CURRÍCULUM AND DIDACTIC APPLIED TO ENGLISH – I

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

Aim of the subject

Marianne Celce-Murcia (1980) argued that we need a historical perspective to

evaluate innovations effectively. Foreign language teaching experienced many

changes in the 20th century and since the turn of the millennium, it has found

itself caught up in the complex technological and cultural developments brought

about by globalization. Perhaps, more than ever, it is important to have a clear

perspective on the development and interrelationship of the different language

teaching approaches. Such a perspective is greatly needed for evaluating the

many so-called innovations and new methods being described in journals,

lectures and workshops.

The aim of this subject is to familiarize you with the leading movements which

have determined many of the features of the major teaching methods. The

information contained in the different chapters will allow you to re-examine the

appropriateness of certain techniques in their own context and to consider the

different ideas advocated in educational philosophy and pedagogical theory:

these were developed in order to satisfy both the specific demands or

requirements of the period in which they flourished, and the specific context of

the people who adopted them.

A helpful preliminary image to offer is that of teaching as complex drama on a

stage. If each of the many features of teaching is represented by a character,

there will be many characters on the stage, but they may be given different

names, not all will have key parts, and some may not talk at all, Different

dramatists would write different plays with the same characters. The same

might be said of English language teaching. There may be common features of

teaching at all times in history, but each period decides on different leading

pans, and different names for characters. Characters talk in different ways at

different times, though they may all be talking about (in our case) teaching. In

this subject we shall be exploring a number of approaches or styles of teaching,

not seeking to be definitive, nor to declare that we know the ‘best’ ways of

teaching English.

Early Methods:

Approach, Method and Technique.

The grammar translation method.

The Direct Method

The Reading Method

Oral Approach or Situational Approach.

The audio lingual method / Audiolingualism (US)

Recent methods

The Total Physical Response.

Silent Way.

Community Language Learning.

Suggestology or Suggestopedia.

The Natural Approach.

Communicative approach

The Communicative approach.

The Lexical approach and task-based Learning.

The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA).

The Situational Approach (Brit).

Language Immersion.

Content and Language Integrated Teaching (CLIL)

CALL.

Distance Learning.

During this subject we shall be developing an awareness of the fact that our

discourses about teaching English are different from the things that we actually

do in the classroom, and that this gap between talking about and doing can be

problematic in our work, and could benefit from being narrowed.

INTRODUCTION

1.1. In search of a professional label

No other discipline seems to be so much concerned about methodology as that

of Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language (TEFL or TESL). The

notion of methodology seems to hold a particular fascination for teachers of

English. For many language teachers adherence to a particular method seems

to be part of their professional identity, and yet for all its history of heated

debate and upheaval (is ‘grammar’ in or out of fashion this year?),

methodologists still do not really have any definitive answers for teachers.

Nowadays, there exist controversies in our profession ranging from the search

for a reasonable language teaching methodology to the search for an

appropriate professional name.

The following names and acronyms have been suggested as professional

labels and have gained relatively permanent acceptance:

- TEFL (Teaching/Teachers of English as a Foreign Language): used in

educational situations where instruction in other subjects is not normally given

in English.

- TESL (Teaching/Teachers of English as a Second Language): used in

educational situations where English is the partial or universal medium of

instruction for other subjects.

- TEAL (Teaching/Teachers of English as an Additional Language): used in

parts of Canada in lieu of TESL to stress the benefits of first-language

maintenance.

- TESOL (Teaching/Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages): a

cover-term for teachers working in any of the above situations.

- ELT (English Language Teaching), a more neutral, cover-all term which

avoids the issue of context.

1.2. What do we mean by the terms approach, method and technique? A brief look at the ELT literature.

Edward Anthony (1963) identified three levels of organization in language

teaching, which he termed approach, method, and technique.

The arrangement is hierarchical. The organizational key is that techniques carry

out a method which is consistent with an approach...

…An approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of

language teaching and learning. An approach is axiomatic. It describes the

nature of the subject matter to be taught...

…Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material,

no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected

approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural.

Within one approach, there can be many methods...

…A technique is implementational - that which actually takes place in a

classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish

an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and

therefore in harmony with an approach as well (Anthony 1963:63-7)

According to this model, an approach to language teaching is something that

reflects a certain theory and beliefs about language and language learning. This

term is the broadest of the three. A method is a set of procedures; a system that

spells out exactly how to teach a language (what particular skills and content to

teach). Methods are more specific than approaches but less specific than

techniques. A technique is a classroom device or activity and thus represents

the narrowest term of the three. Some techniques are widely used and found in

many methods (imitation and repetition); others are specific to or characteristic

of a given method.

Anthony's proposal was simple and comprehensive, but failed to give sufficient

attention to the nature of a method itself. He does not mention the roles of

teachers and learners assumed in a method, for example, nor the role of

instructional materials or the form they are expected to take.

For Richards and Rodgers (1986) Anthony's proposal of an analysis of

language-teaching practices was a point of departure; however, they preferred

to consider 'method' as an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation

of theory and practice, and therefore they preferred to use the terms approach,

design, and procedure.

Following Anthony, the first level in the system, approach "refers to theories

about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of

practices and principles in language teaching." (Richards & Rodgers 1986116)

The second level in the system, design, is the level of method analysis that '

specifies the relationship of theories of language and learning to the selection

and organization of language content (syllabus), to the types of tasks and

learning activities, and to the roles of learners, teachers and materials within the

method. The third level, procedure, comprises the classroom techniques and

practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs. Finally,

the term method refers to a language-teaching philosophy that contains a

standardized set of procedures or principles for teaching a language that are

based upon a given set of theoretical premises about the nature of language

and language learning.

The system is illustrated in the figure below. For more information, see

Appendix 1.1: Summary of elements and sub-elements that constitute a

method according to Richards and Rodgers (1986:28).

Method

Approach

Procedure

Design

Figure 1.1: Relevant elements of a teaching/learning system Source:

Richards 1985117.

In their opinion the three elements help us understand the differences and

similarities between one method and another by showing how these elements

are interrelated in language-teaching practices:

A method is theoretically related to an approach, is organizationally determined

by a design, and is practically realized in procedure (1986:16)

A number of other ways of conceptualizing approaches and methods in

language teaching have been proposed. Mackey, in his book Language

Teaching Analysis (1965), elaborated perhaps the most well-known model of

the 1960s, one that focuses primarily on the levels of method and technique.

Mackey's model of language teaching analysis concentrates on the dimensions

of selection, gradation, presentation, and repetition underlying a method. In fact,

despite the title of Mackey's book, his concern is primarily with the analysis of

textbooks and their underlying principles of organization. His analysis fails to

address the level of approach, nor does it deal with the actual classroom

behaviours of teachers and learners, except as these are represented in

textbooks.

1.3. Some ingredients of language teaching

In this section we will look at what goes into methods and how these ingredients

can be mixed and processed differently to produce both the well-known ‘off the

shelf’ methods and the ‘home-baked‘, idiosyncratic teacher versions. To some

extent this is consistent with the idea that in the 21st century we have arrived at

the 'eclectic' stage, where practitioners and theorist have largely given up on the

idea of a universally applicable approach.

These characteristics can be used as criteria for discussion of some of the best

known ELT methods, as we will see in the next chapters.

We will now look at some variables in more detail. Our goal is to enable you to

become better informed about the nature, strengths, and weaknesses of

methods and approaches so that you will be able to judge them more

effectively.

Here is a list of important variables:

- Perceived goals of language learning.

- Decisions about what is to be taught.

- Beliefs about the nature of language.

- Beliefs about the process of language learning/acquisition.

- Amount of prescription for teachers.

- Attitudes to different classroom techniques and activities.

- The role and nature of materials.

- The relative roles of teachers and learners.

- Attitude to the use of learners ‘native language (L1) in the classroom.

- Attitude to error.

