Here are the processes and principles we’ve tried to incorporate in our approaches to grammar and functions in New Standard English.
Focus on form & Focus on meaning
When learners focus on form, they direct conscious attention to some formal features of the language input. Correction and other feedback is a focus on form. When learners focus on meaning in second language learning, they attach a new set of arbitrary forms to a set of existing meanings. Communication activities and pair work focus on meaning.
Deductive learning & Discovery learning
Deductive learning occurs when a rule or generalisation is first presented to learners, and then they go on to apply it in practice activities. Discovery (or Inductive) learning is the process of working out rules on the basis of examples. It’s thought to be the way that the rules of one’s first language are internalised.
Grammaring & Noticing
Grammaring is “the process by which a sequence of words is fine-tuned in order to create a more complex message than mere words can express”. Noticing suggests that if you notice a feature of the language when you’re exposed to it, it attracts your attention and you make a mental note of it. Input becomes intake through the process of noticing.