Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi,
As you can see that is my first time here ,I'm not a native english , I'm a young teacher(6 months old) i teach english in egypt,so i'll be awlways in need for your help.

Today i wanna know What is a backchaining technique?When to use it?

thanks

Hello F.k.,

Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching English!

'Backchaining' is a really useful technique to help students pronounce words. It works best with words that have several syllables.

It's very simple : first, the teachers says the word, so that the student has a model to aim for. Then, the teachers asks the student to pronounce the last syllable. Then, the penultimate syllable, along with the last syllable. The teacher keeps going until the student is able to say the word correctly. Let's use the word 'backchaining' as an example:

Say 'ing'
Say 'chaining'
Say 'backchaining'
Great! You can say it!

Voilà!

I use backchaining for sentences as well. For some reason (anyone know the reason? ) students are better able to repeat a sentence that way than if I chain from the beginning.

Thank you so much