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žmogus ir žodis 2008 III

kal bo s di dakti ka

Modern Approaches in English


Language Teaching
Šiuolaikinės anglų kalbos
mokymo(si) kryptys

Daiva Verikaitė
Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas, anglų kalbos katedra,
Studentų g. 39, Lt-08106, Vilnius
veridaiv@takas.lt

Santrauka
Užsienio kalbos mokymo(si) proceso sėkmė guage Teaching), užduotimis grįsto kalbos mokymo
pirmiausia priklauso nuo sėkmingo mokymo(si) (Task-Based Learning), integruoto dalyko ir užsienio
metodų ir būdų pa(si)rinkimo. Tinkamus mokymo(si) kalbos mokymo (Content and Language Integrated
metodus ir būdus galima parinkti tik tada, kai atsi- Learning) – pagrindiniais principais, jų taikymu
žvelgiama į studentų motyvacijos lygį, mokymosi praktikoje, šių mokymo(si) krypčių užduotimis ir jų
stilių ir intelekto tipą. Straipsnyje pateikiama išsa- speciika, jų privalumais ir trūkumais.
mi mokymo(si) proceso sėkmę lemiančių faktorių Esminiai žodžiai: poreikiai, motyvacija, moky-
analizė. Supažindinama su trijų šiuolaikinių plačiai mosi stilius, kompetencija, intelektas, komunikacinis
naudojamų anglų kalbos mokymo(si) krypčių – ko- kalbos mokymas, integruotas dalyko ir užsienio
munikacinio kalbos mokymo (Communicative Lan- kalbos mokymas.

Summary
The article reviews modern approaches in English motivation, learning style, and type of intelligence
Language Teaching (ELT): Communicative Lan- as well as teachers’ competences.
guage Teaching (CLT), Task-Based Language Teach- Key words: needs, motivation, learning style,
ing (TBLT), and Content and Language Integrated intelligence, competence, Communicative Language
Learning (CLIL). It presents the deinition, analysis teaching, task-Based Language teaching, and Con-
and evaluation of the teaching/ learning process and tent and Language integrated Learning.
the factors determining its success: students’ needs,

Introduction Theory of Human Motivation” published in 1943.


Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs is often de-
Various attempts to deine the process of teach- picted as a pyramid consisting of ive levels (see
ing and learning resulted in a number of deinitions. Figure 1). The irst lower level is associated with
However, there is one common point that most physiological needs such as breathing, food, water,
methodologists agree upon – the process of teaching a sleep or excretion and is termed basic needs. The top
foreign language is a complex one. It usually involves levels are termed higher needs and comprise safety
three major steps: the teaching acts of presenting and security, love and belonging, and esteem. The
and explaining new material, providing practice and needs of safety involve security of body, employ-
testing. The success of the process of teaching and ment, resources, family, health or property. After
learning largely depends on the participants – teach- safety needs are fulfilled, there comes the third
ers and students – who have their own needs, roles, layer of human needs which involves friendship,
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and responsibilities. It is teachers’ responsibility to family, sexual intimacy/love/marriage. Humans are


identify and address the needs of their students. social beings and they need social acceptance either
The most extensive analysis of the human needs of a large social group (professional organizations,
was presented by Abraham Maslow in his paper “A sports teams, clubs or associations) or a small group

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Modern Approaches in English Language Teaching
Šiuolaikinės anglų kalbos mokymo(si) kryptys

