Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.docx

Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.docx

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ApproachesandMethodsinLanguageTeaching

ApproachesandMethodsinLanguageTeaching

Thissemester,IreadabookcalledApproachesandMethodsinLanguageTeaching.

Inthisreport,Iwillrestatesixapproachesintroducedbythisbookbriefly,becauseIthinktheprocedureofretellingisalsoaprogressoflearning.ThenIwanttosharesomeconsiderationaboutthisbook.

1.SixApproaches

1.1TheOralApproachandSituationalLanguageTeaching

Palmer,Hornby,andotherBritishappliedlinguistsfromthe1920sonwarddevelopedanapproachtomethodologythatinvolvedsystematicprinciplesofselection（theproceduresbywhichlexicalandgrammaticalcontentwaschosen）,gradation（principlesbywhichtheorganizationandsequencingofcontentweredetermined）,andpresentation（techniquesusedforpresentationandpracticeofitemsinacourse）.TheirgeneralprincipleswerereferredtoastheOralApproachtolanguageteaching.ThiswasnottobeconfusedwiththeDirectMethod,which,althoughitusedoralprocedures,lackedasystematicbasis.

Themaincharacteristicsoftheapproachwereasfollows.Languageteachingbeginswiththespokenlanguage,materialistaughtorallybeforeitispresentedinwrittenform.Thetargetlanguageisthelanguageoftheclassroom.Newlanguagepointsareintroducedandpracticedsituationally.Vocabularyselectionproceduresarefollowedtoensurethatanessentialgeneralservicevocabularyiscovered.Itemsofgrammararegradedfollowingtheprinciplethatsimpleformsshouldbetaughtbeforecomplexones.Readingandwritingareintroducedonceasufficientlexicalandgrammaticalbasisisestablished.

Asfasasitstheory,speechwasregardedasthebasisoflanguage,andstructurewasviewedasbeingattheheartofspeakingability.Itaddressesprimarilytheprocessesratherthantheconditionsoflearning.

Itsobjectiveistoteachapracticalcommandofthefourbasicskillsoflanguage,goalsitshareswithmostmethodsoflanguageteaching.Buttheskillsareapproachedthroughstructure.SituationalLanguageTeachingemploysasituationalapproachtopresentingnewsentencepatternsandadrill-basedmannerofpracticingthem.

Intheinitialstages,thelearnerisrequiredsimplytolistenandrepeatwhattheteachersaysandtorespondtoquestionsandcommands.Later,moreactiveparticipationisencouraged.Theteacherservesasamodel,“theskillfulconductorofanorchestra”,thelookoutforgrammaticalandstructuralerrors.

Pittmangivesanexampleofatypicallessonplan:

pronunciation,revision（topreparefornewworkifnecessary）,presentationofanewstructureorvocabulary,oralpractice,readingofmaterialonthenewstructure,orwrittenexercises.

BecausetheprinciplesofSituationalLanguageTeaching,withitsstrongemphasisonoralpractice,grammar,andsentencepatterns,conformtotheinstitutionsofmanypracticallyorientedclassroomteacher,itcontinuestobewidelyusedinthe1980s.

1.2CommunicativeLanguageTeaching

Thecommunicativeapproachinlanguageteachingstartsfromatheoryoflanguageascommunication.ThegoaloflanguageteachingistodevelopwhatHymesreferredtoas“communicativecompetence”.LearningasecondlanguagewassimilarlyviewedbyproponentsofCommunicativeLanguageTeachingasacquiringthelinguisticmeanstopreformkindsoffunctions.

Attheleveloflanguagetheory,CommunicativeLanguageTeachinghasarich,ifsomewhateclectic,theoreticalbase.Someofthecharacteristicsofthiscommunicativeviewoflanguagefollow.Languageisasystemfortheexpressofmeaning.Theprimaryfunctionoflanguageisforinteractionandcommunication.Thestructureoflanguagereflectsitsfunctionalandcommunicativeuses.Theprimaryunitsoflanguagearenotmerelyitsgrammaticalandstructuralfeatures,butcategoriesoffunctionalandcommunicativemeaningasexemplifiedindiscourse.

ElementsofanunderlyinglearningtheorycanbediscernedinsomeCLTpractices,however.Onesuchelementmightbedescribedasthecommunicativeprinciple:

Activitiesthatinvolverealcommunicationpromotelearning.Asecondelementisthetaskprinciple:

Activitiesinwhichlanguageisusedforcarryingoutmeaningtaskspromotelearning.Athirdelementisthemeaningfulnessprinciples,languageismeaningfultothelearnersupportsthelearningprocess.

Theroleoflearnerasnegotiator-betweentheself,thelearningprocess,andtheobjectoflearning.Theteacherhastwomainroles:

thefirstroleistofacilitatethecommunicationprocess,thesecondistoactasanindependentparticipantwithinthelearning-teachinggroup.WeconsiderthreekindsofmaterialscurrentlyusedinCLTandlabelthesetext-based,task-base,andrealia.

Nowthattheinitialwaveofenthusiasmbaspassed,however,someofclaimsofCLTarebeinglookedatmorecritically.Theadoptionofacommunicativeapproachraisesimportantissuesforteachertraining,materialsdevelopment,andtestingandevaluation.

