Four methods in language teaching

8/7/2019 Four methods in language teaching

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FOUR METHODS IN

FOREIGN LANGUAGETEACHING

By

03


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Introduction:As an interdisciplinary science, the field of

applied linguistics has been constantly

influenced by theoretical trends in

linguistics, psychology, and sociology.

Hence, this influence is reflected in the

various methods and approaches insecond and foreign language teaching in

history.


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A Retrospective of Foreign

Language Teaching Methodology 1st period: the period of Classical language

teaching (before 1880): Grammar- TranslationMethod

2nd period: the beginning of Modern

Language Teaching (from 1880 to the 1st worldwar): Direct method

3rd period: the Development of Modern

Language Teaching (from the first world warto 70) : Audio-lingual Method

4th period: the intensification of ModernLanguage Teaching (after70): CommunicativeApproach


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Grammar-Translation Method

Background:

Time period : until late 19th century

Under the influence of the teaching of Latin and Greek:FL as cultural refinement.Language is viewed as a set

of knowledge, just like physics, chemistry, mathematics,etc.

Theoretical Foundation:

Rationalism & Prescriptivism

Representative: Greco-Latin Model of Grammar:

German scholar Karl Ploz (late 1800s)was influential


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Grammar-Translation MethodApproaches:Accuracy emphasized

Grammar taught deductively

Native language-----medium of instruction

Central Issue: Why to teach?


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The Direct MethodBackground

Late 19th-early 20th century, practical needs andinterests for modern languages calls for reform: GT wasfound to be inadequate for teaching living languages, soDM was developed which emphasized the primacy ofspeech.

the founding of IPA in 1886,

Theoretical Foundation :

Pragmatism & Descriptivism


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The Direct methodPrinciples & Methods

Begin with spoken language

Inductive teaching of grammarClassroom instruction conducted in mother tongue

Factual texts

Systematic oral training and exercise

Exposure to living speech

Central issue: What to teach?


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The Audio-lingual Method

(1940s-1970s)Social Background: Developed in the US during WWII, asa need for people to learn foreign languages rapidly for militarypurposes. on the one hand, and growing body of researches onforeign langrage teaching on the other.

Theoretical Foundation:Exciting new ideas about language and learning:Structuralism: as chemistry, break sentences up into phrases,words, sounds, etc.

Language is viewed as a set of skills, such as swimming,driving, riding a bike, etc. .Behaviorism: Stimulus & Response

Proponents:Fries, Skinner, Bloomfield, N. Brooks


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The Audio-lingual Method

Principles and methods:

FL as a process of habit formation

Emphasizes speaking and listening before reading and

writing

Uses dialogues and drills

Discourages use of the mother tongue in the

classroom

Often make use of contrastive analysis

Central issues : How to teach?


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The Communicative Approach

Principles and methods:

Teaching language as communication

Appropriateness rather than acceptability

Content not form is emphasized

Learner factors

Authenticity

Central Issue: Whom to teach?


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Characteristics of the

CommunicativeA

pproach:1. Student-centered.

2. Teacher acts as an advisor, organizer, facilitator,guide, monitor, evaluator, etc. in class.

3. The use rather than the usage of English is stressed

4. Students learn to communicate by communicating

through truly communicative activities: three features:

information/opinion gap, choice, and feedback5. The use of authentic materials. It is considereddesirable to give students an opportunity to developstrategies for understanding language as it is actuallyused by native speakers.


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Some Famous models of Communicative

Approach:Canale and Swain Model

Bachman Model

Li Xiaoju Model

Proponent of CLT in China

Work: Communicative English for Chinese Learners

Recently the course of CECL is graded as an excellent

course by the Chinese Educational Ministry.


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What the class will be like when

the teacher uses different method?


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Experiencing the four methods: Four elementary level adult English classes

we make up at a university in China

Teaching methods:

Grammar-Translation Method

Direct Method

Audio-Lingual Method

Communicative Approach

Number of students: 30

Teaching content: a short funny English story

in about 40 words about watching TV at

home.