- Beliefs about evaluation and assessment.

Following the terminology proposed by Richards and Rodgers we have included

the language theory behind each method or approach discussed in this subject

and, whenever possible, the learning theory behind it.

1.4. At the level of “Approach”

1.4.1. Belief about the nature of language.

In analysing approaches to languages teaching it is evident that an

important methodological variable is the attitude to language itself. In

some methods language is treated as a subject which can be approached

in the same way as; any other subject on the curriculum, perhaps as a

body of factual information to be digested and memorized. More recently

language has come to be viewed as an aspect of human behaviour and

methods have changed to accommodate this. Let us briefly focus then on

the three main trends in language theory that frame the different methods

and approaches discussed in this subject:

a) The first, and the most traditional of the three, is the structural view, the

view that language is a system of structurally related elements for the

coding and decoding of language. The target of language learning is seen

to be the mastery of elements of this system, which are generally defined

in terms of phonological units (e.g., phonemes), grammatical units (e.g.,

morphemes, phrases, sentences), grammatical operations (e.g., adding,

shifting, joining, or transforming elements), and lexical items (e.g., function

words and structure words). As we will see in Chapter 2, the Audiolingual

Method embodies this particular view of language, as do contemporary

methods such as Total Physical Response and the Silent Way, both of

which will be explored in then.

b) The second view of language is the British functional view, which

considers language as a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning.

The communicative movement in language teaching subscribes to this

view of language this theory goes beyond the grammatical characteristics

of language and emphasizes both the semantic and communicative

dimension.

Firth stated that:

The linguist has to study the ‘text’, i.e., the corpus of utterances, (a) in their

linguistic environment or context, i.e., in relation to surrounding language

items, and (b) in their context of situations, i.e., in relation to non-verbal

constituents which have bearing on the utterance, such as persons,

objects and events. (In Stern: 1983, p. 138)

The functional view leads to a specification and organization of language

teaching content by categories of meaning and function rather than by

elements of structure and grammar. Wilkins’ Notional Syllabuses (1976) is

an attempt to spell out the implications of this view of language for

syllabus design. A notional syllabus would include not only elements of

grammar and lexis but also specify the topics, notions, and concepts the

learner needs to communicate. Halliday also elaborated his own linguistic

model, based on the theories of Firth and, together with other authors, he

offered a linguistic base for language teaching (Halliday, Mclntosh and

Strevens: 1964). See Chapter 4 for an account of Halliday's research.

Stern has matched the terms that Linguistics has generated:

We could say that while Linguistics in general had been exclusively interested in

the elements of the first column and had excluded the rest (considering that

they did not belong to a "scientific" study, or because they did not constitute the

"essence" of language, etc.), the functional view took the first step towards the

study of language reflected in the concepts in the right column: these elements

would constitute the study core of the so-called "language sciences" (Hymes:

1974). This change of orientation would allow a more fruitful focus in language

teaching, which became more concerned with using the language

(functionalism) than with knowing the linguistic system (structuralism). You will

see in later chapters how the debate between structuralism and functionalism

affected methodological proposals in the development of methods and

approaches.

As many linguists started to distance themselves from an abstract, structural

view of language study, they started to take social and situational contexts, as

well as the attitudes of the speakers, into consideration. A series of new

disciplines arose, under new labels and with new study techniques, which tried

to relate the study of language to the outside world and to the sociological

context of the speakers. These new disciplines were syntax, semantics and

pragmatics.

Langue Parole

System Use

Code Message

Language Verbal Behaviour

Competence Performance

Form Function

A clear definition of each of these fields is provided by Yule:

Syntax is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms, how they are

arranged in sequence, and which sequences are well-formed (Yule 1997: 4)

Semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities

in the world; that is, how words literally connect to things. Semantics analysis

also attempts to establish the relationships between verbal descriptions and

states of affairs in the world as accurate (true) or not, regardless of who

produces that description (ibid.)

