your students.

If they want to learn how to have a conversation in a restaurant, giving them feedback on how they misused a verb tense may not be helpful for them. Instead, focus on helping them learn related vocabulary words, common phrases they might hear in a restaurant, or other related information.

6. Positive feedback is just as important as identifying areas of improvement 

It’s easy to point out students’ errors and teach them how to avoid repeating those mistakes again in the future. This shouldn’t be the only type of feedback a student receives though. Letting them know what they did well and what they excel at can be really motivating. When you’re teaching ESL online, students may be apprehensive to speak because they aren’t comfortable with speaking through a microphone or webcam. Giving them positive feedback can not only encourage them, but it can also break down the barriers caused by technology.

7. Listen to student feedback and think about it when giving lessons

Feedback goes two ways. Asking your students for feedback on your online lessons can help you meet their needs more effectively. When you take their thoughts into account for future lessons, you’ll form a more productive relationship with each other. They’re also more likely to keep booking you!

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Using these feedback tips for your online ESL lessons can help you foster a positive and productive online environment. These tips can open up the line of communication between you and your students, and they can also allow you to overcome the obstacle of building a virtual relationship with your online students.

Communication generally refers to the process of giving and receiving ideas, information, signals, or messages. Given this definition, we can say that effective communication is more than just writing with excellent grammar or speaking with the proper diction and intonation. Furthermore, there are skills that one must possess or develop to be an effective communicator.

Successfully creating a dialogue with your student and keeping them engaged throughout the lesson is a fundamental yet challenging part of teaching. It is among the first steps you have to take to fulfill your responsibility of helping the student learn a new language. As a home-based online English teacher, however, communication can be more challenging given the limitations of being on the other side of a screen.

To help you become a more effective communicator and instructor, here are some noteworthy skills that you must develop.

Listening

As you give your ESL lesson, you must remember that you should not do all the talking. Listening is a crucial communication skill that allows you to empower your students to participate in the lesson and practice their English skills.

You have your time to talk and go through the lesson, but you must also give the students time to talk and put what they learned to use. Doing so not only helps them hone their skills but also makes them feel valued. Furthermore, this will encourage them to keep learning and do better.

Some straightforward ways to become an active listener is to be attentive to what your student is saying, respond accordingly, and ask follow-up questions as needed.

Aside from improving your own active listening skills, you can also teach with EnglishClub using their materials with listening and speaking exercises for students.

Body Language

Communication involves not only the words you say but also the cues you give through your body language. Students learn from these, whether you make them intentionally or not.

Considering this, it is best to be fully in the moment as you teach online and be intentional with every move. Make sure that your body posture, gestures, and eye movement are positive and align with what you say.

Additionally, you must also pay attention to the learner’s body language to understand them better throughout the session. Slouching or keeping the head bowed, for example, may mean that they are still nervous or that they are not yet into the lesson. Use this insight to adjust your teaching style and encourage them to participate. 

Facial Expressions

Facial expression is one of the primary sources of information during communication. It is found to be the most expressive way through which people display emotions. It is what your students immediately see and look at throughout the lesson.

You can use your facial expressions to help you convey a message more effectively. Beyond this, using various facial expressions as you deliver the lesson can help you keep the students motivated and interested.

Lastly, you must know how to read the learner’s facial expressions like how you pay attention to their body language. A student’s expression can give you an idea of whether or not to slow down, pick up the pace, or modify your teaching style to help the student follow.

Tone and Pitch of Voice

A teacher’s tone and pitch of the voice can make or break the mood of the lesson. The right voicing can help you keep the students engaged and build rapport with them. However, a monotonous voice can dishearten them further or make them lose interest in what you have to teach.

To establish an authoritative yet approachable voice, it’s best to find the right balance between being stern and kind. If you are teaching younger learners, maintaining a firm yet friendly voice enables you to be in command of the session without scaring them.

Clothing Style

Even if you are a work-from-home teacher, you still need to dress well for your lessons. It may not seem like it, but the way you dress conveys a message to your students and influences what they think about you. Consequently, this perception impacts your effectiveness as an instructor.

A pleasant physical appearance can help you gain respect from your students. As a result, this respect can encourage positive student attendance and help you keep a session in order. Ultimately, you should remember that as a teacher, it is important to dress appropriately to set a good example to your students, even if you teach at home.

Communication is Key to Effective Instruction

The communication skills mentioned here will help you deliver your lesson successfully. If you think that you do not have everything on this list, there’s no need to worry! You can develop these skills as you go along your home-based online teaching journey.

However, you will need determination and intentionality to hone these strengths. The more you level up your skills, the more your student will learn. Ultimately, honing these skills will also help you prepare for the world beyond the virtual classroom.