The Language Teacher
December 2002
A Simple, Guided-Discovery Learning Activity
Ichiyama Yoko
Tsuoka Junior High School
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words:Guided-discovery learning activity, grammar
Learner English Level: Adaptable
Learner Maturity Level: Adaptable
Preparation Time: 30 minutes or less
Activity Time: 20 minutes
Materials: A reading passage and some example sentences
As a junior high school teacher, I have often found students to be passive and unmotivated in grammar lessons where teachers rely heavily on a deductive approach. However, on one occasion I found that students not only acquired the grammar rules more easily, but also actively participated in the process of acquiring target grammar rules when they were asked to work out the rules for themselves.
In order to encourage students to be involved in the process of discovering the rules of the target grammar items, I decided to introduce a simple guided-discovery learning activity to my class. As a result of the incorporation of guided-discovery learning into the classroom, students' attitudes towards grammar learning have greatly improved.
The task
As my students like to read in English, I often prepare short passages for them. Although the process of preparing materials can be time consuming, the benefits of using teacher-made materials are worth it, as the language and length can be modified to make them more accessible to students. Furthermore, a teacher usually knows what students like to read about, and the materials do not cost anything.
Procedure
Give students a passage to read, such as the one below:
The Day I Like Best
I like Sunday the best. On Sunday, I wake up at 9 o'clock because there is no Sakura. (A famous TV series at 8 o'clock in the morning, especially favoured by elders.) In the morning, I read some books and have breakfast. I go to a swimming club at 12 o'clock. In the afternoon, I go to a bookshop and buy a new detective story. On Sunday, time goes slowly, so I like Sunday best. But on Monday... life is but a dream.
Step 1: Draw two lines to separate the blackboard into three columns. Head each of the three columns with the following words: at, on, and in. Ask students to call out the sentences that use each expression. Write the sentences in the appropriate column. Add more examples that use the target expression, such as, The film starts at 8 o'clock. They arrive on Tuesday and I woke in the night I often find dictionaries such as The Oxford Paperback Dictionary and The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Collocations very useful, and each carries a sufficient number of examples of the target expressions. Modify and simplify the language to suit your students' English.
Step 2: Ask students to search for the similarities and differences in each expression. If they succeed in finding that at is used to show an exact time, on is used to point at a particular day or time, and in is used to suggest a period of time, ask them if there are any regularities underlying each expression. Be aware that although the teacher will deliberately guide students towards the rules to be discovered, students should be left to a certain extent to discover the rules for themselves.
Step 3: After students have realized that at is placed before the time, on before the day, and in before the period of time, the students can have fun creating their own sentences before moving on to the next activity.
Conclusion
The incorporation of this simple, guided-discovery learning activity into the junior high school classroom was quite beneficial from the beginning, and students were far more positive and enthusiastic about being involved in the process of finding regularities for themselves. Moreover, once students experienced the self-discovery of rules, they became avid participants in other guided-discovery learning activities. Some of the students reported that they felt they had become much more confident in English grammar and reading. I now use guided-discovery learning activities in the classroom whenever the chance arises.
References
Ichikawa, S., et al. (Eds.). (1995). The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Collocations. Tokyo: Kenkyusha.
Pollard, E. (Ed.). (1994). The Oxford Paperback Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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