Focus on form through PACE

By using the term focus on form, we distinguish lessons designed around teaching the
grammar point of the day from lessons that draw attention to form in meaningful
cultural texts and contexts, for larger communicative purposes, and for expressing and
interpreting social and cultural meaning in various modes of communication.

PACE is a dialogic story-based approach which reconciles inductive and deductive

approaches to grammar teaching:

(1) PRESENTING orally a short text in the form of a story from the target language
culture or an authentic text in print for more advanced.

- Select the story

- Plan or prepare for presentation
- Tell the story
- Time the story
- Checking comprehension

(2) Calling learners’ ATTENTION to a particular form in the text that is important to
the text’s meaning and so that the teacher and learners establish a joint focus of
attention.

- Guide learners to notice the notice the target form.

- Lasts only a few minutes.

(3) CO-CONSTRUCTING an explanation of the form with the teacher

through class discussion and dialogue.

- Dialogic interaction
- Strategy: feedback to learners must move from implicit help to explicit help (graduate
assistance, Dynamic Assessment)

(4) EXTENDING and using the form in a new context related to the theme and/or
cultural content of the story.

- This phase may take multiple class lessons to complete and can include a variety of
engaging tasks in the interpersonal and presentational modes of communication such
as information-gap activities, role-plays, games, paired interviews, or writing
projects.
 I) Selecting and Analyzing a PACE Story

Title Summary Form Meaning Function

II) Planning for Storytelling

DOES MY STORYTELLING FEATURE THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS?

 Does the story engage learners’ interest?

 Does the teacher simplify the story as needed to support comprehension?

 Does the teacher use props, visuals, and dramatization to support meaning-
making?
 Are students actively involved in the telling of the story?

 Does the teacher check learners’ comprehension of the story?

III) Planning for attention and co-construction

 Choose a text
1

Select a focus structure

2

Develop a grammar and functional objective

3

Select sufficient examples of grammar in text

4

Decide on how to highlight the pattern visually

5

Decide on generalisation that you want to elicit from students

6 relating to grammar and function

Elicit questions that focus on: form, meaning and functions that
7 guide students to generalisation

Script what you think students will say, prepare for

8 misanderstandings and develop associated responses

IV) Planning for Extension Activities

DO MY EXTENSION ACTIVITIES…?

 integrate the grammatical form naturally?

 reflect personalized use of language and students’ interests?

 feature the grammatical form within the interpretive, interpersonal, and

 presentational modes of communication?

 provide opportunities to create personal meaning?