Педагогические технологии и конструирование образовательного и воспитательного процесса в условиях реализации ФГОС
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Педагогические технологии и конструирование образовательного и воспитательного процесса в условиях реализации ФГОС

Педагогические технологии и конструирование образовательного и воспитательного процесса в условиях реализации ФГОС

The field of linguistics and teaching in the 20th century is marked by the development of different foreign language teaching methods and approaches. Some have no or small following and others are widely used.

Although modern foreign language teaching has adopted completely new methods, the work of language professionals in the period between 1950 and 1980 contributed significantly to scientific views in the field of second language teaching and learning.

What is a method?

Before we present the teaching methods and their classification, it would be useful to remember what method is in terms of its definition and application in classrooms. One of the most widespread definitions is a short statement that method is a plan for presenting a certain language material to be learned. It is agreed among linguists that it should be based upon a selected approach.

• Yet, not all linguists actually agree on the use of the terms ‘’method’’ and ‘’approach’’. It seems that some linguists tend to cancel the term method; some hold that a certain method is actually an approach or that a certain approach is in fact a method.
• Nevertheless, most linguists agree that a certain instructional system must be elaborated in relation to the objectives of teaching and learning. This means that the selection and organization of the content must be considered in terms of these objectives, task types and the roles of teachers and students.

Approach : this refers to “theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching”. It offers a model of language competence. An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about conditions which will promote successful language learning.

Method : a method is the practical realization of an approach. Methods include various procedures and techniques as part of their standard fare.

Procedure : a procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. A procedure is a sequence which can be described in terms such as first you do this, then you do that… Smaller than a method and bigger than technique.

Technique : a common technique when using video material is called “silent viewing”. This is where the teacher plays the video with no sound. Silent viewing is a single activity rather than a sequence, and as such is a technique rather than a whole procedure.

A term that is also used in discussions about teaching is “model” – used to describe typical procedures, usually for teachers in training. Such models offer abstractions of these procedures, designed to guide teaching practice.

Grammar Translation-Method

 The Grammar Translation method was originally used to teach Latin and Greek in the 19th century. It was common method for many decades before 1970. Its primary focus is on memorization of grammar rules, and vocabulary. Application of this knowledge was directed on translation of literary texts- focusing on developing students' appreciation of the target language's literature as well as teaching the language.

Activities/ techniques utilized in classrooms include:

• questions that follow a reading passage;
• translating literary passages from one language to another;
• memorizing grammar rules;
• memorizing native-language equivalents of target language vocabulary.

 It uses highly structured class work with the teacher controlling all activities.

1. Primary purpose was to enable students to explore the depths of great literature. A secondary purpose was to “benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from learning a foreign language”

 2. Reading and writing are emphasized and no focus on listening and speaking.

 3. Students learn vocabulary in bilingual lists: L1 and L2 are always compared.

 4. Accuracy is emphasised and grammatical rules are taught explicitly (deductively).

5. Deductive learning is essential: the teacher gives rules explicitly then the rules are reinforced with examples and exercises.

 6. L1 is the medium of instruction Classes are taught in the students' mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.

 7. The role of the teacher is very traditional and authoritarian in the classroom.

 8. Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.

The Direct Method

Principles & characteristics

1. Advocated first by French and German educators and then introduced to American commercial language schools by Berlitz at the turn of the 20th century. This approach was developed initially as a reaction to the grammar-translation approach in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction.

2. Based on the way that children learn L1-through direct association of words and phrases with objects and actions. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught.

 3. Language should be learned in the same sequence children begin to learn language: by first listening to, and then speaking the language. Thus comprehension is developed by listening to language in large quantities.

4. Students hear complete discourse, often through question-answer format.

 5. L1 is banned and teaching takes place on the target language only.

 6. Correct pronunciation is very important.

7. Grammar rules are not explicitly taught.

8. Culturally-oriented pictures are used to teach about L2 culture.

According to Richards and Rodgers (1986:10), these aspects “are seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language, which are still followed in contemporary Berlitz schools:

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 a/round: 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

Audiolingual Method (ALA)

1. Background: ALA had its origins during World War II when it became known as "The Army Method" because it was developed through a USA Army program called ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). From about 1947-1967 the ALA was the dominant foreign language teaching method in the USA.

2. The goal is to develop in students the same ability as that of native speakers.

 3. Language is an oral phenomenon and speech: thus major focus is on phonology and morphology and pronunciation.

 4. Based on structural linguistics which involves the study of recurring patterns of language and language is perceived as a set of habits. A language is what native speakers say, not what they ought to say.

