WHAT IS A LANGUAGE
TEACHING APPROACH,
METHOD AND TECHNIQUE ?
• AN APPROACH is a set of language teaching
and learning theories and principles (Answers
the question Why? )
• A METHOD is the way you apply these theories
and principles to language teaching and
learning (How)
• A TECHNIQUE is the tools and the tasks you
use to make your method succeed in language
teaching and learning(a classroom device or
activity)
• A PROCEDURE is an order of sequence of
techniques (such as First you do this, then
you do that … ).
APPROACHES AND
METHODS
A methodological timeline
Grammar
translation
timeless
Direct
Method
1880-1940
Audiolingualism
1940-1960
CLT
mid 1970s-present
…and
beyond!
5
Language Teaching Methodology(Richards
& Rodgers, (2001)
Language
Teaching
Methodology
Theories of
Language
and Learning
Instructional
Design Features
Objectives
Syllabus
Activities
Roles of Teachers
Roles of Learners
Materials
Observed
Teaching Practices
Elements and Subelements of
Method
1. METHOD
a) The level that links theory to practice and which
includes objectives, content selection and
organization, types of learning activities, roles of
teachers and learners and roles of instructional
materials;
2. APPROACH
b) The level of conceptuatization and organization
which encompasses the actual moment to moment
techniques, behaviours and practices that operate in
language.
3. DESIGN
c) The level at which a specific instructional design
is determined according to a particular theory of
language and language learning
4. PROCEDURE
d) The level at which assumptions and beliefs about
language and language learning are specified.
Elements and Subelements of Method
• Approach
– Assumptions and beliefs
about language teaching
and learning
• Design
– Objectives
– Syllabus
– Activities
– Roles of Teachers
– Roles of Learners
– Materials
• Procedure
– Implementational Phase
• A method is theoretically
related to an approach, is
organizationally
determined by a design,
and is practically realized
in procedure
• Your understanding of what language is and
how the learner learns will determine to a large
extent, your philosophy of education, and how
you teach English: your teaching style, your
approach, methods and classroom techniques.
Then, what is language and
how people learn/acquire it?
• Video viewing: Second language learning
practicies
TASK: watch the video and answer the
question on the task sheet.
Therefore, what are some of the main
roles that you have to play as a
foreign language teacher?
 It is very important for you to
become aware of the thoughts that
guide your actions in the classroom.
Everyone knows that being a good teacher
means giving positive feedback to students
and being concerned about their affective side
on their feelings.
Learning to listen to themselves is part of
lessening their reliance on the teacher. The
teacher will not always be there. Also, they
will be encouraged to form criteria for
correcting their mistakes—for monitoring
their own progress.
Observing a class will give you a greater
understanding of a particular method and
will give you more of an opportunity to
reflect on your own practice than if you were
to simply read a description of it.
GRAMMAR TRANSLATION
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Use of mother tongue.
Vocabulary items are taught in the form of word lists.
Elaborate explanations of grammar.
Focus on the morphology and syntax.
Reading of difficult texts early in the course.
Practice focuses on exercises translating sentences or
texts from mother tongue to the target language and vice
versa.
• Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
• Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are
treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.
TECHNIQUES
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1) Translation of a Literary Passage
(Translating target language to native language)
2) Reading Comprehension Questions
(Finding information in a passage, making inferences and relating to personal experience)
3) Antonyms/Synonyms
(Finding antonyms and synonyms for words or sets of words).
4) Cognates
(Learning spelling/sound patterns that correspond between L1 and the target language)
5) Deductive Application of Rule
(Understanding grammar rules and their exceptions, then applying them to new examples)
6) Fill-in-the-blanks
(Filling in gaps in sentences with new words or items of a particular grammar type).
7) Memorization
(Memorizing vocabulary lists, grammatical rules and grammatical paradigms)
8) Use Words in Sentences
(Students create sentences to illustrate they know the meaning and use of new words)
9) Composition
(Students write about a topic using the target language)
DISADVANTAGES
• The Grammar Translation Method may make
the language learning experience uninspiring
and boring.
• The Grammar Translation Method may also left
the students with a sense of frustration when
they travel to countries where the studied
language is used (they can’t understand what
people say and have to struggle mightily to
express themselves at the most basic level)
• This method neither approaches nor
encourages the students’ communicative
competence.
