What is EPI?
Extensive Processing Instruction, or EPI, was created by Gianfranco Conti. It focuses on the teaching of chunks of language rather than singular words and isolated grammar teaching, with a heavy emphasis on serving real life communication.
The components of EPI are: Chunking, comprehensible input, input flooding (teachers provide students with opportunities to hear and use the target linguistic patterns over and over again), controlled input (highly structured input at the early stages of learning target linguistic patterns), thorough processing, pushed output (output that forces students to use target chunks they have just practised through listening/reading), recycling, automaticity
Read in more detail: https://gianfrancoconti.com/2018/12/05/how-i-teach-lexicogrammar-part-2-the-8-tenets-of-extensive-processing-instruction-in-the-novice-to-intermediate-classroom/
EPI teaching is arranged around a sequence called MARS EARS
- Modelling – present language chunks in context. Use sentence builders to model language through listening and reading, interactive games, highly scaffolded speaking and writing.
- Awareness raising – sensitise learners to language patterns and rules. Encourage ‘noticing’ of grammar – this is easily achieved through a sentence builder that outlines clearly how to use grammar e.g. feminine / masculine adjectives.
- Receptive processing – Intensive input practice. Flood pupils with comprehensible input. Use highly structured activities that recycle key language structures over and over (e.g. narrow reading, sentence puzzles, dictations, gapfill, mosaic translation, mosaic writing, pyramid translation).
- Structured production – hightly controlled production practice. Narrow translation, scaffolded writing. Pupils must use key chunks (non-negotiable language).
- Expansion – Further develop understanding or grammar and patterns/constructions. Practice target chunks with old and new vocabulary (preparing pupils to be able to adapt language and transfer knowledge to new topics).
- Autonomy – More open-ended tasks/ low-stakes assessments.
- Routinisation – Recycle key chunks and language systematically throughout the academic year. Use of retrieval practice.
- Spontaneity – Use of communicative tasks – speaking/ writing in TL with a communicative outcome. Pupils must use TL to complete the task.
Read in more detail about this: https://catrinesol.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/how-i-use-an-extensive-processing-instruction-epi-approach-with-entry-3-esol-students-part-1/#:~:text=In brief%2C EPI focuses on,it as a Lexicogrammar approach.
Example activities for each stage:
1.1. Modelling Phonology:
a) Missing letter dictation
b) Missing syllable dictation
c) Correct the teacher (pupils correct teacher’s purposeful false pronunciation)
d) Bingo in target language
e) Listen and re-arrange - students have a list of words/chunks. Teacher reads the list in a different order and students must re-arrange the language accordingly.
f) Listen and identify the phoneme - can be done with gestures or by circling on a transcript
g) Minimal pairs - Display two words which are very similar. Read one out loud, students must work out which word you said.
1.2 Modelling Meaning:
a) Finish my sentence (teacher begins creating a sentence from sentence builder out loud. Pauses and pupils put hands up/write on mini whiteboard the next word) plus variation – finish my word. Increase challenging by varying length and speed.
b) Bingo with words in English– pupils cross off the word when they hear it – focus on meaning.
c) Word snakes – Pupils must re-write a sentence by putting the gaps in the correct place
d) Listening as modelling – use teacher talk to introduce new grammar or vocabulary e.g. by talking slowly and emphasised and using gestures and pictures to make meaning clear. Works better if the target language is repeated in several context and pupils are encouraged to participate. Pupils may then be asked to comment in English on what happened.
e) Dictation drawing – Pupils must draw a visual representation of the listening text.
f) Rock-climbing translation in English - Students must listen to the sentence utterance and translate it using the scaffold
3. Awareness Raising and Lexigogrammar:
a) Reflection/noticing activities using sentence builder - ask students to comment on difference in adjective endings/patterns/verbs etc.
b) Comparison activities/ spot the difference - comparing two different sentences and/or words. Can also take the form of narrow reading (three texts recycling very different language and key structures).
c) Speaking drills e.g. I say in present, you say in past
d) Grammar-focused dictations e.g. listen and complete with the correct verb ending
e) Sorting activities e.g. sort the adjectives into feminine/masculine
f) Listen and identify - listen and identify the person (1st person/2nd person etc.), listen and identify the tense
g) Annotating texts - identify parts of speech, verb conjugations etc.
