Presentation - Practice - Production (PPP)

Achilleas Kostoulas | AFL7020 ..
| PPP

PRESENTATION PRACTICE PRODUCTION (PPP)
WHAT IS PRESENTATION PRACTICE PRODUCTION?
Presentation Practice Production, or PPP, is a method for teaching structures (e.g. grammar or vocabulary) in
a foreign language. As its name suggests, PPP is divided into three phases, moving from tight teacher control
towards greater learner freedom. Note that some writers
1
use the name to refer to a specific method that
focuses on oral skills, but it can also be applied more broadly to a family of related methods which rely on the
progression from presentation, through controlled practice, to free production.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE
PRESENTATION PHASE?
A presentation phase is controlled by the teacher.
The teacher might use a text, an audio tape or visual
aids to demonstrate a situation. From this, she will
extract the required language forms. For example,
the teacher may show the class the following
picture and model the following sentences:
Mr Smith is feeding the baby.
Mr Smith IS feedING the baby.
Mr Smith IS feedING the baby.
Mrs Smith is looking at her laptop.
Mrs Smith IS lookING at the laptop.
and so on. She might then write the sentences on the
board and perhaps describe the grammar rule.
Alternatively, the teacher might present the grammar rule without reference to a situation, e.g. through
description supplemented with examples or through substitution tables.
The Present Continuous
BE VERB+ING
e.g. I am reading

BUT: I am sitting, I am comeing

I am playing
now
at the moment
today
You are working
He is sitting
She is coming
A DECONTEXTUALISED PRESENTATION A SUBSTITUTION TABLE

WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE PRACTICE PHASE?
During the (controlled) practice phase, learners practice saying or writing the language structure correctly. Typical
practice activities include drills, multiple-choice exercises, gap-and-cue exercises, transformations etc. In this
phase, the teachers role is to direct the activities, to provide positive feedback to students, correct mistakes and
model the correct forms.

1
e.g. Harmer, J. 2009. The Practice of English Language Teaching (4
th
edn). Harlow: Longman. pp. 64 et seq.

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Achilleas Kostoulas | AFL7020 .. | PPP

T: Read!
S1: I am reading.
T: Play!
S2: I am playing.
Tom _______ (play) tennis.
We ________ (do) our homework.
Susan and Mary ______ (have) sex.
I _______ (cook) spaghetti.
I drive to work every day.
Today.
Mary watches TV every afternoon.
Now
A DRILL A GAP-AND-CUE EXERCISE A TRANSFORMATION EXERCISE

WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE PRODUCTION PHASE?
When the learners have completely mastered the form and have learnt how to produce it without mistakes in
controlled exercises, they can move on to the (free) production phase. In this phase, they use the newly learnt
language structure to produce oral or written texts. Typical production activities include dialogues, oral
presentations, and the production of sentences, paragraphs or longer texts. The teacher does not generally
intervene or correct in this phase: after all, the students should not make mistakes by now. If mistakes are made,
they are pointed out after the exercise has finished.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRACTICE AND PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES?
Practice activities typically will have only one correct answer, whereas in free production several answers will be
acceptable. Furthermore, in the practice phase emphasis is on accuracy (the ability to produce the correct form),
whereas the production phase is supposed to develop fluency (the ability to speak naturally).
IS PPP AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO LEARN?
It could be said that PPP is an effective way to teach, since it makes planning easy and it can be implemented by
relatively inexperienced teachers. However, this is not the same as saying that it is an effective way to learn.
Some critics have suggested that it rests on a simplistic view of language learning: language learning often
involves more than mechanical practice. In addition, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that learners who do
well in the practice phase fail to transfer this ability to the production phase, and even if they do successfully
manage the production phase they often fail to transfer this ability outside the classroom.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR DESIGNING A PPP LESSON PLAN
Phase Things to consider
Presentation Will you present the language in context / abstractly?
Will you use terminology (e.g. the names of tenses)?
Which language will you use?
Practice Will the exercises be oral or written?
Will the exercises be productive or receptive?
Will the exercises be done individually, in pairs or in groups?
How will the exercises be corrected? / How will feedback be provided?
Production How will you ensure that the activity will elicit the newly-taught form?
Will the activity be oral or written?
Will the exercises be done individually, in pairs or in groups?
How will the exercises be corrected? / How will feedback be provided?

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