PPP lesson framework

26.02.2025

7 minutes

Tips & Strategies
Methodology

How do people learn things? First, we get to know something, then we try to use it with some attempts that can be unsuccessful at the beginning.

Further, after a number of failed and effective tries, we implement new knowledge into our lives.

That is the basic strategy of learning, and that is what PPP is about.

The abbreviation stands for Presentation, Practice, and Production.

It is a lesson framework and the way teachers arrange various activities.

Today, PPP is perhaps the most widely used for teaching English to non-native speakers.

You’ll face PPP a lot because most course books organize their chapters in ways that are similar to or identical to PPP.

Furthermore, it is a concept taught to new teachers in basic teacher training programs such as the CELTA or CertTESOL.

Advantages and disadvantages of the PPP language teaching approach

The PPP technique is not 100% guaranteed to succeed in all classrooms and with all students, just like all other language teaching methods and lesson frameworks.

When searching for information about PPP, you may find a number of pros and cons.

Several examples are provided below.

Advantages

The PPP approach is simple to use and helpful for beginning ESL teachers.
The method is extremely flexible and suitable for a wide range of situations.
It is simple to incorporate into a lesson plan and offers an easy-to-follow format for both students and teachers.
Teachers who have been educated in this way are more likely to employ new teaching techniques than those who have not.

Disadvantages

It encourages and emphasizes accuracy over fluency.
There is not enough student interaction during the presentation stage, which is highly teacher-focused.
Students, especially those with better language skills, may grow bored with it if it is used frequently.
It may not be the most efficient method for teaching or learning a language, according to research.

Our advice is to test it out in your environment, give it a shot, and then modify it to fit your particular circumstances.

Later in this article, you will find some handy recommendations on how to deal with its negative features.

Stages of the PPP lesson framework

Three major stages — Presentation, Practice, and Production — make up the PPP lesson.

However, don’t forget to include a Warm-up stage as well.

Warm-up

The purpose of the exercise is to get the students warmed up before class.

This typically involves brief, active exercises.

The warm-up should be relevant to the lesson’s subject matter.

The most crucial aspect of an active warm-up is that you continue to use dynamic activities during the presentation, practice, and production stages.

Presentation

Here, the learners are “presented” with the target language through the introduction of a situation or context.

For instance, you could:

Put on a short audio clip;
Demonstrate the items you brought in (e.g., postcards, toys, handmade materials, pictures);
Tell or perform a short story (e.g., “On my way to work, I met a very strange guy. He spoke an unknown language and wanted me to go with him to a book store. But then his friend came, and...”);
Play a scene from a film or TV episode.

It is important for students to comprehend the context and be encouraged to reflect on it.

You may ask students for ideas or suggestions, encourage peer discussion about what they know or think about the subject, etc.

Additionally, it motivates students to recall the words and phrases they already have learned about the topic (or, as professionals say, “activate the schemata”).

Things to consider:

✔️ Make sure your learners have direct exposure to the vocabulary and grammatical structures they need to learn.

✔️ Introduce only lexis and grammar that will be used in the lesson.

✔️ Avoid using too many words in your introductions. Limit the number of new terms in each lesson to no more than 20.

✔️ Reduce teacher talking time and boost learner-centered teaching by involving students in the presentation of vocabulary or grammar.

Practice

During this stage, students are engaged in the controlled use of the target language. Sometimes it is divided into two sub stages—a controlled practice and a freer one.

You could, among other things, encourage students to:

Practice match-the-sentence exercises.
Work in pairs to ask and respond to questions.
Practice words, sentences, and sounds in a group or on their own.
Complete the exercises to fill in the gaps.
Drill for substitution in pairs.

Accuracy is the main objective at this point.

During this stage, it’s crucial to correct mistakes, so keep an eye on the students and take the time to fix errors right away.

For errors that appear to be frequent in the target language, a delayed error correction section (DEC) following the activity would be helpful.

Production

The target language is used more freely during the “production.”

Here, the following activities would be beneficial:

Conversational exercises
Tasks that require collaboration
Communication activities
Role-plays

The aim of this stage is for students to use the target language as naturally and fluently as they would outside of the classroom.

How to adapt the PPP framework to your lesson plan

Here are a few methods to modify the traditional PPP structure:

Give the presentation stage more time to elicit.
Transform the deductive concept of explicit grammar teaching into an inductive one (learners must identify the patterns for themselves).
During the practice stage, include cooperative activities that require learners to successfully use the target language.
Incorporate metalearning techniques so that students can learn how to learn.
More incidental language should be used in class so that students can hear language in a more natural setting.
Turn the last phase into a task, like you would in task-based learning.

Things to check before you implement PPP into a lesson

When creating a PPP lesson, consider whether you took these bullet points into account:

The PPP lesson plan’s activities are related to one another.
The lessons’ appropriate stage corresponds to the activities. For example, a “complete the sentences” exercise is provided at the practice stage.
Instead of using unreasonable and unachievable expectations, the lesson plan is grounded in reality.
The evaluation strategy includes only the necessary measurements.
The learner is engaged by the activities.

What do you know about the PPP framework?

Now you can check what you have learned about the PPP teaching approach.

It’s the “practice” stage for you as a teacher.

Afterwards, you will be ready for the “production” in the real classroom. So, let’s start!

You should analyze these comments and categorize them according to the PPP framework.

Presentation (A), Practice (B), and Production (C) are the categories to be decided.

The activities in this stage are controlled by the teacher.

Students receive feedback from the teacher.

Multiple-choice exercises and drills are included in the activities.

Written and oral materials are produced by students.

A situation is presented by the teacher using visual aids.

Grammar concepts are explained by the teacher.

Student oral presentations are among the activities.

At this stage, the teacher may not always step in.

The target language is presented in context.

Activities during this stage can be either productive or receptive.

Questions 5, 6, and 9 have the answer A (Presentation).

During this stage, the target language is presented by setting the context or using visual materials, and grammar rules are explained by a teacher.

Questions 1, 2, 3, and 10 have the answer B (Practice).

During this stage, students practice the target language with the help of drills and oral and written activities that can be both productive and receptive. The practice is controlled by a teacher, and feedback is given.

Questions 2, 4, 7, 8, and 10 have to be answered with C (Production).

At this stage, written and oral tasks are completed by students without the teacher’s help. However, feedback must be received at the conclusion of activities.

That’s it! We are happy to announce that you have mastered the new teaching approach!

Whether you will use it in your classroom or not, at the end of the day, the PPP lesson framework is the basic ESL learning technique, and knowing its principles is crucial for any teacher’s development.

And if you are craving more, come to Grade University!

Study with your colleagues, find out about modern teaching methods, improve your skills, and implement new applications into your lessons.

We can’t wait to meet you!