Take Your Students' Backchannels to the Next Level – Or At Least Beyond “Uh-Huh”
You’ve probably met a student like Alejandro before.
Or perhaps you’ve met a student who says “Oh really,” “I see,” or “Thank you” after everything you say.
On the bright side, these students are trying to “backchannel” or use little words and phrases to show they’re listening.
There are just some tiny problems:
- They use the same one way too often.
- They misapply rules for backchanneling from their own language to English, which can lead to miscommunication.
For example, in her book Conversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy, linguist and educator Hansun Zhang Waring shares the following mishap from her early days in the US.
As a newly arrived international student working as an assistant in my professor’s office, I would frequently respond to her remarks with “mm,” and she would ask “mm yes or mm no?” I was using the Chinese version of “mm hm?” to acknowledge, accept, and agree to what she said!
So let’s try to make our students more aware of how they’re backchanneling and make sure they’re doing it in a more thoughtful manner.
1. Responses That Show Interest
We may want to explain to students that in addition to showing they’re listening, they should also try to show some interest in what the speaker is saying. Here are some options:
- Interesting!
- Nice!
- Cool!
- Wow!
We might have to explain that “nice” here doesn’t mean “kind” but rather “cool” or “well done.” Some students will need an example, so you can provide an easy one like “If your friend passes a test, you could reply with ‘Nice! Congrats!’”
2. Responses That Show Approval
We can also teach our students some phrases that’ll allow them to show approval for something a conversation partner said. For example:
- That makes sense.
- That’s a good point.
- Good call.
We might have to explain that the “call” in “good call” means “decision.” So “good call” means “good decision” or “I think you did the right thing.”
Here’s an example dialogue we can use to explain this:
3. Responses That Show Agreement
And of course, we can teach the student some phrases for agreeing with something someone said.
- I agree.
- I think so, too.
- That’s true.
In some languages like Japanese, it would be odd to use phrases like “I agree” outside of formal discussions, so we may have to explain to students that they can be used in conversations on light topics in English and not just in formal situations.
We can also provide some simple examples, like two people talking about a haircut.
For more expressions of agreement and approval, see “10 Expressions to Help Students Speak English More Empathetically.”
4. Sympathetic Responses
We’ll also want to make sure our students are prepared to respond sympathetically to a friend who’s sharing a bad experience.
- Oh no!
- Oh my god/goodness!
- That sucks.
Some students are under the impression that “sucks” is a bad word. Even though that’s not the case, it still is considered slang, so we can remind them to only use it in casual conversation.
Your student might be interested to also learn expressions used in more serious situations:
- I’m sorry about that.
- I’m really/so sorry to hear that.
5. Doubtful Responses
Here are some common expressions people use to respond to a conversation partner with doubt:
- Really?
- Wait, really?
- Are you sure?
Bonus Tip: Raise Intonation
Finally, we don’t want to discourage students from using basic backchannels like “uh-huh,” “mmm hmm,” “okay,” and “yeah.”
It makes sense to use them to encourage a speaker to continue telling a story. We should just make sure not to overuse them. For example, Alejandro’s first two “uh-huh’s” are perfectly normal.
Backchannels used this way are called “continuers,” since they play an important role in allowing the speaker to continue their story. When they’re not there, the speaker might sense boredom and change the subject!
However, we should make sure to point out that the intonation usually rises at the end as if the word were a question: e.g. “uh-huh?” and “yeah?”
This change in intonation can make the difference between “Yawn, so boring” and “Yes, I’m listening. Please continue.”
👋 That’s It For Now!
We hope you found these tips helpful! And for students who are ready for a bigger challenge, make sure to teach them these simple questions that’ll keep a conversation going.
