Grammar Teaching Strategy: Consciousness Raising

The question describes a specific approach to teaching grammar. Let's break down the key components of this strategy:

• Introducing language items in contexts: This means a new grammar point (like a tense, a preposition, or a sentence structure) isn't presented in isolation. Instead, it's first shown within a meaningful situation or text (e.g., a dialogue, a story, an article).
• Making learners notice the language items: After introducing the item in context, the focus shifts to making students actively observe and pay attention to the specific grammatical feature being taught. This involves highlighting it within the context.
• Enabling them to use in real life contexts: The goal is for learners to move beyond just understanding the item. They should be able to use it appropriately in communication situations similar to real life.
• Drawing the attention of learner to the form by discovering it: This is a crucial part. Instead of explicitly telling learners the rule, this method encourages them to figure out the rule or pattern themselves, guided by the examples and their observations.

Understanding Consciousness Raising

This entire process aligns perfectly with the concept of Consciousness Raising (often abbreviated as CR) in language teaching. CR is a teaching approach that aims to increase learners' awareness of specific grammatical structures or linguistic features.

Key characteristics of Consciousness Raising:

• It moves away from simply presenting rules explicitly.
• It emphasizes learner noticing and active engagement.
• It uses authentic or contextualized examples.
• It encourages learners to discover linguistic patterns and implicitly or explicitly understand the rules through guided discovery.
• The focus is on making the implicit knowledge of language explicit and accessible to the learner.

Why Consciousness Raising Fits

The strategy described directly reflects the steps involved in a Consciousness Raising activity:

• Contextual introduction sets the stage.
• Active noticing directs attention to the target form.
• Application in real-life contexts ensures communicative competence.
• Discovery-based learning fosters deeper understanding and autonomy.

Evaluating Other Options

• Creating a Schema: While understanding context helps build a schema (a mental framework), this term doesn't fully encompass the entire process described, especially the discovery and focused attention aspects.
• Deductive method: This is the opposite approach. The deductive method starts with explicit rule presentation, followed by examples. The described strategy starts with context and examples, leading to rule discovery.
• Discovery methods: This is a broader category. Consciousness Raising is a *type* of discovery method, but it's specifically focused on linguistic forms and raising awareness, making "Consciousness Raising" the more precise answer for the described process.

Therefore, the strategy described is best known as Consciousness Raising.