Discovery / deducing meanings This approach guides students to learn for themselves rather than the teacher teaching the language point directly. The discovery method involves students studying language items in a text or in isolated sentences. If isolated sentences are used, it’s preferable to provide a context. Students deduce grammatical rules, use of tenses, use of the infinitive contrasted with use of verb with –ing. or meanings of words from what they read. (The possibilities are endless). Students then check with the teacher whether their deductions are correct.
For example, you can give your students the following sentences and ask them to tell you the names of the tenses used (present perfect and simple past) and to tell you why they are used: (simple past to talk about a specific time in the past and present perfect to talk about experiences).
I’ve never been to Brazil: present perfect to talk about experiences.
She’s never eaten snails: present perfect to talk about experiences.
We went to Corsica on holiday last year: simple past to talk about a specific time in the past.
I had beef for dinner last night: simple past to talk about a specific time in the past.
To give a personal example, many years ago I studied elementary German. One day our teacher asked us to read a text relating what the writer had done the previous day and to answer questions on this text. The text contained elements such as the following:
Yesterday I got up late, ate breakfast quickly and had a shower. I left the house at
8.30.
We all knew the German for yesterday, get up, eat, have and leave; this meant that we were able to understand the text even though we had never studied the German equivalent of got, ate, had and left. Our teacher then proceeded to a study of language; she put 2 columns on the board with the headings every day and yesterday. In the every day column, she wrote: get up, eat breakfast, have a shower, leave the house. She asked us to provide the verb forms for the yesterday column and then asked us why the verb form was spelt differently: they’re in the past tense of course. She elicited from us the name of the tense and the verb forms even though we were new to this structure.
This is a highly effective method of teaching; it involves students 100% in the lesson; the source of knowledge becomes the class rather than the teacher; the teacher has the chance to see who knows the language item and to what extent. This helps plan subsequent lessons; it might be that your students know the structure and just require brief revision and practice. Alternatively, they might need a complete presentation, explanation and extensive practice. It is also very memorable. I studied German almost 20 years ago and can still remember this lesson and the feeling of joy at understanding and discovering this language for myself.
This approach works well for revising language that students should already know and it can be used for new language if the meaning is obvious (as in the example above). This approach engages students in the learning process and as such it is more memorable, especially if they get it right! Using this method in class will encourage students to do the same thing outside the classroom whenever they see the written word; this will be an excellent learning tool for them.
Disadvantages are that students might be resistant to this method if they’re not used to it. If you use this method once and you explain the language point after the discovery
phase, they will accept it more easily on subsequent occasions. Another drawback is that it requires a teacher to have thorough knowledge of the language point. Students sometimes come up with something they’ve heard somewhere else and have misunderstood and you will need to confirm or correct, what they say. I suggest you experiment with this method on a language point you know well and not the first time you teach a complicated structure!
