By V.Kondou-Watsonvkondou@hotmail.com

ABSTRACTFor an English language teaching context with whichyou are familiar, what is the ‘best method’ and why?

It has been the debate of many educationalists andcritics that the best method does not exist or thatthe communicative method is the best teaching method.Yet, many critics bear it that development does notoccur within the child’s brain unless certain bestmethods are used. This, of course refers to a varietyof methods used out of which a selection of bestmethods are to be thought to be best in theachievement and progress of students. Taking intoaccount certain maintained schools in Britain, thebest methods are discussed and analysed.

Keywords:Education, methodology, teaching, learning, context,English, maintained schools,

Castle View school in the North West of Sunderland isan area highly challenging for the community due toits deprivation levels with its learners falling onthe ‘5% - 10% most deprived in England’, (Boad, 2007:4), (Appendix 1). Castle View caters for pupils aged 11-16 in levelsKS3 and KS4 while the reasons for studying English isthat of instrumental motivation, (Cook, 2001:115). AsRichard Schmidt claims the learner acquires knowledge“intentionally” because they want to or“incidentally” where the learner acquires languageskills through “exposure” (Ellis, 1997:55). The L2learners within mainstream education in Castle Viewacquire their language skills through this type of“consciousness” yet overall the reasons as to whythey learn lies in a high percentage of pupilswanting to ‘escape’ the low quality of life while therest hold an intrinsic motivation. In the structure of the school each department fitsinto the school hierarchy whether it is a coresubject and the statistics it produces. Core subjectslike English play an important role in the schoolwhere learning of the language takes place both withL1 and L2 language and literature learners in thesame environment, (Appendix 2).

In addition, the school offers a small library, amentor department, a Special Educational Needsdepartment as well as community rooms where limitedIT availability is offered upon booking.Unfortunately, ever increasing budgetary constraintshave resulted in depleted resources within the schooland a constraint purchasing policy. This imposedstrategy has resulted in the school being unable tooffer a number of IT equipment in each class so as tohave a teacher operated computer or any other studentIT facilities/visual resources. This results in anover demand for IT facilities within the school whereclearly school supplies outstrips students’ andteachers’ demands as well as degrades the lexicalapproach (Appendix 3) where it focuses on the lexicaland different combinations of the word form in L2 tobe learnt and holds the general belief that ‘by usingcomputers in class learners can explore differentpatterns in texts”, (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:134).The school being situated around a deprived socialclass area contributes to the underachievement ofpupils in collaboration to the highly volatileexternal environment. That, with the limitedresourced environment of the school offers minimaleffort to increase pupil attainment. Leadership teamslack monitoring skills and application which isanother factor for the school’s underachievement,(Ofsted, 2006).The government influence on setting targets poses agreat threat to the school so it aims to ‘raisestandards’ reflected in the ‘determination to improveteaching and learning’ amongst others where priorityis emphasized on the teaching and learning methods toensure improvement of those underachieving. (Boad,2007:5)

There is a rich bed of theories in relation to the‘best method’ and the academic debate continues to bea heated discussion led by academics, professionals,political parties and key stakeholders. According toPrabhu (1990: 161-176) the reasoning behind the factthat there is no best method lies in threeconstituents in that there are different methods foradequate contexts, all methods consist of feasiblefeatures but not necessarily always adaptable and themisconception of the term. So for Prabhu, the termmethod consists of the tasks that are carried out andthe theory of “how to” in class which is thedefinition I would like to adhere to, however, forthe purposes of the assignment I will focus on asample of methodologies such as those mentioned byRichards and Rodgers (2001: 36-244) which in certainrespects link to such as those mentioned by Ellis(1997:31-78) and Cook (2001: 114-140). Havingreflected on such models I have synthesized them in apictorial format so as to discuss the best methods,(Appendix 3).In the Grammar - Translation Method (Richards andRodgers, 2001: 5) lessons are taught by paying focuson grammar and structure than meaning. (Appendix 3)According to Harmer (2007:63) its features includethe focus on sentences not on the spoken form,mistakes are not permissible and vocabulary is chosendepending on the context whilst translation serves aspracticing the language learnt. These were perceivedas the “prerequisite of passing written exams”,(Howatt, 198:132). Some of these foci resemble my ownlearning of English as a foreign language wheregrammar was taught by ‘parrot fashion” which relatesto the view that “speaking the foreign language wasnot the goal-instead emphasis on grammatical ruleswere learnt…”, (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:5).

