4. The PACE Model
1. Active learners, appropriate support
2. “Form” is a topic of its own right
3. Teacher-student dialog as a means of
problem-solving language
5. Communication: The Core of
Second Language Learning
Communication:
•Personal expression
•Interpretation
•Negotiation of meaning
6. Avoiding the Great Disconnect
Grammar-Based Language Learning
Warning: May cause communication disconnect
7. Focus on “Form”
Focus only on the
grammar forms
relevant to:
•understand the story
•express opinions,
ideas, and feelings
about the text
•the learners’ needs
8. Lost in the Grammar “Jungle”
It only makes
sense:
•Within a
context
•With people
•Within
connected
discourse
9. The Deductive / Inductive
Dichotomy
Deductive Paradigm:
• Explicit grammar
instruction
• Explanation of rules
• Grammar is
a priori knowledge
(prior to experience)
10. Deductive Paradigm:
The Down Side
• Shallow, artificial
context
• Devoid of meaning
• Teachers construct
the knowledge
• Learning is passive
11. The Deductive / Inductive
Dichotomy
Inductive Paradigm:
• No explicit focus
• i + 1 = natural L2
acquisition
• Exposure
learners induce how
language works
12. The Inductive Paradigm:
The Down Side
• No guarantee of
discovery
• No guarantee that
discovered concepts
are correct
• Can be frustrating
for older learners
13. Flaws of Deductive and Inductive
Approaches to Learning
• Roles of teacher and
learners
• The social aspect of
learning
• What’s the solution?
14. The Story-Based
Dialogic Approach
“We believe that a dialogic approach embedded in the use of
meaningful contexts found in compelling and interesting
stories might hold the key to dramatic improvements in the
acquisition of grammar.” ~Shrum (p. 220)
17. Why Stories?
• A natural activity, socially mediated on a daily basis
• Episodic organization aids comprehension and
retention
• “Multiple passes,” pictures, TPR activities, and role
plays deepens comprehension
18. The PACE Model:
A Story-Based Language Approach
P Presentation
A Attention
C Co-construct
E Extension
R. Donato & B. Adair-Hauck, 1994
19. Presentation of Meaningful
Language
• Language presented in thematic way
Eg: Folk story, authentic listening
TPR/TPR-S, authentic task
• Foreshadowing: used to introduce text
• Goal is comprehension
20. Presentation of Meaningful
Language: Considerations
• Episodic organization (stageable acts)
• Grammar well-represented and used
meaningfully in text
• Learner actual and potential level: ZPD
24. Co-coonstruction:
The collaboration
Teacher
• Assists learners in
developing concept of
target structure
• Clear, well-chosen,
concise, direct questions
• Modeling process of
reflecting on language
Learners
• Actively discovering/
hypothesizing about
language
• Use communication
strategies
• Asking for clarification,
making inferences &
generalizations
26. Extension Activties
• Use of the target
language in
meaningful ways
• Opportunity to
address other goal
areas of standards –
Cultures,
Communities and
Connections
27. Extension Activities:
The Possibilities
Graphic organizers Information gap activities
Authentic writing projects Intertextual activities
Story mapping Discussion webs
Out-of-class projects
31. Preparing and Delivering:
Techniques
• Length (5-10 minutes)
• Seating: semi-circle
• Participatory techniques: hand motions, character
signs, cued repetition, silent dramatizations
• Visual aids (10-12 if possible)
• Kinesthetic cues: eye contact, facial gestures,
pantomime, body positioning
• Voice techniques: pitch, rhythm, sound effects, silent
pauses
32. Don’t be a Grammar Nazi!
•“Grammar and usage cannot be taught effectively if students
see no real need for it and if teachers cannot persuade them
to see the need.” (Shrum, page 236)
Editor's Notes
teaching grammar using cultural stories as the centerpiece of the lesson
based on the concept that as learners are guided to reflect on meaningful language form, they develop grammatical concepts in the target language.
The PACE model has 3 important differences from other approaches:
1. learners are neither left alone to reflect on form in the input nor are they the passive recipients of "ready-made" grammatical rules
2. reflecting on form is raised as a topic of conversation in its own right rather than a mini-lesson during communicative tasks
3. through dialog with the teacher and each other, learners develop grammatical concepts through problem-solving activity where they are asked to reflect upon form and the relationship of forms to meanings that have been established in the context of cultural stories
the Standards emphasize communication as being at the core of second language learning. Communication involves personal expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning where information, feelings, and ideas are exchanged in various forms of human interaction.
Traditional foreign language instruction emphasized the mastery of grammatical rules as the goal of instruction. Unfortunately, as a result, many learners who spent years learning the formal properties of the language (the sound system, verb conjugations, rules of syntax, vocabulary, etc.) were not able to exchange information
This chapter views grammar teaching as a focus on a well-chosen form of language after the meaning of this form has been established in interesting and compelling contexts, such as stories, folktales, and legends.
