Language Teaching Methods Development La

Language Teaching Methods Development:….
LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS DEVELOPMENT:

LANGUAGE-CENTERED AND LEARNER-CENTERED METHODS
By: Dina Novrieta, M.Pd
Abstract
This article discusses about several language teaching methods development

namely before language-centered method era, language-centered method era and
learner-centered method era. At first, the central focus of second/foreign
language teaching was on reading and grammar accuracy. Then, it moved to how
to teach oral proficiency for learning second/foreign language. However, some of
the methods that aimed to teach oral proficiency hadn’t really taught about the
proficiency instead the methods taught about the target language and it was hard
to apply the target language for communication reason outside the classroom.
After that, more new methods appeared due to the lack of previous methods. One
of them is communicative language teaching that focused on creating
communicative competence by learning the target language expressions and other
aspects of language. In short, those language teaching methods occurred to
answer learners’ need in mastering the target language well.
Keywords: Language Teaching Methods Development, Language-Centered

Methods, Learner-centered Methods.
I. Introduction
Changes in language teaching methods throughout history have reflected
recognition of changes in the kind of proficiency learners need, such as a move
toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language
study; they have also reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and
of language learning.
It has been estimated that some 60 percent of today‘s world population is
multilingual. English has become one of languages spoken by people around the
world. From both a contemporary and a historical perspective, bilingual or
multilingualism is the norm rather than the exception1. In other words, people
learn and speak more than two languages in order to get involved in the global
1
Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 1
TARBAWY: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam 100

era. English also becomes a lingua franca. There are a number of interlocking
reasons for the popularity of English as a lingua franca namely a colonial history
that occurred on Massachusetts coast, Sydney cove, India, Spanish, Brazil, part of
Africa such as Jamaica, Pakistan, Uganda and New Zealand; economics; travel;
information exchange and popular culture2.
Before the 19th century, the beginning of foreign language teaching might
not be separated from the Roman Empire when the Romans studied Greek as their
second language. The first concern with language teaching method in Europe had
to do with the teaching of Latin 3. The teaching of Latin began with expansion of
the Roman Empire. As the empire expanded, people began to learn Latin until that
language became the international language of the Western World. The purpose of
learning Latin at that time was only the preparation of reading Latin Classics.
Speaking the foreign language was not the goal and oral practice was limited to
students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. Foreign language was
taught by providing language learners with texts based on simple sentences
containing most of the grammatical features of the target language. It was the
introduction of the Grammar Translation Method 4. The principal characteristics of
the Grammar Translation Method were; 1) the goal of foreign language study is to
learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the
mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language
study; 2) reading and writing are the major focus, little or no systematic attention
is paid to speaking or listening; 3) vocabulary selection is based solely on the
reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary
study, and memorization; 4) the sentence is the basic unit of teaching and
language practice; 5) accuracy is emphasized since students are expected to attain
high standards in translation; 6) grammar is taught deductively—that is by
presentation and study of grammar rules; 7) the students‘ native language is the
2
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, ( England: Pearson
Education Limited, 2001), p. 2
3
Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, Teaching English as a Foreign language, (Yogyakarta:
Penerbit Graha Ilmu, 2006), p.2
4

medium of instruction5. In other words, grammar translation method was the

beginning of language teaching concern, focused on reading skill and word
translations.
Since the decision to orient foreign language instruction toward production
rather than grammar-translation skills, numerous methods have emerged, all of
which have promised to produce superior results6.
The language teaching which emphasized grammar and translation was
soon criticized and a new method was introduced. The reaction to the grammar
translation method came from Vietor. He proposed a new approach to language
teaching by using the spoken language as a starting point and providing phonetics.
In his approach new materials were taught through gestures and pictures and
through the use of words already known. His approach was known as the Reform
Method which might have given rise to the Direct Method.
Then at the beginning of the twentieth century, the term ―Direct Method‖
was established. Since the Grammar-Translation Method was not effective in
preparing students to use the target language communicatively, the Direct method
became popular. The Direct method, whose objective was the ability in using the
language orally, was finally reevaluated in the USA7. It was believed that students
only wasted their time in schools in trying to achieve something impossible:
speaking in the target language. It would be useful if they learned something
attainable; reading in the target language. In other words, the Direct Method had
some weaknesses that can cause other different method to appear.
Although the Direct Method enjoyed popularity in Europe, not everyone
embraced it enthusiastically. The British applied linguist Henry Sweet recognized
its limitation. It offered innovations at the level of teaching procedures but lacked
a thorough methodological basis. Its main focus was on the exclusive use of target
language in the classroom but is failed to address many issues that linguist Sweet
5
Diane Larsen-Freeman, Techniques and principles in language teaching, (England:
Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 11
Janet K. Swaffar, Katherine Arens, and Martha Morgan, ―Teacher Classroom
6
Practices: Redefining Method as Task Hierarchy. Modern Language Journal Vol. 66, 1982, p. 24
Ag. Bambang Setiyadi……………………., p.5.
7

