Returning to the Select Button on the navigation pages, it presents all available types of content presentation (Discovery, Explanation, Exercises), called 'approaches' in the CING. The user can click the presentation type of his choice on the button and proceed to the respective content page. So what do these types of content presentation mean? The introduction page (see Figure 5), gives each user a short explanation of only two of the terms. Exercises is unambiguous enough and does not need explanation, Discovery means users can “discover” the rules on their own via examples and hints, Explanation means rules and matching examples are presented in detail. As these pages present two types of material presentation, this is also called the Dual Approach.
Discovering a grammar rule with the help of a set of language examples means, deducing the rule from language itself. I will call it 'discovery learning' and an inductive approach to material presentation. For a learner who already has some knowledge about the grammar topic the inductive approach provides crucial data (language examples) for the testing of existing rule hypotheses with the help of hints (see Figure 7), for the “forming [of] generalizations” (Rutherford, 1987) of the grammar rule in question. In discovery learning “the use of authentic material is the decisive methodological instrument” (McEnery & Wilson, 1997, p. 6) to help learners to deduce general grammatical rules from authentic language data – and this simultaneously represents the process that defines inductive learning (see Schmied, 1999b; Johns, 1993). Inductive more than this as the following discussion of a CING Discovery page will show. The screenshot (Figure 7) is of an inductive material presentation on the present perfect. At the top a brief introduction sentence (or hint) instructs the user what to look for (area of use) in the following set of seven authentic language examples. Then the page offers an exercise to confirm the hypothesis made of basis of reading the language examples according to the instruction. This combination of language examples, instruction and confirmation exercise can help learners to discover the areas of use for the present perfect, how the present perfect is used by native speakers and give an update of the learner knowledge of the present perfect, if the exercise was completed but revealed a gap between the learners' knowledge and the actual rule (e.g., that there are more areas of use for the present perfect than he previously knew). More authentic language examples follow, accompanied by hints, on the bottom of this page and provide even more material for discovery learning. Discovery learning is a process that takes place via deduction of grammar
rules based on other information than rules and is also called process grammar learning (Schmied, 1999a, p. 223).
Figure 7: CING Discovery page (Present Perfect I)
Alternatively, the user can opt for the Explanation page where descriptions of rules and matching example sets are given. This type of presentation I will call 'explicit learning' and a deductive approach to material presentation. With this type of grammar material the learner can read the rule description and then relate the rule to the provided examples sentences. The user can even opt for an exercise on the Explanation page following his work with rules and examples. In a traditional classroom a similar process takes place, where “the instructor explains a grammatical rule first and then directs the class in contextualized exercises which practice the application of the rule” (Schmied, 1999b). In this way, learners progress in their knowledge from the general (rule) to the particular (examples) (c.f., ibid.) which is also called 'product grammar learning' as the rule is presented to them as a product of knowledge they assimilate. Based on this product of knowledge, the later learning or language production takes place. A less product and more process learning takes place in the inductive approach. There the progression takes place from the specific (language examples) to the
general (the learner's rule generalizations) and is also called 'process grammar learning' (Schmied, 1999, p. 213).
When we take research on both approaches into account, we find that there can be issues with either one. Deductive presentations of grammar are by some considered to be the least successful (see Heron & Tomasello, 1992; Shaffer, 1989) and the inductive approach may leave adult learners unsatisfied due to the lack of explanations of grammar rules (Ellis, 1994). A combination of an inductive approach which is turned explicit might help to overcome this dissatisfaction. In an explicit inductive approach learners first engage in 'discovery learning' and form rule generalizations from the authentic language material. Then they are given the opportunity to verbalize and discuss their own grammar explanation. Feedback from an instructor on the grammar explanation and its discussion make the rule more explicit to learners and provide the needed explanation.
Figure 8: CING Explanation page (Present Perfect 1)
The third type of material the CING offers are Exercise pages. They contain numerous gap-fill and multiple-choice exercises with authentic language examples supported by a feedback function. This feedback function also exists for all exercises on the Explanation and Discovery pages (see Figure 7) in form of a Check-button. The types of exercises on the
Explanation and Exercise pages are of the same type, gap-fill or multiple-choice with authentic language examples, a Check-button and a display feedback results in the right frame of the screen (see Figure 9).
Figure 9: CING Exercise page with Check-button and feedback result