METHODS OF TEACHING

PROJECT METHOD

Introduction:

Project method is one of the modern method of teaching in which, the student point of view is

given importance in designing the curricula and content of studies. This method is based on

philosophy of pragmatism and principles of learning by doing. In this strategy pupils perform

constructive activities in natural condition. A project is a list of real life that has been

imparted into the school. It demands the work from pupil.

Definition:

According to W.H Kilpatric

“A project is a whole hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment”

According to Ballord

“A project is a bit of real life that has been imparted into the school”

According to Thomas and Long

“It is voluntary undertaking which involves constructive efforts or through and eventuates

into objective result”

Charteristics of Project Method:

It takes the students beyond the walls of class room. It is carried out in a natural

setting, thus making learning realistic and experiential.

It encourages investigative learning and solutions of practical problems. It is focused

on the student to enlist his/her active involvement in the task set.

It encourages the spirit of scientific enquiry as it involves validation of hypothesis

based on evidence gathered from the field through investigation.

It promotes a better knowledge of the practical aspects of knowledge gained from

books.

It enhances the student’s social skills, as it requires interaction with the social

environment.

Teacher plays a facilitative role rather than the role of an expert. It encourages the

spirit of research in students.

It allows the students a great degree of freedom to choose from among the options

given to them; hence it provides a psychological boost.

TYPES OF PROJECTS:

I. Individual and Social project: In this project students are assigned a problem related to

their interest, capacity, attitude and needs.

II. Group project: The problem is solved by the group of pupils in the class. Here the social

citizenship qualities and synergism are develops.

III. Simple project: In the simple projects the student are completing only one work at a

time. It gives the deep information about the project in the one angle; the students get

deeper and broader knowledge about the problem.

IV. Complex project: The students are carried out more than one work at a time. They are

focuses on the work in various subject and angles. Here the students get the knowledge

about the work in various activities and dimensions.

V. Constructive project: Practical or physical task such as construction of article, making a

model, digging the well and playing drama are done in this type of project.

VI. Aesthetic project: Appreciation powers of the students are develop in this type of project

through the musical programmers, beautification of something, appreciation of poems and

so on.

VII. Problematic project: In this type of project develops the problem solving capacity of the

students through their experiences. It is based on the cognitive domain.

VIII. Drill project: It is for the mastery of the skill and knowledge of the student. It increases

the work efficacy and capacity of the students.

MARITS OF PROJECT METHOD:

As students get proper freedom to execute the project in accordance with their interest

and abilities, because of which they get their psychological needs satisfied to

considerable extent.

This method is not subject centered but due importance is being provided to the

students also.

Through this method, students are provided with various opportunities by which they

can satisfy their interest and desire.

Habit of critical thinking gets developed among the students through this method.

Through this method, student gets an ample chance in which they can develop

coordination among their body and minds.

Through this method, science teaching can be done with considerable success, as

science is a practical subject and this method is also scientific and practical in nature.

With this method, teacher can lead a well-balanced development of the students.

This method helps in promoting social interactions and co-operations among the

students, as they have to work in a group and have to interact with various persons of

gathering information.

As student gain knowledge directly through their own effort, thus, they acquire

permanent kind of information, which is retained by them since a long period of time.

Mostly the projects are undertaken in classroom as classroom assignments, because of

which load of home work from students get reduced to considerable extent.

It helps to widen the mental horizon of pupil. It sets up a challenge to solve a problem

and this stimulates constructive and creative thinking.

DEMARITS OF PROJECT METHOD

This method takes a lot of time to plan and execute a single project. For proper

execution of a project, a large no of financial resources are required.

It is not possible to design different projects for different topics and it is not also

possible to cover all the topics or content in a single project.

Such method can only be proving successful if the teacher is highly knowledgeable,

alert and exceptionally gifted.

Systematic and adequate learning is not provided by this method, as it is a method of

incidental learning. Through this method, students learn only what is required by them

in relation to the completion of the project.

