A presentation by Elena Chiaburu

What is language teaching methodology?

A whole complex of elements

The link between

theory and practice

Theories of

language learning

Instructional design

features Observed teaching practice

BEHAVIORISM

COGNITIVE

AFFECTIVE

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

SOCIOLINGUISTIC

MONITOR MODEL

TRANSFER

INTERDEPENDENCE

NEUROLOGICAL

INTERDEPENDENCE

The design features might include:

Stated objectives

Syllabus specifications

Types of activities

Roles of teachers, learners, materials

METHOD: •A systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and

language learning.

•Fixed teaching system with prescribed techniques and practices.

APPROACH: •A group of related assumptions.

•Language teaching philosophy that can be interpreted and applied in a variety of different ways in the classroom.

TECHNIQUES:

•A way (how) to implement the method.

The Grammar Translation Method

1950s: Situational Language Teaching (UK)

Audiolingualism (USA)

Variety of methods: Silent way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, TPR

1970s-1980s: More interactive views of language teaching--Communicative Language Teaching

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

(CLT)PRINCIPLES:Learners learn the language through using it to communicate

Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities

Fluency is an important dimension of communication

Communication involves the integration of different skills

Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error

SOURCE: Theodore S. Rodgers, Language Teaching Methodology

Communicative Language Teaching inspired a number of approaches that share the same principles, but envision instructional practices in diverse ways:

THE NATURAL APPROACH

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

CONTENT-BASED TEACHING

TASK-BASED TEACHING

PREDICTIONS:Carrying on and refining current trends

OR

“Science-fiction” visionaries:

•Teacher/Learner collaboration

•Method synergistics

•Curriculum developmentalism

•Content-Basics

•Multiintelligencia

•Total Functional Response

•Strategopedia

•Lexical Phraseology

•O-zone Whole Language

•Full-Frontal Communication

TEACHER/LEARNER COLLABORATION:

matchmaking techniques

via on-line computer networks

METHOD SYNERGISTICS:

crossbreeding elements from various methods into a common program of instruction

“disciplined eclecticism”

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENTALISM:

The curriculum perspective comes from general education and views successful

instruction as an interweaving of knowledge, instructional methodology, learner, and

administrative considerations.

CONTENT-BASICS:

Content-based instruction assumes that

language learning is a by-product of focus on meaning, on acquiring

content.

MULTIINTELLIGENCIA: an approach based on multiple intelligences

theories.

TOTAL FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE: New leads in discourse and genre (report, procedure, explanation, exposition, recount) analysis, schema theory, pragmatics, and functional grammar rekindle an interest in functionally based approaches to language teaching.

STRATEGOPEDIA (Learning to learn): focus on language

learning strategies for learning, thinking, planning, and self-

monitoring.

LEXICAL PHRASEOLOGY: Language teaching should

center on memorized lexical patterns and the way they can

be pieced together

O-ZONE WHOLE LANGUAGE: “Focus on form” proposals assume that students will learn only what they are aware of.

FULL-FRONTAL COMMUNICATIVITY:

Instructional focus is on the non-linguistic aspects of communication, including rhythm, speed, pitch, intonation, tone, and hesitation phenomena in speech and gestures, facial expression, posture, and distance in non-verbal messages.

“In general, any fundamentally new approach

to a scientific problem inevitably leads to new

methods of investigation and analysis. The invention of

new methods that are adequate to the new ways in which problems are posed

requires far more than a simple modification of previously accepted

methods.”

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky