Language Teaching Methodology
Approaches, Methods and Procedures
Defining Methodology

the study of the practices and procedures used in
teaching, and the principles and beliefs that underline
them.
It includes
 the study of the nature of language skills and procedures
for teaching them
 the study of the preparation of lesson plans, materials
and textbooks for teaching language skills
 the evaluation and comparison of language teaching
methods
Approach Method and Procedure
APPROACH
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a set of assumptions about the nature of language, language
learning and teaching.
METHOD
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an overall plan for systematic presentation of language based
upon a selected approach
PROCEDURE
specific activities manifested in the classroom that are
consistent with a method and therefore are in harmony with an
approach as well
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Three different views of the nature of
language
1.
Structural view: It views language as a system of
structurally related element.
2.
Functional view: It regards language as a vehicle
for the expression of functional meaning.
3.
Cognitive or interactional view: It sees language
as a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal
relations and for the performance of social
transactions between individuals.
Common assumptions about the nature of
language
• Language is a group of sounds with specific meaning
and organized by grammatical rules (The Silent Way).
• Language is the everyday spoken utterance of the
average person at normal speed (Audio Lingual
Method).
• Language is a system for the expression of meaning
(Communicative Language Teaching, CLT).
• Language is a set of grammatical rules and language
consists of language chunks (Total Physical
Responses).
The nature of language learning
1.
Behaviorism: Stimulus- Response- ReinforcementDrilling, exercise, repetition.
2.
Nativism: A child naturally has a language acquisition
device. (Kodrati).
1.
Constructivism: A child acquired a language through
interaction between the child and environment. (Jean
Piaget)
Behaviourism

A theory of learning focusing on acquisition of
new behaviour.
 Language learning is simply a matter of
imitation and habit formation.
 Children imitate the sounds and patterns which
they hear around them and receive positive
reinforcement for doing so.
Innativism
Chomsky: children are biologically programmed for
language and that language develops in the child in just
the same way that other biological functions develop.
Criticism on behaviourism:
Children come to know more about the structure of their
language than they could be expected to learn on the
basis of the samples of language they hear.
The language children are exposed to includes false starts,
incomplete sentences and slips of the tongue, and yet
they learn to distinguish between grammatical and
ungrammatical sentences.
Universal Grammar -UG

