The ECRIF framework does not suggest a 'right' way to teach or any specific methodology. Rather, it has to do with adopting a more learning-centered way of thinking about the lessons that we already teach. In this way, we can understand the lessons from a learner's perspective and make adjustments to the lesson to serve their learning. Look at the following example taken from a teacher who taught a vocabulary lesson on sports to elementary level students.
Teaching-Centered Thinking Teachers often think of their lessons in the following way: "I presented the vocabulary words related to sports to the class by showing pictures, saying the sport and writing it on the board."
Notice how in the above example the focus is on what the teacher is doing in the lesson, not on the how the students are learning.
Learning-Centered Thinking The ECRIF framework asks the teacher shift their thinking so that they can adopt the perspective of the student who is doing the actual learning. For example: "The students encountered some unknown vocabulary words as they saw pictures of sports (i.e. they realized that they didn't know the word for that sport). They then clarified the vocabulary word for that sport by first hearing other students say the sport, hearing the teacher say it (pronunciation), and seeing it written on the board (spelling)."
By making this shift in thinking the teacher can start to think questions such as:
Did the students encounter the target language? (i.e. I may have presented it, but did they have their attention focused and realize that there was something they didn't know and wanted to learn?)
What can I do in the lesson to support students so that they encounter target language? i.e. How can I focus their attention, so that they notice that there is something that they don't know and so that they feel a need to learn it?
What can I do in the lesson so that students can actively clarify the form, meaning, and use of the target language? i.e. it is the students that must do the work of clarifying it. The teacher 'telling' does not mean that the students clarified the language point.
When teachers shift their thinking in this way, they can also see that students are really in charge of their own learning process. We can try to set up and guide learning, but it can happen (or not happen) throughout the lesson. For example, students may be working a fluency activity in which they rank the sports that most like and give reasons why. Although the teacher may be hoping that students work on their fluency, one students might encounter a new word uttered by their partner in the conversation and have a strong need to clarify it. Moreover, students do not learn in a lockstep linear way during the lesson. They come in with differing prior knowledge/skills and learn at their own pace. The teacher, thus, works to provide opportunities for learning throughout the lesson.