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

The PACE Model

The following section presents PACE, a model for contextualizing lessons with learners about language form in the context of interesting cultural stories. PACE, is an acronym for the four steps we have developed for integrating focus on form in the context of a story-based unit of study. The PACE model should be viewed as the framework for a unit of study that is carried out in multiple lessons over several days. In addition to the opportunities for developing cultural understandings, rich vocabulary, and modes of communication, the PACE model also allows for learners to construct conceptual understandings of relevant and meaningful form in dialogic collaboration with the teacher and each other. This approach, as will be illustrated below, contrasts sharply with deductive teacher explanation of grammar and inductive approaches that assume that all structures can be analyzed by students on their own, solely on the basis of the input they hear.