Guided Discovery

Guided Discovery Learning

In second language teaching and learning, a popular teaching method is guided discovery, aka the inductive approach. Let's look at a basic definition of guided discovery:

As students discover new language for themselves in a way that is personalized and unique to their own learning style, they have a much higher chance of remembering the information — we call this knowledge retention. Learning a new language in this way can also help students, especially adult students, connect new language and knowledge with preexisting knowledge, thus building upon their schemas.

The guided discovery method can be used in several ways in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, such as:

• Teaching new vocabulary

• Teaching new grammar

• Making predictions when reading

• Making predictions on the topic of a lesson

• Summarizing a lesson

Fig 1. Guided discovery can make lessons more engaging.

Guided Discovery Method

According to the American psychologist and constructivist Jerome Bruner, there are five main principles behind the guided discovery method. These are:

• Problem-solving - teachers should encourage students to find answers and solutions for themselves.

• Learner management - teachers should give students the opportunity to learn at their own pace in their own style.

• Connection - students should be encouraged to make connections between old and new knowledge.

• Information analysis - students should analyze and interpret new knowledge as it arises rather than remembering facts.

• Failure and feedback - students should feel free to learn by making mistakes. The teacher provides appropriate feedback to complete the learning process.

Now we know the principles behind guided discovery, let's look at some teaching styles and techniques.

Guided Discovery Teaching Style

If students are supposed to discover new things for themselves in guided discovery, does that mean teachers can sit back and relax? The answer is, of course not! Guided discovery requires a specific teaching style. Although the goal of guided discovery is to remove the teacher as the main "explainer," teachers must scaffold lessons carefully, providing the correct amount of guidance, feedback, error correction, and motivation.

When planning a guided discovery lesson, the teacher must consider the following:

• Resources: The inductive approach typically requires a lot of examples, images, videos, etc.

• The appropriateness of the resources: The language should not be too difficult for their level.

• What leading and concept-checking questions they will ask

• A backup plan: Are they ready to switch back to more-traditional methods if the students are struggling?

When teaching a guided discovery lesson, the teacher should:

• Provide guidance

• Avoid talking too much

• Error correct

• Ask leading questions

• Elicit answers and ideas from students

• Confirm when students are correct

• Keep students focused

• Raise awareness

Inductive vs. Deductive Teaching

One of the best ways to understand the role of the teacher in a guided discovery lesson is by comparing it to the teacher's role in a more traditional class, i.e., one using the deductive approach.

The deductive approach typically involves the teacher providing the students with the rule for particular language use, e.g., the general rule for using the past perfect tense. The students then apply this rule to help them work through worksheets, activities, etc.

On the other hand, the inductive approach involves the students being given a piece of language and then being guided to discover the rule themselves.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Guided Discovery

Now we know the basics of the guided discovery method, let's look at some of its advantages and disadvantages.

Benefits of Guided Discovery

The guided discovery method has several benefits, such as:

• Encourages critical thinking and active learning

• Encourages communication and gets students talking

• Likely to lead to higher levels of knowledge retention

• Knowledge is learned in a way that is meaningful to each individual student

• Is learning by "doing"

• Can be more engaging and fun

• Encourages a scientific way of learning

• Moves away from rote learning and memorization

Disadvantages of Guided Discovery

Despite its many benefits, there are some disadvantages to guided discovery, including:

• Lessons losing focus

• Preparing the correct resources can take longer

• Requiring specific eliciting skills from the teacher

• The teacher reverting back to more traditional teaching styles without realizing

• The method isn't always appropriate

Fig 2. Guided discovery promotes communication among students.

Guided Discovery Examples

Before we look at some examples of the guided discovery method in action, let's look at an overview of everything a guided discovery lesson should be:

• Student-centered
• Communicative
• Monitored
• Task-based
• Guided
• Consolidated (i.e., plenty of feedback given)

Let's now look at some ESL activities that follow the guided discovery method. We'll begin by looking at an activity that introduces new vocabulary and then one that introduces grammar.