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Test, teach, test (TTT) is an approach to teaching where learners first complete a task or activity without help from the teacher. Then, based on the problems seen, the teacher plans and presents the target language. Then the learners do another task to practise the new language.

Example
The learners, who have not studied phrasal verbs, are given a text and asked to find examples. They are able to do this but not to deduce meaning. The teacher plans a lesson to help learners develop this, and then asks them to do a similar activity.

In the classroom
TTT is a useful approach as it enables teachers to identify the specific needs of learners concerning a language area and address this need suitably. It can be particularly useful at intermediate levels and above, where learners may have seen language before, but have specific problems with it, and also in mixed level classes to help identify objectives for each individual.

Further links:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/mini-talks

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Test, teach, test (TTT) is an approach to teaching where learners first complete a task or activity without help from the teacher. Then, based on the problems seen, the teacher plans and presents the target language. Then the learners do another task to practise the new language.

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By teaching grammar we not only give our students the means to express themselves, but we also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves. Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a wealth of stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation of verbs or grammar translation.

Presentation, practice and production (PPP) Presentation
Which approach?
There are two main approaches to teaching grammar. These are the deductive and the inductive approach.

A deductive approach is when the rule is presented and the language is produced based on the rule. (The teacher gives the rule.)

An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some form of guided discovery. (The teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves.)

In other words, the former is more teacher centred and the latter more learner centred. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. In my own experience, the deductive approach is undoubtedly time saving and allows more time for practising the language items thus making it an effective approach with lower level students. The inductive approach, on the other hand, is often more beneficial to students who already have a base in the language as it encourages them to work things out for themselves based on their existing knowledge.

Presentation, practice and production (PPP)

A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure known as PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production). The teacher presents the target language and then gives students the opportunity to practise it through very controlled activities. The final stage of the lesson gives the students the opportunity to practise the target language in freer activities which bring in other language elements.

In a 60-minute lesson each stage would last approximately 20 minutes. This model works well as it can be used for most isolated grammatical items. It also allows the teacher to time each stage of the lesson fairly accurately and to anticipate and be prepared for the problems students may encounter. It is less workable at higher levels when students need to compare and contrast several grammatical items at the same time and when their linguistic abilities are far less uniform.

Presentation

In this stage the teacher presents the new language in a meaningful context. I find that building up stories on the board, using realia or flashcards and miming are fun ways to present the language.

For example, when presenting the 2nd conditional, I often draw a picture of myself with thought bubbles of lots of money, a sports car, a big house and a world map.

I ask my students what I'm thinking about and then introduce the target language.
"If I had a lot of money, I would buy a sports car and a big house."

I practise and drill the sentence orally before writing it on the board (positive, negative, question and short answer).

I then focus on form by asking the students questions. E.g."What do we use after 'if'?" and on meaning by asking the students questions to check that they have understood the concept (E.g."Do I have lots of money?" No. "What am I doing?" Imagining.)

When I am satisfied that my students understand the form and the meaning, I move on to the practice stage of the lesson. During this stage of the lesson it is important to correct phonological and grammatical mistakes.
Practice
There are numerous activities which can be used for this stage including gap fill exercises, substitution drills, sentence transformations, split sentences, picture dictations, class questionnaires, reordering sentences and matching sentences to pictures.

It is important that the activities are fairly controlled at this stage as students have only just met the new language. Many students' books and workbooks have exercises and activities which can be used at this stage.

When teaching the 2nd conditional, I would use split sentences as a controlled practice activity. I give students lots of sentence halves and in pairs they try and match the beginnings and ends of the sentences.
Example: "If I won the lottery," .... "I'd travel around the world."

I would then do a communicative follow up game like pelmanism or snap using the same sentence halves.
Production
Again there are numerous activities for this stage and what you choose will depend on the language you are teaching and on the level of your students. However, information gaps, role plays, interviews, simulations, find someone who, spot the differences between two pictures, picture cues, problem solving, personalisation activities and board games are all meaningful activities which give students the opportunity to practise the language more freely.

When teaching the 2nd conditional, I would try to personalise the lesson at this stage by giving students a list of question prompts to ask others in the class.
Example:do / if / win the lottery?

Although the questions are controlled the students are given the opportunity to answer more spontaneously using other language items and thus the activity becomes much less predictable.

It is important to monitor and make a note of any errors so that you can build in class feedback and error analysis at the end of the lesson.
Conclusion
When teaching grammar, there are several factors we need to take into consideration and the following are some of the questions we should ask ourselves:

How useful and relevant is the language?

What other language do my students need to know in order to learn the new structure effectively?

What problems might my students face when learning the new language?

How can I make the lesson fun, meaningful and memorable?

Although I try to only use English when teaching a grammar lesson, it is sometimes beneficial to the students to make a comparison to L1 in the presentation stage. This is particularly true in the case of more problematic grammatical structures which students are not able to transfer to their own language.

