Pace: a story-Based Approach for Dialogic Inquiry about Form

PACE and the accuracy Issue. Elementary/intermediate level learners certainly will make grammatical errors while participating in Extension activities, even with the new grammatical feature of the lesson. As learners work in groups, the teacher needs to observe the various groups and provide assistance (e.g., requisite vocabulary, structures, expressions) when necessary. In many instances, learners will be capable of expressing themselves, even if their opinions are not grammatically perfect. Frustration on the part of the teacher and/or learners will be reduced if the teacher places an emphasis on meaning-making as learners try to create and construct meaning during these interpersonal activities rather than grammatical accuracy. As a debriefing activity after the Extension activities, the teacher may want to focus attention on one frequently made error or remind the students of what they had discussed in the Co-Construction phase of the lesson. During interactions between native and non-native speakers in the world outside of the classroom, error correction tends to be limited to errors regarding meaning, including vocabulary choice, rather than on pronunciation and grammar. Errors that do not interfere with meaning tend to be overlooked.