A method means a way of teaching, which is based on your beliefs about what
language is or how people learn and how teaching helps people learn. Also, when
you know what you believe in, you can make methodological decisions about
something like: aims of course; what to teach and how to teach; ways of relating
with students and how to assess them. It’s important to note that sometimes it
seems like some methods work without any theory!
Well-known methods and approaches include:
The Grammar-Translation method
It’s the most traditional language teaching method in schools worldwide. Teacher
rarely uses the target language, students work with texts and writing essays. This
method is characterized by a lack of using speaking and listening skills.
The Audio-Lingual Method
This method is based on disapproved theory, but still has a strong influence over
many classrooms. In that way of teaching it’s necessary to make students to teach
language by listening to the dialogues without teacher’s help.
Communicative language teaching (CLT) or Communicative approach (CA)
CLT is based on beliefs that learners will learn best if they participate in
communication. There’re two versions of CLT. The first one is called “Strong
CLT” and it includes a lot of communicational tasks and a small number of
traditional exercises. “Weak CLT” means more traditional way of teaching but
with a bias towards speaking and listening work.
Total physical response (TPR)
Learners listen to the teacher and do things in response, without any speaking until
they are ready.
Community Language Learning (CLL)
A method based around use of the learner’s first language and with teacher’s help.
It aims lower anxiety and allow students to communicate in a more genuine way.
The natural approach
That’s not just a method, that is a compilation of different methods and techniques.
A main idea is to allow students to learn the language like they are children
learning their first language.
Task-Based Learning (TBL)
A variant of CLT that is based on tasks that reflects real-life needs and skills.
The Silent Way
This method requires the learners to take active ownership of their language
learning and to pay attention to what they say. The teacher uses relatively
restrained tactics and specially designed wallcharts.
Person-centred approaches
In this method learner is the center of learning. He chooses syllabus and working
methods with teacher’s help.
Lexical approaches
The inventors of this method were proponents of a point that traditional presentthan-practice methods were of little use and proposed a methodology based around
exposure and experiment
Dogme
We can call it back-to-basics approach. There is no use of unnecessary technology
and materials. Learners work with their teacher in class.
Some schools and teachers follow one of these mentioned methods. In naming a
method, a school suggests that most work will fit a clearly stated and recognizable
way of working. Sometimes schools advertise a unique method of their own (like
the Cambridge Method), which is sometimes quite similar to the listed methods. In
other cases, the method can be named after the coursebook used at the lessons (e.g.
the Headway method).
Personal methodology
Despite the huge variety of existing methods, many teachers don’t follow any
method at all during their teaching practice. The writer describes his experience of
watching the teachers of the Soviet Union who each had their own way of working,
although some similar elements were present.
Nowadays most teachers don’t want to use any method and strictly adhere to it as
they wish to choose their own methods according to what they find necessary and
effective in their own classroom. They build their manner of teaching with what
they’ve gathered over the years of practice. The process of choosing items from the
variety of methods and constructing a collage methodology is called principled
eclecticism.