APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING
In this Unit I learnt firstly that the terms
"approaches" and "methods", especially in the TKT, are used
interchangeably to refer to views of language learning and the classroom
practices. Hence an approach to language teaching refers to the view of
language and how language learning takes place, also the ways or methods of
teaching that are used in a classroom.
Supporters of communicative approaches
believe that language is a tool to communicate meaning generally by speaking.
In this unit I learnt about two approaches and
some typical features of them, the first one is the Structural Approach which
its main focus is on communication through a system of structures and the
language is learnt by controlled practice of simple and then more complicated
structures but mistakes should be avoided. Oral skills are learnt before
learning to write.
The second approach is the TBL Task-based Learning, this one
focuses on the use of functions, vocabulary structures and discourse
as a tool for communicating meaning, so language is learnt by sing it,
classroom activities are based on problem-solving tasks.
Other approaches to teaching which have
influenced on the English language were also learnt in this Unit, here they are
and their characteristics.
Presentation, Practice
and Production (PPP):
Grammatical structures and functions are the most important aspect. Language is
learn first by seeing it in meaningful context and then with guided
practice. There must be the presentation stage in which the grammar of function
is presented then students practice and finally they produce something new by
themselves, group work is more useful.
Another approach is the Lexical Approach in which the most important aspect is vocabulary as
individual words or chunks, which must be noticed by the learner, they
will be collocations, idioms, fixed expressions.
The Functional Approach, functions are the most important
aspect, as for PPP, the functions are graded according to the frequency of use
in real context according to needs of communication the learners have.
Grammar –Translation, language is made up of
grammatical rules which must be analyzed and applied in order to be learnt.
Lists of words are learnt by heart.
Total Physical
Response (TPR), the
most important aspects are grammatical rules and vocabulary to which learners
must be exposed to in order to comprehend the language.
Guided Discovery, in this approach leaner’s have to
investigate things by themselves through patterns of meaning and rules the target
language.
Content-based
Learning, its view
of language is on grammatical, lexica, functional areas and skills in which interesting
and topics that help learners increase their knowledge of the world are the
best way to learn the language.
Content and Language
Integrated Learning (CLIL), language serves to communicate meaning so all aspects help communicating
meaning, the language needs to be acquired and used.’
As we can see there are many different approaches
which vary in their view of language but each of them have at least one positive
things therefore nowadays teacher do not use only one approach but an eclectic
approach which is the mix and match approach, in which some techniques from different
approaches work together.
Furthermore, it is important that in a real
language teaching situation the teacher is aware of the different learning
styles they learners have in order to adapt the best approach for all the learners
taking into account also the age, the level of English, the motivation and the
expectations of learning, previous learning experience and the resources
students have.
EXTRA USEFUL MATERIALS
- Nunan, David 1989 Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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Netten, J. E. & Spain, W. H. (1989). Student-teacher interaction patterns in the French immersion classroom: Implications of levels of achievement in french language proficiency. The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 45(3), 485-501.
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Anthony, Edward M. 1963. “Approach, method and technique.” English Language Teaching 17: 63-57Brown, H. Douglas 2001 Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Longman/ Pearson Education, White Plains, New York.
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