In Castle View school grammar is treated as a starteractivity and writing skills are emphasized to producesatisfying assessment results. Unfortunately, thelack of consistency in the teaching methods hindersthe extended focus of grammar. Accuracy inwritten/spoken texts is essential whereas mistakesare seen as a skill that turn into a target to beachieved, lately by the introduction of theAssessment of Pupils Progress grids, (DfES, 2007).However, focusing on the grammar and reading/writingskills before an acquired basic level of language canbe perceived as leaving oral skills at the bottom ofteaching hierarchy. The Direct Method which according to Richards andRodgers (2001:7-11) “had marked the beginning of the“methods era”’, (Appendix 3) held beliefs that L2should be taught in the same way as the nativelanguage which is how English is taught in L2learners in Castle View. Oral skills are importantfor many reasons whilst accurate pronunciation isrequired though not criticized since one of thecriteria for S&L in the GCSE oral exams is theconsistent use of Standard English, (www.wjec.com).Within the English department the teacher models andexplains what is to be taught while learners practiceit afterwards. The teaching of grammar is importantas much as the attention towards the progress of thelearners’ speaking and listening skills. Limitations regarding this method involve the notionthat L2 acquisition is not processed the same way asnative language yet in a mainstream environment thelearners whose L1 is different to English are beingtaught the target language as it is taught in L1learning. As Sweet argued, that method ensured theacquisition of the L2 disregarded the “soundmethodological principles” that could potentiallyserve as effective learning, (Richards and Rodgers,2001:13).

According to Lefrancois (1988:29) in the SituationalLanguage Teaching, a behaviorist theory, (Appendix3), learners achieve knowledge through rewarding orpunishment. The learner receives stimulus and afterprocessing the information produces output that canbe either positive or negative. This is also seen asa “habit formation… a habit is a stimulus - responseconnection” (Ellis, 1997:31) where the learner afterreceiving the stimulus along with reinforcement cansucceed in acquiring the desired knowledge. Thisresembles the computational model described by Ellis(1997:35) where “it implies that the human mindfunctions like a computer”. Teaching using thismethod is feasible though difficulties lie in thatpupils lack concentration so they cannot adopt a“habit” mode and the school hierarchy fails to ensurea school wide agreed learning methodology. Thisindeed can be mirrored within the classroomenvironment at Castle View.Reinforcement used by Pavlov and Skinner (Cook,2001:188) in terms of operant and classicalconditioning has been advocated by teachers andparents too (Appendix 3). However, it is argued(Ellis, 1997: 32) that behaviorists focus on theinput and output and not what really happens insidethe “black box” of the learner’s mind”. That is apossibility that needs to be considered since so muchdebate (Cook, 2001:115) is focused on children whohave not got the motivation or aptitude to learn andface many learning difficulties such is the case inCastle View. If we know and understand the processesthat occur in that “black box” then maybe we can paymore attention to i.e. those “statemented” and useteaching methods to enable them to learn throughstimulus and establish a functional learning culture.However, the lack of consistency amongst teachers, ofeffective monitoring within the school and betweenstaff in Castle View hinders the consistency of thismethod.

Palmer believed that in Situational learning focusshould be placed on vocabulary whereas grammar isviewed as “sentence patterns of the spoken language”,(Richards and Rodgers, 2001:37). Again, some of thefeatures are applied in the teaching of Englishwithin Castle View without affirming the holisticapproach in the teaching of this theory. That way, weuse texts where the teacher explains the newvocabulary or uses other techniques in which learnerscan teach it to themselves, i.e. by usingdictionaries. In most cases, simple forms of grammaris taught in KS3 levels, such as Year 7 so by the endof Year 9, learners have acquired enough grammar tomove to a more proficient level. Reading and writingskills are developed in greater length after acertain level of lexical basis is confirmed.Unfortunately, the idea of mistakes remains the sameas in the Grammar-Translation method. Learners’ aptitude in Castle View often prevents themfrom inducing meaning of the vocabulary from thesituation presented and often lose interest, yet,activities where dictation is used to often testspelling skills, or repetition in situations forstudents to learn conversational phrases, drama work,group and pair work is highly emphasized by the localauthority as an effective approach to learning andinteracting with each other as well as reading andwriting skills. Teachers, also, according to Richards and Rodgers(2001:43) play an important role in that their skillsreflect learners’ responses to what have been learnt.For instance, because of the inconsistency ofteaching methodology in Castle View along with ourlearners’ lack of concentration, they often forgetwhat has been learnt, fail to respond to answers andare often unmotivated. In addition, Byrne (1976:2)sees the teacher as “more like the skillful conductorof an orchestra, drawing the music out of theperformers”. This suggests a model similar toVygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, (Appendix3).

