Post-Methods: Towards Pedagogy in the new era

Alan Ramírez

First…

What method is this???

seven principles to improve student motivation: (a) The teacher should be lively and interesting, (b) presentations should be brief, (c) examples should be concrete, (d) students should always be active, (e) activities must be useful and relevant, (f) there should be variety in every class, and (g) games should be used.

Definition(s) of Methodology…again

“…various individual techniques for teaching of the basic skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.” (Cohen, 1990).

“…universal technique for teaching of any linguistic material in any skill area – e.g. Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP)” (Rivers, 1968).

“…comprises learning to put into practice certain general principles of good language teaching derived from research or observation (Brown, 1994ª)

Definition(s) of method (the one I liked)

Second of three hierarchical elements: APPROACH, “METHOD” AND TECHNIQUE

“Overall plan for systematic presentation of language based on a selected approach” (approach is “a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning and teaching”). (Brown).

Richards & Rodgers disagree with that definition (and hierarchy).

Define “post-method”…(please!!!)

“The shift of attention and orientation from positivistic views of language towards a process-oriented constructivist views in which learning is viewed as an active process where learners reflect upon their current and past knowledge and experiences to generate new ideas and concepts” (Fat’hi, 2011).

“…a reaction against the perceived failures of language pedagogies, and…a late embrace of trends in the humanities and social sciences… a number of ESL scholars began to turn to critical pedagogies and to speak of a “post-methods” era” (Richter, 2014).

Define “post-method”…(please!!!)

“Critical Pedagogies reject traditional concepts of teaching, which view the instructor’s task as the application of theory to practice, in favor of a perspective in which teaching is the theorization of practice…” (Richter, 2014).

“From a critical pedagogy perspective, the goal of second language teacher education should be to promote critical awareness, critical self-reflection, and critical pedagogical relations” (Richter, 2014).

Stern

“There is a "fundamental weakness" in the concept of Method.”

"One of the most extraordinary and in some ways totally unexpected phenomena in the recent history of language teaching has been the 'method boom' of the seventies.“

"the prolonged preoccupation with the new methods, useful as it has been to widen our horizon, is becoming increasingly unproductive and misguided.”

Not the newest idea?...

“Substitution tables, realia, language games, dialogues, and many other parts of the modern scene have been around for centuries. Kelly (1969) concludes that the "total corpus of ideas accessible to language teachers has not changed basically in 2,000 years” (Pennycook, 2007).

The case of Comenius

“As he wrote in 1651” …(Comenius)…, "In our school we follow the rule that everything (one) needs to know about things should be taught with the help of the things themselves, that is to say that as far as possible, the real objects or pictures of them should be presented so that they can be seen, touched, heard, tasted, etc." (Caravolas, 1984, p. 88)

"you learn by doing“ (Caravolas citing Comenius from 1651).

The case of Comenius

“Classrooms, he suggests” …(Comenius)…, “should be "workshops full of ardent activity" (p. 94). He outlines seven principles to improve student motivation: (a) The teacher should be lively and interesting, (b) presentations should be brief, (c) examples should be concrete, (d) students should always be active, (e) activities must be useful and relevant, (f) there should be variety in every class, and (g) games should be used.” (Pennycook, 2007).

A Glance to the Past

Focusing on Methods rather than “local” Pedagogy (Rodgers, Brown, Kumaravadivelu, Coleman)

“Designer Methods” (Richards & Rodgers, Larsen-Freeman, Richard-Amato, Brown)

Looking for an undisputable way (Method or approach) of teaching …(is there any?).

“Designer Methods” (which are they?)

Silent Way Counseling Learning Natural Approach Total Physical Response (TPR) Suggestopedia

Approach Method

An approach is a set of beliefs and principles that can be used as the basis for teaching a language.

A method refers to a specific instructional design or system based on a particular theory of language and of language learning. It contains detailed specifications of content, roles of teachers and learners, and teaching procedures and techniques.

CLT Audiolingualism

CBLT Counseling Learning

CBI Situational LT

Cooperative Learning The Silent Way

Lexical Approaches Suggestopedia

Multiple Intelligences TPR

The Neuronal Approach

Neurolinguistic Programming

TBLT

Whole Language

Approach Method

Some approaches have in common a set of theories and beliefs about the nature of the language, of language of learning, and a set of principles for teaching a language.

Methods solve the problem of novice teachers because many of the basic decisions about what and how to teach have already been made for them.

They allow a variety of interpretations of how the principles can be applied.

They are learned through training.

Approaches tend to have a long shelf life.

Methods tend to have a relatively short shelf life.

They can be revised and updated over time.

It is relatively fixed in time and there is generically little scope for individual interpretation.

Approaches tend to allow for varying interpretations in practice.

Method prescribe for teachers what and how to teach.

Political, social and cultural factors

“Second Language Education (SLE) is involved in a complex nexus of social, cultural, economic, and political relationships that involve students, teachers, and theorists in differential positions of power”

“First, that all education is political, and second, that all knowledge is "interested." (Pennycook, 2007).

Political, social and cultural factors

To regard the power of deciding what to teach to school and to defend the free-market economy? The economy affects approaches and methods (Pennycook, citing Giroux, 1988).

“Cummins suggests that many academics are involved in a disinformation campaign that helps to maintain the "covert racism and psychological violence to which dominated minority students are still subjected (1989, pp. 127-128) and to preserve the political status quo that is being threatened by the changing demographics with the increasing numbers of Spanish-speaking people in the U.S.” (Pennycook, 2007).

Contradictions

Does the philosophy of this era goes only against “methods”? What about “approaches”?

Check on the “twelve principles” suggested by Brown for a reliable approach

Twelve Principles

1. Automaticity

2. Meaningful Learning

3. The anticipation of reward

4. Intrinsic motivation

5. Strategic investment

6. Language ego

7. Self-confidence

8. Risk taking

9. The language-culture connection

10. The native language effect

11. Interlanguage

12. Communicative competence

If you ask me to sum it up…

APPROACH METHOD-DESIGN PROCEDURE

Language Learning Theory*Methodology don’t work*Go back to basics

Why was it created?*Disagreement with dogmatic language instruction

Technique & Practice*the one that fits the best to the classroom

Basic Principles*Return to pedagogy*Personal research

Main Objectives*to propone a pedagogical teaching

Start/End dates*1990(?) - ?

Advantages*Well…I am not sure!

Learner Roles*To be aware of his/her own learning process

Author/Founder*Stern, H.D. Brown, Kumaravadivelu, Alastair Pennycook.

Disadvantages*Came up to scene to late

Teacher Roles*To be creative and to adapt to his own environment

Role of materials*Develop self-learning