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Experiencing the four methods:A little funny story: Is Jim Clever?

One day, Jim and his brother were

watching TV. Suddenly Jim turnedoff the TV. Why do you turn it off?asked his brother. I want to drinkwater and I dont want to miss the

TV program.

replied Jim.


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Grammar-Translation Method The teacher teaches some new words first, eg, watch, miss,

program;

then goes through the whole passage sentence by sentence,and translates them into Chinese;

meanwhile explains some key grammatical points in thepassage, such as past continuous tense, the phrases: turn off

and turn on and asks the students to do some exercises about them.

Alternative:

Some students are called on to read a few lines from thepassage. After each has finished reading, s/he is asked totranslate into Chinese the few lines he has just read.

When the reading and translating are finished, the teacher mayrespond to the questions if any raised by the students inChinese, then move to the comprehension and vocabularyexercises about the story.


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Direct Method

No translation, meaning is directly

connected with the target language.


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Direct MethodAt the beginning of the lesson, the

teacher puts up the picture of the story

on the blackboard first,


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Then , s/he calls on the students one by one and read a sentence from the

reading passage. The teacher may then point to the part of the picture the

sentence describes after each student has read his sentence.


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Direct MethodAt last, comes the questions and

answers session in the target language,

and the teacher tries her/his best toanswer the students questions in

English by gestures, facial expressions,

drawings on the blackboard, and givingexamples and relating the explanations

to the students own life.


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Audio-Lingual Method

When the class begins, the teacher presents andacts out the new story and the short dialogue in thestory in English.

The students are expected to pay attention to thenew text and try to understand the meaning of it andlearn the whole text by heart.

After the teacher makes sure that the students canunderstand the text, s/he has the whole class repeateach of the lines of the text after his/her model.

Then the teacher and students take turns to do thelines of the characters in the story to further get their

mouth around the words. Then other language drillsare followed to help the students to grasp the keylanguage points or sentence patterns. Finally, thestudents are asked to role play the dialogue in thestory in class with half of the class do the part of onespeaker and the other half does the role of the other

speaker.


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Communicative Approach The teacher may first give the students some key

words in the story and asks them to predict thecontent of the story.

The teacher may also present the first part of thestory and ask the students to guess the end of the

story. The teacher can design a role-play based on the

story, ask the students to work in pairs and play theroles of the speakers in the story and present theirplay in class.

The teacher can also ask the students to have adebate contest on the impact of TV on Children intwo teams or a speech contest on the topic of MyFavorite TV Program or TV and Our life to providethe students as many chances as possible to use theEnglish they learned to express their ideas and

communicate with others.


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An analysis of the activities used in the class on

the basis of CLT characteristics:

1. Student-centered.

2. Teacher acts as an advisor, organizer, facilitator,guide, monitor, evaluator, etc. in class.

3. The use rather than the usage of English isstressed.

4. Students learn to communicate by communicatingthrough truly communicative activities: role-play,readers theatre, chained story, etc.

5. The use of a semi-authentic material. The studentsare given an opportunity to develop strategies forunderstanding language as it is actually used bynative speakers.


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In short,A truly communicative English

class!


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Concluding remarks From the above discussions we can infer that

the main domain of applied linguistics: the

study of second and foreign languagelearning and teaching is closely related to thesocial conditions, the development of variousother disciplines: psychology, sociology,philosophy, etc., above all, the better

understanding of the knowledge and role oflanguage in our life.


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Questions for thought:

1. What foreign language, especiallyEnglish language learning and teaching

method is most effective andappropriate in China now?

2. What contributions the practice ofsecond and foreign language learning

and teaching can make to the furtherexploration of the marvelous scope oflinguistics?


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References: Gui Shichun. 2001. Applied Linguistics Course

handout.

Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 1985.

Ur, Penny. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching:Pratice and Theory, Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Zhengchao. 2003. Introduction to Linguistics andApplied Linguistics course handout.

..1988.

.. 2000.

. 365. 2002.


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Thank you for your

attention.good-bye!

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Four methods in language teaching