ARC

ARC stands for Authentic use, Restricted use and Clarification and focus.

The ARC model can be used to describe the staging of different activities in any lesson and can be useful for planning lessons.  The three stages can be in any order in the lesson - ARC, CRA, or RAC for example.

Examples of ARC lesson stages

Authentic use refers to a lesson stage focusing on meaning, fluency and engagement. An example would be a discussion task which includes target language.

The Restricted use stage focuses more on form and accuracy. An example activity would be doing a grammar or vocabulary gap-fill exercise. 

Clarification and focus refers to the lesson stage where a teacher would provide clarification or explanation of a language item and its use, form and meaning. This could be through presentation, guided discovery or elictation

An ARC lesson sequence

A teacher might start the lesson with a warm-up discussion including some of the target language (Authentic use).  They then move on to a focus on the form of the target language by eliciting rules about the target language and writing these on the board (Clarification). Next, they might give learners a controlled practice gap-fill exercise (Restricted use). Finally, they might give learners a productive task (a speaking or writing task) where they include the target language (Authentic use).

Further links:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/speaking-elementary-learners