Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the language teaching

methods/approaches we have covered this semester, regarding the principles and

techniques of them. Do not forget to support and explore your ideas creating some
sample situations.

The use of appropriate language teaching methods and approaches in the classroom
environment makes a big difference in foreign language learning. There are various language
teaching methods developed by experts and educators that have their own advantages and
disadvantages. The purpose of this article is to discuss the differences, strengths and
weaknesses of these methods: Communicative Approach, Natural Approach, Content-based
Approach, Task based Approach, Lexical Approach, Cooperative Learning Approach and lastly,
Multiple Intelligence Approach. By gaining full understanding of these methods, we can more
confidently choose which path to use in the educational process.

The Communicative Approach is a method that focuses on real-life communication and

improving the ability to use language in an organic, meaningful and natural way. To make this
possible, the activities include role-playing, peer discussions, and extensive usage of authentic
materials. In order to use the communicative approach effectively, students should be provided
with opportunities to use the target language for communicative purposes. This encourages
students to use language creatively. However, this method also has its own disadvantages. One
of the shortcomings is that while it supports fluency, it does not support accuracy. The preparation
and implementation of the activities can be time-consuming for the teacher.

The most fruitful situation for communication for communicative approach would be
displayed with a role-play activity suitable to this approach’s features. the steps to a role-play
activity would be like;

1. Introducing the topic: The topic in this imaginary lesson is the topic of ordering food
in a restaurant. The class will be centered around real-world examples and visual
aids, such as pictures or videos, to help students understand the process.
2. Authentic language input:The students will be provided with the necessary
language input they will need from authentic materials and materials they would
be exposed to everyday.This might include vocabulary related to food and drink
from a menu, common phrases for ordering and requesting from a vlog, and
information about how to interact with restaurant staff from a booklet etc.
3. Scaffolding the task for students: Modeling the task for the students by playing the
role of a customer ordering food in a restaurant. The class might include a variety
of scenarios to show the different ways that language can be used in such a
context.
4. Practicing the activity in pairs: After the scaffolding, the students will practice the
task in pairs. The teacher will guide them towards using the language they’ve
learned in a meaningful manner, and to communicate with each other as if they
are really ordering food in a restaurant.
5. Giving feedback and reflection: During the activity, the teacher observes and
assists the students and after finishing the activity, provides feedback to the
students on their language use and communication skills. The teacher emphasizes
the parts they did well and the parts they could improve on in an encouraging
manner and advises them to correct and adjust themselves for the next time.
 The Natural Approach is another method that allows students to acquire language
naturally, putting listening and understanding before speaking. Students are allowed to make
mistakes and are prevented from experiencing stress. In this method, as in the communicative
approach, students speak fluently, but without accuracy, and the fact that the activities contain
meaningful tasks can be a difficulty for the teacher, who needs to be highly proficient. For students,
it requires a long attention span and high motivation level. It can also be inadequate for advanced
students, and disadvantageous for students who need clear grammar instruction.

For this demo class, the teacher will follow a storytelling session and will be teaching
students Korean as a second language. The lesson will be conducted according to the natural
approach’s features and the teacher will be open to discussion and extra information throughout
the lesson. The steps will be like this;

1. Introducing the story: The teacher will begin the class with introducing the story
they will be reading in class. They will use sounds, visuals and other aids to make
sure students understand the story’s context throughout the story.
2. Reading the story: The teacher will use Korean when reading the story and
answering students' questions in a slow, clear and understandable manner. They
will pause every so often to ask concept-checking questions.
3. Talking about the story: Discussing the story with the students right after the end
of the story and in Korean is the follow up plan of this class. By doing this, the
teacher will encourage the students to speak up and express their opinions.
4. Acting-out the story: After discussing and finishing the story, the children will act-
out either some parts or the whole part of the story in Korean according to the
amount of time they have for this step.
5. Extending the language and connecting it to the previous knowledge: At the end,
the teacher will connect the info students have learned to the knowledge students
learned previously by giving out additional input containing both. This will
encourage the children to use the language in a different context next time.

The Content-based Approach makes language learning more fun and interesting for
learners, as it uses fun topics in materials. With these interesting topics, students gain more
knowledge about the real world. They develop their social skills by collaborating in groups.
However, it can be difficult for students with low knowledge of the content. The method includes
no explicit language instruction.

For this imaginary scenario, the teacher will teach the human body as their current science
topic is also the human body to tie the content with their learning language input. The teacher will
use science-based input to support their learning of both the science and language studies. The
steps will be followed as;
1. Introducing the topic: The teacher will introduce the topic of the human body in
English with aids used in meaningful context such as diagrams or models of the
body to help the students understand the context.
2. A reading activity: The teacher will provide the students with a science-based
reading activity with authentic material such as a science article about the human
body or a section from a science textbook. The students will be following the critical
 reading steps while doing the activity and the teacher will ask concept-checking
questions at the end.
3. A writing activity: After the critical reading session, the students will write a
summary of the reading material in English while the teacher encourages them to
use the science terminology and concepts related to the human body.
4. Discussing the content: After the reading and writing activities, the students will be
the one to discuss the concept by themselves by using the language items they've
learned in previous activities. The teacher will encourage them to use healthy
communication patterns, express their opinions, and make connections about this
topic to their experiences.
5. Language Focus: Towards the end of the class, the focus will shift towards more
technical language elements such as language acquisition, grammar acquisition,
and writing conventions to integrate the language items fully.

