Read the magazine article and do the assignments that follow

Karen Gold learns that a pat on the back brings the best out of the class.

A pat on the back is worth a dozen curricular innovations, according to a study of how teachers touch their pupils in primary schools.

When teachers supplement praise with a pat, the whole class works on average 20 per cent harder, say researchers looking at 16 West Midlands primary schools.

In one class children concentrated almost twice as hard when their teacher added a touch to every 'Well done'; in another, bad behaviour fell by more than two thirds after the teacher combined a pat with praise.

Touch studies were the brainchild of Kate Bevan, an education lecturer at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. She and two Birmingham University researchers spent more than 50 hours in 16 classes, watching children aged four to six and categorising how often teachers touched their pupils, when, where and why.

Almost none of the teachers used touch to accompany praise. Mostly they touched the head, shoulder, hand, arm or back to move a child to another part of the classroom, show it how to do something - hold a pencil, for example - or for no apparent reason.

The researchers' theory was that a touch would reinforce praise. So, without telling the teachers what they were investigating, they asked four of those previously observed to stop all touching except when praising their pupils. They should touch whenever they praised, but they should not praise more than usual.

The results were staggering. Children's normal concentration in different classes ranged from 75 per cent of the three-minute spells of observation to only 39 per cent of the time. But during the praise-touch weeks, concentration in every class soared: to more than 90 per cent of the time in the harder-working classes; to 69 per cent of the time - almost double - in the ones where children had worked properly less than half the day.

The teachers achieved this without any extra praise, and with fewer pats over all, because all the inconsequential touches stopped. They kept control without touching, too: in the two classes where disruption as well as concentration was measured, incidents such as water throwing and pencil-grabbing fell by almost two-thirds.

The teachers were amazed. 'Some of them weren't even aware that they touched children at all,' says Kate Bevan. 'None of them had any idea it would have such a potent effect.'

She believes that a pat reinforced the pleasure of being praised, particularly for young children who are still more familiar with actions than words. Praise then becomes more memorable for the touched child and those nearby.

Touch is not on the teacher-training curriculum. Kate Bevan, who trains teachers, believes it should be: 'Teachers can only do what they feel comfortable with, but this is part of the teacher's answer to what makes children work hard and what motivates them. They should at least be aware of it.'

(From English for the Teacher

by Mary Spratt)

v Vocabulary Practice

Look at the list below of words and expressions from or based on the article. Put a tick next to those which you might use to talk about a lesson you enjoyed, and a cross next to those you might use to refer to a lesson you found difficult. Then compare your answers with a partner. Explain your choice.

concentrate pencil-grabbing

disruption bad behaviour

water-throwing hard-working

praise Well done!

interest favorable atmosphere

appropriate teaching methods labelling pupils

encouragement teacher’s pets

v Text Comprehension