Generally, it is found that teachers do not possess much information regarding the

manner in which this method should be used as a result of which they hesitate from

using this method, as a result of which, its utility remains more or less limited or

negligible.

Sometimes the projects may be too ambitious and beyond students capacity to

accomplish.

DRILL METHOD:

Introduction:

Drilling is a technique that has been used in foreign language classrooms for many years. It

was a key feature of audio-lingual method approaches to language teaching, which placed

emphasis on repeating structural patterns through oral practice. At its simplest, drilling means

listening to a model, provided by the teacher, or a tape or another student, and repeating what

is heard. This is a repetition drill, a technique that is still used by many teachers when

introducing new language items to their students.

Definition:

“A drill is a classroom technique used to practice new language. It involves the teacher

modeling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. There are different kinds of

drilling, such as choral drill, which involves the whole class, and substitution drill, where the

teacher changes the cue words after each repetition”

Characteristics of Drill Method:

For the learners, drills can:

1. Provide for a focus on accuracy. Increased accuracy is one of the ways in which a

learner’s language improves so there is a need to focus on accuracy at certain stages of

the lesson or during certain task type.

2. Provide learners with intensive practice in hearing and saying particular word or phrases.

They can help learners get their tongues around difficult sounds or help them imitate

intonation that may be rather different from that of their first language.

3. Provide a safe environment for learners to experiment with producing the language. This

may help build confidence particularly among learners who are not risk takers.

4. Help students notice the correct form or pronunciation of a word phrase. Noticing or

consciousness rising of language is an important stage in developing language

competence.

5. Provide an opportunity for learners to get immediate feedback on their accuracy in terms

of teacher or peer correction. Many learners want to be corrected.

6. Help memorization and atomization of common language patterns and language chunks.

This may be particularly true for aural learners.

7. Meet students expectation, i.e. they may think drilling is an essential feature of language

classrooms.

For The Teacher:

1. Help in term of classroom management, enabling us to vary the pace of the lesson or to

get all learners involved.

2. Help the teacher recognize if new language is causing problems in terms of form or

pronunciation.

TYPES OF DRILL METHOD:

I. The Repetition Drill: The teacher says models (the word or phrases) and the students

repeat it.

Example:

Teacher : It didn’t rain, so I needn’t have taken my umbrella

Students : It didn’t rain, so I needn’t have taken my umbrella

I. The Substitution Drill: Substitution drill can used to practice different structures or

vocabulary items (i. e one word or more word change during the drill)

Example:

Teacher: I go to school. He?

Students: He goes to school.

Teacher: They?

Students: They go to school.

II. The Question and Answer Drill: The teacher gives students practice with answering

questions. The students should answer the teacher’s questions very quickly. It is also

possible for the teacher to let the students practice to ask question as well. This gives

students practice with the question pattern.

Example:

Teacher: Does he go to school? Yes?

Students: Yes, he does.

III. The Transformation Drill: The teacher gives students a certain kind of sentence

pattern, an affirmation sentence for example. Students are asked to transform this

sentence into a negative sentence. Other examples of transformations to ask of students

are changing a statement into a question, an active sentence into a passive one, or

direct speech into a reported speech.

Example: (positive into negative)

Teacher: I clean the house.

Students: I don’t clean the house.

Teacher: She sings a song.

Students: She doesn’t sing a song.

IV. The Chain Drill: The teacher begins the chain by greeting a particular student, or asking

him a question. That student respond, then turns to the students sitting next to him. The

first student greets or asks a question of the second student and the chain continues. A

chain drill allows some controlled communication, even though it is limited. A chain drill

also gives the teacher an opportunity to check each student’s speech.

Example:

Teacher: What is the color of sky?

The color of sky is blue

what the color of banana?

Student A: The color of banana is yellow

what is the color of leaf?

Student B: The color of leaf is green

what is the color of our eyes?

Student C: The color of our eyes is black and white.

