We will consider ways in which children can be introduced to new language structure.

    The importance of language awareness

When we present grammar through structural patterns we tend to give students tidy pieces of language to work with We introduce grammar, which can easily be explained and presented. There are many different ways of doing this, which do not (only) involve the transmission of grammar rules.

It is certainly possible to teach aspects of grammar - indeed that is what language teachers have been doing for centuries - but language is a difficult business and it is often used very inventively by its speakers, In other words real language use is often very untidy and cannot be automatically reduced to simple grammar patterns. Students need to be aware of this, just as they need to be aware of all language possibilities. Such awareness does not mean that they have to be taught each variation and linguistic twist, however. It just means that they have to be aware of language and how it is used. That is why reading and listening are so important, and that is why discovery activities are so valuable since by asking students to discover ways in which language is used we help to raise their awareness about the creative use of grammar amongst other things.

As teachers we should be prepared to use a variety of techniques to help our students learn and acquire grammar. Sometimes this involves teaching grammar rules; sometimes it means allowing students to discover the rules for themselves.

    What do we introduce?

Our job at this stage of the lesson is to present the pupils with clear information about the language they are learning. We must also show them what the language means and how it is used; we must also show them what the grammatical form of the new language is, and how it is said and/or written. What we are suggesting here is that students need to get an idea of how he new language is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this s to present language incontext.

The context for introducing new language should have a number of characteristics It should show what the new language means and how it is used, for example. That is why many useful contexts have the new languagebeing used in a written text or dialogue. A good context should be interesting for the children. This doesn't mean that all the subject matter we use for presentation should be wildly funny or inventive all of the time. But the pupils should at least want tosee or hear the information. Lastly, a good context will provide the background for a lot of language use so that students can use the information not only for the repetition of model sentences but also for making their own sentences.

Often the textbook will have all the characteristics mentioned here and the teacher can confidently rely on the material for the presentation. But the textbook is not always so appropriate: for a number of reasons the information in the book may not be right for our students in such cases we will want to create our own contexts for language use.

    Types of context

Contextmeans the situation or body of information, which causes language to be used. There are a number of different context types, but for our purposes we will concentrate on three, the students' world, the outside world and formulated information. The students' world can be a major source of contexts for language presentation. There are two kinds of students' world. Clearly we can use thephysical surroundingsthat the students are in - the classroom, school or institution. But classrooms and their physical properties (tables, chairs, windows, etc. ) are limited. Thestudents' livesare not constrained in the same way, however, and we can use facts about them, their families, friends and experiences.

The outside world provides us with rich contexts for presentation For example, there is an almost infinite number ofstories we can use to present different lenses. We can also create situationswhere people speak because they are in those situations, or where the writer describes some special information. This is especially useful for the practice of functional language, for example.

We can ask students to look at examples of languagewhich show the new language in operation, though this last category can sometimes have no context. These three sub-categories, story, situation or language, can besimulated or real. Most teachers are familiar with 'made-up' stones which arc often useful for classwork: real stories work well too, of course. In the same way we can create the simulation of an invitation dialogue, for example. But here again we could also show students a real invitation dialogue. In general we can say that real contexts are better simply because they are real, but they may have complexities of language and comprehensibility which can be avoided by simulated contexts - life-like but clearly mode-up to some extent. Formulated informationrefers to all that information which is presented in the form of timetables, notes, charts etc. Once again we can use real charts and timetables, growth statistics, etc. or we can design our own which will be just right for our students.

There are variations on these different kinds of context, of course, but we can broadly summarize what we have said so far in the following way:

    The presentation of structural form.

One of the teacher's jobs is to show how the new language is formed - how the grammar works and how it is put together. One way of doing this is to explain the grammar in detail, using grammatical terminology and giving a mini-lecture on the subject. This seems problematical, though, for two reasons; firstly many pupils may find grammatical concepts difficult, secondly- such explanations for beginners will be almost impossible.

A more effective - and less frightening - way of presenting form is to let the students see and/or hear the new language, drawing their attention in a number of different ways to the grammatical elements of which it is made. For whilst advanced students may profit from grammatical explanations to a certain extent, at lower levels we must usually find simpler and more transparent ways of giving students grammatical information.

    A general model for introducing new language.

The model has five components: lead-in, elicitation, explanation, accurate reproduction, and immediate creativity. During the lead-inthe context is introduced and the meaning or use of the new language is demonstrated. This is the stage at which students may hear or see some language (including the new language) and during which students may become aware of certainkey concepts. The key concepts are those pieces of information about the context that are vital if students are to understand the context and thus the meaning and use of the new language.

