Test, Teach, Test

Test 1

In a Test, Teach, Test lesson, you first ask your students to complete a task without any
help.
Whilst the students are carrying out this activity, you monitor the class and identify your
students’ language needs.

For example: Fill in the blanks "Yesterday, I ____ (go) to the cinema". Here, you're looking
to see if your students can fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb to go.

As a teacher, it's very important that you monitor your students and identify any errors
during this stage. Errors your students make will help you to see what you need to teach in
the next stage.
Teach

You then present the target language; this is based on any problems identified in the first
test (1). This is particularly useful for learners of intermediate level or above who might
have learnt the lesson content before.

You will, however, still need to plan a lesson based on areas you think your students may
make errors and be prepared to adapt this after the first test.

In this stage, you will need to teach the meaning, form, and pronunciation of any new
language.
Following this, consider a short controlled-type activity that focuses on the accuracy of the
new language before moving onto test (2), where your students will often practise their
fluency.
Test 2

Finally, the lesson ends with an activity that the students should now be able to complete
successfully.

This activity often focuses on fluency as opposed to being an exam-type activity (more
similar to the production stage of a PPP lesson), and it allows you to see whether or not the
students have learnt the new language.

During this stage, your students should be combining their prior knowledge with the new
language they've learnt in the lesson.
Although this structure is different to PPP, you still need to include a
"warmer" and a "cooler" in a Test, Teach, Test lesson.
Task-based learning
Task Based Learning uses tasks as the basic units for planning and teaching. Instead of
being taught predefined language items, students are given problems to solve. Language is
then provided in response to their needs.

For example, you could give your students a train timetable and ask them to find out the
fastest way from Point A to Point B. To complete the task, they must work with other
students. You, as the teacher, provide individual support with language during the task plus
group feedback at the end. This means that the language the students learn is determined by
what happens during the task.

It is worth noting that, in practice, Task Based Learning is usually applied in a modified
form. For example, the teacher may provide a model of someone doing the task followed
by tasks that help them develop useful language or strategies.

This image taken from a useful blog, explains how a TBL lesson is organised.
Guided discovery
As with the teaching methods, you are likely to draw on several different techniques to
create lessons that are suitable for the class and topic you are teaching. For example, in a
PPP lesson, you might present your target language through Guided Discovery. You
can find out more about this teaching technique on the ELT Planning blog(opens in a new
tab).
What is it?

It is a technique that is sometimes used in the presentation stage of a lesson. Guided

Discovery is a way of empowering your students and allowing them to identify new
language/rules themselves with guidance from the teacher.

It involves you, the teacher, giving examples and then asking questions and/or eliciting
information from your students.

For example: You could provide your students with a text and draw out information by
asking them comprehensible questions that allow them to find the answers themselves.
Furthermore, you could provide a series of sentences and guide your students in identifying
the patterns.
When planning a presentation stage that incorporates the use of guided discovery, it is
important to ensure it:

 •

is interactive

 •

encourages groupwork

 •

is a fun activity
 •
is achievable (and not too difficult)

Although this differs from explicitly teaching new language, it is still

important to consolidate your students' understanding by ensuring they
know the meaning, form, and pronunciation of the target language.

For PPP, this is followed by Controlled Practice, Production, and then a

Cooler.
Technique Advantages Challenges
PPP  Simple and logical way of  Lessons are usually
structuring lessons structured around specific
 Enables you to use a range areas of language. This
of different activities to meet leaves less opportunity for
your students’ needs students to freely explore
 Helps students to know what vocabulary
stage they have reached in  There can be a fair amount
an individual lesson of teacher-led time in a
 Helps build students’ lesson. However, this can be
confidence, as learning is in overcome by incorporating a
controlled stages range of interactive-type
activities into your lessons

Task-based  Very interactive / engaging  Lessons need to be prepared

learning for students and managed well, to ensure
 Students gain confidence they stay on track
from trying to find new  Students can lose motivation
language if they don’t have the
 Vocabulary is learnt in a language that they need to
more natural way, in carry out the task
response to need successfully
 Language is not limited to a  Learning is unsystematic.
predetermined set Students can miss out on
important pieces of
vocabulary / language,
simply because they do not
arise in the task

Guided  Encourages independence  Students can lose motivation

Discovery  Can increase motivation, as if they can’t identify the
students become confident language points
in their abilities  The focus on “discovery” can
 Makes learning more lead to students talking in
memorable their native language
 Can be a good interactive  Lessons need to be well-
task, if the discovery is planned to ensure that
carried out in groups students can learn the
intended points

Test, Teach,  Students' immediate  You need to be very flexible

Test language needs are to respond to a range of
identified and addressed possible needs
 Students can easily see the  Students can become
progress that they have frustrated and/or bored at
made during the lesson, by not completing the initial
comparing the outcomes of task
the first test to the one they  Students can lose motivation
complete at the end of the when they can’t complete
lesson the initial task
 Can be particularly useful for
addressing specific language
This page contains important information for all of your assignments.

When you write lesson plans for observations in your school, a key part is providing a
rationale for your lesson. You need to explain your choices for your structure (e.g. why
PPP or TTT?) and your choices for the tasks in the context of your students - their level,
ages and needs.
 Think of it like this: the lesson plan provides the procedure - it explains who is doing
what, when they are doing it, and how they should do it. Your rationale is why. Why did
you make that choice? Why did you include drilling or a worksheet or a roleplay?

As part of your assessment in this course, you need to provide a rationale for your lesson
plan procedure. There are 4 main things to consider:
 1. Why was the lesson structured this way?
Why did you choose a PPP structure? What’s the benefit of this lesson plan structure? (E.g.
it gives students more freedom as the lesson progresses.)
 2. How does each activity contribute towards the aims and how it will be
achieved?
Look at each stage of the lesson in turn and discuss why you included it.
E.g. In the presentation stage, students will look at pictures to establish the meanings of the
words quickly and efficiently before learning its pronunciation. Then, through drilling the
word chorally and individually, I can ensure each learner is able to pronounce the word
correctly before moving on. This will also help them to memorise the word.
 3. What will happen if one or more of your activities do not go to plan?
You can put this in its own section or include an alternative for some of the stages in point
2 above. For example, if students struggle to think of anything to say in the group
discussion, we will brainstorm some ideas on the board first, in order to give them some
inspiration.
 4. Other activities that I considered using…
Maybe you wanted to include a game, but you thought it might not be age-appropriate. Or
maybe you wanted to include 2 worksheets but thought this might be too much independent
work, so you will set one for homework instead.
You can download a copy of these points below:

Rationale considerations.pdf
352.5 KB

A reminder of these points is included on the template lesson plan when you get to the first
assessment in unit 5.
In your assignment rationale, your tutor will be looking for information
on all of the above sections. Don't get caught out by forgetting to
comment on any of the points, as your assignment may be returned to
you.