V. The Expansion Drill: This drill is used when a long line dialog is giving students

trouble. The teacher breaks down the line into several parts. The students repeat a part of

the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then following the teacher’s cue, the

students expand what they are repeating part at the end of the sentence (and works

backward from there) to keep the intonation of the line as natural as possible. This also

directs more student attention to the end of the sentence, where new information typically

occurs.

Example:

Teacher: My mother is a doctor.

Students: My mother is a doctor

Teacher: She works in the hospital.

Students: She works in the hospital

Teacher: My mother is a doctor. She works in the hospital.

Students: My mother is a doctor. She works in the hospital.

VI. The Communicative Drills: This kind of drills is quite different from the so-called

meaningless and mechanical drills used in a traditional grammar oriented class by some

teachers, in which the primary focus is on the form of the language being used rather than

its communicative content Guessing game:

Examples:

Students: Is it in the class?

Teacher: Yes, it is.

Students: Is it blue?

Teacher: No, it is not.

Students: Is it black?

MERITS OF DRILL METHOD:

While drills are associated with a regimented style of instruction, they do have a

place. Drills are used successfully when teaching students technique.

For instance, when young people are learning their multiplication tables, they can do

drills on each number set to help them memorize; they can then proceed to more

difficult concepts that use the information obtained from drills.

In physical education and music, coaches and teachers use drills as a method to hone

skills that need repetition for improvement. Additionally, students can use this

technique with one another for shared learning opportunities.

Drilling help our learners memories language by the teacher’s control. And the

teacher can correct any mistakes that students make and encourage them to concrete

on difficulties at the sometime.

DEMIRITS OF DRILL METHOD:

There are potential drawbacks to practice and drills. Teachers need to make sure that

when having students practice, there is a clear link between concept and action.

Students must be able to relate what they are doing to what they are learning.

Similarly, drills are not effective when students are not prepared enough; they will not

be able to maintain a pace if they are still unclear about a concept.

Furthermore, drills are typically for more basic knowledge or for a more physical

understanding. If teaching about more abstract concepts, a drill methodology would

not be appropriate.

Drilling often make the students not vary creative. In all drills learners have no or

vary little choice over what is said so drills are form of very controlled practice.

The teacher needs to handle the drills, so that the students are not over used and they

don’t go on far too long.

One of the problems about drills is that they are fairly monotonous

ACTIVITY METHOD

Introduction:

Activity method is a technique adopted by a teacher to emphasize his or her method of

teaching through activity in which the students participate rigorously and bring about

efficient learning experiences. It is a child-centered approach. It is a method in which the

child is actively involved in participating mentally and physically. Learning by doing is the

main focus in this method. Learning by doing is imperative in successful learning since it is

well proved that more the senses are stimulated, more a person learns and longer he/she

retains. Activity method is techniques adopted by a teacher to teach through activity in which

the students participate thoroughly and bring about efficient learning experiences.

Definition:

“It is a constructivist learning approach. In which hands –on, creative, participative

method of learning is used. It is an interactive method in language learning”

Charteristics of Activity Method:

Learning should be constructive and self-motivated. It should engage students

actively for children are naturally curious and likes to explore their environment.

Teacher should create an environment that is conducive for gaining knowledge.

Students are not confined to their seats and classrooms. Free exchange of ideas among

students.

Children are self- motivated to know and to learn. Teacher act as a facilitator or guide

and not an authoritarian. Most effective method for teaching language skills and

thinking skills. It enhances creative aspect of experience. It gives reality for

learning. Uses all available resources.

Provides varied experiences to the students to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge,

experience, skills and values. Builds the student’s self-confidence and develops

understanding through work in his/her group.

Gets experiences, develop interest, enriches vocabulary and provides stimulus for

reading. Subjects of all kind can be taught through activity. Social relation provides

opportunity to mix with other.

Develops happy relationship between students and students, teachers and students. An

activity is said to be the language of the child. A child who lacks in verbal expression

can make up through use of ideas in the activity.

Teachers should device activities to suit the age group and skills of the learners. There

should be variety in activities. Activities should not only help gather knowledge, but

apply and evaluate knowledge.