During the lead-in stage, then, we introduce our context (making sure that key concepts are understood) and show the new language in use.

During the elicitationstage the teacher tries to see if the students can produce the new language. If they can it would clearly be wasteful and de-motivating for them if a lot of time was spent practising the language that they already know. At the elicitation stage - depending on how well (and if) the students can produce the new language - the teacher can decide which of the stages to go to next. If the students can't produce the new language at all, for example, we will move to the explanation stage. If they can, hut with minor mistakes, we may move to the accurate reproduction stage to clear up those problems. If they know the new language but need a bit more controlled practice in producing it we may move directly to the immediate creativity stage Elicitation is vitally important for it gives the teacher information upon which to act: it is also motivating for the students and actively involves their learning abilities. During the explanationstage the teacher shows how the new language is formed. It is here that we may give a listening drill or explain something in the students' own language; we may demonstrate grammatical form on the blackboard. In other words, this is where the students learn how the new language is constructed. During the accurate reproductionstage students are asked to repeat and practise a certain number of models. The emphasis here will be on the accuracy of what the students say rather than meaning or use. Here the teacher makes sure that the students can form the new language correctly, getting the grammar right and perfecting their pronunciation as far as is necessary.

    Correction.

During the accurate reproduction phase there are two basic correction stages: showing incorrectness (indicating to the student that something is wrong) and using correction techniques.

    (a) Showing incorrectness

This means that we will indicate to the student that a mistake has been made. If the student understands this feedback he or she will be able to correct the mistake and this self-correction will be helpful to him or her as part of the learning process.

There are a number of techniques for showing incorrectness: 1 Repeating: Here we simply ask the student to repeat what he or she has just said by using the word 'again'. This, said with a questioning intonation, will usually indicate that the response was unsatisfactory (although it could be misunderstood as only indicating that the teacher has not heard the student's response).

2 Echoing: We will be even clearer if we repeat what the student has just said, using a questioning intonation since this will clearly indicate that we are doubting the accuracy or content of what is being said.

Sometimes we can echo the complete student response, probably stressing the pan of the utterance that was incorrect, for example:

    She go to school?

Another possibility is to echo the student's response, but only up to the point where the mistake was made, ftor example:

    She go …?

Echoing, in its various forms, is probably the most efficient way of showing incorrectness.

3 Denial: We can simply tell the student that the response was unsatisfactory and ask for it to be repeated. This seems somewhat drier than the techniques so far discussed; it may be a bit more discouraging.

4 Questioning: We can say 'Is that correct? ' asking any student in the class to answer our question. This has the advantage of focusing everybody's mind on the problem, though it may make the student who made the mistake seem somewhat exposed.

5 Expression: Many teachers indicate that a response was incorrect by their expression or by some gesture. This is very economical (and can be quite funny) but can be dangerous if the student thinks that the expression or gesture is a form of mockery.

In general, showing incorrectness should be handled with tact and consideration. The process of student self-correction, which it provokes, is an important and useful part of the learning process. Showing incorrectness should be seen as a positive act, in other words, not as a reprimand. Frequently, however, we find that showing incorrectness is not enough for the correction of a mistake or an error and the teacher may therefore have to use some correction techniques.

    (b) Using correction techniques

If students are unable to correct themselves we can resort to one of the following techniques.

1 Student corrects student: we can ask if anyone else can give the correct response. We can ask if anyone can 'help' the student who has made the mistake. If another student can supply the correct information it will be good for that student's self-esteem. However, the student who originally made the mistake may feel humiliated if this technique is used insensitively.

2 Teacher corrects student(s): Sometimes we may feel that we should take charge of correction because the students are extremely mixed-up about what the correct response should be. In that case we can re-explain the item of language, which is causing the trouble. This will be especially appropriate when we see that a majority of the class are having the same problem. After the re-explanation we can move to choral and individual repetition (if necessary) before moving on.

The object of using correction techniques, of course, is to give the student(s) a chance to (know how to) get the new language right. It is important, therefore, that when we have used one of the techniques suggested above, we ask the student who originally made the mistake to give us a correct response. When the children and teacher are confident that the children can form the new language correctly they will move toimmediate creativity. Here they try to use what they have just learned to make sentences of their own, rather than sentences which the teacher or book has introduced as models. It is at this stage that both teacher and student can see if the students have really understood the meaning, use and form of the new language. If they are able to produce their own sentences they can feel confident that the presentation was success.

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