4. Receptive Processing and Structured Production:
a) Delayed copying – start a sentence which then disappears. Pupils have to copy down what they’ve seen. Can also introduce wait time (a delay before they are allowed to write down the sentence).
b) Disappearing text – teacher shows sentences in which the letters progressively disappear. Pupils need to relay back the sentences either orally or in writing.
c) Paired listening gapfill – Partner 1 has a text with gaps, partner 2 has a list of potential words to fill the gap. Partner A reads outloud and pauses at the gap – Partner B supplys a potential word to fill it. Partner A rereads the sentence with the new word and then carries on.
d) Alternative paired listening gapfill – Partner 1 has a text with gaps, Partner 2 has the full text – Partner 2 reads to Partner 1 who fills in the gaps depending on what they hear. They should then swap roles.
e) Narrow reading – Create a text based on target language (ie. from sentence builder). Then adapt the text until you have at least 3, making a few changes but keeping the important structures intact. Create a sequence of activities surrounding the texts e.g. find in the text, which person, true/false, comprehension questions.
f) Re-order the text – Put a text into the correct order. Pupils may have been previously introduced to the text.
g) Sentence chaos – Pupils need to put the sentences into the correct order. Encourages awareness of sentence order and structure.
h) Positive/negative listening – Pupils must identify whether they heard a positive or negative statement/ opinion.
i) Trapdoor pair or whole class – Students are presented with different sentences which each sentence containing possibly options. Teacher or 1 partner picks one option randomly and the pupil reading must guess the correct option. If they guess correctly they carry on, if they guess incorrectly they must start again at the beginning of the text.
j) Guess my sentence – Have a table in 3 sections with options of possible sentence starters, middles and ends. The teacher (or partner) thinks of a sentence using the options. Pupils have to guess by constructing a sentence. Teacher tells them how many boxes they were correct with (in TL). Pupils keep guessing until they have the whole sentence. The role of teacher may then be passed on to the winning pupil.
k) Structured question/answer - Pupils are asked questions in the TL (e.g. ¿Qué tal?) and must respond by using a list of possible answers. This may be completed as a quick register task or starter.
l) Listening with actions – with or without transcript. Give pupils a certain action to perform when they hear/come across certain words or punctuation. For receptive processing focus on meaning (e.g. give them the word in English).
m) Odd one out – Can be completed as a listening or a reading. Pupils have to pick the sentence that is the odd one out. (e.g. one is in past tense)
n) Correct the sentences – Pupils must find the errors in a sentence (can focus on common misconceptions, key spelling rules, key grammar structure etc.)
5. Expansion and Autonomy:
a) 4,3,2 speaking – pupils are given a few minutes to prepare a talk on a specific topic without writing anything down (they may use books/vocabulary lists/sentence builders to prepare). They deliver the talk to one student in 4 minutes. They then must deliver the talk to another student in 3 minutes, then another one in 2 minutes. The time may be adjusted.
b) Information gaps/guessing games - Guess what your partner likes to do/ guess what your partner is going to do/ guess who etc. With as much use of TL as possible.
c) Speaking surveys – find someone who… / ask each person what they like to do etc.
d) Teacher talk (open-ended listening) – Teacher talks for about 3 minutes on a topic. Pupils must jot down what they understand. Feedback to you in L1 or with stronger classes L2. Could also do True/false task.
e) Get in order speaking – Students are given a question to ask each other e.g. “When is your birthday?” – they must then order themselves accordingly (line up in age order)
f) Structured writing tasks – writing with a structure strip/ ability to use sentence builders or vocabulary lists for support
g) Scaffolded conversation – Pupils use a sentence builder or written prompts to have a conversation.
h) Adapt the dialogue – Pupils are given a dialogue with gaps / underlined words that they must change. They use the dialogue to have a conversation in pairs – adding in their own information where necessary.
i) Adapt the model text – Present pupils with a model text or a parallel text and bold words/sentences that pupils must change. Pupils may use vocabulary lists to aid them.
j) Collaborative translation – e.g. pyramid translation
k) Mosaic translation – Pupils are given a grid with different parts of sentences (e.g. split into four collumns) in the TL. Pupils must use the ‘tiles’ to translate sentences from English.
l) Sentence detectives/ find in the text: Pupils are given a list of words or sentences that they have to find the translation of in the text.
m) Collaborative reading using TL: Pupils read and try and annotate a text together using TL such as ¿Qué significa…?
n) Reciprocal reading without teacher support – Pupils work on a text in groups with different roles (see resources on reciprical reading). May be encouraged to use dictionaries to support.
o) Upgrade a text – Give pupils a text that they must improve e.g. by adding in more opinions, higher level phrases etc.
p) Self and peer-assessment of writing tasks – give pupils specific criteria to look for
q) Tangled translations – Half a text is in English, half in Spanish (intertwined). Give pupils the option to either write the whole text completely in Spanish or completely in English.
6. Routinsation and Spontaneity:
a) Translation activities without scaffolds
b) As many words as you can – in pairs pupils must think of as many words as they can related to a specific topic. The first person who can’t think of a word loses.
c) Creative writing – Pupils write from someone else’s perspective
d) Timed writing/ speaking with visual cue – Make up 20 sentences about this picture in 2 minutes. Can also be competetive e.g. who can come up with the most sentences?
e) Imagination – Use a picture as a springboard for comments from pupils e.g. a place – where do we think it is? What is there? or a person – what do we think their name is? What do they like to do?
f) Free-writing/ open-ended questions
g) Open-ended speaking – pupils speak in pairs on a specific topic
h) Yes/no game: Pupils must answer the questions without saying yes or no