Approaches and Methods in

Language Teaching
 Theoretical Framework for Foreign Language
Teaching (Khung lý luận về dạy & học ngoại ngữ)

• Language Curriculum
• Skills/competence
WHAT
• How to facilitate
second language
learning process?
• What teaching and
learning methods,
principles, activities?
HOW

WHERE-
WHO
WHEN
• Learner
differences in • Under what
needs, motivation, conditions?
styles,…. • What context?

5/12/2022 2
Distinction
 Edward Anthony’s Model (1963)

• Approach refers to a set of assumptions about the nature of

language, learning and teaching.
Ex: language is a structure; learning is based on stimulus-
response
• Method is an overall plan for systematic presentation of
language based on a selected approach.
• Technique refers to specific activities in the classroom that are
consistent with a method and in harmony with an approach.
Ex: drill, demonstration, visual illustration
Examples of techniques

• Three types of techniques: Presentation techniques;

language practice techniques; Feedback technique
Examples:
-Vocabulary presenting techniques: questioning,
translating, or mime.
-Vocabulary practice: drills, matching, rub out and
remember, bingo,…
Approach-design-procedure (Richards & Rodgers,
1986)
The concept of method seems
vague and prescriptive.
 Larsen-freeman (1986)

Richards and Rodgers, 1985

Larsen-freeman (1986)
Thoughts or
ideas that guide
principles actions

Coherent link
between
method principles and
techniques

technique technique technique

Classroom actions or procedures

Approaches and methods in language teaching
 Outline

• Background
• Grammar - Translation
• Language teaching innovations in the 19th century
-The Direct Method
- Methods and post-methods eras
• Why we should study the history of methods and
approaches

5/12/2022 9
 Introduction

• 60% of the world population: multilingual or bilingual

• Foreign language teaching is a major concern in
history
• Over 500 yrs ago, Latin was dominant; currently,
English as an international language
• Debate over innovations in teaching approaches
and methods was normal (Kelly, 1969; Howatt,
1984).
• Changes in learner needs => Changes in FLT

5/12/2022 10
 Before 19th century

• Over 500 yrs ago: Latin was a dominant language in Europe

• 16th century: Italian, French and English became more important
• Latin diminished and was taught at school only.
• Lessons focused on grammar analysis and memorization (translation
and practice in simple writing)
• 18th century: As modern languages entered schools, they were taught in
the way Latin was.
• What exactly was it?
+ present abstract gram rules and list of vocabulary
+ practice to apply the rules by constructing & translating sentences
• By 19th century: this way became standard.

5/12/2022 11
 Grammar-Translation method
Goal -intellectual development
-read the literature in the
target language
Skill & language focus -R &W
-G & Voc
Typical procedures -present -> practice rules in
form of grammar exercises
and translation
Accuracy/fluency Accuracy

How Grammar is taught Taught deductively

Medium of instruction L1 or the mother tongue

5/12/2022 12
 “Life span”

• 1840s-1940s
• Today still widely used in some parts of the world

5/12/2022 13
 Innovations in 19th century: The Reform movement

• Opposition to and rejection of G-T due to its distaste

by thousands of school learners
• Increased demand for spoken communication in
Europe
• More attention to developing newer ways of teaching
+ Mercel: emphasized meaning in learning and
proposed teaching reading first
+ Prendergast: proposed teaching most basic patterns
occurring in the language
+ Francis Gouin, a Frenchman most noticeable
reformer during the mid-19th century

5/12/2022 14
Gouin’s approach
Example of opening-the-door
• His belief: children learn actions
language by using language
to accomplish a series of
actions
• Approach: Presenting oral
language through themes or
situations and ‘series’ of
actions

5/12/2022 15
 • Linguists began to emphasize the role of speech rather
than written words.
• Speech patterns were basic elements of language.
• Training precise pronunciation was stressed.