(family members, friends, partners, colleagues). The Integrative motivation involves the desire to identify
lack of love and social acceptance may cause loneli- with and integrate into the culture of the language
ness, social anxiety, and depression. The fourth level one is studying. Instrumental motivation is the wish
– esteem needs – consists of two sublevels. The lower to learn the language for purposes of study or career
sublevel relates to fame, respect, and glory. The high- promotion. Global motivation is deined as the over-
er sublevel involves conidence, competence, and all orientation of the learner towards the learning of
achievement. People with low esteem need respect the foreign language. Situational motivation is the
from others and seek fame or glory, which are de- motivation caused by the context of learning such as
pendent on others. However, conidence, competence classroom or school environment. Task motivation
and achievement are independent from other people’s concerns the way the learner approaches the speciic
involvement and can be attained by one person. The task given by the teacher. The major sources of moti-
top level of needs – self-actualization – is the most vation to learn a foreign language, as pointed out by
important for the personality development since it Harmer (2001, 52), are the society we live in, attitude
is the most important drive of behaviour. According of parents, older siblings, peers, the teacher and the
to Maslow, self-actualization involves acceptance of method used. Harmer (op. cit., 52) emphasizes the
facts, lack of prejudice, problem solving, creativity, importance of the teacher, who is a major factor in the
and morality. Therefore, self-actualization is reaching continuance of students’ motivation, and the method
one’s fullest potential. used in the teaching process. According to Ur (1997,
275), the successful learner is the one who is will-
ing to tackle tasks and challenges, has conidence in
his/her success, has a need to achieve, to overcome
dificulties and succeed in what he/she is doing, is
ambitious and inds important to succeed in learning
in order to maintain and promote his/her own positive
image, is aware of the goals of learning, invests high
level of effort in learning, and is not discouraged by
setbacks or lack of progress.
Therefore, teachers who want to motivate their
students have to be aware of certain ways of arousing
interest in tasks. In order to motivate their students,
Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs teachers have to set clear goals. Learners have to
know the objectives of the task – both language
(taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ learning and content. Topics and tasks should be
Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) selected carefully to be as interesting as possible.
It is important to use visuals, game-like activities,
In the process of teaching and learning it is im- elements of entertainment (jokes, stories, songs,
portant to realise that students’ higher needs come in presentations, movies, video clips), role play simu-
focus only when the lower needs are mostly satisied. lations, personalization of tasks, open-ended cues
The degree of satisfaction of the needs determine (a cue which invites many possible responses is
the level of students’ motivation to study a foreign much more stimulating than one with only one right
language. answer) (Ur, 1997, 281).
Motivation, as a key factor in the process of learn- Appropriately selected tasks and methods can
ing and teaching, is deined as some kind of internal generate students’ motivation. The appeal of meth-
drive which pushes someone to do things in order to ods is extended if methods are selected according to
achieve something (Harmer, 2001, 51). Ur (1997, students’ learning styles. Learning style refers to any
276) presents the following kinds of motivation: individual’s preferred ways of learning. It depends
extrinsic, intrinsic, integrative, instrumental, global, on the student’s personality, including psychological
situational and task motivation. Extrinsic motivation or cognitive character, sociocultural background and
to learn a foreign language is caused by a number educational experience. According to learning styles,
Daiva Verikaitė

of outside factors such as the desire to pass an ex- all learners can be divided into visual, auditory, and
amination or the possibility of future travel. Intrinsic kinaesthetic learners.
motivation comes from within the individual who Visual learners learn better when they can read or
is driven by the enjoyment of the learning process. see the information. They usually have a strong sense