The Task Based Approach is a motivating approach that focuses on the experience and
background knowledge of the learners. It gives students a reason to use the target language, and
helps students develop their cooperative skills by working in groups. Because of its deep
emphasis on tasks and conveying meaning, it can neglect to teach how to use language in the
correct form.

For a task-based approach led lesson plan, the teacher would be focusing on real life
tasks that an adult might need to perform as the target students are intermediate level adults in
this class. In this specific lesson, these students will learn about preparing a travel guidebook as
the vacation season is coming near. The steps of this lesson plan will involve;

1. Introducing the task: The teacher begins the class by introducing the topic which
is the creation of a travel guidebook. Students will plan a trip to a place of their
choice and start to work on it.
2. Pre-task Activity: The teacher will create activities to prepare the students for the
main task. For this lesson plan, they will examine authentic materials such as a
travel booklet online or another hard copy made for travel agencies.
3. Task Cycle: The teacher will create steps for the task in order to not overwhelm
the students and help them understand better. These steps are shortly choosing a
destination, creating a layout with subheadings and headings, info dumping and
summarizing into a meaningful travel guidebook.
4. Language Focus: The language focus of the class -vocabulary acquisition process,
grammar structures and communication strategies- are taught in an integrated
manner into the full class time. Language is always given with context and given
feedback.
5. Task Outcome of the lesson: At the end of the lesson, the students will present
their final product to the class in English. They will be encouraged to use contextual
language when presenting and be given feedback both from their peers and their
teachers.

The Lexical Approach places emphasis on vocabulary learning rather than grammar. It
helps students use collocations and language chunks. A disadvantage of this method comes from
the fact that language can not be divided into smaller parts in real life. Another aspect is that it
requires students to have rich vocabulary knowledge and can be unsuitable for learners who need
explicit grammar instruction.
 For this class’ sample situation, the target group will be intermediate students who want
to improve their listening and speaking skills - the most compatible student type with lexical
approach’s features -. The focus will be on vocabulary acquisition and helping to develop lexical
competence. The class will naturally be built around a vocabulary-building activity. The steps will
include;
1. Introducing the topic: The students will be introduced to the topic at the start. The
topic can be anything from “food” to a certain country’s “culture”, a topic like
“business English”.
2. Word Lists: The students will be provided word lists related to the topic from the
teacher. These generally have frequently used word chunks, collocation and high
frequency words. However, the students are encouraged towards learning the
usage and the meaning of the words, rather than flat-out memorizing information.
3. Vocabulary Tasks: After learning about words of a topic, the students will complete
vocabulary tasks to solidify the vocabulary acquisition. They might match the
words with their definition, another words that has the closest meaning with the
word, complete gap-filling exercises, or use these newly acquired words in
sentences.
4. Speaking and Listening practice: The information will be incorporated into
speaking and listening activities in context so that the meaning and usage of the
vocabulary is comprehended correctly. An example to that situation would be to
listen to a podcast that includes target vocabulary and then have a discussion
about the topic of the podcast using the vocabulary they’ve learned in the class.
5. Reflection and review: At the end of the lesson, as a comprehension exercise,
students are encouraged to reflect on the vocabulary they’ve learned in the class
orally and review this vocabulary regularly. Also additional review opportunities are
created by the teacher such as quizzes, games or other revision exercises.

The Cooperative Learning Approach helps students develop their collaborative and critical
thinking skills. It promotes inclusivity and peer support while providing meaningful contexts for
students to use the target language. However, this aspect of the method requires the teacher to
monitor group work, which can be challenging. Some students may struggle with group work and
prefer to work alone by themselves. Lastly, individuals can be difficult to assess when in a group.

In this approach, a sample situation or a lesson plan would include a variety of tasks so
that the students develop their collaborative and social skills with highly interactive activities.
1. The students work as groups to guess the meanings of the vocabulary list, jobs
and occupations. Each group writes their answers on a piece of paper.
2. Next, the teacher gives the groups a vocabulary test based on the previous
vocabulary list. The students help each other to complete the quiz and support
each other where they are lacking. (Peer Learning)
3. In the next activity, the students will do a role-play and portray the jobs. Each group
creates another scenario with the jobs they are given.

The Multiple Intelligence Approach helps with tailoring the course content to the learners’
interests, needs and experiences. This method helps students develop a variety of skills other
than linguistic ones and excel in the areas they wish to pursue later in life. The downside of this
method is its time consuming nature. It can be difficult for the teachers as they need to use more
than one type of material to include every type of intelligence.
An example lesson plan for multiple intelligence approach would be followed with;

1. The teacher starts the lesson with a video and draws the attention of the students who
use their visual and auditory intelligence actively.
2. The video contains a song that gives directions on what to do, which supports the students
who primarily use musical and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
3. After the video ends, they give 2 minutes to the students to think about the video, or have
a short discussion with their elbow buddies if they prefer. This engages students who use
both interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence, by giving them the chance
to choose what they want to do.
4. When the time is over, the teacher lets them share their ideas out loud and gives a word
puzzle with missing letters. Thus, students who use logical-mathematical and linguistic
intelligence are also included.