Teachers of Castle View school are sentenced onhaving to follow a set curriculum hence cannotexperiment greatly with the subject yet one of thetriplets that are imposed on learning is that ofpresenting their own viewpoints, use dialogue toanalyze, imagine, explain etc. where pupils are giventhe opportunity to use their own experience todevelop new theories. Although constructivism eliminates the notion ofassessment in a mainstream environment, it supportsthe self and peer assessment which enhances theprocess of learning. This model may not be usedholistically in the school due to the variability ofteaching methods and the lack of monitoring pupils aswell as the low social factors that hinder socialconstructivism. This in line with the lack ofmotivation and aptitude by a certain percentage ofCastle View learners as well as the high level ofstaff absences and their lack of interest to engagewith their pupils so as to help them form new ideasundermines the value of Vygotsky’s “zone of proximaldevelopment”. (Appendix 3)

Using any method presupposes the fact thatlearners can communicate effectively, (Ellis,1997:60) where interaction takes place. This parswith what is described in Yule (2006:165) as the“Audiolingual method” where “the fluent use of alanguage” is ‘habits”… developed with a lot ofpractice” and it bases its principles on “spokenlanguage, practice and structure” (Cook, 2001:199).The Audiolingual method resembles a behavioralapproach and that according to Brooke (1964:5)language is first spoken and written afterwards solearning really “is not about the language but aboutit itself”, (Moulton, 1964:5).

The teacher for instance can use drills to test thelearners’ knowledge and keep using that as a “habitformation”; dialogues to form other meanings, topractice a text, give feedback as part of anassessment, as well as test pronunciation. (Cook,2001:212) According to Cook (2001:212) many teachers’experience of teaching methods consists of only thecommunicative one where “communication came to beseen more in terms of processes that people use tocarry out specific tasks rather than functions andnotion”, (Cook, 2001:212) as that when Castle Viewlearners are required to explain the reasons as aresult of a task through group based discussions.Cook describes three styles of the communicativemethod as: social or what “Halliday (1970:145)”,(Richards and Rodgers, 2001:159) ‘terms interpersonalfunction” (Cook, 2001:212) where two people interactwith each other for social and/or cultural purposes,to gain information and share knowledge rather thanexplore each others’ personalities as well as task-based learning where the learner is posed with a setof problem solving tasks and a definite outcome isexpected (Appendix 3). In Castle View learners oftenlack concentration and any attempt to communicate oruse interpersonal skills is lost by behavioraldifficulties. Similarly, Yule (2001:166) refers to Littlewood’s(1981) “functional” activity as a task where learnersi.e. put puzzle pieces together or find thedifferences between two pictures. Communicativeapproaches are used within Castle View, however, withthe lack of social skills by many learners derivingfrom deprived social backgrounds applying andlearning to use social communicative methods isdifficult.

In addition, Task-Based learning is highly used, i.e.in the preparation for exams we often use this methodto develop communicative skills, i.e. how would youpersuade the Prime Minister to impose strictermeasures against animal cruelty? The students have todiscuss, process ideas, work in groups, and interactin order to produce a set list of reasons as to whyanimal cruelty is bad. Where L2 learners areintegrated with L1 learners, effective communicationdepends according to Kraschen (Ellis, 1997:47) on the“comprehensible input” through interaction and realcommunication where a learner “understands the L2speaker and in turn conveys their ideas”, (Yule,2001:184) or according to Long (Ellis, 1997:47) inany communicative misunderstanding the L2 learnerwill try to use their own strategies to understand.For instance, L2 learners in Castle View will eitherinteract with others in order to understand or justhypothesize the meaning of the context taught.The cognitive method where the learners’ cultureaccording to Vygotsky (Sadler-Smith, 2006:127)impacts on the way they think, how and why. Thelearner develops language through the process ofinformation in the brain which is the schema, ideasand notions so, new information is formed. Hence,problem solving tasks result in the learner’sdevelopmental stage, input and social/culturalinteraction develops the learner’s languageacquisition where through constant monitoringprogress can be evident. However, with learners ofCastle View these do not necessarily take place. Thede-motivation by the teachers, lack of recordedassessment, high staff absence, lack of class roomdiscipline and ring fenced resources, reinforcement,the constant challenges between pupils who areidentified as gifted and talented whereas others lackaptitude and motivation, all play part in raisingachievement.

Having synthesized (Appendix 3) and analysed thevarious methods mentioned above a cognitive modelwould be appropriate for Castle View. However weshould not dismiss the factors that hinder successfullearning in this context (Figure 5) At this point,the model which could be adopted consistentlythroughout the school whilst attention in behavior ispaid would be that of Vygotsky’s cognitive approach.The learner acquires knowledge without assistancethough in collaboration with the teacher can developlearning by using the expert’s skills. Using thiswould involve questioning and feedback, practice,study, instruction and coaching and with theassistance of the expert through reinforcement,modeling of the task, scaffolding and selfevaluation, shared knowledge between the teacher andthe learner implies development of the cognitivestage, (Sadler-Smith, 2006:127). However such a modelwould have to be implemented holistically and firmlysupported by staff and the school’s leadershipthrough thorough training, peer observation etc.without this support mechanism the model would failand reinforce the schools current position as afailing institute with no clear learning strategy forsuccessful progression.

