ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD (tefl)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD 

• An overview of ELT Methodology that lists definitions for concepts such as methodology, approach, method, curriculum/syllabus and technique.

• What are principles of language learning? How and why should overall "principles" guide our teaching?

• Detailed summaries of various language teaching methods developed and used over the past century, including the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method, the Audio lingual Method, Community Language Teaching, the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response, and the Natural Approach. For each method there is an explanation of objectives, key features, typical techniques and also some comments/critiques from English Raven based on personal experience/opinion.

• An explanation of the current "norm" in the field: Communicative Language Teaching. This includes the types of liearning generally associated with CLT.

• An overview for the well-known PPP Approach to Communicative Language Teaching.

• Brief overviews of the age factors that need to be considered when developing classroom techniques and some theories on how and why teachers ought to experiment with teaching methods.

• A listing of resources and books referred to in these pages, and some links to other useful on-line sources.

Overview of Language Teaching Methodology

The word "methodology" is itself often misinterpreted or ill-understood.  It is usually given lip-service as an explanation for the way a given teacher goes about his/her teaching, a sort of umbrella-term to describe the job of teaching another language.  Most often, methodology is understood to mean methods in a general sense, and in some cases it is even equated to specific teaching techniques.  It does (or should) in fact mean and involve much more than that.  I've found that Brown's (1994:51) definitions (reflecting current usage at the time and drawn from earlier attempts to break down and classify elements to do with methodology) are the most useful:

Methodology

The study of pedagogical practices in general (including theoretical underpinnings and related research).  Whatever considerations are involved in "how to teach" are methodological.

Approach

Theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings.

Method

A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives.  Methods tend to be primarily concerned with teacher and student roles and behaviors and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials.  They are almost a ways thought of as being broadly applicable to a variety of audiences in a variety of contexts.

Curriculum/Syllabus

Designs for carrying out a particular language program.  Features include a primary concern with the specification of linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials to meet the needs of a designated group of learners in a defined context.

Technique

Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives.

Methods

 Audiolingual

Dominant since the 1950s. Developed in the USA. This method is skills-based, allows no use of L1, and stresses memorization, repetition, tapes, and structure. Teacher role: language modeler & drill leader. Student role: pattern practicer & accuracy enthusiast. »

]Counseling learning

From Rogerian Counseling (1951). Later by C. Curran (1970s). This method is part of the Humanistic technique. The teacher is the coach; the students are clients.

Direct method

Made popular by Berlitz in the 1950s, allows only L2, uses everyday vocabulary, and stresses pronunciation. It is used in Community Language Learning, which features: Teacher role: counselor & paraphraser. Student role: collaborator & whole person.

Grammar translation

Most popular before the 1940s. Actually, since the early 1900s, the direct method started to slowly replace it. It is still popular, however, in countries where reading is more important than communicating.

Silent way

From Bruner (1966) to Gattegno (1990s) and referring to the teacher. Students are encouraged to produce as much as possible, to get the spirit of the language by exploring and practicing.

Situational language teaching

A classical (oral) method that gave birth to many of today’s structuralist approaches (Firth, Halliday, etc.). Language is a purposeful activity toward a goal. Stress is on meaning, content, and situations. First used in the 1930s and further developed in England in the 1950s. It is an oral approach that views language as a purposeful activity toward goals. Teacher role: context setter & error corrector. Student role: memorizer & imitator.

Suggestopedia

Started in the 1970s by Lozanov, it takes an authoritative holistic but lexical approach and uses music and ambiance. It purports to be 25 times faster than other methods. Teacher role: auto-hypnotist & authority figure. Student role: relaxer & true-believer.

Total physical response (TPR)

Coordinates speech and action and draws on other sciences but its speech theorems are Palmers' (1925). The idea is to repeat during the L2 learning process what was used to learn L1. It is structure-based. Teacher role: commander & action monitor. Student role: order taker & performer.