Checklists are tools that have long been used in time management in many areas of human activity. Although they tend to have a number of drawbacks and limitations, in general, they are distinguished by a large number of positive features and are popular [1], particularly among those who desire to control and monitor their actions, complete assignments in time, implement plans into life as imagined, etc. However, the usage of checklists is not limited only by the preparatory or note taking stage of working on a project, but can be quite successfully used in teaching foreign languages, including English as a second language (ESL). This research describes the possibilities of using the tool, highlights its advantages and mentions the shortcomings that were noticed in the process of the checklist usage for teaching English to first-year students of the School of Foreign Languages of the Karazin Kharkiv National University.
To begin with, it is impossible to name the benefits of checklists without emphasizing their direct purpose and way of being used by a lecturer as a planner during the preparation stage. In the process of making sure to include all necessary materials, think about tasks that will meet the course objectives and the goals of the specific lesson and prepare a relevant lesson plan, a lecturer may be in a high need for a tool to structuralize their thoughts and plans with. A checklist, either a digital or a paper one, can become of a great help, so nothing is forgotten or missed.
When the course starts, a checklist with the main course aspects can be given to students, so they are provided with additional insight into what is being taught in the course, indicating aspects they are familiar with and elements they have not learnt before. This information is also useful for the teacher because such diagnostic assessments will help them to form an understanding of the students’ initial knowledge level and to adjust the course or its certain aspects to better meet the needs and wants of the learners. For example, the aspect of English Phonology is taught to freshmen as a part of the ESL course, focusing on the specifics behind the formation and production of sounds in English. During the first lecture, students can be offered a checklist with the facts they may or may not know.
- All sounds are divided into consonants and vowels
- Consonants are made by full or partial stop of the airflow
- Vocal cords are necessary for making vowel sounds
- Vocal cords are necessary for making voiced consonant sounds
- There are oral and nasal sound in English
- A tongue is an active organ of speech
Thus, both the students and the lecturer benefit from this easy-to-create task – the former get acquainted with the subject content while the latter assesses the group's level of knowledge in the certain aspect of the language.
As for the aspect of analytical reading, checklists can be given to review the quality of students' work with the text. This activity will stimulate the attentiveness and analytical activity of learners and encourage them to focus on the lexical, stylistic and plot component.
The aspect of speech practice allows the use of checklists either. Students may turn to this tool for learning and revising active vocabulary, checking those word combinations and phrases they have already learnt or those they should pay more attention to further.
When working on a project in English, regardless of the topic, a checklist can be implemented in various ways. Firstly, students are likely to need a structured list with all stages of the project preparation and implementation as well as a list of necessary grammatical and lexical elements. Secondly, in addition to convenience for the student who works on a project, checking its implementation and the quality of compliance with all requirements can also be done by the teacher or even groupmates in a peer-review format when other learners have to analyze the conducted work and check off the completed items in a checklist. For instance, language learners prepare presentations about their expectations and reality of being university students. As one person presents their ideas, others listen attentively and fill in the checklist:
- Ideas and facts are relevant to the topic
- Ideas and facts are logically organized
- Presentation is within 2 minutes
- Vocabulary is active, varied, not repetitive
- Pronunciation is comprehensible and clear
- There are few to no grammatical mistakes
This activity stimulates language learners to be responsible for their project, additionally review their work before submitting it, think critically and objectively evaluate others’ accomplishments.
At the end of a topic or the whole course, a prepared checklist may be offered to students for their reflections. Alternatively, language learners can make their own checklists to see the correlation between their learning goals, fails and victories, and afterthoughts. Such feedback allows lecturers to analyze what was effective throughout the course or its aspect and make some corrections if some moments did not work out as supposed.
Despite the number of positive features in the use of checklists for ESL, there are some disadvantages that cannot be ignored in the teaching process. One of them is the limitation in the format, in other words, in the way a checklist may be used in teaching, including ESL. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy [3], the checklist task belongs to the lower stages and engages simpler language skills. In order to make it beneficial and ready to fulfill not only organizational and primitive teaching functions, all its elements should be thought through and well-formulated. If done in a foreign language, some students with a more poor command of English may also struggle to fully understand certain points of the questionnaire. Furthermore, to make this activity interactive and more entertaining to complete, a lecturer has to use additional tools, applications and platforms to make a checklist, for example, Any.do, ClickUp, Genially, Padlet, Moodle LMS [2] and others.
To sum up, a checklist is a convenient tool not only for time management and self organization but also for teaching. The use of checklists can become an additional way to bring more variety into English teaching and combine the entertaining aspect of gamification with the educational one. In spite of the simplicity of this activity, it can serve multiple purposes and contribute to the studying process improvement if used wisely.
References
1. Checklist: What Are They? What Are the Benefits and How Do You Use Them? URL: https://www.sydle.com/blog/checklist-61a786f45448461cf98f7b23 (Last accessed: 15.01.2025).
2. 7 best to do list apps of 2025. URL: https://zapier.com/blog/best-todo-list-apps/ (Last accessed: 15.01.2025).
3. Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Outcomes. URL: https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/#gsc.tab=0 (Last accessed: 15.01.2025).
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