Special Didactics II

Understanding the history of Language teaching

Methods
Ms. Rioja
 Agenda
Method: Approach, Design and Procedure
Schools of Psychology and Schools of
Linguistics
Understanding the history of language
teaching methods and approaches
 Method: Approach, Design and
Procedure

Method

Approach Design Procedure

 Method: Approach, Design and
Procedure
• Relationship between approach, design and procedure
• Approach: assumptions related to the nature of
language teaching- language theories / language
learning theories

• Design: instructional system- Objectives/ contents

(syllabus)/ Types of learning tasks/learner and teacher’s
roles/ instructional materials

• Procedure: Classroom techniques/presentation /

practice and production of new language/ giving
feedback/ error treatment
Method: Approach, Design and
Procedure

p. 28
Approach: Language and Language
Learning Theories

Views of
language

Structural Functional Interactional

view view view
 Views of language

• Structural view:
• Language is viewed as a system of structurally
related elements for the coding of meaning.
• The target of language learning is seen to be the
mastery of elements of this system: phonological
units, grammatical units grammatical operations
(e.g., adding, shifting, joining, or transforming
elements), and lexical items
• Methods: Audiolingual/ TPR / The Silent Way
• Syllabus: Structural syllabus
 Views of language

• Functional view:
• Language is a vehicle for the expression of
functional meaning.
• This theory emphasizes the semantic and
communicative dimension
• Methods: Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) / ESP
• Syllabus: Notional Functional syllabus ( topics /
notions/ functions)
 Views of language

• Interactional view:
• It 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.
• Language teaching content, according to this view,
may be specified and organized by patterns of
exchange and interaction or may be left unspecified, to
be shaped by the inclinations of learners as
interactors.
• Method: Community Language Learning (CLL)
“Language as a social process”
 Views of Language Learning

Views of language
learning

Process -
Condition-orien
oriented
ted theories
theories
 Views of Language Learning

• (a) What are the psycholinguistic and ,

cognitive processes involved in language
learning?
• (b) What are the conditions that need to be
met in order for these learning processes to be
activated?
• Learning theories associated with a method at
the level of approach may emphasize either
one or both of these dimensions.
 Views of Language Learning

• Process-oriented theories build on learning

processes, such as habit formation, induction,
inferencing, hypothesis testing, and
generalization. (Audiolingual / The Natural
Approach)
• Condition-oriented theories emphasize the
nature of the human and physical context in which
language learning takes place. (Silent Way/
Desuggestopedia/ CLL / Natural Approach)
 Approach and Design
• Theory does not dictate a particular set of
teaching techniques and activities.
• What links theory with practice (or approach
with procedure) is what we have called
design).
Schools of Psychology
 Understanding the history of language teaching methods
and approaches
Approaches and methods Theory of language Theory of learning

Grammar - Translation ----------------- Teaching of Classical

Method (1840’s to 1940’s)
Direct Method (Gouin &
Berlitz Method) Late
1800’s
languages: Latin and
Greek
-------------------- Foreign language could be
taught without translation or
the use of the learner's native
tongue if meaning was
conveyed directly through
demonstration and
action.(Gouin & Berlitz)

Audiolingual Method American Behaviorism

(1950’s 60’s) Situational Structuralism (Bloomfield (Skinner)
/Oral Approach ( / Fries)
1920’s/30’s) British Structuralism
 Approaches and Theory of Language Theory of Learning
methods

Designer methods _______________ Cognitivism ( Ausubel)

(1970’s):
The Silent Way Rogers’ Humanistic
(Gattegno) Psychology
TPR (Asher)
Desuggestopedia
(Lozanov)
Community L. L.
(Curran)
Natural approach Krashen’s input
(Krashen & Terrell) Hypothesis (SLA)
Communicative Communicative Constructivism (Piaget)
Language Teaching Approach – Social constructivism
(1980’s) Communicative (Vigotsky)
Content – Based Competence
Approach (Widdowson, Hymes)
Task – Based
Approach
ESP
THE VALUE OF STUDYING METHODS AND
APPROACHES IN LT
It provides teachers with a view of how the field
of language teaching has evolved.
Approaches and methods can be studied not as
prescriptions for how to teach but as a source of
well-used practices, which teachers can adapt
and implement based on their own needs.
Experience in using different teaching
approaches and methods can provide teachers
with basic teaching skills that they can later add
to or supplement as they develop teaching
experience.
TASK: THE SECRET LIFE OF METHODS
Richards, J. C. (1984). The secret life of methods.
TESOL quarterly, 18(1), 7-23.
 References
• Richards, J. and Rodgers, T. (1986). Approaches and
Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge
University Press (Chapter 2)
Questions?