This informal CPD article ‘From Exposure to Independence: A Practical Framework for Supporting EAL Learners’ was provided by Jane Maria Harding da Rosa, EAL Specialist and Teacher Educator at Enriching English Language Teaching, who offer online CPD designed for teachers working with EAL and multilingual learners.
How the Meet, Manipulate, Make it your own framework helps learners move beyond encountering language to using it independently
It is sometimes assumed that if learners are exposed to a certain amount of language, particularly language just above their current level, they will gradually acquire it. Exposure forms an important part of language learning, but a balanced programme also includes language-focused learning, meaning-focused output and fluency development (1).
Seeing or hearing language receptively does not necessarily mean that it can be used productively. As adults, a reader may understand the overall meaning of an article outside their field of expertise, yet remain unable to explain its ideas using the same specialist terminology. Recognition is not the same as confident, independent use.
Meeting new vocabulary or language, therefore, does not mean that it has been learned. It means that the learner has taken an important first step in the language-learning process. EAL learners (adults and children alike) also need structured opportunities to notice, explore, rehearse and use new language.
The MMM framework organises these opportunities into three broad stages: Meet, Manipulate and Make it your own. It provides a practical planning framework informed by established principles of second-language learning, through which learners can move from their first encounter with language towards using it to communicate their own meanings.
The terminology used in the MMM framework draws on a sequence described in academic study(2). Here, the sequence is applied more broadly to the planning of language learning, EAL provision and professional learning.
Meet: encountering language meaningfully
Initially, learners need to encounter new language within a meaningful and comprehensible context. A list of vocabulary is rarely sufficient, even when all the words belong to the same lexical group. Learners need to understand not only what words mean, but also how they behave and how they are used within a particular subject or situation.
Texts and teacher explanations may need to be adapted or supported to make the content accessible without reducing its intellectual challenge. Prior knowledge should also be activated so that learners can connect new language and ideas with what they already know.
Learners need opportunities to hear how the language sounds, not just as individual words but also in phrases and connected speech. They need to see how it appears in writing and to connect meaning, form and pronunciation with its use.
In this framework, the Meet stage should be an interaction: a two-way exchange in which learners are encouraged to notice, predict, respond and make connections. It is much more than a presentation of new language by the teacher.
Manipulate: working with language
After meeting new language, learners need opportunities to work with it and explore it further. In some language-learning contexts, this stage may be limited to gap-fill exercises or controlled practice tasks. Although these can be useful, they may be completed without much thought about meaning or use. Consequently, learners may answer grammar questions correctly, yet remain unable to use the same language to communicate effectively.
The Manipulate stage encourages learners to notice how language works by sorting, matching, comparing, substituting and reconstructing it within meaningful contexts. Through experimentation and hypothesis testing, learners investigate the choices available to them: what the language can and cannot do, how changing one element affects meaning and when particular forms are appropriate.
The activities naturally require support and scaffolding, but they should also leave room for experimentation, mistakes and errors. Errors do not necessarily indicate that the learning process has failed. They can provide information about what learners currently understand, where uncertainty remains, and what further support or opportunities for manipulation may be needed.
EAL learners
Make it your own: using language independently
The final stage gives learners opportunities to move beyond practising language selected by the teacher and begin using it to communicate meanings of their own. This is where learners can develop a greater sense of ownership: the language becomes a resource for expressing their ideas, knowledge, experiences and opinions rather than simply the correct answer in an exercise.
Tasks with a genuine communicative purpose allow learners to decide what they want to communicate and which language will help them do so. There may still be an intended outcome, but there should not be one predetermined response that every learner is expected to produce. By applying new language in a different context, learners begin to transfer it beyond the model or example through which they first encountered it.
Typical Make it your own activities might involve explaining an idea, describing an experience, making a recommendation, comparing possibilities, solving a problem, creating something or giving a personal response. Learners should also be able to draw on language they already know alongside the language they have recently encountered. Effective communication rarely depends on using one grammatical structure in isolation.
Models, visuals, word banks and sentence starters can provide temporary support while learners develop greater control over a task. Such scaffolding can be adjusted and gradually withdrawn as learners become more independent (3), giving learners increasing choice over what they communicate, how they communicate it and which resources they use.
Structured talk and speaking frames can give EAL learners opportunities to hear, rehearse and explore language before using it in writing (4). Activities involving purposeful classroom talk can provide opportunities for learners to formulate ideas, interact with others and receive support through modelling and scaffolding (5).
Learner output provides the teacher with valuable evidence of what learners can use independently and what may still require support or further exploration. The effectiveness of communication may be considered alongside grammatical accuracy.
The final stage does not need to be a large project. A brief personalised response can provide meaningful output when it requires genuine choice and purposeful use of language. Nor is the overall process necessarily linear. What learners produce during Make it your own may reveal a need to return to Meet or Manipulate in a subsequent lesson. In this way, the framework supports an ongoing cycle of encountering, exploring and using language with increasing confidence and independence.