thought more basic8. In other words, a method should cover not only the level of
teaching procedures but also a thorough methodological basis. Then it marked the
beginning of the ‗method era‘.
The following section is discussing on method era from language-centered
method to learning-centered methods.
II. Discussion
The method era tells about a major paradigm shift in language teaching in
the period from the 1970s through the 1980s. There are three categories
concerning to the established methods namely language-centered method; learner-
centered methods and learning-centered methods.
A. Language-Centered Method
Language-Centered Methods are those that are principally concerned with
linguistic forms9. The methods such as Audio lingual Method and the Oral
approach and Situational Language Teaching seek to provide opportunities for
learners to practice preselected, presequenced linguistic structures through form-
focused exercise in class, assuming that a preoccupation with form will ultimately
lead to mastery of the target language and that the learners can draw from the
formal repertoire whenever they wish to communicate in the target language
outside the class. In other words, it provides learners with some grammatical rules
that can be used as a basis for speaking activity.
The proponents of this method argued that foreign language learning
would be most effective if learners concentrated their efforts on mastering the
basic patterns of the language 10. Once these patterns had been memorized, new
vocabulary could be ‗slotted in‘.
Jack C. Richard…………,p.13
8
9
B Kumaradivelu, Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Post Method,
(London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates publishers, 2006), p. 90
10
David Nunan, Second Language Teaching and Learning, (Boston: Heinle & Heinle
Publishers, 1999), p.103

1. Theoretical principles
The fundamental principles of language-centered pedagogy are drawn
from structural linguistics and behavioral psychology. Structural linguistics
describes human languages and identifies the structural characteristics of those
languages. An important axiom of structural linguistics was that languages can
differ from each other without limit, and that no preconceptions could apply
across languages11. Behavioral psychology concerned on respondent
conditioning—that is behavioral that is elicited by a preceding stimulus and
followed by the consequences—the stimuli that follow the response that were
reinforced until finally a particular concept of behavior were learned12.
1.1 Theory of Language

Language centered pedagogists believed in the theory of language
proposed and propagated by American structural linguists during the 1950s. There
were some views concerning to this theory of language 13: 1) structural linguists
treated language as a system of system consisting of several hierarchically linked
building blocks: phonemes, morphemes, phrases, clauses and sentences, each with
its own internal structure; 2) structural linguists viewed language as aural-oral,
thus emphasizing listening and speaking. Speech was considered primary,
forming the very basis of language. Structure was viewed as being at the heart of
speech. Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-lingual method. The level of
complexity of the speech is graded, however, so that beginning students are
presented with only simple forms14; 3) every language was looked upon as
unique, each having a finite number of structural patterns. In addition, this
method, influenced by structural linguistics, assumes that language is a system of
11
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, (New York:
Pearson Education Inc, 2007), p. 9
H. Douglas Brown,…………p. 89.
12
13
B Kumaradivelu, …………….p. 99
Diane Larsen-Freeman………….., p. 44
14

