The Nature of Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

Approaches, Methods, Techniques

In ELT

APPROACH

Theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles of language teaching.

According to Edward Anthony:

An approach: a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning (axiomatic).

A method: an overall plan for the orderly presentation based on an approach. It is procedural (theory put into practice).

A technique: implementational. Techniques carry out a method which is consistent with an approach (trick, stratagem).

A. Theory of language:

Theories of the nature of language and the nature of

language proficiency/competence

1. Cognitive Model/"cognitivism"

Core features and assumptions (Atkinson, 2011:4-5):a.Mind as a computer: input, process it, and produce output, as with a computerb.Representationalism: mind engages in to store internal representations of external eventsc.Learning: abstract knowledge acquisition - i.e. abstracting the rules of the competence that underlies linguistic performance, as Noam Chomsky put it.Example: The Grammar-Translation Method

2. The Structural Model

Language: a system of structurally, related elements for the coding of meaning.

Language proficiency: the mastery of, language elements (phonological units, grammatical units grammatical operations and lexical items).

Example: the Audiolingual Method, Situational Language Teaching, and Total Physical Response

3. The Functional Model :

Language: a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning (e.g., Communicative Approach).

Emphases: semantic and communicative dimension, rather than grammar. Meaning and functions are important. E.g. ESP, Notional Syllabus (topics, functions, notions)

Brown (1994: 227) defines that communicative purposes are

“aspect(s) of our competence which enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts ... [The] knowledge that

enables a person to communicate functionally and interactionally”.

Examples: CA, Competency-Based LT, Threshold Level syllabus (e.g., Common European Framework of Reference/CEFR)

4. The Interactional Model

Language: vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals a tool for creation and maintenance of social relations.

Focus on patters of moves, acts, negotiation, interaction in conversational exchanges.

"Students achieve facility in using a language when their attention is focused on conveying and receiving authentic messages (that is, messages that contain information of interest to both speaker and listener in a situation of importance to both).“

Thus, negotiation of meaning is believed to play a central role in interactive views of language

Rivers (1987: 4) defined the interactive perspective in language education:

5. Sociocultural Model

Knowledge is constructed through social interaction with others and reflects the learner's culture, customs, and beliefs as well as the collaborative activities people are engaged in.

Example: Task-Based, Language Teaching, Content-Based Instruction, and Cooperative Language Learning.

6. Genre Model

Genre refers to an area of human activity: norms of language usage, such as in science, business, medicine, literature.

The main concepts can be summarized as follows (Feet,1998: 5):

Language is a resource for making meaning. The resource of language consists of a set of

interrelated systems.

Continued:

Language users draw on this resource each time they use language.

Language users create texts to create meaning.

Texts are shaped by the social context in which they are used.

The social context is shaped by the people using language.

Examples:

Text-Based Instruction Content-Based Instruction English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes

7. Lexical Model

The role and the interrelatedness of lexis and lexical chunks or phrases in language.

Grammatical competence arises out of phrase- and lexically-based learning

A greater role for vocabulary as well as lexical phrases and chunks in language teaching.

B. Types of Learning Theories

1. Behaviorism2. Cognitive-code learning3. Creative-construction hypothesis4. Skill learning5. Interactional theory6. Constructivism7. Sociocultural learning theory (also known as

social constructivism)8. Individual factors

Relation between theory of language and learningTwo basic, questions (one or both):1. Process-oriented What are the psycholinguistic and cognitive (central) processes involved in language learning?e.g.' habit formation, induction, inferencing, hypothesis testing, generalization, etc.

2.Condition-oriented What? Human or physical context in which

language learning takes place, What are the condition that need to be met for learning processes to occur?

Examples:

II. DESIGN

The level of method analysis where objectives, syllabi, types of learning-teaching activities, roles of teachers, learners and instructional materials are considered.

A. Objectives Objectives of methods vary: oral skills, general

communication skills, accurate grammar and pronunciation, basic grammar and vocabulary of a language.

Process oriented? Measuring stick: degree of emphases on vocab

acquisition and how grammatical and pronunciation errors treated.

B. Syllabus

Subject matter (what to talk about) and linguistic matter (how to talk about).

Appriori syllabuses in so many methods and a posteriori approach to syllabus specification in Counseling-learning.

E.g.: SW and TPR, traditional lexico-grammatical syllabus.

C. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities

Instructional process: organized and directed interaction of teachers, learners, and materials in the classroom.

Often serve to distinguish methods: differences among methods at the level of approach manifest themselves in the choice of different kinds of learning and teaching activities and interaction patterns: use of games, arrangement, and grouping of learners.

D. Learner Roles

1. types of learning tasks set for learners2. degree of control learners have over content

of learning3. patterns of learner groupings4. degree to which !earners influence the

learning of others5. the view of learner as a processor,

performer, initiator, problem solver

E. Teacher roles

1. types of functions teachers fulfill;2. teacher influence over learning;3. degree to which teacher determines the

content for learning;4. types of interaction between teacher and

learners

F. The Role of instructional Materials

primary functions of materials the form materials take. (textbook,

audiovisual) relation of materials to other input assumptions made about teachers and

students/learners.

III. PROCEDURES

classroom. techniques, practice, and behaviors observed when the method is used.

resources in terms of time, space, and equipment used by teachers.

Instructional pattern observed in lesson Tactics and strategies used by teachers and

learners when method is being used.