Learners are not expected to master all aspects of a grammatical topic (i.e. the past tense formation) but rather to focus solely on the part of the language that is relevant to understand the story and to express opinions, ideas, and feelings about the text. In this way, the language is examined in smaller installments rather than in lists of decontextualized rules and exceptions to these rules
*Researchers agree that reflecting on aspects of the language that are relevant to the communication task, or what is referred to as "focus on form," is beneficial to learners and is critical to making progress as language users.
focus on form can emerge spontaneously as learners need to understand language to express themselves and deepen their comprehension of texts.
"focus on form" largely depends on what learners need for communication purposes rather than on a predetermined grammatical syllabus
grammatical structures take on meaning only if they are situated within a context, within people, and within connected discourse. They become internalized only if the learners are placed in a situation in which they need to use the structures for communication and participation in communicative events.
*Learners need to understand how grammar will enable them to become better meaning makers
deductive and inductive approaches are the 2 predominant types of grammar instruction in classrooms today
on the deductive side is explicit grammar instruction that involves teacher explanations of rules
the expected outcome is that students learn the designated forms of the language, so that later they will be able to perform selected communicative or meaning-making activities.
in this paradigm, structures and grammar are viewed as a priori knowledge that will enable the learner to eventually communicate
the drills that follow deductive exposure to grammar are often shallow and artificial context unrelated to the real communicative intentions of learners
thus, these practice opportunities are often meaningless to learners and are not capable of engaging their language problem-solving skills and their desire to communicate using the forms they are learning
it invests the teacher with the responsibility for understanding and constructing grammatical knowledge and, consequently, assigns a passive role to the learners. Learner interaction takes place, if it occurs at all, only after the teacher's grammatical explanations and practice exercises
When the learners are presented with ready-made explanations of grammar by the teacher, they are denied the opportunity to explore and construct for themselves an understanding of the form
on the other side, the inductive approach rejects the need for any explicit focus on form
the paradigm is that the learners can acquire language naturally if they are provided with sufficient comprehensible input from the teacher
if learners are exposed to a sufficient amount of language that interests them and is globally understandable to them, they will eventually be able to induce how the structures of the language work.
learners should be able to perform hypothesizing and language analysis on their own as comprehensible input becomes intake
the inductive approach cannot guarantee that the learner will discover the underlying concepts or that the induced grammatical concepts will actually be correct
some students failed to perceive the grammatical pattern that the teacher presented even when the structure was embedded in a meaningful context and made salient through repetitions in the input
the inductive approach can frustrate adolescent or adult learners, many of whom have already become analytical with regard to the rules that govern their native languages. these learners often want to hasten the learning process by consciously comparing and contrasting their own native language rules to the rules that govern the new target language
both of these paradigms have deficiencies --
neither approach acknowledges the critical role of the teacher in mediating understandings of how the new language works, and neither acknowledges the contributions and backgrounds that the learners bring to the instructional setting for collaborating with the teacher on constructing a grammatical explanation.
and neither approach recognizes the social aspects of learning
in deductive and inductive approaches, learning is seen as exclusively located in the individual rather than situated in the dialogic interactions between them
the authors advocate a story-based and dialogic approach, allowing teachers and students to build understandings of form as they are encountered in meaningful contexts
concepts, including grammatical concepts, cannot be given to learners ready-made; also, they are subject to continual revision and development
"We believe that a dialogic approach embedded in the use of meaningful contexts found in compelling and interesting stories might hold the key to dramatic improvements in the acquisition of grammar"
rationale: the whole is always viewed as being greater than the sum of its parts, and it is the whole that gives meaning to the parts
emphasis needs to be placed on meaning-making and sense-making before a focus on form can be a productive instructional activity
a story-based language approach stressed the connected discourse and encourages learners to comprehend meaningful texts from the very beginning of the lesson
by introducing a lesson with a whole text, the teacher uses the grammatical feature in a meaningful way by making obvious the meaning and function of the grammar structure to be taught. in this way, the teacher foreshadows the conversation about grammar that will occur
foreshadowing the next language elements is beneficial because it provides learners with a "feel" for what is to come and can help them cast forward a familiarity net by which aspects of language prompt initial recognition and later, gradually, are pulled into the learner's productive repertoire
the process of understanding a story in a foreign language also creates a Zone of Proximal Development where responsive assistance is provided and target language development occurs. As a result, from the very beginning of the lesson, the teacher and learners are engaged in authentic use of language through joint problem-solving activities and interactions to render the story comprehensible
by using simplified language, pictures, and gestures, the teacher scaffolds and guides learners to comprehend the story. Then the teacher can productively turn the learners' attention to the various linguistic elements
Storytelling is an ancient human pastime, a natural activity that is socially mediated on a daily basis. Cross-culturally, there is a deep need for human beings to exchange and tell stories
storytelling is particularly adaptable to second language instruction, since it is natural to tell stories orally, interpret their contents, and extend the story in various ways
Oller states that the episodic organization represented in stories aids comprehension and retention. Since individuals have prior knowledge concerning how stories are structured and expectancies about what should take place in stories, their comprehension is facilitated and meaning is established
further, using "multiple passes" and recycling the storyline through picture displays, TPR activities, and role-playing scenarios deepen comprehension
"one of the best times for [ESL learners] to attend to form is after comprehension has been achieved and in conjunction with their production of meaningful discourse“
…
the PACE model is a way for learners to develop concepts about target language structures that includes form and focus.