It is also important to note that using the PPP model does not necessarily exclude using a more inductive approach since some form of learner-centred guided discovery could be built into the presentation stage. When presenting the 2nd conditional I sometimes present the language in context and then give the students a worksheet with a series of analysis questions to do in pairs.

PPP is one model for planning a lesson. Other models include TTT (Test, Teach, Test), ARC (Authentic use, Restricted use, Clarification and focus) and ESA (Engage, Study, Activate). All models have their advantages and disadvantages and I, like many other teachers I know, use different models depending on the lesson, class, level and learner styles.

Further reading

Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Penny Ur, Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers 1988
Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers. Peter Watcyn Jones, Penguin Books 1995
How to Teach English. Jeremy Harmer, Longman 1998
How to Teach Grammar. Scott Thornbury, Longman 1999

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By teaching grammar we not only give our students the means to express themselves, but we also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves. Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a wealth of stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation of verbs or grammar translation.

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Top Down processing for receptive skills

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Top Down processing for receptive skills

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I had a request last week from a reader who wanted to know more about lesson frameworks. I wrote about how useful they are a while back, but only gave one example. So, I've dug out my excellent CELTA handbook (from IH Budapest) and summarised most of the frameworks mentioned. I've added a bit of information to explain some stages a bit more.

Here's the basic structure for...
Receptive skills lessons Note: receptive skills are reading and listening

Lead-in - Generate interest in the topic / text. There are quite a few ideas for lead-ins here and here

Orientation to text - What do you need to tell the students about the text to prepare them for reading/listening? This could be text type, text source, speakers' accents, etc. Whatever is relevant.

Gist task - set a short task based on general understanding of the text as a whole. For reading texts, the gist task is often timed. Students compare their answers together (pairs/groups) first before class feedback.

Pre-teach vocabulary - Teach any vocabulary needed for the detailed task

Detailed task - set a task based on detailed comprehension (formats might include gap fills, ordering events, true/false, etc). Students compare their answers together (pairs/groups) first before class feedback.

Follow-up activity - do a speaking/writing activity based on the text.

The above is the BASIC framework. In practice, and with more time than you get during a CELTA lesson, certain tasks might be extended or added. For example, I often add vocabulary, pronunciation and game stages after the detailed task in my classes. So, the above focuses primarily on reading and listening skills, in practice other skills/systems are integrated.

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I had a request last week from a reader who wanted to know more about lesson frameworks. I wrote about how useful they are a while back, but only gave one example. So, I've dug out my excellent CELTA handbook (from IH Budapest) and summarised most of the frameworks mentioned.

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The receptive skills are listening and reading, because learners do not need to produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive or active skills of speaking and writing.

Example
Often in the process of learning new language, learners begin with receptive understanding of the new items, then later move on to productive use.

In the classroom
The relationship between receptive and productive skills is a complex one, with one set of skills naturally supporting another. For example, building reading skills can contribute to the development of writing.

See also:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/productive-skills

Further links:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-poems-develop-receptive-skills
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/unit-4-reading-skills
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/a-framework-planning-a-listening-skills-lesson

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The receptive skills are listening and reading, because learners do not need to produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive or active skills of speaking and writing.

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In this article we look at different types of task, and see which kinds are most often used in textbooks. I also suggest ways of adjusting them so that they stimulate more opportunities for meaning-focused interaction, and encourage learners to give longer responses. Finally I show how a graded set of tasks can be developed on a theme.

Identifying task-like activities

In my first article, Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL, we looked at six questions that gave us criteria to help us identify tasks and 'upgrade' potential task-like activities into tasks. So now we can identify activities in a textbook unit that could become tasks and form the basis of a task cycle with;

Pre-task activities,

Task - Planning - Report cycle,

Post-task activities as illustrated in the activity Planning a class night out.

However, tasks tend to come in various disguises. Some textbooks contain quite a few task-like activities, but very few use the word 'task' to describe them. They often come under section headings like: Speak out! Listening challenge, Think ... then compare ideas, Reach a decision, With a partner ..., In groups ..., It's your turn, Questions and answers, Discuss ..., Tell your partner ..., Writing, Reading or even under Grammar or Vocabulary.

For example, in Total English, a textbook for beginners, the activity 'Who is your favourite 20th Century icon? Tell your partner about the person.' comes at the end of a Grammar section on was / were which follows a reading activity.

There are several ways to turn this into a more rewarding task - as illustrated in Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL - and you can also build up a graded set of tasks around this theme, as illustrated below.

Three types of task

Activities like the following generally have the potential to become effective tasks:
Listing and/or brainstorming
You can list people, places, things, actions, reasons, everyday problems, things to do in various circumstances, etc.

Examples

(1) In pairs, agree on a list of four or five people who were famous in the 20th century and give at least one reason for including each person.

(2) Can you remember your partner's busiest day? On your own, make a list of all the things he/she did. Then check with your partner. Were there any things you forgot?
Ordering and sorting
This can be sequencing, ranking or classifying.

Examples:

(3) In pairs, look at your list of famous people. Which people are most likely to remain popular and become 20th century icons? Rank them from most popular to least popular, and be prepared to justify your order to another pair.

