What is important in teaching English is to develop students’ practical skills and to train them to be active in thinking in English.
To achieve this goal, you can apply the principle of discovery to teaching English like any other subjects.
In general, the application of this principle means that a teacher does not give a conclusion in advance but leads them to acquire new knowledge like concepts and principles through the self-enquiry based on their activeness and creativity.
When teaching English, a teacher has to make students read textbooks or do exercises by themselves and have a discussion, and has to give an explanation on the problems important and difficult to understand only.
This teaching method consists of 4 stages: environment and assignment, discussion, leading and solution.
Environment and assignment:
In this stage new teaching materials are shown.
On the screen a teacher displays a certain text which is suitable for the level of students and related to their majors so that it can stimulate their enthusiasm for study. Also, the materials should be up-to-date, connected to everyday life and scientific knowledge and contain new vocabulary and grammar. Such materials are worth discussion.
Discussion:
Students have a discussion between themselves or with their teacher over specific questions given by the teacher. When a teacher arranges a discussion on relatively difficult questions, students form their opinions about them. In the discussion students compare and evaluate different opinions to reach an agreement.
Leading:
This stage leads students to achieving goals. By asking leading questions, a teacher leads students’ thinking to the world of analysis and summing up activities. Then they can discover new things by themselves.
Solution:
In the stage a teacher encourages students to find as much information as possible related to the given text, to make compositions using dictionaries and to present them before the class. Then the teacher comments on them, summarizes the main point and evaluates their study activities.
In summary, this teaching method helps students discover anything necessary by themselves as well as simple grammar rules.
In order to raise the teaching effectiveness of this method, you should present assignments and thinking questions commensurate with their levels and abilities, and organize your lectures in an interesting and varied way so that students can be fully involved in them.
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