1.3TotalPhysicalResponse

TotalPhysicalResponseisalanguageteachingmethodbuiltaroundthecoordinationofspeechandaction;itattemptstoteachlanguagethroughphysicalactivity.

TotalPhysicalResponseislinkedtothe“tracetheory”ofmemoryinpsychology,whichholdsthatthemoreoftenorthemoreintensivelyamemoryconnectionistraced,thestrongerthememoryassociationwillbeandthemorelikelyitwillberecalled.Retracingcanbedoneverballyandinassociationwithmotoractivity.Combinedtracingactivities,suchasverbalrehearsalaccompaniedbymotoractivity,henceincreasetheprobabilityofsuccessfulrecall.

ThelabelingandorderingofTPRclassroomdrillsseemtobebuiltonassumptionsthatowemuchtostructuralistorgrammar-basedviewsoflanguage.Asherstatesthat“mostofthegrammaticalstructureofthetargetlanguageandhundredsofvocabularyitemscanbelearnedfromtheskillfuluseoftheimperativebytheinstructor”.

Asher’sTotalPhysicalResponseisa“NaturalMethod”,inasmuchasAsherseesfirstandsecondlanguagelearningasparallelprocess.AsherseesTotalPhysicalResponseasdirectedtoright-brainlearning,whereasmostsecondlanguageteachingmethodsaredirectedtoleft-brainlearning.Asherholdsthatthechildlanguagelearneracquireslanguagethroughmotormovement,aright-hemisphereactivity.Right-hemisphereactivitiesmustoccurbeforethelefthemispherecanprocesslanguageforproduction.Animportantconditionforsuccessfullanguagelearningistheabsenceofstress.

ThegeneralobjectivesofTPRaretoteachoralproficiencyatabeginninglevel.Comprehensionisameanstoanend,andtheultimateaimistoteachbasicspeakingskills.

ImperativedrillsarethemajorclassroomactivityinTPR.Theyaretypicallyusedtoelicitphysicalactionsandactivityonthepartofthelearner.LearnersinTPRhavetheprimaryrolesoflistenerandperformer.Theylistenattentivelyandrespondphysicallytocommandsgivenbytheteacher.TheteacherplaysanactiveanddirectroleinTPR.Itistheteacherwhodecideswhattoteach,whomodelsandpresentsthenewmaterials,andwhoselectssupportingmaterialsforclassroomuse.

TPRclassareprocessedinthefollowingways.Review,inwhichindividualstudentsweremovedwithcommands.Newcommands,someverbswereintroduced.Rolereversal,studentsreadilyvolunteeredtouttercommandsthatmanipulatedthebehavioroftheinstructorandotherstudents.Readingandwriting,studentsspeakeachitemandactoroutthesentence.

TPRhasenjoyedsomepopularitybecauseofitssupportbythosewhoemphasistheroleofcomprehensioninsecondlanguageacquisition.However,TPRshouldbeusedinassociationwithothermethodsandtechniques.

1.4TheSilentWay

TheSilentWayisthenameofamethodoflanguageteachingdevisedbyCalebGattegno.Gattegno’snameiswellknownforhisrevivalofinterestintheuseofcoloredwoodenstickscalledcuisenairerodsandforhisseriesWordsinColor,anapproachtotheteachingofinitialreadinginwhichsoundsarecodedbyspecificcolors.

Itisbasedonthepremisethattheteachershouldbesilentasmuchaspossibleintheclassroomandthelearnershouldbesilentasmuchaspossibleintheclassroomandthelearnershouldbeencouragedtoproduceasmuchlanguageaspossible.

TheSilentWaysharesagreatdealwithotherlearningtheoriesandeducationalphilosophies.Verybroadlyput,thelearninghypothesesunderlyingGattegno’sworkcouldbestatedasfollows.Learningisfacilitatedifthelearnerdiscoversorcreatesratherthanremembersandrepeatswhatistobelearned.

Learningisfacilitatedbyaccompanyingphysicalobjects.Learningisfacilitatedbyproblemsolvinginvolvingthematerialtobelearned.

Gattegnoviewslanguageitself“asasubstituteforexperience,soexperienceiswhatgivesmeaningtolanguage”.ItisclearthattheSilentWaytakesastructuralapproachtotheorganizationoflanguagetobetaught.Languageisseenasgroupsofsoundsarbitrarilyassociatedwithspecificmeaningandorganizedintosentencesorstringsofmeaningunitsbygrammarrules.Awarenessiseducable.Asonelearns“inawareness,”one’spowersofawarenessandone’scapacitytolearnbecomegreater.TheSilentWaythusclaimstofacilitatewhatpsychologistscall“learningtolearn”.

ThegeneralobjectiveoftheSilentWayistogivebeginninglevelstudentsoralandauralfacilityinbasicelementsofthetargetlanguage.Thegeneralgoalsetforlanguagelearningisnear-nativefluencyinthetargetlanguage,thecorrectpronunciationandmasteryoftheprosodicelementsofthetargetlanguageareemphasized.

LearningtasksandactivitiesintheSilentWayhavet