C) Research Study

Q3. With reference to the following framework, enumerate with examples the application of
methodologies.

What is methodology?
Answer: Methodology means the study of pedagogical practices in general, including theoretical
implications and related research.  It includes what is involved in how to teach. It is the rationale and the
philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study

Example: Grammar Translation, the Audio lingual Method and the Direct Method are clear methodologies,
with associated practices and procedures, and are each based on different interpretations of the nature of
language and language learning.

How does methodology operate?

Answer: Methodology operates on beliefs about the nature of language, and how it is learnt (known as
'Approach'). It operates on:

1. The nature of language,

2. How knowledge of a language is acquired.
3. And the conditions that promote language acquisition.

For Example:
In the classroom many teachers base their lessons on a mixture of methods and approaches to meet the
different needs of learners and the different aims of lessons or courses. Factors which decides how to teach
include, the age and experience of learners, lesson and course objectives, expectations and resources.

Where does methodology derive from?

Answer: Methodology is the study of how one can reach the objective truth. In fact, the English word
method is derived from the Greek word Meta (following) and Hodos (the way). Thus, "method" implies that
in order to attain some purpose, one should follow a certain way. From the time of ancient Greece until
today, many philosophers have developed their own unique methodologies.

ELT methodologies:

 Grammar Translation: In Europe, the 16th century saw the foundation of grammar schools, where
pupils were given a rigorous introduction to Latin grammar rules, study of declensions and conjugations,
translation and practice in writing model sentences, mainly by using parallel bilingual texts and dialogue.
When modern languages entered the curriculum of European schools from the 18th Century onwards
they followed the same method of teaching and learning. This approach remained the only one in use
well into the 20th century and is still prevalent in modified forms in many contexts around the world.
The focus in the classroom was on grammatical rules as the basis for translating from the second to the
native language. The major characteristics of this method are: classes are taught in the mother
tongue with little active use of the target language, vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of
isolated words, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given, instructions focus
on the form and inflection of words’ reading of difficult classical text, little attention is paid to
context, drill in disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue, little or
no attention to pronunciation is paid.

Example: Ask the students to take 5 vocabulary words from their favorite song and then translate it
into English. In teaching a particular lesson in grammar, ask the students to memorize the rules, and
they should give their sentences as samples.
 Direct Method: This method evolved around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and
followed on from the ideas of the Reform Movement led by French and German linguists in the mid
1800s. The basic premise of the Direct Method was similar that the second language learning should be
more like first language learning – lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of language, no translation
between first and second language and little or no analysis of grammatical rules. The principles of the
Direct method are: classroom instructions are conducted exclusively in the target language, only
everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught. Oral communication skills are taught through
question-answer exchanges between teacher and students in small classes. Grammar is taught
inductively, new concepts are taught through modeling and practice, concrete vocabulary is taught
with the aid of objects and pictures while abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas,
speech, listening comprehension, pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.

Example: By hearing the teacher say “he is a student” to Ricardo and “they are students” to Chris and
Natalia, students start learning verb conjugations without creating diagrams or having patterns laid out for
them.

 Oral and Situational Language Teaching: This method contains elements of the Direct Method and
evolved from it. During the early part of the 20th century, linguist in Europe developed the Oral
Approach. New language is drilled orally in sentence patterns. Vocabulary needed for the situation is
taught and tested. Oral Approach was based on scientific research. The main characteristics of this
approach are: Language teaching begins with spoken language. The target language is the
language of the classroom. It uses the tried and tested PPP methodology (Presentation, Practice,
Production). The teacher presents new language, learners try it out in controlled practice, such as
mechanical drills, followed by so-called free production, when learners produce their own
sentences using the model initially presented. New language points are introduced and practiced
situationally. Vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general
service vocabulary is covered. Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple
forms should be taught before complex ones. Reading and writing are introduced once sufficient
lexical and grammatical basis is established.

Example: The Teacher will show some images to the students and teacher will show some action that is
happening in the pictures. The students have to repeat that at least 2 times. Wash! (Teacher shows a visual
aid demonstrating the action verb).

Wash my hands (shows her hands)

Wash my face (shows her face)
Wash my clothes (shows her clothes)

 Audio-Lingual Method: This method was developed for military purposes by the USA during World
War II. It consists of listening to dialogues on tape and responding accordingly. The aim was to enable
espionage personnel to assimilate spoken language and be able to infiltrate enemy offices and pass
themselves off as native speakers. The courses that were designed were called the “Army Method”.
Characteristic of these courses was a great deal of oral activity – pronunciation and pattern drills and
conversation practice with virtually no grammar and translation classes. In all its adaptation and
variations the Army Method came to be known as the Audio lingual Method (ALM). It was firmly
grounded in linguistic and psychological theory. The characteristics of the ALM are: new material is
presented in dialogue form, structures are sequenced and taught one at a time, structural patterns
are taught using repetitive drills, there is little or no grammatical explanation, vocabulary is
limited and learned in context, a lot of audio – visual aids are used, great importance is given to
pronunciation, successful responses are immediately reinforced and there is a tendency to
manipulate language and disregard content.
Example: The teacher repeats a dialogue sentence, such as "I ate an apple." She then supplies a
prompt by saying "banana" or showing a picture of a banana. Students should respond, "I ate a
banana." The exercise continues with other foods, such as "pear," "orange" and "hamburger." Using
the same sentence, another drill could practice different subjects. For example, the teacher says,
"Tom," and students respond, "Tom ate an apple."
Audio-lingual substitution drills are mechanical exercises that reinforce structural patterns and
practice vocabulary. In these drills, students vary the dialogue without altering the grammar.