patterns of phonology, morphology, and syntax that are used to convey meanings
including features of the culture15.
Audio lingual method, under the influenced of structuralism, emphasized
the importance of both the phonological and the syntactic patterns of the foreign
language which involve exercise such as the minimal-pair sets and structural
drills16. In addition, audio lingual method derived its theoretical base from
behaviorist psychology, which considered language as simply a form of behavior,
to be learned through the formation of correct habits in which habit formation was
a process in which the application of rules played no part 17. In other words, audio
lingual method relies on having an improved foreign language through behavior
habit.
Structural linguistics had developed in part as a reaction to traditional
grammar. The reaction against traditional grammar was prompted by the
movement toward positivism and empiricism which is a more practical interest in
language study emerged 18. As linguist discovered new sound types and new
patterns of linguistic invention and organization, a new interest in phonetics,
phonology, morphology, and syntax developed.
Language was viewed as a system of structurally related elements for the
encoding of meaning, the elements being phonemes, morphemes, words,
structures and sentence types. The term structural referred to some characteristics
namely a) elements in a language were thought of as being linearly produced in a
rule-governed (structured) way; b) language samples could be exhaustively
describe at any structural level of description; c) linguistic levels were thought of
as system within system – that is as being pyramidal structured19.
15
Yuslizal Saleh, Methodology of TEFL in the Indonesian Context Book I, (Palembang:
FKIP Sriwijaya University, 1996), p. 30
16
Paul Ostyn and Pierre Godin, An Alternative Approach to Language Teaching,
Modern language Journal Vol. 69, 1985, p. 346
17
Scott Thornbury, How to teach Grammar, (England: Pearson Education limited,
1999), p. 21
18
19
Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p.55

1.2 Theory of Language Learning

Language centered pedagogists derived their theory of language learning
from behaviorism. Like structural linguists, behavioral psychologists too were
skeptical about mentalism and rejected any explanation of human behavior in
terms of emotive feelings or mental processes. One of audiolingualism‘s central
tenets is that learning a language is largely a question of habit formation, and for
this reason a good part of the lesson is spent on drills, in an attempt to make using
the grammar point an automatic habit20.
Given their belief that all learning is governed by stimulus-response-
reinforcement mechanism, behaviorists made a series of assumptions21 namely 1)
first and foremost, learning to speak a language is the same as learning to ride a
bicycle or drive a car. Language learning, then, is no different from the learning of
other subjects like math or science. It is no more than a systematic accumulation
of consciously collected discrete pieces of knowledge gained through repeated
exposure, practice, and application. This is a central belief that logically leads to
all other assumptions of varying importance; 2) second, language learning is just a
process of mechanical habit formation through repetition. Forming a habit, in the
context of language learning, is described as developing the ability to perform a
particular linguistic feature such as sound, a word, or a grammatical item
automatically, that is without paying attention to it. Such a habit can be formed
only through repeated practice aided by positive reinforcement; 3) third, habit
formation takes place by means of analogy rather than analysis. Analysis involves
problem solving, whereas analogy involves the perception of similarities and
differences. In the context of language learning, this means an inductive approach
, in which learners themselves identify the underlying structure of a pattern, is
preferable to a deductive approach; 4) fourth, language learning is a linear,
incremental, additive process. That is, it entails mastering of one discrete item at a
time, moving to the next only after the previous one has been fully mastered. It
also involves gradually adding one building block after another, thus,
20
Keith Johnson, An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning, (England: Pearson
Education Limited, 2001), p. 10
21

accumulating, isn due course, all the linguistic elements that are combined to form
the totality of a language; 5) finally, discrete items of language should be
introduced in carefully constructed dialogues embedded in a carefully selected
linguistic and cultural context.
To the behaviorist, the human being is an organism capable of a wide
repertoire of behaviors. The occurrence of those behaviors is dependent on three
crucial elements in learning: a stimulus, which serves to elicit behavior; a
response triggered by a stimulus; and reinforcement (positive reinforcement
means behavior likely to occur again and become a habit, and negative
reinforcement means that behavior not likely to occur again) which serves to mark
the response as being appropriate (or inappropriate) and encourages the repetition
(or suppression) of the response in the future22.
Tim Bowen cited in Mart explains the contributions of this method to
language
learning as23:
―Most teachers will at some point require learners to
repeat examples of grammatical structures in context
with number of aims in mind: stress, rhythm,
intonation, ‗consolidating the structure‘, enabling
learners to use the structure accurately through
repetition, etc. Question and answer in open class or
closed pairs to practice a particular form can also be
argued to have its basis in the audio-lingual approach,
as can, without doubt, any kind of drill.‖
1.3 Theory of Language Teaching

