Audio File for PACE Model Infographic

The PACE model is an effective way to teach grammar and context in second language learning. It was created as a story-based approach to learning and involves four steps: presentation, attention, co-construction, and extension. In the presentation step, the grammatical structure is showcased in a real-life scenario. In the attention step, students focus on the form of the grammar. In the co-construction step, students discuss and construct the grammatical explanation together. In the extension step, students use the new grammar concept in communicative ways. The PACE model encourages active learning and learner participation at each step. We are going to go over the four parts to the PACE model, a popular way to teach grammar and context in second language learning. Let's first take a look at the PACE model and the research behind it. The PACE model was created by Donato and Eberhauck in 1992 as a contextualized and story-based approach to L2 learning. Since language learners are very involved in their own learning, as in the L2 classroom, learners are provided with a multitude of opportunities for exchange of information, to negotiate meanings, and to work on skill building through communication. Donato and Eberhauck thought this process should apply to all aspects of language learning, even grammar. Thus, the creation of a contextualized, story-based approach to learning grammatical context. The PACE model is a very effective way to guide learners' focus from grammatical meaning to form. Through this instructor-led progression, learners co-construct the grammatical structures after contextualized examples, focusing on comprehension of meaning. There are four distinct steps to the PACE model, although each step can consist of a series of different activities and tasks. The first step is presentation. In this stage, the grammatical structure or feature is presented in a contextualized and real-life scenario. This is where the impact of storytelling shines. The grammatical feature should be clearly showcased in this text, either a story, narration, dialogue, etc., and the level should be appropriate for the learners. A good rule of thumb is to follow the question, I plus one, or current level plus a little bit more, idea. The presentation should be engaging and ideally interactive. The goal is to focus on understanding of meaning, so the activities that you create should be focused on comprehension, not form. The next step is attention. In this phase, teachers can begin to draw attention and focus to the grammatical form through asking students to find grammatical patterns, repetitions, or by drawing attention to the form. The realization of this step can vary greatly depending on your students and their needs. Whatever way you decide to approach the activities for this step, the goal is that you can move learners from focus on meaning to focus on a highlighted grammatical form. The third step is co-construction. Once students are able to recognize the highlighted grammatical pattern or structure, you can move on to co-construction, where we focus on the grammatical explanation. This explanation, however, should not be given by the teacher. Rather, guide students through discussion to a co-construction of grammatical explanation. This discussion should be a dialogue with questions being asked from both learners and teachers. By asking students to engage in the construction of the explanation together, you encourage their higher level and critical thinking skills. The final step to this model is extension. Now that students have connected meaning to form and been able to identify and construct the grammatical rules, the last step provides a scaffolded opportunity for learners to use the new grammatical concept communicatively. Learners should be encouraged to make personal and creative connections in their communication, allowing for self-expression and meaningful exchange. This draws connections and creates opportunities to use previous knowledge in the application of the new concept. The PACE model encourages active learning and focused engagement in the learning process and requires learner participation in each step. It's a wonderful method to use when introducing new topics in a contextualized scenario to encourage communicative learning.