EXPANSION DRILL TECHNIQUE

As accessed in ( http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/fallay/Pages/ChapterFourTheAudioLingualMethod.aspx) on Wednesday: 16^nt february 2011, Definition: The teacher breaks down a line into several parts. The students repeat a part of the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then, following the teacher's cue, the students expand what they are repeating part by part until they are able to repeat the entire line. The teacher begins with the part at the end of the sentence (and works backward from there) to keep the into­nation of the line as natural as possible. This also directs more student attention to the end of the sentence, where new information typically occurs.

There are so many kinds of definition of Expansion drill technique such as in Richard, J.B. and Rodgers (2001: 61), state the meaning of expansion is:

When a word is added it takes a certain place in the sequence.

Example:

I know him. (hardly). – I hardly know him.

I know him. (well). – I know him well...

    

Diane Larsen (2002: 48) stated that the backward build-up (expansion) drill technique is used when a long line of dialog is giving students trouble. The teacher breaks down the line into several parts. The students repeart a part of the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then, following the teacher’s  cue, the students expand what they are repeating part by part until there are able to repeat the entire line. The teacher begins with the part at the end of the sentence (and works backward from there) to keep the intonation to the end of the sentence, where new information typically accurs.

According to the Siti Eryda L. Pulungan(1983: 29) the purpose of expansion drill technique is to give the students opportunity to make more complex sentences. This technique is especially useful for helping the students learn how to add modifying words, phrases and clauses.

The teacher provides a set of instructions that tell the students to add a new element to a basic sentence and make all the necessary changes that the new element will cause. The teacher then gives the basic sentence and a student give the response. An optional step (shown as part of the procedure) is to have the entire class echo the correct answer, thus giving everyone the opportunity to say every sentence.

Variations:

1. Change the kinds of student responses, alternating between choral responses where everyone answers at the same time to individual responses.
2. To correct a mistake, don’t give the correct version to the student. Simply signal that the response is incorrect and allow the students the opportunity to correct it.
3. Two or three different items can be used for expanding the sentence. The teacher can put the items on the blackboard and point to the element to be added to the sentence. Flash cards and oral cues also be used.

The teacher put on the board:
 never              always             usually             frequently

The teacher says:
John is here. (Point to never).

The student responds:

John is never here.

The opposite of an expansion drill is a REDUCTION DRILL. The procedure for doing a reduction drill would be basically the same as the expansion drill. A reduction drill would require the students to reduce one part of sentence to a shorter form. Typically, this would involve teaching pronouns, contractions and other words that represent longer expressions.

                 they do not like rock music >> they don't like rock music

                 John and maria are gone     >> they are gone

Simple expansion drills ( like the sample)work well with choral responses, but more complicated expansions are better done with individual responses. In the give sample, there is very little semantic connection from one basic sentence to the next. This is because the point of the drill is to focus the learner’s attention on a grammatical feature rather than involve the learner in a communicative exchange of information.