Audio lingual theory of language teaching is, in fact, a mirror image of its
theory of language learning24. Because learning a language is considered to
involve forming habits in order to assimilate and use of hierarchical system,
22
23
Cagri Tugrul Mart, The Audio-Lingual Method: An Easy way of Achieving Speech,
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 3, No. 12,
December 2013.
24

language teaching is nothing more than a planned presentation of those (sub)

systems combined with provision of opportunities for repetition.
Both in Audio lingual and Situational Language Teaching, the teacher‘s
role is central and active; it is a teacher-dominated method25. The teacher models
the target language, controls the direction and pace of learning, and monitors and
corrects the learner‘s performance. The teacher must keep the learners attentive by
varying drills and tasks and choosing relevant situations to practice structures.
Language learning is seen to result from active verbal interaction between
the teacher and the learners. Failure to learn results only from the improper
application of the method, for example, from the teacher not providing sufficient
practice or from the learner not memorizing the essential patterns and structures;
but the method itself is never to blame.
Johnson cited in Setiyadi states that there are some principles of Audio
lingual method26 namely 1) language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbol used
for oral communication; 2) writing and printing are graphic representations of the
spoken language; 3) language can be broken down into three major component
parts: the sound system, the structure, and the vocabulary; 4) the only authority
for correctness is actual use of native speakers; 5) one can learn to speak and
understand a language only being exposed to the spoken language and by using
the spoken language; 6) languages can be learned inductively far more easily than
deductively; 7) grammar should never be taught as an end in itself, but only as a
means to the end of learning the language; 8) use of the students‘ native language
in class should be avoided or kept to a minimum in second language teaching; 9)
the structures to which the students are exposed to should always sound natural to
native speakers; 10) all structural material should be presented and practices in
class before the students attempt to study it at home.
25
Ag. Bambang Setiyadi……………………., p.56
26

1.4 Content specifications

Selection and gradation are two terms that become the primary principles
in language-centered method27. In terms of selection, language-centered
pedagogists implicitly followed by the frequency (refers to the items that the
learners are likely to encounter most), range (the spread of an item across texts or
contexts) and availability (the degree to which an item is necessary and
appropriate). Similarly, for gradation purposes, the language pedagogists followed
the criteria of complexity (from the easy to difficult), regularity (from the regular
to the irregular) and productivity (from the more useful to the less useful).
The language skills are taught in the order of listening, speaking, reading
and writing28. Listening is viewed largely as training in aural discrimination of
basic sound patterns. When reading and writing are introduced, students are
taught to read and write what they have already learned to say orally.
2. Classroom Procedures
2.1 Input Modifications
Language-centered methods adhere almost exclusively to form-based
input modification. Language-centered pedagogists believe that form-based input
modifications are not only necessary and but also sufficient for the development
of linguistic as well as pragmatic knowledge/ability in second language 29. There
are three types of drills: mechanical (automatic manipulative patterns aimed at
habit formation), meaningful drills (it has the same objective of mechanical habit
formation, but the responses may be correctly expressed in more than one way),
and communicative drills (it is supposed to help learners transfer structural
patterns to appropriate communicative situation)30.

27
28
29
30
Paulston, C. B and Bruder M, from Substitution to substance, ( Rowley: Newbury
House, 1975), p. 15

There are several techniques of Audio lingual method namely 31; 1) dialog
memorization, is dialogs between two people that are often used to begin a new
lesson. Certain sentence patterns and grammar point are included within the
dialog and later practiced in drills based on the lines of the dialog; 2) backward
build up drill, is used when a long line of a dialog is giving students trouble.
Teacher begins with the part at the end of the sentence (and works backward from
there) to keep the intonation of the line as natural as possible; 3) repetition drill, is
to repeat the teacher‘s model as accurately and as quickly as possible; 4) chain
drill, is the chain of conversation that forms around the room as students, one by
one, ask and answer questions of each other; 5) single-slot substitution, is the drill
that gives the students practice in finding and filling in the slots of a sentence; 6)
multiple-slot substitution drill, is almost the same as single-slot substitution but
the difference is that the teacher gives cue phrases, one at a time, that fit into
different slots in the dialog line; 7) transformation drills, is to transform a certain
kind of sentence into another form; 8) question-and-answer drill, is a drill that
gives students to practice with answering questions and practice with the question
patterns; 9) use of minimal pairs, is when the teacher works with pair of words
which differ in only one sound; 10) complete the dialog, is that students complete
the dialog by filling in the blanks with the missing words; 11) grammar game, is
designed to get students to practice a grammar point within a context.
Here is the following substitution drills:
Pattern: Adjective Comparison 1 (Adj. as; the same X as)
(a) Mechanical drill: Teaching point: Practice Pattern
Model: Teacher (T) : Our winter is as long as theirs. (summer/warm)
Students (S) : Our summer is as warm as theirs.
T: city/polluted S: Our city is as polluted as theirs
Lake/cold Our Lake is as cold as theirs
(b) Meaningful drill: Teaching Point: Use of Pattern
Model: T: VW‘s in my country…………
S: VW‘s in my country are (not as cheap as here)
31

