TEFL Methodology taught in most TEFL training programs is generally either "PPP" or "ESA".
"PPP" means Presentation, Practice, and Production.
Presentation is the part of the lesson when the target language (the language to be taught to the students) is presented to the students generally through eliciting and cueing of the students to see if they know it and then providing the language if no one does.
The target language is usually put on the board either in structure (grammar-type) charts or in dialogs. Presentation features more "teacher talk" than the other stages of the lesson, generally as much as 65-90% of the time. This portion of the total lesson can take as much as 20-40% of the lesson time.
Next comes the Practice section when the students practice the target language in one to three activities that progress from very structured (students are given activities that provide little possibility for error) to less-structured as they master the material.
These activities should include as much "student talk" as possible and not focus on written activities, though written activities can provide a structure for the verbal practices.
Practice should have the "student talk time" range from 60-80 percent of the time with teacher talk time being the balance of that time. This portion of the total lesson can take from 30-50% of the lesson time.
"Production" is the stage of the lesson when the students take the target language and use it in conversations that they structure and use it to talk about themselves or their daily lives or situations. Production should involve student talk at as much as 90% of the time and this component of the lesson can/should take as much as 20-30% of the lesson time.
As you can see the general structure of a PPP lesson is flexible, but an important feature is the movement from controlled and structured speech to less-controlled and more freelyused and created speech. Another important feature of PPP (and other methods too) is the rapid reductionof teacher talk time and the increase in student talk time.
Notes: One of the most common errors untrained teachers make is that they talk too much.
EFL students get very little chance to actually use the language they learn and the EFL classroom must be structured to create that opportunity.
"ESA" means Engage, Study, and Activate.
Roughly equivalent to PPP, ESA is slightly different in that it is designed to allow movement back and forth between the stages. However, each stage is similar to the PPP stages in the same order.
Proponents of ESA method stress its flexibility compared to PPP and the method as defined by Jeremy Harmer (its major advocate) uses more elicitation and stresses the engagement
of students in the early stages of the lesson.
ESA is a superior method to PPP when both are looked at from a rigid point of view. But, EFL is not rigid and you should not adhere to any one viewpoint or method. PPP is often an easier method for teacher-trainees to get a handle on.
Below are an excellent set of pages for reading about and understanding the major methodologies in TEFL.
A good review of a variety of EFL teaching methods so you don't get stuck in just one is at the website of Dr. Jill Kerper Moran of San Diego State University:
Second Language Teaching Methods
Another overview of various methodologies is at English Club:
http://www.englishclub.com/tefl-articles/history-english-language-teaching.htm
Note: Don’t get stuck in one method. A smart teacher picks and chooses what works best for their students.
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