this approach challenges teachers to reflect upon their own grammatical understandings and learn new ways of viewing grammar functionally beyond rules of word formative. Rather than explaining the rules, the attempt is to show how and why certain forms are used
at the crux of what it means to know grammar is knowing WHY a particular grammatical choice is made
the PACE model should be seen as a framework for a unit of study that is carried out in multiple lessons over several days
The target language is going to be used in meaningful ways, so foreshadowing is an essential part of setting the language in context. The teacher and students are engage in a joint effort to make sense of the story; the lesson setup should employ “various meaning-making and negotiation strategies” (Shrum P.224)
Story narratives lend themselves well to the sequence and methods of the PACE model “since the meanings of these texts can be made transparent and comprehensible through dramatization, actions or TPR-story-telling.” (Shrum P. 223)
Target language presented meaningfully = presented through the narrative, adequately illustrated, ideally through naturally occuring repetition.
The reason: presenting the story this way aids in aural comprehension, and facilitates acquisition of meaning and form. Story-telling is a “constructive listening experience” (Shrum P. 233) and becomes a social event - the story should be presented in an interactive way, and retold with increased student participation.
Highlighting can be achieved in several ways: teacher-led questions about patterns found in text, example sentences extracted from the story etc. “to help learners focus attention on the target form without needless elaboration…” (Shrum P. 224)
Focus on meaning before form
Role of the teacher in guiding and assisting learners; teachers should also recognize what direction their students’ development is headed, and what aspects of language may need clarification – the agenda should be set by the students, which may mean modifying the lesson objective
The Co-construction phase is one area where the PACE model can target SFLL Standards – in Communication (through the use of communication strategies etc. by the learners), Comparisons (when learners compare language forms they know to the newly introduced target language in an attempt to negotiate meaning) and HOTS in analyzing the target language, evaluating hypotheses and synthesizing new information.
Learners tend to reflect on language in their L1 (Shrum P. 226) - in the EFL context, this may not be an option, but teacher-facilitated clarification still possible with simplified explanations and CCQs
Alter the task, not the text: Lower level students are also capable of these HOTS tasks – they employ compensation strategies
BUT: they need help – “we need to integrate discourse facilitators and compensation strategies into a standards-based curriculum early in the language learning sequence.” (Shrum P.235)
“Whether listening to a story-telling activity, co-constructing a grammar explanation, or collaborating with peers during an extension activity, learners are actively discovering and hypothesizing about the target language. [The PACE] approach reflects the framework of the Communication goal area of the SFLL, which advocates that learners be engaged in cognitively challenging activities that encourage them to use communication strategies, such as guessing intelligently, deriving meaning from context, asking for and providing clarification, making and checking hypotheses, and making inferences, predictions and generalizations.” (Shrum P. 230)
Shrum P. 231-232 – List of factors and considerations for selecting texts.
Through interactive story-telling, rather than ‘story reading’, simplifications can occur, which allows teachers to shape the story to their learners’ ZPD (Shrum P.231)
Preparing and delivering: Storytelling needs to be a social event. It is a co-constructive experience (I-Thou listening, where the listeners can directly influence the telling) rather than the "eavesdropping" that occurs when listening to an audio selection or viewing a video.
Preparing and delivering: Storytelling needs to be a social event. It is a co-constructive experience (I-Thou listening, where the listeners can directly influence the telling) rather than the "eavesdropping" that occurs when listening to an audio selection or viewing a video.
Length: keep the attention span of your learners in mind (5-10 mins, or break up in a few stages if longer)
Seating: semicircle
Engage the audience with participatory techniques: hand motions (thumbs up/down) for comprehension checks, character signs (held up when the character is mentioned), cued repetitions of lines from the story, silent dramatizations as the story is beng acted out.
Visual aids: most stories require at least 10-12 illustrations to accompany it
Successful storytellers are skilled at incorporating kinesthetic cues that encourage the audience to concentrate and follow the events of the story: eye contact, facial gestures, hand motions, pantomime, body movements (standing in a particular way for each character)
Voice techniques: changing the tone of your voice (pitch), rhythm, sound effects, silent pauses
Debriefing: teacher can focus attention on common or frequently made errors. Reminder: errors that do not interfere with meaning tend to be overlooked by native speakers. Too much error correction can stifle learner motivation
"Grammar and usage cannot be taught effectively if students see no read needfor it and if teachers cannot persuade them to see the need" (p236)
