LANGUAGE TEACHING
METHODOLOGY:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
MARIANNE CELCE-MURCIA
Intermountain TESOL Conference
October 12-13, 2012
Presentation Outline
Pre-Twentieth Century Trends
 Early & Mid Twentieth Century
Approaches
 More Recent Approaches
 Current ‘Post Methods’ Era
 Future Challenges
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PRE-TWENTIETH
CENTURY TRENDS
Classical Era (Greek and Latin)—
pre printing press
focus on listening and speaking
 no textbooks-some handwritten texts
and dictionaries
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Rise of European Vernaculars
Gutenberg- invented printing press-1440
 J. Belot (l580) Earliest known ESL
textbook; published in England for
Protestant refugees.
 Comenius- one of the first widely
acknowledged teacher-practitioners.
(published 1631-1658)
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GRAMMAR TRANSLATION
(Karl Ploetz, 1819-1881)
Instruction and explanation in L1
 Little use of target language
 Focus on parsing parts of speech,
inflections
 Translate from L1 to L2 (and vice versa)
 Result: inability to use the L2
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(Beginning of pedagogical tension: analysis
vs. use)
THE DIRECT METHOD
F. Gouin-began to publish in l880
No use of L1 allowed (teacher must be
proficient)
 Use of actions, pictures to give meaning
to dialogues and anecdotes
 Grammar is learned via exposure
 Literature read for pleasure, not parsing
 Result: ability to use L2
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THE REFORM MOVEMENT
(IPA founded 1886): Sweet,Vietor, Passy,
etc.
 Spoken language is primary- teach first
 Apply phonetics to language teaching
 Train language teachers in phonetics
 Give learners basic phonetic training in L2

EARLY & MID
TWENTIETH CENTURY
APPROACHES
THE READING APPROACH
Teach only the grammar needed for
reading
 Control vocabulary initially then expand
 Translation is once more respectable
 Only reading comprehension is
emphasized
 Result: Learners can read but not
speak/understand L2.

AUDIOLINGUALISM (U.S.)
Begin lessons with dialogues (constructed)
Mimicry and memorization are used to
reflect that lg. learning is habit formation
 Grammar is sequenced; rules taught
indirectly
 Skills are sequenced (L, Sp, R, Wr)
 Accurate pronunciation is emphasized early
 Vocabulary is very limited initially
 Effort is made to prevent errors
 Lg. is often manipulated with minimal
attention to meaning or context.
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ORAL-SITUATIONAL APPROACH
(U.K.)
Spoken language is primary
 Lg. is practiced orally before any reading or
writing occurs
 Only the target language should be used
 The most useful and general vocabulary is
taught
 Grammar is sequenced: simple to complex
 New vocabulary and grammar are
introduced and practiced in situations (post
office, bank, dinner table, etc.)

MORE RECENT
APPROACHES
THE COGNITIVE APPROACH
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Lg. learning is rule acquisition, not habit formation
Instruction is individualized and learners are
responsible for their learning
Grammar can be taught either deductively or
Inductively
Pronunciation is de-emphasized
Reading and writing are as important as speaking and
listening
Vocabulary is important again, especially for
intermediate and advanced learners
Errors are inevitable and useful for feedback and
correction
AFFECTIVE-HUMANISTIC
APPROACH
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Lg. learning is a process of self-realization
Respect for each individual’s feelings emphasized
(teacher and students)
Class atmosphere is more important than methods
or materials
Priority given to personally meaningful
communication
Instruction often involves pair- or group-work
Peer support and cooperation help learning
Teacher is a counselor or facilitator (instead of the
ultimate source of knowledge)
Translation can be used, especially in the early stages
THE COMPREHENSION-BASED
APPROACH
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Listening comprehension is the basic skill that
allows other skills and lg acquisition to develop
Learners begin with an initial silent period so they
can just listen and understand
Learners do not speak until they feel ready to
Exposure to meaningful input that expands their
experience in the L2 leads to acquisition
Explicit rule learning is helpful in monitoring and
editing one’s L2 production but not for
acquisition or spontaneous production
Error correction is unnecessary if the learner’s
message is understandable
THE COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH
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Communication is the goal of L2 learning
Semantic notions and social functions are as important as
linguistic structure
Content (academic or job-related) is often taught along with
lg.
Students work in pairs or groups to transfer information and
negotiate meaning
Role play and dramatization help achieve register flexibility
and social sensitivity in L2
Tasks often make use of authentic texts and tasks or involve
the completion of projects
The 4 skills (L, Sp, R, Wr) are integrated
Teacher (1) facilitates communication and (2) offers feedback
and correction
THE 1970’S “DESIGNER
METHODS”
Silent Way (Gattegno)
 Community Language Learning (Curran)
 Total Physical Response (Asher)
 Suggestology/Suggestopedia (Lozanov)
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RESEARCH-BASED
CONCLUSION
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(Strevens, Richards, Prabhu)
◦ No single method or approach is optimal for
all learners under all circumstances
CURRENT ‘POSTMETHODS’ ERA
(A TRANSITION)
Kumaravadivelu
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Base pedagogy on principles established by research. He
offers 10 ‘macrostrategies’
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Maximize learning opportunities
Facilitate negotiated interaction
Minimize perceptual mismatches
Activate intuitive heuristics
Foster language awareness
Contextualize linguistic input
Integrate language skills
Promote learner autonomy
Raise cultural consciousness
Ensure social relevance
Teachers should design situation-specific materials and
procedures to achieve the above objectives
TEACHER PREPARATION SKILLS
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(needed for post-methods language teaching)
Assess learners’ needs
Examine instructional constraints
Determine attitudes, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds
of students to tailor materials/activities
Identify the discourse genres, speech activities, and text types
students need to learn L2 when designing materials
Identify assessment instruments and requirements and
prepare learners to deal with such tasks as part of classroom
instruction
(Note: This is in addition to the traditional teacher
preparation core subjects such as methodology, pedagogical
grammar, syllabus/curriculum design, practical phonetics,
teaching listening & speaking, teaching reading & writing, etc.)
FUTURE CHALLENGES
How to integrate everything we now know into
better, more encompassing practices?
 Research into the following six areas could yield
new methodological paradigms (Canagarajah):
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Motivation
Learner Variability
Discourse Analysis
Corpus-based Research
Cognitive Processing
Social Participation
To this list we can add:
◦ New Technologies
◦ Second Language Acquisition (new ways to study it)
◦ Others?