Nick Michelioudakis (B. Econ., Dip. RSA, MSc - TEFL) has been active in ELT for many years as a teacher, examiner, presenter and teacher trainer. He has worked for many publishers and examination boards and he has given seminars and workshops in numerous countries. He has written extensively on methodology, ‘Psychology and ELT’ articles which have appeared in numerous newsletters and magazines. His areas of interest include psychology, student motivation, learner  independence, teaching one-to-one and humour. Email: nmichelioudakis@gmail.com . For more information, you can visit his YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/k3scpams,  or his blog: https://tinyurl.com/36j5byaf

 

Introduction to the series: Psychology and ELT

This series of mini articles explores the intersection between Psychology and ELT, with the aim of bringing fresh, practical insights into everyday teaching practice. Rather than drawing exclusively on educational psychology, the series imports key ideas from Applied Psychology—including fields such as marketing, management, behavioural economics, and customer service—and reinterprets them through the lens of the language classroom.

Each article focuses on one psychological concept that has clear implications for classroom management, learner motivation, or student autonomy. These concepts are introduced in an accessible way and then illustrated through a case study, classroom scenario, or well-known experiment, allowing readers to see how theory translates into practice.

Every article concludes with a clear, actionable take-away: a concrete idea, strategy, or reflective question that teachers can immediately apply or adapt to their own context. Taken together, the series aims to help teachers manage classrooms more effectively, motivate learners more sustainably, and—crucially—support students in becoming more independent, self-directed language learners.

 

The importance of feedback: How can you find out what works what doesn’t?

How important is feedback? Well, consider the case of Amanda. Amanda was a manager working for Nike. She was extremely busy, but she nevertheless kept an ‘open doors’ policy so that if anyone wanted to speak to her, she was always available. You can imagine her shock when upon receiving her evaluation, she found out that her team members though she was not listening to them! Watch this short clip: 

https://tinyurl.com/3sz5kzmx 

So Amanda did solve her problem, but why wait for problems to emerge? Feedback is often thought as something we finish with (‘So – what did you think?’) but some believe it should be our starting point. One such person was captain Michael Abrashoff.

When he took command of the US destroyer Benfold, it was at the very bottom in terms of performance scores. Abrashoff started by arranging individual meetings with each one of the 310 sailors on the ship. Each meeting lasted for 30 minutes. Abrashoff always asked the same three questions:

• What do you like most about the ship?
• What do you like least?
• If you were the captain, how would you change things?

If a sailor came up with an idea that was immediately actionable, Abrashoff would announce it over the intercom, he would implement it and he would give credit to the sailor. Unsurprisingly, things started improving and within three years the ship came to be ranked among the top in the US Navy. [Story given in D. Coyle’s ‘The Culture Code’ – pp. 83-84]

If a sailor came up with an idea that was immediately actionable, Abrashoff would announce it over the intercom, he would implement it and he would give credit to the sailor. Unsurprisingly, things started improving and within three years the ship came to be ranked among the top in the US Navy. [Story given in D. Coyle’s ‘The Culture Code’ – pp. 83-84]

So, the moral here is that feedback is extremely useful for managers. But I would like to argue that there are at least three reasons why it is even more important for us educators:

• The ‘Illusion of Attention’: we are so busy running the lesson, there are countless things we miss in class; feedback can partly rectify this.
• The ‘Curse of Knowledge’: because we know things, we tend to assume that our students understand us, when very often the do not; feedback can reveal this.
• The ‘Non-Invented-Here Bias’: it is easier for students to go along with an idea that they have come up with than one which was imposed on them from the top down (i.e. from the teacher).

But what can we ask our students about? Well, Abrashoff’s questions are the obvious starting point, but we could also ask students more specific things, such as…

• …what kind of homework they prefer;
• …what topics they find interesting;
• …what ideas / techniques other teachers have used that we could adopt as well.

Feedback is hugely important. It can give us new insights and importantly, it can also reveal our blind sports. Crucially, feedback also shows students that we value them as individuals. Now here is a little task. You give your students the following half-quote ‘Feedback is….’ – and ask them to complete it. Then you give them the right answer: ‘…the breakfast of champions’ (Ken Blanchard). Wow! A quote well worth pondering.

 

The moral

Ask your students for feedback. And keep on doing it.

 

References

Coyle, D. (2018) The Culture Code. London: Random House 

 

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