 The Communicative Approach: This approach arose out of the needs within the member countries of
the Council of Europe to find an approach to teaching and learning the major European languages. This
approach emphasised learning language for mainly spoken communication. Communicative language
teaching (CLT) encouraged oral competence without too much attention to the teaching of
structures (grammar rules) and vocabulary. Naom Chomsky’s theories on a Universal Grammar gave
rise to a confidence that everyone who wanted to learn another language would do so. Foreign language
learning in Europe was quite carried away by CLT for much of the 1970s and 80s. Communicative
competence was the aim of the method – it did not encompass academic rigour and examination
success. The classroom was to be a rehearsal room for reallife oral interactions and CLT
undoubtedly underpinned some very creative teaching materials and classroom practices. As with
the Direct Method, CLT suited only those learners whose learning style matched this approach.

Example:
The teacher in a communicative language classroom acts as a guide or facilitator and students
engage in class activities to learn the language. Teacher might set up an activity where she asks
students what their favorite holiday is and why. She can pair the students up and have them talk to
one another about it while the teacher walks around the room and helps the pairs out.

As a result there may be more emphasis on skills than systems, lessons are more learner-centered,
and there may be use of authentic materials

 Total Physical Response: James Asher developed Total Physical Response in the 1960s but it was
almost a decade before the method was widely discussed in professional circles. Today, Total Physical
Response (TPR), with its simplicity as its most appealing feature is a common word with language
teachers. Principles of child language acquisition were important. Asher noted that children in learning
their first language appear to do a lot of listening before they speak and that their listening is
accompanied by physical responses. So he devised a method that was as stress free as possible, where
the learners would not feel overly self-conscious and defensive. In the TPR classroom the children did a
lot of listening and acting. However the TPR had its limitations. It seemed to be especially effective in
the beginning levels of language proficiency but lost its distinctiveness as learners advanced in their
competence.

Example: The teacher gives a command e.g. ‘Stand up!’ ‘Walk to the door!’ ‘Give the book to
John!’ etc. Thus Students will only do the action when teacher gives them command to do that
particular action and learners have to obey.

The Silent Way: This is another humanistic approach developed by Gattegno in New York in the
1970s. In this method learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and
repeats what is to be learned. Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical objects and by problem
solving involving the material to be learned. “Discovery learning”, a popular educational trend in the 1960s
advocated less learning by being told and more by self-discovery of various principles. The Silent Way
used such discovery-learning procedures. The learner should develop independence, autonomy and
responsibility. At the same time the learners had to cooperate with each other in the process of solving
language problems. The teacher was silent much of the time hence the name of the method. The Silent
Way was considered too harsh a method and the teacher too distant to encourage a communicative
atmosphere. Students need more guidance and overt correction than the method permitted. However we can
benefit from the theory of discovery learning in our classrooms and providing less teacher talk than we
usually do to let the students work things out on their own.

Example:  The silent way makes use of specialized teaching materials: colored Cuisenaire rods, the
sound-color chart, word charts, and Fidel charts. At the beginning stages they can be used to
practice colors and numbers, and later they can be used in more complex grammar.

For example, to teach prepositions the teacher could use the statement "The blue rod is between the
green one and the yellow one".

 The Natural Approach: The natural approach is a method of language teaching developed

by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is based on linguist
Stephen Krashen's theory of language acquisition, which assumes that speech emerges in
four stages: (1) preproduction (listening and gestures), (2) early production (short phrases),
(3) speech emergence (long phrases and sentences), and (4) intermediate fluency
(conversation). It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting, and to this
end it emphasizes communication, and places decreased importance on conscious grammar study
and explicit correction of student errors. In the natural approach, language output is not forced, but
allowed to emerge spontaneously after students have attended to large amounts of comprehensible
language input.

Example: ‘Harry has the picture of the house; David has the picture of the boat’ etc. Does Susan or Harry
have the picture of the house?’  Again, the students need only produce a name in the response.

