Language Teaching Method

Processing Instruction
 Causative
Construction
 Causative Construction
Causative construction is used to talk about actions
which we do not do personally.
One can cause somebody to do something for him/
her by asking, paying, requesting, or forcing the
person.
Causative verbs are
verbs that show the
reason that something
happened.

The most common

causative verbs:
Let, Make, Have, Get
 Common error and Example
Claire had the decorator paint her house.
The agent of the action “painted” should be assigned to
“the decorator”, NOT to “Claire”.

Who painted the house?

 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
No. 1

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
No. 2

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
No. 3
1. 2.
Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
No. 4

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
1. No. 5 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
1. No. 6 2.
Check the answers
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
1. The teacher had John clean the board.

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
2. John brought the girl some flowers.

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
3. The mother made Tom buy some bread.
1. 2.
Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
4. Jean asked Jack for a lift.

1. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
1. 5. The girl made the boy pay the bill. 2.
 Activity 1. Listen and choose the correct picture.
1. 6. She bought me a book. 2.
Activity 2. Listen to the sentences about what
teachers ask students to do.
Say “Yes” if you think the actions asked by the teachers are common.
Say “No” if you think what the teachers ask is not common.
1. Teachers get their students to do homework.
1. Yes
2. Teachers have their students kill animals. 2. No
3. Teachers make their students study hard. 3. Yes
4. Teachers let their students decorate the classroom. 4. Yes
5. Teachers have their students play a video game in 5. No
the class.

1.
 Processing Instruction
 Processing Instruction, proposed by VanPatten (1996), aims at altering the processing strategies that
hinder learners’ accurate processing of L2 input.
 VanPatten rejected the view that learning will always occur “naturally” and automatically if learners
are exposed to comprehensible input and stated that the acquisition of grammatical form originates
in input.
Þ Therefore, what was needed was an approach that focuses learners’ attention on the meaning
realized by specific grammatical forms.
Þ Processing Instruction can help learners overcome the natural ways of processing input by directing
their conscious attention to the grammatical forms that they typically overlook.
One of the key components in PI is structured input, where the input is manipulated to help learners to
abandon their less-than-optimal strategies and to construct form-meaning connections.