(not the same price as here)

T: The winter in A……………
Women‘s style in A…………
The seasons in A……………
(c) Communicative drill: Teaching Point: Communicative Use
T: Compare with your country. Pollution.
S: (The pollution here is as bad as in my country.)
T: traffic
Drivers
Prices
Cars
2.2 Interactional Activities

The interactional activities of teachers and learners in a typical audio
lingual classroom are characterized in terms of three Ps—presentation, practice
and production32. In presentation stage, the teacher introduces a situation which
contextualizes the language to be taught. The language, too, is presented. In
practice stage, the students practice the language using accurate reproduction
techniques such as choral repetition (where the students repeat a word, phrase, or
sentence all together with the teacher ‗conducting‘), individual repetition (where
individual students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence at the teacher‘s urging, and
cue-response drills (where the teacher gives a cue such as cinema, nominates a
student by name or by looking or pointing and the student makes the desired
response.
A recent rendering of audio lingual teaching taken from Johnson illustrates
some of the features of input and interactional modification already described 33.
The following is the description:
 Objectives: to teach the present perfect tense, with just and yet. Some
examples:
32
Jeremy Harmer ,……………p. 80
Keith Johnson,……………….p. 173
33

I have just picked up the pen I haven’t picked up the pen

yet
She has just opened the door she hasn’t opened the door
yet
 Step 1: Demonstrating the sentence patter HAVE + just + -ed
Actions are done in front of the class, sometimes by the teacher and
sometimes by the students. For example, the teacher picks up a pen and
says I have just picked up the pen. Then a student opens the door and the
teacher says she has just opened the door.
 Step 2: Practicing HAVE + just + -ed
(a) Drill Students form sentences from a table:
I
We (to close) the window
(to switch on) the light
They (to have) Just
(to play) football
He/she (to walk) home
You
(b) Drill The teacher says sentences like the ones on the left below.
Chosen students make HAVE + just + -ed sentences (as in the example
on the right):
She’s closing the window she’s just closed the window
She’s going to switch on the light
They will play football
 Step 3 Demonstrating and practicing HAVE + just + -ed + yet
(a) Demonstration show a diary for the day:
7.30 get up 10.00 phone bill
8.00 wash 12.00 visit Jane (for lunch)
9.00 eat breakfast 2.00 take dog for walk

Teacher says:
It’s 8.30. I’m late. I haven’t washed yet
It’s 9.30. Mary’s late. She hasn’t eaten breakfast yet.
(b) Drill Students form sentences from the table:
We (to eat) John
They (to have) not (to phone) The dog for a yet
walk
He/she (to visit)
Dinner
You (to take)
Mary
In addition, the following procedures also occur in a typical audio lingual
lesson34: 1) students first hear a model dialogue (either read by the teacher or on
tape) containing the key structures that are the focus of the lesson and then repeat
each line of the dialogue. The students do not consult their book throughout this
phase; 2) the dialogue is adapted to the students‘ interest or situation, through
changing certain key words or phrases; 3) certain key structures from the dialogue
are selected and used as the basis for pattern drills; 4) the students may refer to
their textbook, and follow-up reading, writing, or vocabulary activities based on
the dialogue may be introduced; 5) follow-up activities may take place in the
language laboratory, where further dialogue and drill work is carried out.
3. A critical Assessment
Audio lingual method represents a milestone in the annals of language
teaching for one good reason; it was based on well-articulated and well-
34

coordinated theories of language, language learning, and language teaching.

