A "Methodical"  Historyof a Language Teaching 

Cristiane RibeiroGuilherme LourençoLígia Ferreira

“The first step toward developing a principled approach to language teaching

will be to turn back the clock about a century to learn from the historical cycles

and trends that have brought us to the present day.”

“This chapter focus on methods as the identifying characteristics of a century of

“modern” language-teaching efforts.”

“You will encounter references to concepts, constructs, issues and models that are normally covered in a course in second

language acquisition (SLA).”

Edward Anthony

(1963)

Approach

“A set of assumptions dealing with

the nature of language,

learning, and teaching”

Method

“… was described as an overall

plan for systematic

presentation oflanguage basedupon a selected

approach.”

Techniques“… were the

specific activities manifested in the

classroom thatwere consistentwith a method and therefore

were in harmonywith an approach

as well”

Jack Richards and Theodore Rodgers(1982)

Method was an umbrella term for the specificationand interrelation of theory and practice.”

Approach

“Definesassumptions,beliefs, and

theories aboutthe nature oflanguage and

languagelearning”

Design

“Specify therelationship of

those theories toclassroom

materials andactivities.”

Procedure

“Techniques and

practices that are

derived from one’s

approach and

design.”

Changing Winds and Shifting Sands

“Albert Marckwardt (1972) saw these “changing winds and shifting sands” as cyclical pattern in which a new method emerged about every quarter of a century. Each new method broke from the old but took with it some of the positive aspects of the previous practices .”

The Grammar Translation Method

“1. Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.

2. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.

3. Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.

4. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.

5. Reading of difficult classical texts in begun early.

6. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.

7. Often the drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.

8. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.”

Disadvantages

“It does not virtually enhance a student’s communicative ability in the language.”

“… one can understand why Grammar Translation remains so popular. It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers. Tests of grammar rules and of translations are easy to construct and can be objectively scored.”

Designer of Methods of The Spirited

1970s

Community Language Learnig - CLL

Charles Curran (1972) created a classic example of an affectively based method, what he called the Counseling-Learning;

“The social dynamics of such a group were of primary importance”;

Methodology: “the group of clients (students), having first established in their native language an interpersonal relationship and trust, were seated in a circle with the counselor (teacher) on the outside of the circle.

As they talked the counselor translated the dialogue in the second language (English). The learner repeated that English sentence as accurately as possible.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Affective advantages;

“The counselor allowes the learner to determine the type of conversation and to analyze the foreign language inductively”

The counselor teacher could become non directive;

Translation is a complex process, is often “easier said than done”

Suggestopedia

Georgi Lozaniv (1979) – bulgarian psychologist;

He believed that “the human brain could process great quantities of material if given the right conditions for learning – which are a state of relaxation and giving over of control to the teacher”

Disadvantages

The “right conditions” may not be avaible wherever this method was taught, like the using of music and confortable chairs;

It replaces the understanding process in language learning by memorization techniques;

The Silent Way

Caleb Gattegno (1972);

1. “Learning is facilitaded if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned”

2. “Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects”

3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.”

Disadvantages

The Silent Way was too harsh a method and the teacher was too distant (they had to “get out of my way” while students worked out solutions), to encourage a communicative atmosphere;

Learners need more guidance and overt correction than it permitted;

There aren’t any specialness in this method by using the rods and charts; it can look like any other language classroom;

Total Pysical Response - TPR

James Asher (1977);

“The instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors”

Students did a deal of listening and acting. The teacher was very directive in orchestrating a perfomance;

Imperative mood was utilized to teach even into more advanced levels; introduced by humor to make the atmosphere confortable enough for the learning process.

Disadvantages

The TPR “lost its distinctiveness as learners advanced in their competence;

In reading and writing activities, students were limited to spinning off the oral work in the classroom

Soon the learders’ needs for spontaneity and unreheased language must be met, not only the traced actions;

The Natural Approach

Stephen Krashen (1982, 1997)

The teacher should provide the basic “comprehensible input”, comunication skill for everydau language situations

Learners don’t to say during this “silent period” untill they feel ready to do so.

The teachers is the source of the learners’ input, stimulating variety of classroom activities- games, skits, commands and the like.

Three stages of The Natural Approach

1. The preproduction stage is the development os listening comprehension skills

2. The early production stage is usually marked with errors as the student struggles with the language.

3. The last stage is one of extending production into longer stretches of discourse involving more comple games, role plays, discussions and so forth. The objective in this is to promote fluency.

Disadvantages

The heavy emphasis on comprehensible input and the silent period

What about the student whose speech never emerges?

And with all students on different timetable for this called emergence, how does the teacher manage a classroom efficiently?

How does one know which structures the learners are to be provided with?

Functional Syllabuses

Begun with the work of Council of Europe, and it’s used in UK in the 1970;

Attention to functions as the organizing elements of Enlish language curriculum; grammatical structures served as the organizers;

It focused on the pragmatic purposes to which we put the language;

It wasn’t a method but it was close to what they called na “approach”

It was specifically focused on curricular structure than a true approach at all – a language functions, it follows below:

1. Introducing self and other people

2. Exchanging personal information

3. Asking how to spell someone’s name

4. Giving commands

5. Apologizing and thanking

6. Identifying and discribing people

7. Asking for information

Study Guide1) Taking into account the reading of "A

"methodological" history of language teaching" could you consider the "Grammar translation Method" would fit one, or even a group of students nowadays. Justify your answer.

2) What are the pros and cons of each method presented in the text regarding effectivness in learning a second language?

3) If you would build a method, what features of the methods presented in the text would you take into account while building yours? Would you add any characteristic to it that is not presented in any of the methods in text? Justify your answer.

4) Based on the methods of learning second language explained before and weighing up our digital natives (21th century). How can we think about a method that meets this new generation wishes, and become it a real method whose learners are capable to learn effectively?

5)

BROWN, H. Douglas (2007). Teaching by Principals.