Reasons why it still used
• The Grammar Translation Method is still common in
many countries – even popular. Brown in his book
Incremental Speech Language (1994) attempts to
explain why the method is still employed by stating:
• “This method requires few specialized skills on the part
of teachers.”
• “Grammar rules and Translation Tests are easy to
construct and can be objectively scored.”
• “Many standardized tests of foreign languages still do
not attempt to test communicative abilities, so students
have little motivation to go beyond grammar analogies,
translations and other written exercises.”
DIRECT METHOD
• The Direct Method, also called the Natural Approach, developed
towards the end of the 19th century.
• Provide learners with a practically useful knowledge of language.
• They should learn to speak and understand the target language in
everyday situations.
• Rise of phonetics and phonology as a new linguistic discipline.
• Emphasis on providing a useful knowledge of target knowledge
(direct use of the target language in class).
• Target language should be learnt like children learn their first
language.
• All teaching was very much teacher centered.
• Words and phrases useful for everyday life.
PRINCIPLES
• Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target
language.
• Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
• Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded
progression organized around question-and-answer exchanges
between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.
• Grammar was taught inductively.
• New teaching points were introduced orally.
• Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects,
and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of
ideas.
• Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
• Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.
GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING
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Never translate: demonstrate
Never explain: act
Never make a speech: ask questions
Never imitate mistakes: correct
Never speak with single words: use sentences
Never speak too much: make students speak much
Never use the book: use your lesson plan
Never jump around: follow your plan
Never go too fast: keep the pace of the student
Never speak too slowly: speak normally
Never speak too quickly: speak naturally
Never speak too loudly: speak naturally
Never be impatient: take it easy
AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD(Army
method)
• The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins
during World War II.
• It is based on the structural view of language and the
behaviorist theory of language learning.
• Both were considered as a reaction against the
shortcomings of the Grammar Translation method.
• both reject the use of the mother tongue
• both stress that speaking and listening competences
preceded reading and writing competences.
• The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary
while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills.
Structuralism
• The structural view to language is the view
behind the audio-lingual method.
• This approach focused on examining how the
elements of language related to each other in
the present.
Behaviorism
• It contends that leaning occurs through
associations, habit formation and reinforcement.
• When the learner produces the desired behavior
and is reinforced positively, it is likely that
behavior be emitted again.
SOME CHARACTERİSTİCS OF
THE METHOD
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language learning is habit-formation,
mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they are considered bad habits,
language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in
written form,
analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis,
the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.
The main activities include reading aloud dialogues, repetitions of model sentences,
and drilling.
Lessons in the classroom focus on the correct imitation of the teacher by the
students.
Not only are the students 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.
It is taught inductively.
Furthermore, the target language is the only language to be used in the classroom.
QUESTIONS
1. The main activities include reading aloud
dialogues, repetitions of model
sentences, and drilling.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
2.Teaching concepts and vocabulary
through pantomiming, real-life objects and
other visual materials.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
3. Classes are taught in the mother tongue,
with little active use of the target language.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
4. The structures of the foreign languages
are best learned when compared and
contrasted with those of first language.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
5.Teaching grammar by using an inductive approach (i.e.
having learners find out rules through the presentation of
adequate linguistic forms in the target language).
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
6. One of the main goals is to develop
students’ reading ability to a level where
they can read literature in the target
language.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
7. The teacher drills students in the use
of grammar.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
8. It refers to theories about the nature of
language and language teaching.
A. Method
B. Approach
C. Technique
D. Procedure
9. It is what really happens in the classroom,
in the actual teaching.
A. Method
B. Approach
C. Technique
D. Procedure
10. It is understood as a system that clearly explains how
to teach a language (syllabus organization- contents and
skills to be taught-, roles of teachers and learners, kinds
of materials to use.)
A. Method
B. Approach
C. Technique
D. Procedure
11. It can be understood as a set of actions,
operations and strategies which have to
be executed accordingly to a perception
on how to obtain an expected result, in our
case on how to increase competition in a
foreign language.
A. Method
B. Approach
C. Technique
D. Procedure
12. Vocabulary is taught in the form isolated
word lists.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
13. L2 is learned the same way as the L1
acquired- by total immersion technique.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
14.Students self-correct by teacher offering
choices between what they said and the
proper pronunciation/structure.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
15. Students learn by repeating
structures/patterns in drills; mimicking
dialogues; memorizing set phrases.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method
16. Errors are corrected immediately, and
reinforced by correct response.
A. Grammar-Translation
B. The Direct Method
C. Audio Lingual Method