However this method failed to address pragmatic knowledge/ability because of
some factors35 namely 1) language-centered pedagogists failed to recognize that
superficial linguistic behavior in terms of structures and vocabulary does not in
any way entail the internalization of the underlying language system required for
effective communication; 2) they seldom acknowledged that communicative
situations are far more complex; 3) they assumed, wrongly, that the learners will
be able to successfully transfer their knowledge of isolated items of grammar and
vocabulary and automatically apply it to real-life communicative situations
outside the classroom.
In system of audio lingual method, students are able to parrot responses in
predictable situations of use but had difficulty communicating effectively in the
relatively unpredictable world beyond the classroom 36. In audio lingual
classroom, learners were expected to come to an inductive understanding of the
rule through process of analogy thus it was difficult to see how to apply the
grammar they had learned in communication. In addition it also assumed that
acquiring a second language was a linear process, the learners learn one item at a
time but in fact that students learn numerous thing imperfectly at the same time.
B. Learner-Centered Methods
Learning from the shortcomings of language-centered pedagogy and
drawing from the newly available psychological and linguistic insights, Wilkins, a
British applied linguist proposed a set of syllabuses for language teaching which
provided a new way of exploiting the situational dialogue inherited from the past
by indicating that formal and functional properties can after all be gainfully
integrated. Then it was the beginning of Communicative Language Teaching
Method (CLT).
35
David Nunan,………….p. 71
36

1. Theoretical principles
1.1 Theory of language
Learner-centered pedagogists drew heavily from Chomskyan formal
linguistics, Hallidayan functional linguistics, Hymsian sociolinguistics, and
Austinian speech act theory37.
For Chomsky, the focus of linguistic theory was to characterize the
abstract abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically
correct sentences in a language. Hymes‘s theory of communicative competence
was a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively
competent in a speech community. Another linguistic theory of communication
favored in CLT is Halliday‘s functional account of language use. Halliday
described seven basic functions that language performs for children learning their
first language namely a) the instrumental function; b) the regulatory function; c)
the interactional function; d) the personal function; e) the heuristic function; f) the
imaginative function; g) the representational function.
Furthemore, Swain and Canale (1980) cited in Johnson state that there
were four dimensions of communicative competence38 identified namely
grammatical competence that refers what Chomsky call linguistic competence;
sociolinguistic competence that refers to an understanding of the social context in
which communication takes place; discourse competence refers to the
interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness
and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text;
strategic competence refers to the coping strategies that communicators employ to
initiate, terminate, repair and redirect communication.
Accordingly, learner-centered pedagogists operated on the basis of the
following broad principles: 1) language is a system for expressing meaning; 2) the
linguistic structures of language reflect its functional as well as communicative
import; 3) basic units of language are not merely grammatical and structural, but
also notional and functional; 4) the central purpose of language is communication
37
Keith Johnson,……………….p. 187
38

and 5) communication is based on socio cultural norms of interpretation shared by

a speech community.
In addition, there were also four interconnected characteristics as a
definition of CLT39: a) classroom goals are focused on all of the components of
communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic
competence; b) language techniques are designed to engage learners in the
pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes; c)
fluency and accuracy are seen complementary principles underlying
communicative purposes; d) in the communicative classroom, students ultimately
have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed context.
1.2 Theory of language learning

Learner-centered pedagogists derived their language learning theories
mainly cognitive psychologists, who dismissed the importance given to habit
formation by behaviorists, and instead focused on insight formation.
Consistent with the theory of language, learner-centered pedagogists
looked at language communication as a synthesis of textual, interpersonal and
ideational function. Learner-centered pedagogists insisted that language learning
entails the development of both accuracy and fluency activity focuses on
communicative potential.
The learning objectives of CLT consider the five goal areas40: 1) the
communication goal area addresses the learners‘ ability to use the target language
to communicate thoughts, feeling, and opinions in a variety of settings; 2) the
culture goal area addressed the learner‘s understanding of how the products and
practices of a culture are reflected in the language; 3) the connections goal area
addresses the necessity for learners to learn to use language as a tool to access and
process information in a diversity of contexts beyond the classroom; 4) the
comparisons goal area are designed to foster learner insight and understanding of
the nature of language and culture through a comparison of the target language
H. Douglas Brown,…………p. 249

39
40
Sandra J Savignon, Communicative language teaching Linguistic Theory and
classroom practice, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), p. 114

and culture with the languages and cultures already familiar to them; 5) the
communities goal area describes learner‘s lifelong use of the language, in
communities and context both within and beyond the school setting itself.
1.3 Theory of language teaching