(4) Look at the four pictures. They are mixed up. Work in pairs. Put the four pictures in a sequence so that they tell a story. Prepare to tell your story to another pair.
Matching
You can match captions / texts / recorded extracts to pictures, short notes or headlines to longer texts, e.g. news items, etc.

Examples:

(5) Read the texts - each is about a famous person but the person is not named - and look at the photos. Match each text to a photo. Then talk to your partner, and say how you were able to match them. Prepare to tell the class how you did it.

(6) Read the four headlines A to D. Match two pieces of information (given in 1-8 below) to each headline. Explain to your partner how you did this. What clues did you find? Did you both use the same clues?

Do you have any tasks like these in your textbooks? Sometimes textbooks use listing, ordering and matching activities at the beginnings of units, to introduce or revise useful words and phrases to prepare for the main topics. The outcomes are usually clear (e.g. a completed list, a set of matched information). But although they give valuable exposure to relevant topic-based language in the form of reading texts or recordings, they rarely stimulate much learner interaction as they stand.

Stimulating more interaction

All the examples I have given above are based on activities from real textbooks, but in each case I have added a further step or two to stimulate additional meaning-focused language use.

In 1 and 3 learners are asked to give reasons for or justify their decision.

In 2, 5 and 6 they do the tasks individually then explain to their partner how they did them.

In 3, 4 and 5 they are asked to prepare to explain how they did the task or tell their story to another pair or to the whole class.

Three more task types
Comparing: finding similarities and differences
Comparison tasks can be based on two quite similar texts or pictures (a classic example is 'Spot the Differences') or places or events, etc., that learners have experience of. Learners can also compare their own work with that of another learner or another pair or group.

Examples:

Compare your list of possible 20th century icons with your partner's list. Did you have any people in common? Tell each other why you chose them. How many reasons did you both think of? Finally, combine your two lists, but keep it to five people.

Tell your picture story to another pair and listen to theirs. Compare stories and make a list of the main similarities and differences.

You will by now have noticed that many of these tasks carry on the same themes as in previous tasks. It is possible to build up a set of tasks on the same theme, each one arising out of the previous one. This is an excellent way to build learners' confidence - once they are familiar with the basic vocabulary for the topic, they can then do a range of activities recycling the topic language and using it for different purposes in a set of tasks.
Problem-solving
Textbooks often contain activities based on common problems - pollution, relationships, noisy neighbours and so on. But sometimes problem-solving tasks are over too quickly - learners agree on the first solution that comes to mind, using minimal language, e.g. 'Noisy neighbours? OK - so call police'. The instructions for the town centre traffic problem in the example below incorporate six or seven ways of generating richer interaction. Which of these ways might you use with your classes?

Example:

Think of a town centre where there is too much traffic. In pairs, think of three alternative solutions to this problem. List the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. Then decide which alternative would be the cheapest one, the most innovative one and the most environmentally friendly one. Report your decisions to another pair / group / the class, and discuss with them which solution would be the best one to put forward to the local government.

More complex tasks like comparing and problem-solving sometimes involve processes found in simpler tasks, like listing - see previous examples. The task above involves listing and quite a lot of comparing and evaluating.
Sharing personal experiences and story telling
Activities where learners are asked to recount their personal experiences and tell stories are valuable because they give learners a chance to speak for longer and in a more sustained way. And it is something we often do in real life. However, as we saw from the 'Grandparents' activity in Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL, the instructions for activities where learners are encouraged to relate things from their personal lives are often rather vague and open-ended. In order to encourage richer interaction, we usually need to add a clear goal, make instructions more precise, and give clear completion points. See Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL which gives several ways to adjust activities like these.

So far we have identified and commented on six types of task that sometimes appear in textbooks or that can be adapted from task-like activities. We have seen that a set of tasks can be built up around one topic. We have looked at ways of stimulating richer learner interaction and giving more opportunities for genuine meaning-focused language use and maximising learner responses.

Other activities like quizzes, questionnaires and projects can also generate rich interaction if set up in such a way as to maximise learner participation. Tasks can also be based on reading and listening texts. For three examples of task-based lessons such as these that you can download, see http://www.willis-elt.co.uk/taskbased.html

In my next article, I will show how we can exploit textbook material to help structure a task sequence, incorporating pre-task activities, a task-cycle, leading on to language focus and form focused work.

References

The tasks in this article are based on activities from:

Face2face Pre-intermediate by Chris Redstone & Gillie Cunningham (Cambridge University Press 2005)

Total English Starter by Jonathan Bygrave (Pearson Longman 2007)

Further reading

For more on task types, see Chapters 4 and 5 of Doing Task-based Teaching by Dave Willis & Jane Willis (Oxford University Press 2006)

Next article > From priming tasks and target tasks to language focus and grammar

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Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL Six types of task for TBL From priming tasks and target tasks to language focus and grammar Making time for tasks and still covering the syllabus In this article we look at different types of task, and see which kinds are most often used in textboo

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This article also links to the following activity.