Pragmatics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the

users of those forms (...) one can talk about people's intended meanings, their

assumptions, their purposes or goals, and the kinds of actions (for example,

requests) that they are performing when they speak (ibid.). In one way or

another all these disciplines began to question several aspects of language use

to which the grammatical theory of Saussure or Chomsky, for instance, could

not give an appropriate answer. These disciplines, together with

Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, and others have contributed to a better

understanding of language use in the last two decades. They have focused on

the problems of meaning, of psychological processes that lead to the production

and understanding of a message, of the way a conversation is organized and

works, and of the role of paralinguistic and non-verbal elements in

communicative exchanges.

It was not until the 1980s, though, that all these disciplines began to work in the

same direction and at the same pace, integrating their contributions and offering

a new model that reflects the view of language as communication.

c) The third view of language can be called the interactional view. The view of

language as communication is a complex one. A key concept to understand is

that of language as action, that is, "we do things with words"; this idea arises

from the theory of "speech acts" developed by language philosophers such as

J.L. Austin (1962) and J.R. Searle (1969). They advocated that language is

much more than the transmission of information or meaning (Iocutionary act),

since it also expresses an intention (illocutionary act) and produces an effect on

the listener (perlocutionary act).

This view sees language as a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal

relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals.

Language is seen as a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations.

Areas of inquiry being drawn on in the development of interactional approaches

to language teaching include interaction analysis, conversation analysis, and

ethnomethodology. Interactional theories focus on the patterns of moves, acts,

negotiation, and interaction found in conversational exchanges.

1.4.2. Beliefs about the process of language learning/acquisition

As regards language theory, we are concerned with a model of language,

competence and an account of the basic features of linguistic organisation and l

language use. As regards learning theory, we are concerned with an account of

the central processes of learning and an account of the conditions believed to

promote successful language learning. These principles may or may not lead to

a method by themselves (see Community Language Learning or Total Physical

Response).

The actual process involved in acquiring/learning a language is one of the

issues that has caused the most debate concerning language teaching, and it is

a debate which continues to the present day. For this reason we have devoted

an entire subject of the course to this topic (Second Language Acquisition).

Nevertheless, we will analyse those issues in language acquisition that are

directly related to the different methods and approaches discussed in this

subject.

Theories of language learning have influenced decisions as to the optimal

location of classroom activities on continua like the following:

a) Deductive...........................inductive

The advent of the cognitive approach meant a change of direction from teaching

the structures of the language (deductive) towards making the learner aware of

how the language works (inductive), thus avoiding the direct study of

grammatical rules.

b) Analytic..............................experiential

During the last two decades there has been a debate about the convenience of

adopting an analytical point of view (focused on the foreign or second language)

versus an experiential point of view (focused on communication). From the

1980s communication has become a common strategy in the foreign or second

language (L2) classroom.

c) Habit formation................naturalistic acquisition

The behaviourist theory of learning, so popular in the 1950s and 1960s, was

based on repetition and memorisation techniques. In contrast, Krashen's

Monitor Theory (1981) distinguished between "acquisition" as an unconscious

process similar to the process of learning an L1, and "learning" as the

conscious knowledge of formal linguistic rules and how these work.

The concern for knowing how a speaker acquires his/her linguistic competence

had already been raised by Chomsky and his psycholinguistic theories: he

rejected the behaviourist view of language learning and focused his studies on

the discovery of language learning processes, asserting that:

- The process of learning an L2 is similar to that of learning an L1.

- The process of linguistic acquisition responds to a mechanism of contrasting

Hypotheses with real language use; mistakes show that rules are being

internalized.

Despite his above proposals, Chomsky famously voiced the following doubts

about the relevance of his work for language teaching:

I am, frankly, rather sceptical about the significance, for the teacher of

languages, of such insights and understanding as have been attained in

Linguistics and Psychology. Surely the teacher of language would do well to

keep informed of progress and discussion in these fields, and the efforts of

linguists and psychologists to approach the problems of language teaching from

a principled point of view are extremely worthwhile, from an intellectual as well

as a social point of view. Still, it is difficult to believe that either Linguistics or

Psychology has achieved a level of theoretical understanding that might enable

it to support a ‘technology’ of language teaching. (Chomsky, 1966)

Ironically, however, Chomsky's ideas are cited as the stimulus for many a

development in language teaching since the mid-1960s.