 Suggestopedia: The name of Suggestopedia is from the words “suggestion” and

“pedagogy.” This method is developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist-educator Georgi
Lozanov contention that the human brain could process great quantities of material if given the
right conditions for learning, among which are a state of relaxation and giving over of control to the
teacher. The most conspicuous characteristics of Suggestopedia are the decoration,
furniture, and arrangement of the classroom, the use of music, and the authoritative
behavior of the teacher.  Music is central to this method as it created the kind of “relaxed
concentration” that led to “super learning”. Activities were carried out in soft comfortable seats
in relaxed states of consciousness. Students were encouraged to be as “childlike” as possible,
yielding all authority to the teacher. Students thus became “suggestible”.

Example: Teacher should act as a real partner to the students, participating in the activities such as
games and songs “naturally” and “genuinely.” In the concert session, they should fully include
classical art into their behaviors.

 Current Trends in ELT: Are as follows:

1. New Technology, Video Platforms and Social Media: With the introduction of user-friendly apps
this trend may see greater expansion in the years to come. Virtual Reality is the perfect example
of a move toward the concept of a global classroom.
 Due to the constant developments in the VR world, a number of well-crafted
applications are already at disposal.
 The capacity for immersive experiences could soon become limitless with the broadening of
VR development.
 It could lead to a real shift in the way we blend tech and education both in and out of school.
  Students will be able to enjoy “native” learning experiences and immersion simply by
downloading the right app and purchasing the correct equipment.
 Mobile phones and devices are going to play an even greater role in the classroom setting.

2. Augmented Reality: By overlaying the natural world with digital enhancement are able to create an
immersive and modern learning experience. With the growth of digital literacy—especially among
younger students—and the coming generations of digital natives, tech-savvy students in the know will
be looking to AR for future language acquisition and supplements to classroom time.
3. Mindfulness and Social-emotional Teaching: Programs such as the ‘Mindfulness in Schools
Project' have realized the necessity of mindfulness and its importance in an educational context.
Implementing some mindfulness activities in classroom may just lead to better outcomes and
happier students. It’s entirely possible to blend both ESL and mindfulness into the curriculum,
and it can be done by taking some simple activities and tweaking them for class. For example
watching clouds, Happy Bubble, Strong Tree etc.
4. Task-based Learning: Task-based learning is based on a simple premise that students learn when
they collaborate on meaningful and communication-based tasks. The students should be encouraged
to consider their own areas of interest and how this may fit within the task-based learning
context.
5. Translanguaging: This means the use of various language skills to designate meaning in a
language class. Students will be able to retain a component of their identity through a shared language
and a classroom becomes a space of global communication. Translanguaging reflects the diversity of
culture and society. A translanguaging class, for example, may see students write an essay or discuss a
topic in their shared native tongue(s) before grouping with the class and presenting their findings in
English.
6. DIY Learning: Do-it-yourself learning is set to become a major trend as we move to a more
independent and interest-based learning style. Students should be encouraged to follow particular
areas of interest to promote engagement and enjoyment in the classroom and home. By exploring the
needs of the children and their particular areas of interest, teacher will become more aware of the
students’ personalities and potential learning direction. Using this information, it’s up to the teacher
to devise interest-based activities.

7. TPRS: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling stems from the concept of
comprehensible input. The idea is that context and meaning play an important role in the
acquisition of new language and native phrases. By presenting tasks based on storytelling and
reading in a highly contextualized setting, teachers are able to teach vocabulary, phrases and large
chunks of language. It’s a move away from traditional textbook-based learning and relies heavily on
the competencies of the teacher. It’s necessary to be up to date with the latest in TPRS
methodologies and strategies.

Q4. How is the role of a student in CLT different from that in the Audio-lingual method?
Answer: The Audio Lingual Method, or the Army method, is the mode of language instruction
based on behaviorist ideology, which professes that certain traits of living things could be trained
through a system of reinforcement. The instructor would present the correct model of a sentence
and the students would have to repeat it. The teacher would then continue by presenting new words
for the students to sample in the same structure. There is no explicit grammar instruction everything
is simply memorized in form. The idea is for the students to practice the particular construction
until they can use it spontaneously. In this manner, the lessons are built on static drills in which the
students have little or no control on their own output.

The Communicative Language Teaching is the approach to teaching of second and foreign
languages that emphasizes communication or interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of
learning a language. The CLT was the product of educators and linguists who had grown
dissatisfied with earlier Grammar Translation and Audio Lingual Methods, where students were not
learning enough realistic, socially necessary language. Therefore they became interested in the
development of communicative style teaching in the 1970s, focusing on authentic language use and
classroom exchanges where students engaged in real communication with one another. The goal of
CLT is of creating communicative competence in the learners. It makes use of real life situations.

There are differences within communicative language teaching and audio-lingual methods in
courses of the positions of teacher and learner. In the audio-lingual approach, the teacher’s role
is central and dynamic; it is a teacher-dominated program. The teacher guides the target
communication controls the administration and pace of training, and counselors and corrects the
students’ accomplishment. Language learning is perceived to result from effective verbal
communication among teachers and learners. On the other hand, in communicative language
instruction, the learner performs the fundamental role and the teacher acts as an arbitrator.