Action-oriented language teaching:
what makes it different
Action-oriented language teaching is based on meaningful action, interaction and varied repetition. Learners are active in many traditional language courses too.
The difference lies in the nature of this activity, the variety of situations they encounter and the way knowledge is gradually transformed into genuine communication skills.
Being active does not yet mean communicating spontaneously
In a more traditional course, a considerable amount of time is often devoted to grammar explanations, written exercises or gap-filling activities. Learners are also encouraged to speak, but their exchanges frequently remain highly controlled.
The PPP model — Presentation, Practice, Production can give the impression that everything is working perfectly. After being introduced to a new structure, learners use prepared sentences or practise a predefined dialogue.
This stage can be useful, but it does not yet guarantee that the structure will be available in a new, spontaneous and unpredictable conversation.
Grammar in action-oriented
language teaching
An action-oriented approach does not reject grammar. Grammar remains essential for understanding how the language works and communicating with greater precision.
However, the rule is not always immediately presented as a formula to be memorised. Learners observe examples, compare structures and discover for themselves how the language works.
They then formulate the rule in their own words, write it down and immediately reuse it in a genuine communication situation.
Repetition without speaking like a parrot
Repetition is essential for remembering and automating language structures. However, continually repeating the same dialogue with only a few different words is not enough.
I regularly introduce new situations, different roles, new information or a concrete problem to solve. The learner must listen, understand, choose the right words, answer and react.
The same important structure returns in varied contexts. It gradually becomes available for genuine and spontaneous interaction.
Would you like to understand the different stages of your progress and learn why A2+ marks the beginning of independent communication?
Speaking a language is not enough to know how to teach it
A native speaker naturally possesses a rich knowledge of their language. However, knowing a language does not automatically mean knowing how to organise another person’s learning.
A teacher must know which structures need to be repeated, when they should be revisited, how to vary the situations and how to prepare the learner to transfer existing knowledge to a new conversation.
This expertise develops through training, experience, observation and the analysis of learners’ actual progress. The teacher’s role is to construct a learning path that gradually leads to independence.
I explore this subject further in my LinkedIn article
“Native speaker” is not a qualification , which has received more than 500,000 views.