Contains all and only the principles which are
universal to all human languages
 If children are preequipped with UG what they
have to learn is the ways in which their own
language make use of those principles.
 Children need access only to a sample of
natural lg which serve as a trigger to activate
the device.
Cognitive or constructivist view
‘Constructivists view learning as the result of mental
construction. That is, learning takes place when new
information is built into and added onto an individual’s
current structure of knowledge, understanding and skills.
We learn best when we actively construct our own
understanding’ (Alan Prichard 2009:17).
The interactionist ’ position is that language develops as a
result of the complex interplay between the uniquely
human characteristics of the child and the environment in
which the child develops.
Methods
1) Grammar-translation
2) Direct method
3) Audio-lingual method
4) Suggestopedia
6) The silent way
7) Total physical response
8) Community language learning
9) The natural way
10) Communicative language teaching
Procedure
Specific strategy that we us ein the classroom
A tool to obtain an immediate result
Coherent with the method and in harmony with the
approach
Taxonomy of language learning techniques
Controlled: drill, dictation, copying
Semi-controlled: dialogue, info transfer, brainstorming
Free: problem-solving, drama, interview
Let’s think about this …
If we mention the following concepts, can we determine if
we are talking about an approach, method or
procedure/technique?
Role play/ Communicaive Language Teaching,CLT/
Cognitivims/ Grammar translation/ Interview/
Audiolingualism/ Dictation/ Behaviourism/ Drills/ The
Silent Way / Suggestopedia / Innativism / Copying
Summary
Approach
Theories about the
nature of language
Structural
Functional
Cognitive or
Interactional
Theories of
language learning
Behaviourism
Nativism
Constructivism
Method
Grammar-translation
Direct method
Audio-lingual method
Community language
learning
Suggestopedia
The silent way
Total physical response
Community language
learning
The natural way
Communicative language
teaching
Procedure
Techniques
Activities
Controlled
Semi controlled
Free
Language teaching methods: Grammar Translation
 In this method, classes are taught in the students' mother
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tongue, with little active use of the target language.
Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists.
Elaborate explanations of grammar are always provided.
Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting words
together; instruction focuses on the form and inflection of
words.
Little attention is paid to the content of texts.
Drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from
the target language into the mother tongue, and vice versa.
Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
Language teaching methods: Grammar Translation
Language teaching methods: Grammar Translation
Objectives
To enable students to:
 analyse the language
through logic
 memorise grammatical
rules
 read classics of English
literature
 write classical essays
 translate from these
classics
Content
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norms of previous centuries imposed
grammar occupies pride of place:
Latin influence
rules: insufficiently explicit, often false
memorisation of long rules, paradigms
minute details, instead of relevant
points
morphology in focus, syntax neglected
pronunciation plays little role
lexis is taught unsystematically
heavy reliance on written language
order of skills: reading - writing translating - speaking - (listening)
Language teaching methods: Grammar Translation
Procedure
 Talking about the language, not the language
 Analytic - deductive approach
 No scope for personal involvment
 Long presentation phase followed by little practice
 Prescriptive attitude (cause: social class prejudice, nationalism)
Activities:
 translation, composition, dictation, completion, transformation, conversion,
rearrangement.
Critic:
 Language learning meant memorizing endless lists of unusable grammatical
rules and vocabulary, attempted to produce perfect translations of literary
prose (tedious experience for the learner).
 Creates few demands on the teacher.
Language teaching methods: Direct method
 This approach was developed initially as a reaction to the
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grammar-translation approach in an attempt to integrate
more use of the target language in instruction.
Lessons begin with a dialogue using a modern
conversational style in the target language.
Material is first presented orally with actions or pictures.
The mother tongue is NEVER used. There is no
translation.
The preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in
the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal
narrative.
Language teaching methods: Direct method
 Questions are answered in the target language.
 Grammar is taught inductively--rules are generalized from the
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practice and experience with the target language.
Verbs are used first and systematically conjugated much later
after some oral mastery of the target language.
Advanced students read literature for comprehension and
pleasure.
Literary texts are not analyzed grammatically.
The culture associated with the target language is also taught
inductively.
Culture is considered an important aspect of learning the
language
Language teaching methods: The Audiolingual method
Mimicry-Memorisation Method or Army Method
Accurate imitation of natural conversation by native
speakers.
Objective:
To achieve effective aural-oral skills
The main sources of the Audio-lingual method
Structuralist Grammar
Behaviourist Psychology
 Language is to be analysed as
 Human behaviour, including verbal
form, as a corpus of data
 Language is to be distributed
systematically into its basic
elements: sentence-clausegroup-word-morphemephoneme.
 Then these elements are
ordered into sentence patterns
"The more patterns you are
familiarised with, the better you
speak the language."
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behaviour, is directed by habits
A verbal habit signifies automatic
control over a given sentence pattern
The process of internalisation:
stimulus-response-reinforcement
Verbal stimulus-decoding-encodingverbal response: right: reinforcement
/wrong: correction right responsereinforcement
If several stimuli of the same pattern
are followed by reinforced responses,
the habit becomes fixed.
Audio -lingualism
Content:
 Grammar is in focus again: Syntax dominates-morphology and
semantics are of secondary importance
 Lots of patterns instead of rules
 Patterns are placed in a graded order
 Pronunciation plays a central role due to the desire to develop
listening/speaking skills the invention of the magnetic tape
 Oral introduction made common practice, later plenty of
independent pronunciation exercises.
 Vocabulary is the' poor cousin'
 Lexis is kept to a minimum at beginners level - enrichment comes
only after the basic patterns have been mastered
 Order of skills: listening-speaking-reading-writing
Audio-lingualism
Procedure:
 Talking not about the language, but the language
 Inductive approach
 Errors should be prevented by all means
 Presentation is strictly audio-lingual: listening (books shut
 listening and understanding (books open, pictures only)
 listening (books shut)
 listening and chorus repetition (books shut)
 listening and individual repetition (books shut)
 reading aloud: chorus, groups, or individual (books open)
 Practice takes up 85% of the whole working time