In order to carry out the meaningful communication, language teachers
must foster it in the classroom by designing and using information-gap activities
where when one learner in a pair work exchange knows something the other
learner does not; offering choice of response to the learner, that is, open ended
task and exercises where the learner determines what to say and how to say it;
emphasizing contextualization rather than decontextualization drills and patterns
practices; using authentic language as a vehicle for communication in class;
introducing language at discoursal level; tolerating errors as a natural outcome of
language development and developing activities that integrate listening, speaking,
reading and writing skills.
Communicative Language Teaching method itself has the weak and strong
versions41. The weak version stresses the importance of providing learners with
opportunities to use English for communicative activities into the program of
language teaching. However, the strong version of CLT claims that language can
be acquired only through communication which means
Breen and Candlin cited in Richards state that42 CLT teachers have several
roles namely to facilitate the communication process between all participants in
the classroom and between the participants and the various activities and texts, to
act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group, to be an
organizer of resource, to be a guide within the classroom procedures and
activities, to be need analyst, counselor and group process manager.
The learner‘s roles are as a negotiator and as a navigator the self, the
learning process and the learning objectives.
41
Kalayo Hasibuan and Muhammad Fausan Ansyari, Teaching English as a Foreign
Language (Pekanbaru: Alaf Riau Graha UNRI press, 2007), p. 59
42

1.4 Content specifications

Learner-centered pedagogists sought to select and sequence grammatical
as well as notional/functional categories of language which contain an inventory
of semantic-grammatical notions such as duration, frequency, quantity,
dimension, and location, and communicative functions such as greeting, warning,
inviting, requesting, agreeing and disagreeing.
The focus on the learner‘s communicative needs, which is the hallmark of
a learner-centered pedagogy, has positive as well as problematic aspects to it. The
positive aspect is that it meets the language needs of specific group of learner‘s
and learner centered curriculum would give the classroom teachers a clear
pathway to follow in their effort to maximize learning opportunities for their
learners. However the problematic aspect is that whether the selection and
sequence of language input are on the right track, and whether it really supports
all objective for all language learners.
As discussion of syllabus models continues in the CLT literature, some
have argued that the syllabus concept be abolished altogether in its accepted
forms, arguing that only learners can be fully aware of their own needs,
communicational resources, and desired learning pace and path, and that each
learner must create a personal syllabus as part of learning.
2. Classroom procedures
2.1 Input modifications
Learner-centered pedagogists pursued a form-and meaning-based
approach. What learner-centered pedagogists did successfully was to make this
connection explicit at the levels of syllabus design, textbook production and
classroom input and interaction. In trying to make the form-function connection
explicit, learner-centered pedagogists assumed that contextual meaning can be
analyzed sufficiently and language input can be modified suitably so as to present

the learner with a usable set of form and meaning based learning materials 43. In
other words, learners are left to figure out how the sample utterances learned
actually realized and reformulated in a given situation.
2.2 Interactional activities

Learner-centered pedagogists presented and helped learners practice and
produce grammatical as well as notional/functional categories of language.
Learner-centered pedagogists also came out with a wide variety innovative
classroom procedure such as pair work, group work, role play, simulation games,
scenarios and debates that ensured a communicative flavor to their interactional
activities.
One of the sources of communicative activities consisting of pre
communicative activities and communicative activities as stated by Littlewood
cited in Gebhard44. In Pre communicative activities, it has purpose to isolate
specific elements of knowledge or skill that comprise ability, giving students
opportunity to practice them without having to fully engage in communicating
meaning. There are two types of pre communicative activities namely structural
activities which focus on the grammar and lexicon of English, and quasi-
communicative activities focus on how the language is used to communicate
meaning often in the form of dialogues in which students interact under highly
controlled conditions.
There are some activities which can be done in CLT classroom45 are like
1) scrambled sentences in which the students are given a passage in which the
sentences are in a scrambled order and have to restore to the original order; 2)
language games that include information gap, choice and feedback; 3) picture
strip story in which one student in a small group was given a strip story. She
showed the first picture of the story to the other members of her group and asked
them to predict what the second picture look like. An information gap existed –the

