3. Students seemed to retain material better when they have used it for communication of some kind.
Cummings' use of questions and answers made sense in all these respects. It thus became the historical source of what was called the 'microwave' format for writing language lessons. This unfortunate label was selected as part of an elaborate electronic metaphor; its meaning was that the length of one ‘cycle’ (defined as the length of time from first introduction of a new item until its use in communication) was extremely short.
The microwave format itself, in what we may a little wryly call its 'classical form,' contained a basic utterance (usually but not always a question) and from four to eight potential answers or other appropriate rejoinders. If the basic utterance and the rejoinders are well chosen, they can lead to almost immediate real or realistic (Chapter 2, p. 28-29) conversation in class, and are also likely to find use in real life outside of class. At the same time, new structures and new vocabulary can be kept to a minimum.
A microwave 'cycle' was divided into an M-phase and a C-phase. M stood for mimicry, manipulation, mechanics and memorization, and C for communication, conversation, and continuity. Within the M-phase, the first section usually introduced the answers or rejoinders, often in the form of a substitution drill with a separate column for cue words. The second section contained the question(s) or other basic utterance(s). The C-phase combined the elements of the M-phase with each other and, ideally, with material from
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