Controlled vs Transfer

Question

I am studying TESOL for Business English and have just stumbled across the terms 'controlled exercise' and 'transfer exercise', but no explanation of them. Can anyone help me differentiate between the two and explain what they are?

Thanks for any assistance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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Here are some on-line examples; I think you'll get the idea.

Transfer exercises:

Students then complete a transfer exercise by reading/viewing/listening to a weather report and extracting appropriate information (e.g. transferring information to a simple grid chart asking students to identify temperature highs and lows, amounts of rain/snow, etc. in different areas).

Reading comprehension exercises must be followed with a transfer exercise in which the student applies the understanding he or she has gained. Practice: 1. For example, have the student write a paragraph in which he or she develops a thesis and provides several supporting points. Have the student explain how he or she would support his or her theories with proof and what types of evidence would be used. 2. Then taking a paragraph written by another author, have the student identify the elements he or she previously used in the above paragraph.

Using local/transit maps as a resource, students work in pairs locating as many places mentioned in their vocabulary lists as possible. They transfer that information onto a teacher-prepared handout of unlabelled city/neighbourhood blocks by labelling places such as grocery store, post office, medical clinic, cinema, city hall, school, church/mosque/temple, library, bank, bus station, YMCA, etc.

Controlled exercises:

These exercises contain both controlled and free practice. For example, a fill-in-the-blank activity is a controlled exercise, because the answers are limited. However, the open-ended discussion questions are free exercises.

If you agree with philosophy number 1, you are looking for a specific type of book that has very controlled exercises—exercises where the Ss fill in blanks, copy sentences, or substitute words in sentences. Many books transition the students by using controlled or guided exercises, then move them into freer writing exercises.

Adrenochrome · Answer

Superb response. Thank you very much, I know exactly what I have to do now.

Controlled vs Transfer

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