Guided Discovery Method

Guided Discovery Method is an inductive teaching method that encourages learners to explore the meaning and form with subtle guidance from an instructor. Instead of directly providing answers, the teacher facilitates learning by asking thought-provoking questions, providing hints, and structuring activities that lead to meaningful discoveries.

Benefits of Guided Discovery

• Active Engagement: Students take an active role in the learning process.
• Teacher as Facilitator: The teacher provides direction and scaffolding without explicitly giving answers.
• Focus on Critical Thinking: Students analyze, synthesize, and infer to build understanding.
• Contextual Learning: Learning occurs in a meaningful and relevant context, often using examples, texts, or situations to explore.

A SAMPLE

Stage 1-Input

REMEMBER: This is a text. You need the students to show some general understanding of it. Make a gist task for it:

Dave and Susan are old friends. They haven’t seen each other for a long time. Read their conversation. Was Dave right to lie?

Stage 2: Draw out the important language from the text – i.e. the language focus. In this case, the present perfect continuous. Make some concept checking questions around it. You can maybe add tasks like a ‘timeline matching’ activity, especially is the grammar point has a few different meanings:

Stage 3: Construct the form:

How do we form the Present Perfect Continuous?                                   

                                                                                                                        Choose one

I/you/he/she                        __________              been                                   past simple (V2

                                                                                                                        V + ing

                                                                                                                        past participle (V3)

Question form:

         What/How long/Why +   _____________   +        Subject       +       been      _______________

Stage 4: Give students a controlled practice task (e.g. sentence formation)

Stage 5: Give students freer practice of the language focus. Think of a relevant context (for the present perfect continuous, I used a high school reunion).

You will be meeting your old school friends! What have you been doing….? Be creative!

Think about: work, hobbies, love….

Now, find out about the other students. Who has had an interesting life since high school?