A "Methodical" History of a Language Teaching

¨  Key to the understanding of the way things are and why they are that way.

¨  teachers may better comprehend the forces that influence their profession

“The first step toward developing a principled approach to language teaching

will be to turn back the clock about a century to learn from the historical cycles and trends that have brought us to the

present day.”

“This chapter focus on methods as the identifying characteristics of a century of

“modern” language-teaching efforts.”

“You will encounter references to concepts, constructs, issues and models that are normally covered in a course in second

language acquisition (SLA).”

FOREİGN LANGUAGE LEARNİNG

ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEARNİNG OF GREEK AND LATİN purpose of learning a foreign language to promote speakers’ intellectuality

1850’s: Classical method came to be known as Grammar Translation Method

¨  What do we mean by the term method?

¨  How do methods reflect various trends of

disciplinary thought?

Brown (1994)

Edward Anthony (1963)

Richard & Rodgers (1982; 1986)

APPROACH is a set of assumptions dealing with nature of language, learning and teaching;

METHOD is na overall plan for systematic presentation Of language based upon a selected approach

TECHNIQUE are specific activities manifested in the classroom

METHOD – is an umbrella term - Approach

- Design - procedure

METHOD (Richards & Rodgers)

APPROACH DESIGN PROCEDURE

Edward Anthony

(1963)

Approach

“A set of assumptions dealing with

the nature of language,

learning, and teaching”

Method

“… was described as an overall

plan for systematic

presentation of language based upon a selected

approach.”

Techniques

“… were the specific activities manifested in the classroom that were consistent with a method and therefore

were in harmony with an approach

as well”

Jack Richards and Theodore Rodgers (1982)

Method was an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and practice.”

Approach

“Defines assumptions, beliefs, and

theories about the nature of language and

language learning”

Design

“Specify the relationship of

those theories to classroom

materials and activities.”

Procedure

“Techniques and practices that are derived from one’s

approach and design.”

“Albert Marckwardt (1972) saw these “changing winds and shifting sands” as cyclical pattern in which a new method emerged about every quarter of a century. Each new method broke from the old but took with it some of the positive aspects of the previous practices .”

“Each new method broke from the old but took with it some of the positive aspects of the previous Practices”.

Cyclical nature of methods

Grammar Translation Method

Gouin and Series Method The direct Method The Audiolingual

Method

Designer Methods of The Spirited Seventies

Beyond Method: Notional-Functional

Syllabuses

Community Language Learning

Suggestopedia

The Silent Way

Total Physical Response

The natural approach

Communicative Language Teaching

“1. Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.

2. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.

3. Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.

4. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.

5. Reading of difficult classical texts in begun

early.

6. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.

7. Often the drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.

8. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.”

“It does not virtually enhance a student’s communicative ability in the language.”

“… one can understand why Grammar Translation remains so popular. It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers. Tests of grammar rules and of translations are easy to construct and can be objectively scored.”

¨  Marcel ¡  Emphasized the importance of understanding

meaning in language learning

¨  Pendergast ¡  Proposed the first structural syllabus (arranging

grammatical structures so that the easiest was taught first)

¡ Painful experience in learning German ú Tried to memorize a German grammar

book and a list of 248 irregular German verbs

¡ Observed his three-year old nephew ¡ Came up with the following insights ú Children use language to represent their

conceptions. ú Language is a means of thinking, of

representing the world to oneself.

¡  Series METHOD: a method that taught learners directly (without translation) and conceptually (without grammatical rules and explanations) a “series” of connected sentences that are easy to percieve. ú  Emphasized presenting each item in context and using

gestures to supplement verbal meaning ú  Taught learners directly a series of connected sentences.

­  Ex. I stretch out my arm. I take hold of the handle. I open the door. I pull the door.

•  Posited by Charles Berlitz Second language learning is similar to first language learning

Emphasis on - oral interaction - spontaneous use of language - no translation - little if any analysis of

grammatical rules and structures

¨  The principles of the Direct Method ¡  Classroom instruction was conducted in the target

language ¡  There was an inductive approach to grammar ¡  Only everyday vocabulary was taught ¡  Concrete vocabulary was taught through pictures

and objects ¡  Abstract vocabulary was taught by association of

ideas

¨  New teaching points were introduced orally ¨  Communication skills were organized around

question-answer exchanges btw. teachers and students

¨  Speech and listening comprehension were taught

¨  Correct pronounciation and grammar were emphasized

¨  Successful in private language schools (small classes, individual attention and intensive study)

¨  Overemphasized the similarites btw FLLand SLL.

¨  Reqired native speakers as teachers

¨  Its success depended on teacher’s skill and personality more than on the methodology itself

¨  Outbreak of the World War II ¡  Heightened the need to become orally proficient ¡  “the Army Method” (an oral-based approach to

langauge learning) ¡  Charles Fries and Leonard Bloomfield (structural

linguist) ú  İdentify the grammatical structures and the basic

sentence patterns ú  Practice these patterns by systematic attention to

pronounciation and intensive oral drilling

¨  New material is presented in dialogue form ¨  There is dependency on mimicry, memorization of set

phrases, and overlearning. ¨  There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar

is taught inductively. ¨  Great importance is attached to pronunciation. ¨  Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is

permitted. ¨  Successful responses are reinforced. ¨  There is great effort to get students to produce error-

free utterances.

