The PDP method

 The PDP (Pre, During, Post) method

It is a pedagogical strategy used primarily to improve listening and reading comprehension in language learning.

Each stage has a clear purpose to guide students through the comprehension process, from activating prior knowledge to subsequent reflection and production.

1. Warm-up (Activate prior knowledge)

The goal here is to prepare students and activate their prior knowledge related to the topic. This makes comprehension easier because students can connect what they already know with the new information they are going to receive.

Activities: This can include quick discussions, open-ended questions about the topic, or having students share what they know. The focus is on familiarizing themselves with the context before delving deeper into the topic.

2. Pre (Prepare students)

This phase focuses on anticipating the content. The teacher presents visual, auditory, or textual materials that allow students to reflect on the topic, formulate hypotheses, and learn key vocabulary that will facilitate later listening or reading comprehension.

Activities: Presentation of images, sounds, or videos related to the topic.

• Predictive questions or guides about what they think will happen in the text or audio.
• Teaching vocabulary that will be important for understanding the text or recording.

Students develop skills to anticipate content and cognitively prepare for comprehension work, which facilitates their active participation during reading or listening.

3. During (The heart of the method)

This is the most crucial stage, where students are directly confronted with the text or audio. The focus is on understanding the content, guiding listening or reading with specific questions or tasks that help students focus on what is most important.

Activities: Listening to the audio or reading the text with a specific task, such as answering comprehension questions or completing an outline.

• Pause during listening or reading to discuss what they have understood up to that point.
• Apply comprehension strategies, such as note-taking, identifying main ideas, deducing the meaning of words from context.

Students learn to develop comprehension strategies, such as active listening or reading, extracting relevant information, and solving comprehension problems in real time.

4. Post (Reflection and production)

Although this phase is not mandatory, it is an opportunity for students to reflect on what they have learned and apply it in additional activities. This can reinforce both comprehension and production, integrating new words and concepts.

Activities: Discussions about the text or audio: what will surprise them? What do they think about what they heard or read?

• Creative activities such as summaries, debates, role-plays, or writing a personal response.
• Apply what they have learned in new contexts, such as writing a story using the vocabulary or performing a dramatization.

This phase allows students to consolidate their learning and actively use what they have understood, promoting both critical thinking and creative expression.

Benefits of the PDP method for listening and reading comprehension:

• Clear structure: The PDP method provides a clear and logical structure that helps students navigate complex texts or audio in manageable stages.
• Skill development: Helps develop key skills such as prediction, selective attention, identifying main ideas, and inferring meaning.
• Increased confidence: By breaking comprehension into phases, students feel more confident as they move forward, knowing that they are not alone in the process.
• Active learning: It actively involves students in the learning process, which improves both retention and practical application of what they have learned.

In summary, the lessons of the PDP method, applied to listening and reading comprehension, focus on preparing, guiding and consolidating the comprehension process, with a focus on the gradual and strategic development of skills, which facilitates improvement in both comprehension and language production.