Expression: "All this while most of the teacher's attention..."

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if this sentence is correct and natural?

All this while, most of the teacher’s attention has been on improving the students’ compreshension skills.

Many thanks,

Tom

[Alan]

Perhaps either ‘all the while’ or ‘all this time’ Remember spelling of comprehension.

Alan

[Tom]

Many thanks, Alan

In fact, I learned all this while from here.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html

[color=red]All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show themselves aloof off, but when any approached near them, they would run away;

Would you say it sounds odd in everyday English?

Tom

[Molly]

It’s OK here:

The Ocean Princess will make you believe it’s your own personal yacht. We’ll cosset you in sumptuous comfort, astound you with service from a bygone era, tempt you with the quality of our cuisine and delight you with our shipboard facilities and entertainment. And all this while we cruise gently to the most stunning ports in the whole of the Mediterranean.

Date (1985-1994)
Title [Advertising Standards Authority]. u.p., n.d., pp. ??. 2434 s-units.

This scarcely perceptible but ubiquitous twitching, described by Ludens as like the slight tremulous movement of leaves on a tree or ripples on a pool, was one of the strangest, and in an odd way most convincing manifestations of the raising of Patrick. And all this while Patrick simply lay there looking with his now wide open eyes into Marcus’s eyes.

Date (1985-1994)
Title The message to the planet. Murdoch, Iris. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd, 1989, pp. 112-198. 3075 s-units.

I think it’s meant to bring you into the presentness of the situation. It intends to lend immediacy to the idea.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

I agree with Alan.:lol: The most common phrasing would be ‘all the while’ or ‘all this time’.
Your text appears to have been written around 1650, so some of the usages are archaic.

As for Molly’s quotes, I’d say her examples of ‘all this while’ should be parsed differently from what you intended. Instead of the word ‘this’ acting as a demonstrative adjective with the noun ‘while’, the word ‘this’ is a demonstrative pronoun referring back to all of what has just been previously mentioned, and the word ‘while’ is a conjunction. In other words, Molly’s examples should be parsed thus:
“And [all this] [while we cruise gently] …”
“And [all this] [while Patrick simply lay there looking]…”
.

[Molly]

I guess the way to indicate the difference is with a comma.

“and all this while, they had not realised he was dead.”

“The day was hell. Too much work. And all this while he lay at home sleeping.”

Here’s a genuine example of the former:

Even if there had been tons of it, a fourth or fifth share couldn’t have amounted to five hundred pounds. Besides, wasn’t he underestimating Hatton’s haul? He had banked five hundred on May 22nd, drawn out twenty-five pounds for the lamp. Another sixty had gone on clothes and the record player. And all this while, Wexford guessed, Hatton had been living like a king.

The best man to die. Rendell, Ruth. London: Arrow Books Ltd, 1981

…

Another:

The girl in black was nineteen, five years older than the boy to whom she was bringing her petition. She had watched others come and go, and seen the hall empty round her, until only she and her opponent remained; and she had felt no impatience, only a growing resolution. And all this while, from behind her mourning veil, she had fixed her eyes on the inner door, and watched for revelations from within. The narrow chink presented to her vision showed her the spot where the prince sat…

A bloody field by Shrewsbury. Pargeter, Edith. London: Headline Book Pub. plc, 1989

[Yankee]

.
Those do fit the bill, Molly.
.