68
žmogus ir žodis 2008 III
kal bo s di dakti ka

of colour, they follow written directions well and use communicate well through gestures. They learn
visualization to remember things, they love to read, best through physical activity, simulation and role
remember quickly and easily what is read, and read play but ind it dificult to sit still for long. Those
well from picture clues. However, they process audi- with interpersonal intelligence understand people
tory input slowly and are distracted by noise or people well and learn best by interacting and co-operating
talking in the background. They become inpatient with others. They enjoy playing social games and
when extensive listening is required. According to are good at leading and organizing. Those having
Honey & Mumford (1992), visual learners comprise intrapersonal intelligence like to work alone and have
65 % of all learners. a sense of independence, they are intuitive, strong-
Auditory learners learn better when the informa- willed, self-conident and relective. They are aware
tion primarily comes through their ears. Auditory of their personal strengths and weaknesses. Those
learners (30% of all learners) tend to remember and with naturalist intelligence recognize lora and fauna,
repeat ideas that are verbally presented. They learn make distinctions and notice patterns in the natural
well through lectures and like to talk to others. They world and use this ability productively e.g. farming
enjoy plays, dialogues, dramas and they like to make or pet-keeping.
speeches and presentations. However, they usually In order to achieve goals of the teaching proc-
cannot keep quiet for a longer time. ess and to satisfy students’ needs, teachers have to
Kinaesthetic learners (5% of all learners) learn possess competences necessary for a good language
best through total physical involvement with the teacher. According to Kelly et al. (2004), there are
learning environment. Kinaesthetic learners involve four main kinds of competences that each language
the sense of touch in learning and like to do artwork. teacher should display: general competences, exis-
They like to trace words and pictures and are success- tential competences, ability to learn and strategic
ful with tasks requiring manipulation. Kinaesthetic competence. General competences involve existen-
learners learn better when able to move during les- tial (psychologically and socially conditioned) com-
sons, they like to work at a standing position and petence and sociocultural/intercultural competence.
they like listening to music while studying but they Existential competence comprises personality traits,
are poor listeners. attitudes and temperaments, motivation, values, be-
Students’ learning styles depend on their prevail- liefs and cognitive style. Sociocultural/intercultural
ing type of intelligence. Gardner (1999) distinguishes competence involves interpersonal relations, system
eight types of intelligence: linguistic intelligence, of values, body language, conventional behaviour,
logical and mathematical intelligence, spatial intel- forms of politeness, cultural differences and artifacts.
ligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinaesthetic Communicative language competences involve lin-
intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal guistic competence (knowledge, skills and abilities
intelligence, and naturalist intelligence. Those who of acquiring pronunciation, vocabulary and gram-
have prevailing linguistic intelligence like to read mar (phonetics, lexis, grammar)), socio-linguistic
and write, have a good memory for names, places, competence (ability to use and interpret language
dates, poetry and have a well developed vocabulary. forms with situational appropriateness (formal vs.
Those having logical and mathematical intelligence non-formal in terms of communicative context: who
see patterns easily, like abstract ideas, like strategy is communicating with whom, about what, where, on
games and logical puzzles. They devise experiments what topic and for what purpose)) in the four com-
to test out things they do not understand. They think municative skills (listening, speaking, reading and
in categories and see relationships between ideas. writing) according to the four domains of language
Those having spatial intelligence think in images and use (personal, public, academic and occupational)
pictures, they easily remember where things have and pragmatic competence (ability to receive and
been put. They like drawing, designing, and building. produce coherent and luent discourse with reference
They read maps and diagrams easily, do jigsaw puz- to differences in register, genre and type of text, focus
zles easily and reproduce images accurately. Those on appropriate functional use of linguistic resources
with musical intelligence remember melodies, have a while communicating (implying language functions
good sense of rhythm and usually play an instrument. and speech acts as required by certain scenarios of
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They are sensitive to sounds in the environment and international exchanges)). Ability to learn consists of
need music on when studying. Those with prevailing ability to self-evaluate one’s professional develop-
bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence remember through ment and integrate the newly-acquired knowledge
bodily sensations, have excellent coordination, and and skills into the formerly built context of learning,

69
Modern Approaches in English Language Teaching
Šiuolaikinės anglų kalbos mokymo(si) kryptys

ability to critically relect on the achievements and of what they are saying and writing rather than on a
outcome of activity, and ability to initiate and ad- particular language form. They should use a variety
equately interpret the situation of learning. Strategic of language rather than just one language structure.
competence involves ability and skill of planning, In short, all such activities should attempt to replicate
execution, evaluation and repair of communication, real communication.
application of compensation strategies. The key principles of effective CLT that teach-
In the process of teaching the teacher displays the ers have to take into consideration are as follows:
above mentioned competences and performs certain be aware of students’ needs, develop learner inde-
roles. Harmer (2001, 57) distinguishes eight roles pendence, be a facilitator rather than a controller,
of the teacher, i.e. controller, organiser, assessor, motivate your students by verbal encouragement
prompter, participant, resource, tutor and observer. (praising, good mark, awards, body language), use
The teacher can perform any role depending on the variety of activities, and encourage students’ active
teaching situation, students’ needs, learning style, involvement.
and type of intelligence. An appropriate approach Active involvement can be achieved by a vari-
in teaching English can be used with respect to the ety of means such as varied modes of interaction,
above discussed factors. changes of activity, changes of pace, changes of
In what follows, analysis of the three modern intensity, changes of mood/atmosphere, changes of
approaches in English language teaching – Com- beginnings and endings, balanced use of settlers and
municative Language Teaching, Task-Based Learn- stirrers, balancing the familiar and the unfamiliar,
ing and Content and Language Integrated Learning presence and absence of correction, varying the
– is presented and their advantages and disadvan- modes of correction, offering positive reinforcement
tages are pointed out with regard to students’ needs, in varied ways, and employing principled use of
motivation, and learning style as well as teachers’ elicitation and nomination.
competences. One way of ensuring students’ active involvement
in the classroom is the use of appropriately chosen
Communicative Language Teaching teaching materials. While choosing materials teach-
ers have to be certain that the materials are appropri-
The Communicative approach or the Commu- ate to age group and language level, are appropriate
nicative Language Teaching (CLT) emphasises the with regard to students’ cultural and religious back-
importance of language functions rather than focuses ground, complying with lesson’s objectives, time
on grammar and vocabulary. The main principle of scale and intensity.
CLT is to train students to use language forms ap- The Communicative Language Teaching, having
propriately in a variety of contexts for a variety of an aim to improve students’ ability to communicate,
purposes (Harmer, 2001, 84). The top ten principles has been criticised for having eroded the explicit
of CLT are communicative interaction, meaningful teaching of grammar with a consequent loss among
practice, active involvement, positive reinforcement, students in accuracy in the pursuit of fluency
choice of suitable materials, changes of pace and (Harmer, 2001, 86).
activity, making the teaching process enjoyable, Despite the criticism, the Communicative ap-
teaching English in English, realisation that mistakes proach has left a deep mark on teaching and learning
are natural and that even beginners can understand of a foreign language and has been extensively used
when taught in the target language. in classrooms all over the world.
Activities in CLT involve students in real and
realistic communication, where the accuracy of the Task-Based Learning
language is less important than successful achieve-
ment of the communicative purpose. Therefore, The idea of the Task-Based Learning (TBL) was
such activities as role-play and simulation are very popularised by N Prabhu who, working in schools of
popular in CLT. All activities in CLT have to be South India, claimed that students were just as likely
constructed in such a way that students should have to learn language if they were thinking about a non-
a desire to communicate something. According to linguistic problem than if they were concentrating
Daiva Verikaitė

