What does it consist of?

Eliciting is a teaching technique in which the teacher draws out language, ideas or information from students instead of directly providing it.

Rather than explaining or translating, the teacher uses prompts such as:

• questions
• visuals
• realia
• gestures
• definitions
• partial sentences
• examples

The aim is for students to actively produce the target word, structure or idea themselves.

According to Jeremy Harmer and Jim Scrivener, eliciting increases cognitive engagement and avoids over-teaching. It is also consistent with discovery learning principles and communicative methodology supported by the British Council.

Eliciting can be used:

• before presenting new language (to assess prior knowledge)
• during presentation (to guide discovery)
• after practice (to consolidate learning)

It should be structured and purposeful, not improvised guessing.

What do we achieve with this technique?

• activating prior knowledge
• increasing learner engagement
• promoting deeper cognitive processing
• encouraging learner autonomy
• diagnosing what students already know
• reducing teacher talking time

Pedagogical foundation:

• Constructivist learning theory: learners build knowledge actively.
• Noticing hypothesis (Schmidt): students notice gaps when they attempt production.
• Depth of processing theory: language retrieved is more likely to be retained.

It is highly effective at all levels, but especially:

• Young Learners (with strong visual support)
• A1–B1 (vocabulary and grammar presentation)
• B2+ (guided discovery of grammar rules)

Example
Target word: expensive

Instead of saying:
“Expensive means it costs a lot of money.”
Teacher elicits:

• Teacher shows a picture of a luxury car.
• Teacher:
  “Is this cheap?”
• Students:
  “No.”
• Teacher:
  “Does it cost a lot of money?”
• Students:
  “Yes.”
• Teacher:
  “So if something costs a lot of money, we say it is…?”
• Students:
  “Expensive.”
• The teacher guides students to produce the word rather than giving it directly.
• Another grammar example (Past simple):
• Teacher writes:
  “Yesterday I ___ to the cinema.”
• Teacher:
  “What is the past of ‘go’?”
• Students:
  “Went.”