English language education may take place as a general school subject or in a specialized
language school. There are many approaches of teaching English language; some of those that
are commonly used are cognitive, direct and audio lingua. Some have fallen into relative
obscurity while others are still widely used; likewise, others have a small following, but offer
useful insights, for this reason, this academic piece of writing will endeavor to discuss how the
afore mentioned approaches can be used to effectively teach English language in a classroom.
According to Brown, (2001), an approach is a set of correlative assumptions about the nature of
language and language learning, but does not involve procedure or provide any details about how
such assumptions should translate into the classroom setting. Such can be related to second
language acquisition theory.
The direct method, which is also known as natural method was developed as a reaction to the
grammar translation method and is designed to take the learner into the domain of the target
language in the most natural manner. (Brown, 2001). One of the ways in which the direct
approach can be used in the classroom to effectively teach English language is by
question/answer exercise. Here, the teacher asks questions of any type and the student answers.
The main objective is to impart a perfect command of a foreign language. The main focus being
to make the learner think in the targeted language in the same manner as the learning of his/her
mother-tongue in the most natural way.
Apart from that, Hall, (2011) adds that, the teacher could also employ the direct approach
through dictation and reading aloud then the students take turn reading sections of a passage,
play or a dialogue aloud. On the other hand, the teacher may choose a grade-appropriate passage
and reads it aloud while the learners take down that which is read. This facilitates alertness and
participation of students and develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Not only
that but also benefits in preceding the English language from particular to general, it bridges the
gap between practice and theory.
As if that is not enough, conversation practice is yet another way in which the direct approach
can be used in class. The students are given an opportunity to ask their own questions to the
other students or to the teacher. This enables both a teacher-learner interaction as well as a
learner-learner interaction. Such a technique emphasizes the target language by helping the pupil
express their thoughts and feelings directly in target language, in this case English, without using
their mother tongue. (Hall, 2011)
In addition, teaching English language using cognitive approach helps learners retain certain
features of the language input in short-term memory. Brown, (2001). This retained input is
known as intake, then, learners convert some of this intake into second-language knowledge,
which is stored in long-term. This is because cognitive approach is concerned with the mental
processes involved in language acquisition, and how they can explain the nature of learners'
language knowledge. Cognitive theories view second-language acquisition as a special case of
more general learning mechanisms in the brain. Language acquisition uses a unique process
different from other types of learning.
Besides, Nagaraj (2005) indicates that cognitive approach helps learners to understand the
etiquettes of English language easily. Cognitive approaches look at learners' speech production,
particularly learners' speech planning and communication strategies. Speech planning can have
an effect on learners' spoken output, because planning affects three aspects of speech:
complexity, accuracy, and fluencies. The mental processes that underlie second-language
acquisition are broken down into micro-processes and macro-processes, micro-processes include
attention, working memory integration and restructuring, the process by which learners change
their interlanguage systems and monitoring, the conscious attending of learners to their own
language output. Macro-processes include the distinction between intentional learning and
incidental learning; and also the distinction between explicit and implicit learning, all that the
learners needs to absorb and encode English language is taken care of if this approach is
employed in a classroom teaching.
On the other hand, the audio-lingual method, Army Method, or New Key, which is a style of
teaching used in teaching foreign languages also, can be used in classroom. It is based on
behaviorist theory, which postulates that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans,
could be trained through a system of reinforcement. The correct use of a trait would receive
positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback. The idea is
for the students to practice the particular construct until they can use it spontaneously. The
lessons are built on static drills in which the students have little or no control on their own
output; the teacher is expecting a particular response and not providing the desired response will
result in a student receiving negative feedback. (Nagaraj, 2005)
In this case, skills are taught in the following order: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Language is taught through dialogues with useful vocabulary and common structures of
communication. Students are made to memorize the dialogue line by line. Learners mimic the
teacher or a tape listening carefully to all features of the spoken target language Allen, (1972).
Pronunciation like that of native speaker is important in presenting the model. Through repetition
of phrases and sentences, a dialogue is learned by the first whole class, then smaller groups and
finally individual lessons in the classroom focus on the correct imitation of the teacher by the
students. The students then are expected to produce the correct output, but attention is also paid
to correct pronunciation. Although correct grammar is expected in usage, no explicit
grammatical instruction is given. Furthermore, the target language, English, is the only language
to be used in the classroom.
From there, Allen, (1972) argues that reading and writing are introduced in the next stage. The
oral lesson learned in previous class is the reading material to establish a relationship between
speech and writing. All reading material is introduced as orally first. Writing, in the early stages,
is confined to transcriptions of the structures and dialogues learned earlier. Once learners
mastered the basic structure, they were asked to write composition reports based on the oral
lesson.
Through this approach, Oral learning is emphasized Diane (2000) Stress is put on oral skills at
the early year of the foreign language course and is continued during the later years. Oral skills
remain central even when, later, reading and writing are introduced. Learners are asked to speak
only what they have had a chance to listen to sufficiently. They read only the material used as
part of their practice. They have to write only that which they have read. Strict order of material,
in terms of the four skills, is followed.
In a nutshell, cognitive, direct and audio-lingua approaches are all used in classroom to help
teach English both as foreign language and second language effectively. Cognitive approach, if
properly used, look at learners' speech production, particularly learners' speech planning and
communication strategies, audio-lingua focuses on the oral learning and the direct approach
takes care of alertness and participation of students and develops listening, speaking, reading and
writing skills.
REFERENCES
Allen, et al (1972) Teaching English as a Second Language. New York: McGowan-Hill, Inc
Brown, H. (2001), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy
White Plains, NY: Longman.
Diane Larsen, Freeman (2000), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford:
University Press
Hall, Graham (2011), Exploring English Language Teaching: Language in Action. London,
New York
Nagaraj (2005), English Language Teaching: Approaches , Methods, Techniques.
Hyderabad: Orient Longman Private Limited.