Page 42 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Approaches to Language Teaching

Presentation Practice Production
Figure 2.1
Context Accuracy Fluency
The PPP Model

(controlled practice of the item) and production (a free practice phase). In a
PPP lesson with YLs, for example, the teacher would first present the context
in which the language is used (e.g. describing someone’s favourite food) and
demonstrate the meaning and form of the new language (e.g. I like/I don’t
like fish./Sam likes/doesn’t like fish.). In the practice stage, the learners would
practise making sentences with ‘I like/I don’t like’ and ‘she likes/she doesn’t
like’ which is often done by using various drilling activities. Then is the pro-
duction stage in which learners talk more freely (e.g. by asking each other
about their favourite food). The PPP can also be used for teaching functions,
vocabulary and even pronunciation.
In the last two decades, however, several authors have questioned the ef-
fectiveness of the PPP procedure, most notably its assumption that language
teaching is most efficient if divided into well-ordered stages and the fact that
it is more learning- than learner-centred. Several critics of PPP have proposed
their own alternative models, such as for example the ‘task-based learning’
which is also organised in different stages (e.g. pre-task, task, planning, re-
port, analysis, practice) and is based on the learners completing a central
task. The language is not studied in advance but is analysed and practiced
after the task is completed (Harmer, 1996).
Despite the criticisms, the PPP procedure is still widely used today in lan-
guage teaching around the world. Its elements can be recognised in the
grammar and vocabulary sections of modern course books (Harmer, 2007).
There is a widespread consensus among authors in the field of FLT that PPP
is just one of the many models which is best used in combination with other
strategies and procedures. In this respect, Skela and Dagarin Fojkar (2009)
point out that in choosing the best procedure and methodology, we should
also consider the characteristics of ELT in a particular cultural and linguis-
tic context. For example, learners in Slovenia are exposed to English to a
great extent and generally more than to other foreign languages so there
is a strong likelihood that they will come to the English classes with a consid-
erable amount of knowledge acquired outside class.

The Communicative Approach
Born out of the inefficiencies and shortcomings of the grammar translation
and the audio-lingual approaches but also the structural and behaviourist
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