In a previous post, I referred several times to "the clarification stage" without ever defining what that was. Since one of my goals is to have no undefined terminology on this blog, I suppose I should talk about the clarification stage.
The clarification stage takes place at the end of the presentation section of a grammar or vocabulary lesson.
That is to say, the presentation section will consist of two subsections.
1) Show how the target language is used in context (using some sort of model text)
2) Clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language (aka the clarification stage).
[As with all of this stuff, the terminology will differ slightly depending on who you are talking to. Some people consider the clarification stage a subsection within the presentation section. Some people consider it a completely separate section. For an example of someone using different terminology, see these lesson plan templates, in which the clarification stage is the second section in the lesson, and is called "analyze target language".]
The clarification stage consists of three sub-stages
1) clarify meaning
1) clarify meaning
2) clarify form
3) clarify pronunciation
This is commonly abbreviated as MFP (Meaning-Form-Pronunciation), although actually Form and Pronunciation could come in either order (i.e. MFP or MPF).
Some people also add a 4th element of clarification: appropriacy. In that case, it would be MFPA.
Appropriacy deals with register (e.g. formal/informal, polite/impolite), but appropriacy is not relevant for all language lessons. Some language is just neutral. (e.g. if you are teaching the past simple, there's no appropriacy that the students need to learn.)
In the CELTA method, all three of these (MFP) must be clarified for the lesson to achieve its objectives.
Also in the CELTA method, meaning must always be clarified first. The reason is that the students need to know what the communicative purpose of the target language is before they will understand the need to study the form or the pronunciation. (That is to say, if you start off focusing on the form or pronunciation of the target language, but the students don't even know what it means, the students will not understand why they are studying it.)
Once meaning is clarified, then it doesn't usually matter rather you do form before pronunciation, or pronunciation before form.
Meaning is ideally clarified by taking an example sentence from the model text that contains the target language, and then asking the students concept checking questions about the meaning of that sentence.
In grammar lessons, form refers to the structure of the grammar (e.g. Past Perfect Continuous is "had + been + Ving"). In vocabulary lessons, form would include things like clarifying the spelling and the part of speech (e.g. noun, adjective, adverb).
Pronunciation is done by the teacher first modelling the pronunciation, and then drilling the students. In the CELTA method, it is important that students don't look at the written form of the target language when they are doing the drilling. This is because the spelling can sometimes be misleading, and during the drilling, we want students to be focused on the pronunciation of the word word, not the written form.
[In some methodologies, such as audiolingualism, it is considered very important that the students never see the written form of the word until after they have been drilled on the pronunciation. This is because sometimes the brain can latch on to the written form, and once the students see the spelling of the word, it can be very difficult to get them to ignore the spelling and concentrate on the sound of the word. So in these methodologies, you try to avoid showing the written form until after the drilling. It can be done if you do the model text as a listening text rather than a reading text. I am sympathetic to this approach, because I've often experienced difficulty getting students to ignore the written form of the word during the oral drilling. However, at the same time, it is sometimes inconvenient to do all the model text work orally. In the CELTA method, it is permissible for the students to see the written form of the word during the language presentation as long as it is removed during the oral drilling. So, if you've written the target language on the whiteboard, make sure to erase it before you start drilling. If you've given the students worksheets containing the target language, ask them to temporarily turn the worksheets over. Et cetera.]
There's much more to be said about clarifying meaning, form and pronunciation, but perhaps an in depth discussion on each is best handled with separate posts on each. (I may or may not do those in the future--we'll see.)
But just a couple quick general points before we finish off here.
Point 1: It's impossible to clarify every aspect of the target language in one lesson. You can't possible teach all the nuances of a word in one lesson. Nor can you do all the usages of the present perfect in a single lesson. In these cases, you just have to choose what aspects you want to teach, and make those the objectives of your lesson.
Point 2: In the CELTA method, you only need to clarify each aspect once.
When I was working in the teacher training department, I watched a trainee do a lesson in which she did a clarification activity for meaning using a matching activity, and then she went on to do another clarification activity for meaning using example sentences. The experienced teacher trainer leaned over and said to me, "Do you see what she's doing? She's already clarfied meaning, but now she's going back and doing it again. That's a mistake, but it's a mistake that new trainees often make. In fact, even more experienced teachers often make this mistake."
I immediately felt seen because I had just done a lesson in which there were multiple activities for the clarification of meaning.
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