Harmer (2001, 85), in CLT students should have a on particular language forms. Instead of a language
purpose for communication (e.g. to write a letter of structure, students are presented with a task they have
complaint, to make reservation of a table at the res- to perform or a problem they have to solve.
taurant, etc.), they should be focused on the content

70
žmogus ir žodis 2008 III
kal bo s di dakti ka

According to the key principles of TBL, learning highlights useful words and phrases, helping students
is fostered through performing a series of activities as to understand the task instructions. During the Task
steps towards successful task realization. The focus is cycle, the students perform the task in pairs or small
on language use for authentic, real-world needs. TBL groups while the teacher monitors from the distance.
relies heavily on learners’ knowledge of the world, The students plan how they are going to report to the
on learners’ using skills of deduction and independ- class on what they do. In the language focus stage
ent language analysis to exploit the situation fully. the students examine and practice speciic language
Motivation for communication becomes the primary features which the task has provoked.
driving force. The emphasis is on communicative lu- The major criticism of TBL concerns its applica-
ency rather than the accuracy. The target language is bility to lower learning levels. However, there are
used in a naturally occurring context. The materials many tasks that are suitable for beginners or young
are selected and adopted from authentic sources. learners. Another point of criticism is about restricted
Analysis of the key principles of the Task-Based patterns of language that are usually used in the Task-
Learning demonstrates the apparent similarity Based Learning. Language patterns that are used in
between the Task-Based Learning and the Com- discussion, debate, or social interaction of other kind
municative Language Teaching. A basic distinction fail to be included in the task-based interaction.
between TBL and CLT is that CLT is a philosophy Nevertheless, tasks are widely used in language
or orientation whereas TBL represents a body of teaching, either as the basis of language course or as
principles and procedures for making communicative one of its components.
language teaching work in the classroom.
The four fundamental principles underlying the Content and Language Integrated
Task-Based Teaching (TBT) are: meaning is primary, Learning
grammar and form are not ignored, the task is a
complete unit and there is a systematic relationship The term Content and Language Integrated
between pedagogical tasks and target/real-world Learning (CLIL) was deined in 1994, and launched
tasks. in 1996 by UNICOM, the University of Jyväskylä
There are different interpretations and deinitions and the European Platform for Dutch Education, to
of a task in the Task-Based Teaching. According to describe educational methods where “subjects are
Ellis (2003, 16), a task is a work plan that requires taught through a foreign language with dual-focused
learners to process language pragmatically in order aims, namely the learning of content, and the simul-
to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms taneous learning of a foreign language” (www.cec.
of whether the correct or appropriate propositional jyu.i/tilauskoulutus/henk keh/clil.html). CLIL can
content has been conveyed. To this end, it requires be interpreted as an “umbrella” term describing both
them to give primary attention to meaning and to learning content subject such as physics or geography
make use of their own linguistic resources. Nunan through the medium of a foreign language and learn-
(2004, 4) deines a task as “a piece of classroom work ing a foreign language by studying a content-based
that involves learners in comprehending, manipulat- subject (www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/method-
ing, producing or interacting in the target language ology/clil.html). In CLIL content subjects are taught
while their attention is focused on mobilizing their and learnt in a language, which is not the mother
grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning tongue of the learners. Knowledge of the language
<…>. The task should also have sense of complete- becomes the means of learning content, language
ness, being able to stand alone <…> with a begin- is integrated into the content-based subject teach-
ning, a middle and an end”. ing, and this increases motivation to study natural
In a foreign language classroom both pedagogi- contextualized language. Therefore, CLIL provides
cal and linguistic tasks are used. Pedagogical tasks a practical approach to both content and language
have a principal focus on meaning while linguistic learning that improves intercultural understanding
exercises focus on manipulation of form. Tasks have (www.inged.org.tr/news-online/issue-2.pdf).
a non-linguistic outcome while exercises have a The important advantage of CLIL is its potential
linguistic outcome. for achieving bilingualism and improving intercul-
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Willis (1996) suggests three basic stages in the tural understanding. Firstly, CLIL helps to broaden
framework of the Task-Based Learning: the Pre-task, intercultural knowledge and understanding and de-
the Task cycle, and Language focus. In the Pre-task velops intercultural communication skills. Secondly,
the teacher explores the topic with the class and CLIL improves target language competence and