It goes without saying that no approach to language teaching can have any

credibility without firm foundations in a theory of how language is learnt, for this

will inform decisions on all aspects of any language teaching programme.

1.5. At the level of "method"

In the following chapters we will be analysing the different methods and

approaches and will be considering the various aspects that characterise them.

1.5.1. The objectives of a method

Most ‘off the shelf methods include some information about the syllabus to be

followed and the learning objectives to be achieved. Depending on the goals of

language learning, decisions may include whether to:

- focus on language-using skills;

- focus on knowledge about language;

- Focus on specific situational abilities;

- focus on general competence;

- include aspects of the culture and/or literature of the target language

community.

1.5.2. The role of language and grammar

We will refer to how language content is selected and organized within the

method or, in other words, the syllabus model incorporated by the method. We

will also have a look at the different types of learning tasks and teaching

activities the method advocates. This is perhaps the variable in which methods

can most easily be seen to differ as this is the interface between more

theoretical principles and practice in the classroom. Techniques and activities

are the trademarks of methods.

1.5.3. The roles of learners and teachers

Again we can often see quite radical differences between approaches in the

way teacher and learner roles are specified. Naturally some aspects of teacher

role will depend not so much on the method as on the expectations of the

learners, the institution and society. Teacher role can also be culturally

determined.

The most important distinction we find in learner roles is whether learners are

seen as passive empty vessels to be filled from the ‘fountain of wisdom‘, -the

teacher-, or whether learners are seen as active determiners of their own

learning who need little more than guidance and support from their teacher.

1.5.4. The role of instructional materials

This is another characteristic by which differing approaches are easily identified:

a quick flick through any collection of language teaching materials should be

sufficient to uncover its methodological provenance. While a textbook may be

the cornerstone of one method, other methods may require teachers to select or

produce their own materials according to the current needs of their students, but

within certain guidelines, and yet other methods, for example Counselling

Language Learning, may consider it unnecessary to have any materials other

than those the learners themselves produce.

1.6. A few notes on the subject

Within each chapter our aim has been to present a comprehensive picture of a

particular approach or method. Some of these methods/approaches have been

more popular than others. Some of the methods examined in the following

chapters include an extensive historical background; when this is considered to

be less relevant, we have stressed linguistic, psychological or educational

traditions.

Appendix 1.1

Summary of elements and sub-elements that constitute a method

a. The general and specific objectives of the method

- An account of the nature of language proficiency.

- An account of the basis unit of language structure.

b. A Theory of the Nature of language learning.

- An account of the psycholinguist and cognitive processes involved in language learning.

- An account of the conditions that allow for success use for these processes

a. The general and specific objective of the method

b. A syllabus model.

- Criteria for the selection and organization of linguist and/or subject matter content.

c. Types of learning and teaching activities.

- Kinds of task and practice activities to be employed in the classroom and in materials.

d. Learning roles.

- Types or learning tasks set for learners.

- Degree of control learners have over the content of learning.

- Patterns of learner grouping that are recommended or implied.

- Degree to which learners influence the learning of others.

- The view of the learner as a processor, performer, initiator, problem solver, etc.

e. Teacher roles.

- Types of functions teachers fulfil.

- Degree of teacher influence over learning.

- Degree of which the teacher determines the content of learning.

f. The role of instructional materials.

- Primary function of materials.

- The form materials take (e.g. text books, audio-visual)

- Relation for materials to other input.

- Assumptions made about teachers and learners.

a. Classroom techniques, practices, and behaviours observed when the method is used.

- Resources in terms of time, space, and equipment used by the teacher.

- Interactional patterns observed in lessons.

- Tactics and strategies used by teachers and learners when the method is being used.