43
44
Jerry G. Gebhard, teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language: A teacher self-
development and methodology guide, (USA: University of Michigan, 1996), p. 50
45

students in the group did not know what the picture contained. The activity used a
problem solving tasks as a communicative technique; 4) role play gives the
opportunity to practice communicating in different social context and in different
social roles. The following is the example of role play activities:
Role Playing Controlled Through Cues and Information
 Two learners play the roles of a prospective guest at a hotel and the hotel
manager.
 Student A: You arrive at a small hotel one evening. In the foyer, you meet
the manager(ess) and:
 Ask if there is a room vacant
 Ask the price, including breakfast
 Say how many night you would like to stay
 Ask where you can park your car for the night
 Say what time you would like to have breakfast.
 Student B: You are the manager(ess) of a small hotel that prides itself on
its friendly atmosphere. You have a single and a double room vacant for
tonight. The prices are: $8.50 for the single room, $15.00 for the double
room. Breakfast is $1.50 extra per person. In the street behind the hotel,
there is a free car park. Guest can have tea in bed in the morning, for 50p.
III. Conclusion
The language teaching development had been started since the nineteenth
century with the appearance of grammar translation method focusing on reading
skills and grammar. Then it continued with the occurrence of language centered
method included situational language teaching and the audio lingual, and the
learner-centered methods includes communicative language teaching.
Being a theory-driven, systematically organized, and teacher-friendly
pedagogy, language centered pedagogy began its life well but failed to deliver on
its central promise of developing effective communicative ability in learner. Then
the widespread dissatisfaction with the language-centered pedagogy and along

with new developments in the fields of psychology and linguistics ultimately

motivated for a better method.
The result is the advent of what is called communicative language
teaching (CLT) as included into learner-centered method. However there were
also some drawbacks from CLT method that made CLT became less popular and
other new methods appeared.
Though several methods that have been discussed were not popular
anymore, those methods have made a great contribution to the second/foreign
language teaching world. And they are still used in some parts of the world until
nowadays.
REFERENCES
Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (New York:

Pearson Education Inc, 2007).
Freeman, Diane Larsen. Techniques and principles in language teaching,
(England: Oxford University Press, 1986).
Gebhard, Jerry G. Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language: A teacher
self-development and methodology guide, (USA: University of Michigan,
1996).
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching (England: Pearson
Education Limited, 2001).
Johnson, Keith. An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning, (England:
Pearson Education Limited, 2001).
Kumaradivelu, B. Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Post
Method, (London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates publishers, 2006).
Mart, Cagri Tugrul, The Audio-Lingual Method: An Easy way of Achieving
Speech, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and
Social Sciences Vol. 3, No. 12, December 2013.
Nunan, David. Second Language Teaching and Learning, (Boston: Heinle &
Heinle Publishers, 1999).

Ostyn, Paul and Pierre Godin, An Alternative Approach to Language Teaching,

Modern language Journal Vol. 69, 1985, p. 346.
Paulston, C. B and Bruder M, From Substitution to substance, ( Rowley:
Newbury House, 1975).
Richard, Jack C and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Richard, Jack C and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Saleh, Yuslizal Methodology of TEFL in the Indonesian Context Book I,
(Palembang: FKIP Sriwijaya University, 1996).
Savignon, Sandra J. Communicative language teaching Linguistic Theory and
classroom practice, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).
Setiyadi, Ag. Bambang . Teaching English as a Foreign language, (Yogyakarta:
Penerbit Graha Ilmu, 2006).
Swaffar, Janet K., Katherine Arens, and Martha Morgan, ―Teacher Classroom
Practices: Redefining Method as Task Hierarchy. Modern Language
Journal Vol. 66, 1982.
Thornbury, Scott How to teach Grammar, (England: Pearson Education limited,
1999).

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Language Teaching Methods Development:….

LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS DEVELOPMENT:

This article discusses about several language teaching methods development

Keywords: Language Teaching Methods Development, Language-Centered

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medium of instruction5. In other words, grammar translation method was the

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1.1 Theory of Language

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1.2 Theory of Language Learning

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1.3 Theory of Language Teaching

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language teaching is nothing more than a planned presentation of those (sub)

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1.4 Content specifications

B Kumaradivelu, …………….p. 102

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(not the same price as here)

2.2 Interactional Activities

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I have just picked up the pen I haven’t picked up the pen

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We (to eat) John

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coordinated theories of language, language learning, and language teaching.

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and 5) communication is based on socio cultural norms of interpretation shared by

1.2 Theory of language learning

H. Douglas Brown,…………p. 249

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1.3 Theory of language teaching

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1.4 Content specifications

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2.2 Interactional activities

B Kumaradivelu, …………….p. 125

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with new developments in the fields of psychology and linguistics ultimately

Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (New York:

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Ostyn, Paul and Pierre Godin, An Alternative Approach to Language Teaching,

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