5/12/2022 16
 Summary of views in the late 19th century

5/12/2022 17
 The Direct Method

• Established around 1900

• Characteristic of a “natural” or first language acquisition-like
method, so also called the natural method
• A move away from translation and the mother tongue
• Popular in private schools (US)
• Failed in public schools due to practical realities

5/12/2022 18
 Principles

5/12/2022 19
 Features of Direct Method
Goal Oral communication
skills
Skill & language focus Speaking and
listening, everyday
voc and sentences
How language is taught Inductively,
demonstrate and act
Accuracy/fluency Accuracy (correct
pronunciation + gram)
Medium of instruction The target language
5/12/2022 20
 Video

• https://youtu.be/VUUbfHT0pws
 Drawbacks of the direct method

• Depends on native speakers

• Depends on teachers’ skills, not textbooks
• Not all teachers are proficient enough.
• Avoiding L1 is counterproductive
-> Popular in European noncommercial
schools until 1920s when it declined

5/12/2022 22
 The Methods era

• The Direct Method marked the start of the era

• It led to a variety of later methods and approaches
that attempted to find out how L2 teaching should
be taught
• When is the era? throughout much of the 20th cen.
• What is it like?

5/12/2022 23
 Assumptions of the methods era

5/12/2022 24
The Audiolingual Method
 Background

• Developed by American Structuralists in the 1950s

• Came about in the 2nd world war and known as the Army
Method
• Used in American universities and colleges to train
international students
Theories for the method

Structural theory of Behaviorism

language

Phonemes/sounds

Morphemes and words

phrases

clauses

sentences
Key characteristics/principles

• Communication and automaticity of

new habits are the teaching goals.
• New grammar and vocabulary are taught
through dialogues.
• Drills are used to establish habits.
• Grammar is taught inductively.
• Listening goes before speaking, reading, and
writing.
• Accuracy is emphasized.
Techniques

• Repetition drill
• Substitution drill
• Question-answer drill
• Dialogue drill
• Role play
• Dialogue retelling or writing
Drill 1
 Drill 2

• There is a ……… on the table.

 Drill 3

• What’s ……in the bed room?

• There’s a/an….
 Drill 4

S1: Good morning.

S2: Hello.
S1: How much are the tomatoes?
S2: 35 yen a kilo.
S1: Oh! That’s cheap! I’ll take three kilos.
S2: Good. That will be 105 yen.
S1: Here you are.
S2: And here’s your change. Thank you.
S1: Thank you! Goodbye.
S2: Goodbye.
ANNUAL POSTGRADUATE SEMINAR ON
ICT IN TEACHING ENGLISH
 Demonstration

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz0TPDUz3FU
 Strengths and weaknesses

• Students can develop oral skills.

• Accuracy in pronunciation develops.
• Ss learn to use grammar in a
situation/dialogue.
• Lots of repetition may be boring.
• Learning relies much on memorization of
sentences.
• There is no focus on fluency or self-initiated
production of language.
 Watch your friends mime and say “They are….”

1. swimming
2. jogging
3. watching TV
4. talking
5. laughing
6. playing cards
7. listening to music
8. cleaning the table
9. brushing teeth
10. flying a kite
Situational Language Teaching

Structural-situational approach
Developed during 1930s- 1960s by
British applied linguists
Key principles
 Techniques

• Presentation of sentence patterns using pictures, objects,

realia, actions, gestures to make situations
• Substitution drill, chorus repetition, dictation, oral-based
reading and writing tasks
• Listen-and-repeat practice
• Question-answer
True or false?
1. Situations play a key role in distinguishing
situational language teaching.
2. Situations are made up by using pictures,
realia, objects, or any other visual aids to
convey the meaning of a structure.
3. The situational approach stresses writing
and reading before speaking.
4. In the situational approach, simple grammar
points are taught before complex ones.
 Question 3

What do Audio-lingual Method, and

Structural–Situational Method have in
common?
-Teaching is influenced by the structuralist view
of language. Teaching is organised around a
structural pattern.
-Learning is by stimulus, response, and
reinforcement. Learning is through repeated
actions or responses.
 References

• EDWARD M. ANTHONY, Approach, Method, and Technique, ELT Journal,

Volume XVII, Issue 2, January 1963, Pages 63–
67, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/XVII.2.63
• Jack, C. R., & Theodore, S. R. (1986). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching: A description and analysis.
• Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (1986). Techniques and Principles in
Language Teaching: Oxford University Press. New York.
• Littlewood, W. (2018). Developing a personal approach to teaching language
for communication. Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(4), 1222-1229