The three stages should not be interpreted as a replacement for other aspects of language learning. Learners also require repeated input, explicit attention to language and opportunities to develop fluency (1).
A subject-based example can illustrate how the three stages work together. Learners studying cause and consequence in history might Meet expressions such as led to, resulted in and as a consequence within a model explanation. They could then Manipulate the language by matching causes with consequences, comparing the strength of different expressions and reconstructing explanations. Finally, they could Make it their own by using the language to explain a different historical event or justify which cause they consider most significant.
Applying MMM in professional learning
The same progression can also be used to design professional learning that moves teachers from encountering a new idea to applying it meaningfully within their own classrooms.
Professional development is more likely to influence classroom practice when it does more than communicate information. Effective provision also helps teachers develop techniques and supports the embedding of those techniques in practice (6).
Teachers Meet new ideas in many different ways: through staffroom conversations, INSET days, conferences, presentations, professional reading and social media. They may encounter a teaching strategy, a classroom approach, an activity, a sequence of tasks, a new resource or technology designed to support learning.
However, simply hearing about a strategy does not mean that teachers understand how to apply it in practice, or that they will use it. It is unlikely that an approach will transfer unchanged to every context. Before implementation can take place teachers need opportunities to Manipulate the idea.
This might involve discussing it, analysing examples, comparing approaches or adapting materials. Teachers could identify where a strategy appears within a lesson, consider its benefits and limitations, or evaluate how it might work with different learners. They need opportunities to test assumptions, raise concerns and connect new ideas with their existing knowledge and experience. A further consideration is that they need the freedom to adapt the idea to suit their learners and teaching contexts.
This represents one component of effective professional development. Without sufficient time for active exploration and adaptation, (Manipulate) professional development may move too quickly from introducing an idea to expecting classroom implementation (6)
During Make it your own, teachers begin to apply the learning within their own contexts. They might adapt a resource, plan an activity, set an implementation goal or try a strategy in class. Meaningful implementation should take account of teachers’ subjects, age groups, learners and teaching environments rather than expecting every participant to apply an idea in exactly the same way.
Professional development should be treated as a sustained process rather than an isolated event. Opportunities to implement, evaluate and refine an approach can therefore form part of the learning process (6, 7). Their experiences may reveal a need to return to Meet or Manipulate, reinforcing the idea the MMM is not necessarily linear.
Using the MMM framework helps move professional development beyond the passive receipt of information towards purposeful classroom implementation. Implementation and subsequent reflection allow professional learning to be examined within classroom practice.
A practical planning takeaway
The MMM framework can be used as a simple planning tool for both classroom teaching and professional learning. It does not require teachers or trainers to redesign everything they do. Instead, it encourages them to consider whether learners have sufficient opportunities to move from encountering an idea to exploring and applying it.
- How will learners Meet the language in a meaningful and comprehensible context?
- How will they Manipulate it so that they can notice patterns, explore choices and understand how it works?
- How will they Make it their own by using it to communicate their own ideas and meanings?
The same questions can be adapted when planning professional learning:
- How will teachers Meet the new idea and understand its purpose?
- How will they Manipulate it by discussing, questioning and adapting it for their learners and contexts?
- How will they Make it their own by implementing it in practice and reflecting on its impact?
When MMM is used to structure professional learning, teachers are introduced to new ideas and practical strategies during the Meet stage. During Manipulate, prompts, examples and discussion enable participants to consider how those ideas might be adapted. During Make it your own, teachers plan how they will apply the learning within their classrooms and how they will reflect on its implementation.
This reflective stage is important because implementation is not the end of the process. It provides new information about what works, for whom and under which conditions. That information can lead teachers back to further exploration, adaptation or learning.
MMM therefore offers more than a sequence of activities. It provides a practical way of planning for progression: from exposure to understanding, and from supported exploration to purposeful, increasingly independent use.
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REFERENCES
(1) Nation, I. S. P. (2007) ‘The Four Strands’, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1),
pp. 2–13.
(2) Brewster, J., Ellis, G. and Girard, D. (2002) The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Harlow: Pearson Education.
(3) The Bell Foundation (no date) ‘Scaffolding’.
https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/resources/great-ideas/scaffolding/
(4) The Bell Foundation (no date) ‘Speaking and Writing Frames’.
https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/resources/great-ideas/speaking-and-writing-frames/
(5) Education Endowment Foundation (no date) ‘Oral Language Interventions’. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/oral-language-interventions
(6) Education Endowment Foundation (2021) Effective Professional Development: Guidance Report.
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/effective-professional-development
(7) Department for Education (2016) Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development: Implementation Guidance for School Leaders, Teachers and Organisations that Offer Professional Development for Teachers.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a750b16ed915d5c54465143/160712_-
_PD_Expert_Group_Guidance.pdf
