The effect of ESL teaching techniques on student learning was investigated. A group of 18 ESL teachers and their classes were observed across four lessons with similar content. Students were preand posttested over a six-month period by two measures of language performance: oral comprehension and production. Teaching behaviors such as asking guided questions, correcting grammatical structures, explaining new vocabulary, and teacher's knowledge of linguistics were found to influence student growth positively, while a rapid pace and an exaggerated use of modeling were found to have negative effects. The effects of these teaching behaviors held for student growth measured in terms of either oral comprehension or production. Regression analysis of selected teaching behaviors accounted for two-thirds of the explained variance in student learning.
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