16 Elements of Explicit Instruction: Archer and Hughes 2011

1. Focus instruction on critical content – Tea ch s kills, s trategies, vocabulary terms, concepts a nd rules that will empower s tudents i n the
future a nd match the students’ i nstructional needs.

2. Sequence skills logically – Cons ider several curricular va riables, such as teaching easier s kills before harder skills, teaching high-frequency
s ki lls before s kills that are less frequent in usage, ensuring mastery of prerequisites to a skill before teaching the skill i tself, and separating skills
a nd s trategies that are similar a nd thus may be confusing to students.

3 .Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units – Tea ch i n small s teps. Segmenting complex s kills into s maller
i ns tructional units of new material addresses concerns about cognitive overloading, processing demands, a nd the ca pacity of students’
worki ng memory. Once mastered, units a re synthesised. (i.e. practiced as a whole)

4. Design organised and focused lessons – Ma ke s ure l essons a re organised and focused, in order to make optimal use of i nstructional ti me.
Orga nised lessons are on topic, well sequenced, a nd contain no i rrelevant digressions.

5. Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lessons’ goals and your expectations – Tel l l earners clearly what is to be learned and why is
i mportant. Students a chieve better i f they understand the instructional goals and outcomes expected, a s well, as how the i nformation or s kills
pres ented will help them.

6. Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instructions – Provi de a review of relevant i nformation. Verify that s tudents have the
prerequisite s kills a nd knowledge to l earn the s kill being ta ught in the lesson. This element also provides an opportunity to l ink the new s kill
wi th other related skills.

7. Provide step-by step demonstrations – Model the s kill a nd cl arify the decision-making processed needed to complete a task or procedure
by thi nking aloud as you perform the s kill. Cl early demonstrate the ta rget s kill or strategy, i n order to show the s tudents a model of proficient
performance.

8. Use clear and concise language –Us e consistent, unambiguous wording a nd terminology. The complexity of your speech (e.g. vocabulary,
s entence s tructure) s hould depend on s tudents’ receptive vocabulary to reduce possible confusion.

9. Provide an adequate range of examples and non-examples – In order to establish the boundaries of when a nd when not to a pply a s kill,
s tra tegy, concept or rule, provide a wide ra nge of examples an d non-examples. A wi de ra nge of examples illustrating s ituations when the skill
wi l l be used or a pplied is necessary s o that s tudents do not under use it. Conversely, presenting a wide ra nge of non-examples reduces the
pos sibility tha t students will use the skill i nappropriately.

10. Provide guided and supported practice – In order to promote i nitial s uccess a nd build confidence, regulate the difficulty of pra ctice
opportunities during the lesson, and provide s tudents with guidance i n s kill performance. When s tudents demonstrate s uccess, you ca n
gra dually i ncrease ta sk difficulty a s you decrease the level of guidance.

11. Require frequent responses – Pl a n for a high level of student-teacher i nteraction via the use of questioning. Having the students respond
frequently (i .e. oral responses, written responses or a ction responses) helps them focus on the l esson content, provides opportunities for
s tudent elaboration, assists you in checking understanding a nd keeps students active a nd a ttentive.

12. Monitor student performance closely – Ca refully watch a nd l isten to students’ responses, so that you ca n verify student mastery a s well as
ma ke timely adjustments i n i nstruction if students are making errors. Cl ose monitoring also allows you to provide feedback to students about
how well they a re doing.

13. Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback – Fol low up on students’ responses as quickly a s you can. Immediate feedback to
s tudents a bout the accuracy of their responses helps ensure high ra tes of s uccess and reduces the likelihood of practicing errors.

14. Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace – Del iver i nstruction at a n a ppropriate pace to optimise instructional time, the amount of content that
ca n be presented and on-task behaviour. Us e a ra te of presentation that is brisk but i ncludes a reasonable amount of ti me for s tudents’
thi nking/processing, especially when they a re l earning new material. The desired pace i s neither so slow that s tudents get bored nor s o quick
tha t they ca n’t keep up.

15. Help students organise knowledge – Beca use many s tudents have difficulty seeing how some s kills a nd concepts fit together, i t is
i mportant to use teaching techniques that make these connections more apparent or explicit. Well organised a nd connected information
ma kes i t easier for students to retrieve i nformation and facilitate i ts i ntegration with new material.

16. Provide distributed and cum ulative practice – Distri buted (vs . massed) pra cti ce refers to mul tiple opportuni ties to pra ctice a skill over time.
Cumul ative practice is a method for provi ding distributed practice by i ncluding practice opportunities that address both previ ously a nd newly
a cquired skills. Provi de s tudents wi th multiple practice attempts, in order to a ddress issues of retention as well as a utomat icity.