71
Modern Approaches in English Language Teaching
Šiuolaikinės anglų kalbos mokymo(si) kryptys

raises awareness of both mother tongue and target 2. CLT, having an aim to improve students’ ability
language. Thirdly, CLIL provides opportunities to to communicate, has left a deep mark on teaching
study content and learn subject-speciic terminology and learning of a foreign language and has been ex-
and hence prepare students for future studies and/or tensively used in classrooms all over the world, not-
working life. Finally, CLIL offers new learning withstanding the criticism for having neglected the
strategies while adding diversity and lexibility to teaching of grammar with a consequent loss among
existing methods and forms of classroom practice students in accuracy in the pursuit of luency.
(www.inged.org.tr/news-online/issue-2.pdf). 3. In TBL learning is fostered through performing
The implementation of CLIL is based on four a series of activities as steps towards successful task
main principles. These are cognition, community, realisation. Since the emergence of TBL tasks have
communication, and culture. The four guiding prin- been widely used in language teaching, either as the
ciples means that the learner works with an interface basis of language course or as one of its components.
in which cognition (the thinking skills and problem- The major criticisms of TBL concern its applicabil-
solving approaches speciic to that particular topic), ity to lower learning levels and the use of restricted
community (the development of the self-awareness of language patterns.
the learner with respect to the content, him/herself as 4. The important advantage offered by CLIL is its
a learner, and the purpose of learning in the wider en- potential for achieving bilingualism and improving
vironment be it at school, university or the surround- intercultural understanding. Firstly, CLIL helps to
ing society), communication (interaction with others broaden intercultural knowledge and understanding
and the language domains speciic to the topic), and and develops intercultural communication skills. Sec-
culture (how the learner engages with the language ondly, CLIL improves target language competence
and content and the discourse features required to and raises awareness of both mother tongue and tar-
both learn and communicate), are all interlinked. get language. Thirdly, CLIL provides opportunities to
(www.pi.ac.ae/metsmac/proceedings/2006/Marsh- study content and learn subject-speciic terminology
D-METSMaC-2006.pdf). and hence prepare students for future studies and/or
In a CLIL lesson all four language skills are usu- working life. Finally, CLIL offers new learning strate-
ally combined: listening (it is an input activity, vital gies while adding diversity and lexibility to existing
for language learning), reading (it is the major source methods and forms of classroom practice.
of input, using meaningful material), speaking (it 5. Each of the approaches can be successfully
focuses on luency, accuracy is seen as subordinate), adopted in the English language classroom either
writing (it is a series of lexical activities through in combination or separately. Students’ needs de-
which grammar is recycled) (www.teachingenglish. termined by students’ psychological characteristics
org.uk/think/methodology/clil lesson.html). as well as other factors inluencing the learning/
Vilkancienė (2007, 422) points out ive major teaching process should be decisive in an approach
tasks for successful CLIL implementation: course selection.
design, methodology, tasks and activities, compe-
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