Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 2

There are 3 stages to turn the general approach into skill-development, which

are awareness-raising, practice, and production.


Awareness-raising (PPP - conscious awareness)
Intro: There are things that learners can’t easily do because they lack certain
skills, for example retrieving words at speed. And, there are also things learners
don’t know, such as how to respond appropriately to a difficult request; this
may inhibit their fluency. In these cases, they lack the knowledge. Therefore,
awareness-raising is known as the first step for teachers to help learners
uncover these gaps in their knowledge. 
Awareness-raising implies an explicit focus on the rules of the systems. It
involves assistance from the instructor or other students. The learning of a
complex skill, like speaking, is seen as a movement from controlled to
automatic processing.
To maximize the chances that these learning processes will occur, there are
some awareness-raising activities that teachers can apply, such as audio-
recorded,  “noticing-the-gap” techniques, etc.
Transition: conscious awareness is the stage that helps learners fill the gaps in
their knowledge. However, the knowledge here has to be appropriate so that it
is available to use. That’s why we need the next stage, which is called
“appropriation”. 
Appropriation
Why do we consider appropriation as a second stage to teach speaking? It is
because of the fact that learning a skill is not simply a behavior (like practice)
or a mental process (like restructuring), but one of collaborative
construction. 
Appropriation has the meaning of taking over the possession of something, of “
making something one’s own”.
In the stage of appropriation, teachers can use some activities such as drilling
and chants, writing tasks, reading aloud and so on.
In fact, rather than talk of controlled practice, it may be more helpful to talk
about practiced control. Controlled practice is receptive practice of language
items and making mistakes is minimized. Drilling is a typical activity of
controlled practice. On the other hand, practiced control involves
demonstrating progressive control of a skill where  the possibility of making
mistakes is ever-present and support is always available.
In practiced control, control (or self-regulation) is the objective, whereas in
controlled practice, control is simply the condition for practice to take place.
Autonomy
Production is the stage that involves the integration of existing knowledge,
restructuring of the user’s linguistic system, then it is readily available for use,
with less control on the part of the user. 
Autonomy gives learners the opportunity to be involved in real operating
conditions. For example, urgency, unpredictability, and spontaneity events that
often characterize real-life speech. To be more specific, when learners give a
presentation, they can deliver a very well-prepared speech, but it is quite
another to respond to questions from the audience at the end. In this stage,
classroom speaking activities are organized to let the learners take risks, and
boost their confidence. This stage would be a prepared stage for learners to use
in the real-world language later. 

Here are some suggested activities in this stage, such as: giving academic
presentations and talk, telling stories, discussions and debates,
conversation and chat, etc. 

After these activities, it is important for teachers to give learners feedback.
This feedback has to respect the learners’ autonomy, and provide useful
feedback for the improvement of subsequent performance.

You might also like