APPENDIX 1Figure 1-Characteristics of Learners-Castle ViewSchool

Figure 2- Characteristics of the community- CastleView area

GENERAL METHODS best on Richards and Rodgers(2001:20)theoretical views of language

* Audiolingual Method* Total Physical Response* Silent way* Councelling Learning

• Communicative movement

• Task Based Language Teaching• Neurolinguistic Programming• Co-operative Language Learning• Content-Based Instruction

GRAMMAR - TRANSLATION METHOD

Principles:

• L1 is used in the classroom• Grammar formation is stressed• Reading long texts-focus n grammatical contextnot meaning• Vocabulary lists- use of dictionaries• Accuracy is emphasized

DIRECT METHOD

Principles:

• Grammar taught inductively• Oral interaction between teacher-learners insmall classes• Basic vocabulary/sentences taught• Vocabulary taught either throughdemonstration/pictures or ideas • Target language used as a prime goal• Teacher models-pupils practice learning material• Accurate pronunciation/use of grammar wasimportant• Focus on Speaking and Listening comprehension• Teacher’s proficiency of the target language hasgot to be native

SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING

Principles:

• First oral then written form was taught• L2 used in class• New language focus learnt and practiced• Vocabulary chosen according to the text taught• Hierarchy of simple to complex grammar taught• Then. Reading/Writing skills were emphasized

AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:60)

Principles:

• L2 is learned by a habit formation• Oral skills presented primary to reading/writtenones• Grammar is learned when rules are primary learnt• Cultural aspects included in teaching• Listening comprehension practiced• Accurate pronunciation is emphasized• Native language is not used• Dialogues and drills used to focus on patterns

LEXICAL APPROACH (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:134)

Principles:

• use of IT to recognize different word patternsin different data• Focus is placed on word combination• Dictionaries/vocabulary activities, printouts,CDs used in classroom• Reinforcement of lexical notebooks (Hill, 2000)

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Task Based LearningBased on:http://www.cityu.edu.hk/edo/images/pbl_diagram01.jpg

SUBJECT BASED LEARNING

PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Figure 9- COGNITIVE METHODhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/0040420413003.png

APPENDIX 4

The best methodBased on Sadler-Smith, 2006:127. Vygotsky’s cognitivetheory- ZPD

Figure 3 – Behaviorist theory notions. Skinner andPavlov’s views(http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/operantvclassic.gif)

FACTORS THAT HINDER SUCCESSFUL LEARNING (Figure 5)

• the constant recruitment of teachers hencecontinuous conflicting teaching methods • the social environment that learners areexperiencing • the aptitude and motivational levels for eachlearner; the lack of monitoring progress and the focus on adidactic, calm environment in the class seems to bemore important in Castle View rather than the methodthat is to be used for effective learning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Boad, C., (2007) Self Evaluation Form• Cook, V., (2001) Second Language Learning AndLanguage Teaching, New York: Oxford University Press• Ellis, R., (1997) Second Language Acquisition,Oxford: Oxford University Press• Richards, J. C., and Rodgers, T. S., ApproachesAnd Methods In Language Teaching, (2001) New York:Cambridge University Press• Sadler-Smith, E., Learning And Development ForManagers, Blackwell Publishing:UK• Yule, G., (2006) The Study Of Language, UK:Cambridge University Press

URLs: (images with their URLs highlighted have beentaken from the Google site)www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory).com•

http://michaelsydney.edublogs.org/files/2008/05/skinnerbox.png• http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/dog-training-18.jpg•

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/operantvclassic.gif• www.nas.org.uk/content/1/c4/39/04/diagram.jpg

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Journals:

• Hunt, M., Barnes, A., Powell, B., Lindsay, G.,Muijs, D., Primary Modern Foreign Languages: AnOverview Of Recent Research, Key Issues AndChallenges For Educational Policy And Practice, Vol.20, No. 4, Dec. 2005, pp. 371-390, University OfWarwick; University Of Newcastle: UK• Rueda, R., and Becky Chen, C-Y, AssessingMotivation Factors In Foreign Language Learning:Cultural Variation In Key Constructs, EDUCATIONALASSESSMENT, 10 (3), pp. 209-229, University ofSouthern California• Stewart-Strobelt, J., and Chen, H., Motivationsand attitudes Affecting High School Students’ ChoiceOf Foreign Language, ADOLESCENCE, Vol. 38, No. 149,2003, San Diego: CA:USA• Williams, M., Burden, R., and Lanvers, U.,“French Is The Language Of Love And Stuff”: StudentPerceptions Of Issues related To Motivation InLearning A Foreign Language, Vol. 28, No. 4, 2002,University Of Exeter