Activities should be interesting, and thought provoking. There should be individual,

pair, group and whole class activities.

TYPES OF ACTIVITY METHOD:

I. Experiencing activities: Watching, observing, comparing, describing, questioning,

discussing, investigating, reporting, collecting, selecting, testing, trying, listening,

reading, drawing, calculating, imitating, modeling, playing, acting, taking on roles,

talking, writing about what one can see, hear, feel, taste, experimenting and

imagining.

II. Memorizing activities: Sequencing ordering, finding regularities and patterns,

connect with given knowledge, use different modes of perception, depict.

III. Understanding activities: Structuring, ordering, classifying, constructing, solving,

planning, predicting, transferring, and applying knowledge, formulating ones

individual understanding, interpreting, summarizing, evaluating, judging, explaining

and teaching.

IV. Organizing activities: The process of organizing activities must be based on

curricular aims bringing together the needs, ideas, interests and characteristics of the

children with the knowledge, skill, experience, and personality of the teacher within a

given environment. The extent to which the teacher works with students individually

or in groups affect the relation the teacher has with each child.

MERITS OF ACTIVITY METHOD:

Application of knowledge is more important than acquiring knowledge

Knowledge is applied through various activities in this method of learning

Activities bring variety to the process of learning. Contrast this with traditional

passive listening.

It's easier to catch and sustain the attention and interest of the learners when they are

actively involved.

The retention of knowledge thus gained is permanent. Bringing subjects down to the

level of student’s experience makes understanding easier

Inviting active participation helps students open up. They can freely try out the

concepts they have learned.

Students have freedom to move around. No student likes to be tied down to his bench.

Class rooms become a lively, interesting place. Through pair-work, group-work,

whole class discussions students are exposed to a variety of viewpoints and

perspectives.

The guided discovery approach leads students to a clearer understanding of the forms

and underlying concepts.

The teacher’s role is to set tasks that help students arrive at an understanding of the

concepts, make learning challenging and motivating by selecting appropriate material,

decide teaching tools, design activities, prompt and ask questions that make learning

challenging and motivating.

Interactive teaching provides ample practice in speaking and listening skills.

Interacting with a group with similar skill helps remove inhibition and develops

confidence and fluency in the use of language.

Collaboration and exchange of ideas enriches the learner’s mind. Role plays, skits

create natural situations to think and gain new perspectives.

DEMERITS OF ACTIVITY METHOD:

Time factor: Students can get carried away by activities. Teachers with the pressure

of completing syllabus on time may find lecture method more convenient.

Large classes: Teachers cannot freely move and monitor all groups and cannot

provide individual attention.

Passivity: Just as in traditional class rooms a few always actively participate when

others remain passive listeners.

Digression: Students tend to move away from the topic under discussion.

Low Ability: Students who have Low ability can’t take active participation. Learners

would lose interest and become dormant in the discussions.

Hampering of students: It will have Lengthy procedure and requires flawless

planning. Focusing on activity to make learning fun can actually hamper those

students who would make good progress without it.

QUESTION AND ANSWER METHOD

Introduction:

Questioning occurs in all aspects of life and in all fields. Borich (1992) found that 80% of

classroom talk is questions. Some teachers ask more than 100/hour! Therefore the process of

asking questions is a popular mode of teaching! Involving a class in questions and answers is

the first step away from monological teaching. It is the initial recognition that learning takes

place when students are verbally as well as intellectually involved in the educational

situation. Here we are attempting to secure verbal interaction. Actually interaction may be of

several types and is essential to all learning. Most educators agree that mental interaction is

not sufficient but should be accompanied by some form of student expression or reaction.

The student must comprehend truth in his own mind, and then express it in his own words.

Definition:

i. “A pedagogical technique in which a teacher does not give information directly but in

stead asks a series of questions, with the result that the student comes either to the

Desired knowledge by answering the questions or to a deeper awareness of the limits

Of knowledge”

ii. “To question well is to teach well. In the skillful use of questions, more than anything

else lies the fine art of teaching.” Earnest Sachs

Charteristics of Question and Answer Method:

It is an assessment that allows teachers to check for comprehension at various levels.