ALM- grammar or structure is the starting point. Language was identified with speech and speech was approached through language

DM- No basis in applied linguistics learners are exposed to the language, use it and gradually absorb its grammatical structures

ALM differs from the Direct Method in that vocabulary

and grammar are carefully selected and graded, and it’s based on behaviorist habit-formation theory.

¨  Charles Curran (1972) created a classic example of an affectively based method, what he called the Counseling-Learning;

¨  “The social dynamics of such a group were of primary importance”;

¨  Methodology: “the group of clients (students), having first established in their native language an interpersonal relationship and trust, were seated in a circle with the counselor (teacher) on the outside of the circle.

¨  As they talked the counselor translated the dialogue in the second language (English). The learner repeated that English sentence as accurately as possible.

¨  Affective advantages;

¨  “The counselor allowes the learner to determine the type of conversation and to analyze the foreign language inductively”

¨  The counselor teacher could become non directive;

¨  Translation is a complex process, is often “easier said than done”

¨  G e o rg i L o z a n i v ( 1 9 7 9 ) – b u l g a r i a n psychologist;

¨  He believed that “the human brain could process great quantities of material if given the right conditions for learning – which are a state of relaxation and giving over of control to the teacher”

¨  The “right conditions” may not be avaible wherever this method was taught, like the using of music and confortable chairs;

¨  It replaces the understanding process in language learning by memorization techniques;

¨  Caleb Gattegno (1972);

1.  “Learning is facilitaded if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned”

2.  “Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects”

3.  Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.”

¨  Characterized by a problem-solving approach. ¨  Develops independence and autonomy and

encourages students to cooperate with each other. ¡  Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or

creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

¡  Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects).

¡  Learning is facilitated by problem solving the material to be learned.

¨  This contains a number of different coloured rectangles; each colour corresponds to a sound in the language. The color code is the same as that of the fidel and word charts

¨  The Fidel is a set of charts presenting all the possible spellings of each sound of the language using the same colour code as the rectangle chart and word charts. It is particularly useful when the same signs correspond to different sounds as in English and French or when there are many irregularities in spelling.

¨  The Silent Way was too harsh a method and the teacher was too distant (they had to “get out of my way” while students worked out solutions), to encourage a communicative atmosphere;

¨  Learners need more guidance and overt correction than it permitted;

¨  There aren’t any specialness in this method by using the rods and charts; it can look like any other language classroom;

¨  James Asher (1977);

¨  “The instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors”

¨  Students did a deal of listening and acting. The teacher was very directive in orchestrating a perfomance;

¨  Imperative mood was utilized to teach even into more advanced levels; introduced by humor to make the atmosphere confortable enough for the learning process.

¨  The TPR “lost its distinctiveness as learners advanced in their competence;

¨  In reading and writing activities, students were limited to spinning off the oral work in the classroom

¨  Soon the learders’ needs for spontaneity and unreheased language must be met, not only the traced actions;

¨  Stephen Krashen (1982, 1997)

¨  T h e t e a c h e r s h o u l d p ro v i d e t h e b a s i c “comprehensible input”, comunication skill for everydau language situations

¨  Learners don’t to say during this “silent period” untill they feel ready to do so.

¨  The teachers is the source of the learners’ input, stimulating variety of classroom activities- games, skits, commands and the like.

1.  The preproduction stage is the development os listening comprehension skills

2.  The early production stage is usually marked with errors as the student struggles with the language.

3.  The last stage is one of extending production into longer stretches of discourse involving more comple games, role plays, discussions and so forth. The objective in this is to promote fluency.

¨  The heavy emphasis on comprehensible input and the silent period

¨  What about the student whose speech never emerges?

¨  And with all students on different timetable for this called emergence, how does the teacher manage a classroom efficiently?

¨  How does one know which structures the learners are to be provided with?

¨  Begun with the work of Council of Europe, and it’s used in UK in the 1970;

¨  Attention to functions as the organizing elements of Enlish language curriculum; grammatical structures served as the organizers;

¨  It focused on the pragmatic purposes to which we put the language;

¨  It wasn’t a method but it was close to what they called na “approach”

¨  It was specifically focused on curricular structure than a true approach at all – a language functions, it follows below:

1.  Introducing self and other people

2.  Exchanging personal information

3.  Asking how to spell someone’s name

4.  Giving commands

5.  Apologizing and thanking

6.  Identifying and discribing people

7.  Asking for information

1) Taking into account the reading of "A "methodological" history of language teaching" could you consider the "Grammar translation Method" would fit one, or even a group of students nowadays. Justify your answer.

2) What are the pros and cons of each method presented in the text regarding effectivness in learning a second language?

3) If you would build a method, what features of the methods presented in the text would you take into account while building yours? Would you add any characteristic to it that is not presented in any of the methods in text? Justify your answer.

4) Based on the methods of learning second

language explained before and weighing up our digital natives (21th century). How can we think about a method that meets this new generation wishes, and become it a real method whose learners are capable to learn effectively?

5)

¨  BROWN, H. Douglas (2007). Teaching by Principals.