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The Prompt-Response Method
The Fill-in Technique

  • The Tutor prompts with incomplete phrases or sentences.
  • The Student responds by filling-in the phrases or sentences with the appropriate words.




A name is a __________ , whereas an action word is a __________.

Modifiers of nouns are called __________ and modifiers of verbs are called __________.

In the sentence, "The dog barked ferociously," __________ is the noun, __________ is the verb, and ferociously is an __________.



Caution

If the Student doesn't have prior exposure to the information required for the fill-in task, the exercise can turn into a frustrating "game" of the Student guessing what the Tutor has in mind, with consequences both for the Student and the Tutor.
Consequence One - The Student thinks:
This is frustrating! How am I supposed to know what's in her head? I must be really stupid.

Having to search one's memory for responses for which there is no preparation or context can be frustrating. Eventually the Student may tune out and possibly see him or herself as incompetent. Effective Tutors try to help Students master material that has been presented to them by the instructor, the text, or other learning resource. Once a Student knows the task (in this case, defining specific elements of grammar), the Tutor can use the prompt-response method to increase mastery of the task.
Consequence Two - The Tutor thinks:
This Student is hopeless. Here I am trying to teach the simplest stuff and he just can't get it!

The Tutor becomes frustrated and blames the Student for it. The Tutor also labels the Student as incompetent, a judgment that may lead the Tutor to give up on the Student and that the Tutor may directly or indirectly communicate to the Student, thus reinforcing any doubts that the Student may have about himself. The Tutor thinks the Student isn't mastering the material because of incompetence, whereas the problem is that the Student has yet to develop prior knowledge of the subject. If the Tutor had asked the Student if he had heard of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, then the tutoring exercise could have been more productive.