Through questions, we can help students to expand their knowledge and think

creatively outside the box.

They will allow the educator to check for comprehension at various levels. It is

possible to transfer factual knowledge & conceptual understanding through this

process.

Reasons Why Teachers Ask Questions. Helps keep students actively involved in the

lessons. Students have the opportunity to openly express their ideas or thoughts while

answering questions

Enables other students to hear different explanations of the material by their peers.

Helps teachers to pace their lessons and moderate student behavior. Helps teachers

evaluate student learning and revise lessons as necessary.

To interest, engage and challenge pupils; to check on prior knowledge and

understanding; to stimulate recall, mobilizing existing knowledge.

To focus pupils’ thinking on key concepts and issues; to help pupils to extend

their thinking from the concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative.

To lead pupils through a planned sequence which progressively establishes key

understandings; to promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and the

formulation of hypotheses?

To promote pupils’ thinking about the way they have learned.

Types of Questions:

I. Convergent/ direct/ closed: Used when answers are limited to a single

or small # of correct responses. Used for assessing lower levels of

cognition. Most time is spent on these types. Factual information that

can be memorized. Not necessarily helpful in developing a deep

understanding of subject area. Relied on to keep the lesson paced &

keep attention of students, maintain control. Receive single word or

short factual answer: “Are you hungry?” Or “Where do you live?”

Good for: Testing for understanding OR Making a decision. A

misplaced closed question can kill the conversation and lead to awkward

silences.

II. Divergent/ Indirect/Open: Used for higher levels of cognition or

reasoning skills. Enables them not just to remember facts but to use

their knowledge to problem solve, analyze & evaluate. They need a

deep understanding to answer this type of question. Elicit longer

answers. Asks for knowledge, opinions or feelings. “What?”, “Why?”,

“How?”, “Tell me”, “Describe”

Examples:

“What happened yesterday in class?”

“Why did she do that?”

“How was the presentation?”

“Tell me what happened next.”

“Describe the situation in more detail.”

Good for

1. Developing more open conversation

2. Finding more detail

3. Finding others opinions or issues

MERITS OF QUESTION AND ANSWER METHOD:

Asking a good question will develop & foster interaction between teacher and student.

This in turn promotes student learning, achievement & understanding.

Our technique is important so that our listeners will comprehend our question

Sanders (1966) stated, “Good questions recognize the wide possibilities of thought

and are built around various forms of thinking. Good questions are directed toward

learning and evaluative thinking rather than determining what has been learned in a

narrow sense.”

Higher order questions require significant mental processes – wait time is needed!!

There are fewer “no answers”

Benefits teachers as well, questioning strategies tend to be more varied and flexible

and the number of questions decrease in quantity and increase in quality.

DEMERITS OF QUESTION ANSWER METHOD:

The use of questions and answers in class is a perfectly legitimate approach to

teaching, but it is often confused with discussion. As indicated in the last chapter,

perhaps the best way to make a distinction is to emphasize the kind of question

involved.

Question and answer teaching almost always deals with factual data and objective

responses. Very often it is a review of material previously studied by the students, or

just covered in a lecture or story.

Although thought questions can certainly be used in this approach to teaching, there is

a tendency in a thought question to pose a defined problem and thereby lapse over to

the discussion technique.

Both of these techniques are perfectly valid, but the teacher should be able to identify

when he is using discussion and when he is using question and answer. A common

weakness in question and answer teaching is the framing of superfluous or shallow

questions which offer no challenge to the class.

The use of a rhetorical question, for example, is a worthy device for communication

but is not a proper approach to question and answer teaching. Sufficient “mystery”

about the answer helps motivate a genuinely intellectual response on the part of the

student.

Furthermore, the use of questions should not be viewed as a substitute for knowledge

of the material or communication of important content. Questions cannot impart

objective data and are not well used to accomplish such teaching goals.

Sometimes teachers spend too much of the class time asking questions and too little

listening to questions. But how can you get your class to talk? The problem of silence

generally lies in one of three areas: their past educational pattern has conditioned

them to sit and listen but not to participate verbally in the class time.

Their lack of interest in the subject creates a “ho-hum” atmosphere so that no

questions are motivated; their ignorance of answers to your questions forces them to

bide behind a shield of silence lest their lack of study or inability to produce be

unmasked.

GROUP DIFFERENTIATED METHOD

Introduction:

A teaching skill essential to all educators is group competence. Lack of it can never have

been more damaging; now teachers have to promote active learning, for which group method

is optimal. The only kind of students now needed is an activated one, equipped for

independent lifelong learning and teamwork; current educational innovation, such as problem

based learning depends on group teaching.

Group work is a method for generating free communication between the group leader and the

members, and among all the participants themselves. The group can make positive use of the

differences in knowledge and attitude among participants, made evident as they interact with

each other. Group work enables participants to a great deal from their fellows, in a type of

communication which cannot take place in a lecture hall.

Definition:

“A group is a number of people interacting in a face to face situation”

Charteristics of Group Differentiated method:

Difficult subject matters, complex facts, a specialized vocabulary, or involved

techniques produced can be grasped more easily if participants can raise their own

informally-stated question.

Factual knowledge can be subjected to reasoning, and placed into context, if

opportunity is given for discussion.

Reasoning, problem-solving or decision making are not simply cognitive matters,

relating narrowly to the intellectually processes. Examination of attitude and their

modifications occurs most easily and is reinforced effectively under small conditions.

Interactions with fellow deepens a participant’s intellectual grasp and increase

motivation.

Group methods enable participants to deal with the present rapid changes in all

branches of medicine and the impossibility of learning all there is known, replacing

outmoded knowledge and assimilating new knowledge.

Group methods counteract the authority-dependence polarity present in much

academic and management activities.

Group method allows the participants to examine their own behavior and understand

better how they relate to others.

Group session increase active participation, participants are given the opportunity to

learn from each other.

MERITS OF GROUP DIFFERENTIATED METHOD:

They obtain increased understanding of the subject.

They develop greater ability to assemble and present information.

They welcome opportunities to think critically.

They are able to ask questions and to clear up their difficulties.

They consider that they are aided by the personal relationship with the group

leader.

They say that they become more articulate and speak and speak better in

public, with increased confidence.

They are stimulated to follow the subject further in private, independent study.

They are able to influence the content and methods of their work.

They obtain instant feedback with each other of the efforts they make to solve

the problem in hand.

DEMARITS OF GROUP DEFFERENTIATED METHOD:

Weak participants can be discourage by more articulate fellows, deterred from

expressing themselves, and have their progress slow.

In this method only students flourish which are technical not every student works.

COMRARISON OF TEACHING METHODS

Sr.

No. METHOD DEFINITION EXAMPLE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

1. Project

“A project is a whole

hearted purposeful

activity proceeding

in a social

environment”

To work in

groups.

It helps to socialize

the student. It takes a lot of time.

2. Drill

“A drill is a

classroom technique

used to practice new

language”

Students

repeat after

teachers.

Drilling help our

learners memories

language by the

teacher’s control.

Drilling often make the

students not vary creative.

3. Activity “It is a constructivist

learning approach”

Students

perform

different

activities.

Class rooms become

a lively, interesting

place.

Teachers cannot freely

move and monitor all

groups and cannot

provide individual

attention.

4. Question and

Answer

“To question well is

to teach well. In the

skillful use of

questions, more than

anything else lies the

fine art of teaching”

Interaction

between

teacher and

student.

Students remain in

active situation and

perform well in class.

Question and answer

teaching almost always

deals with factual data

and objective responses.

5. Group

Differentiated

“A group is a

number of people

interacting in a face

to face situation”

To work

together in

different

groups.

They welcome

opportunities to think

critically.

In this method only

students flourish which

are technical not every

student works.