5. Based on Behavioural psychology where students learn best through stimulus-response and reinforcement. The more frequently a response is practiced, the better it is learned and the longer it is remembered.

 6. L1 should be banned from the classroom.

 7. Pattern drills are taught without explanation. Discussion of grammar should be very brief.

8. In developing the 4 skills, teachers should follow the natural sequence of L1 learning.

 9. Textbooks have 3 basic parts: dialogue, pattern drills and application activities.

The following example shows a typical Audio-lingual drill:

Teacher: There’s a cup on the table . . . repeat

 Students: There’s a cup on the table

Teacher: spoon

Students: There’s a spoon on the table

Teacher: Book

Students: There is a book on the table

Teacher: on the chair

Students: There’s a book on the chair

Humanistic Approaches

          Language learning is an anxiety-causing and provoking activity so learners need to be relaxed and confident enough to exploit the learning opportunities available to them. Teachers should work on developing the students’ trust and regard them as their clients. Great care should be given to interpersonal relationships and to the social dynamics of the group

 Four methods, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, have had a considerable impact upon language teaching even if they are rarely used exclusively in ‘mainstream’ teaching. They are frequently described, together, as humanistic approaches because in three out of four cases at least, the designers are primarily concerned to lower the student’s affective filters . . . , and so remove a psychological barrier to learning .

1. Community Language Learning (CLL)  

• In the early seventies, Charles Curran developed a new education model called "Counseling-Learning". This educational model was also applied to language learning and became known as Community Language Learning (CLL).
• CLL advocates a holistic approach to language learning. "True human learning" is both cognitive and  affective.
• Language is for communication. Language is for developing creative thinking. Culture is integrated with  language.
• “The primary aim of CLL is to create a genuinely warm and supportive ‘community’ among the learners and gradually to move them from complete dependence on the teacher to complete autonomy”  .  
• The native instructors of the language are not considered teachers but, rather are trained in counseling  skills adapted to their roles as language counselors. Teacher's initial role is that of a counsellor. The teacher tries to remove the threatening factors in the classroom.

 This method works in the following way:

 Students sit in a circle with the teacher on the outside. The  students decide what they want to discuss. Student say whatever they want to communicate to the teacher in L1 or in the target language. In the former case, the teacher translates the utterance, in effect teaching the student how to say the utterance in English. In some CLL lessons the students’ utterances are recorded onto a tape to be analysed later. In all these cases the teacher offers help to the ‘community’ of the class.

2. The Silent Way

• The Silent Way was founded in the early 1970s and shared many of the same essential principles as the cognitive code and made good use of the theories underlying discovery learning.  
• A prominent feature of the Silent Way is the behavior of the teacher who typically stays "silent" most of the time, as part of his/her role as facilitator and stimulator because it is believed that the learner discovers and creates language rather than just remembers and repeats what has been taught.
• Language learning is usually seen as a problem solving activity to be engaged in by the students both independently and as a group, and the teacher needs to stay "out of the way" in the process as much as possible.
• Students should make use of what they already know. They are responsible for their own learning. They actively take part in exploring the language.  
• There is no linear structural syllabus. The teacher starts with what students already know, and builds  from one structure to the next. The syllabus develops according to the students' learning needs.

  The learning hypotheses underlying the Silent Way are stated by Richards and Rodgers  :

1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

 2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects. [rods and color-coded pronunciation charts].

3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.

 [This hypothesis is] represented in the words of Benjamin Franklin:

Tell me and I forget,

 Teach me and I remember,

 Involve me and I learn  

The Silent Way commonly uses small colored rods of varying length (Cuisinere rods) and color-coded  word charts depicting pronunciation values, vocabulary and grammatical paradigms. It is a unique method and the first of its kind to really concentrate on cognitive principles in language learning.

 3. Suggestopedia

Suggestopaedia is based on the fact that the brain can be directly stimulated through the power of  suggestion. “Developed by Georgi Lozanov, suggestopedia sees the physical surroundings and atmosphere of the classroom as of vital importance. By ensuring that the students are comfortable, confident and relaxed, the affective filter is lowered, thus enhancing learning.”  

Suggestopedia promised great results if we use our brain power and inner capacities. Lozanov (1979)  believed that we are capable of learning much more than we think. Lozanov and his followers tried to present vocabulary, readings, role-plays and drama with classical music in the background and students sitting in comfortable seats.

 Learning can be enhanced when students learn in a state of deep relaxation bordering on hypnosis  which can be brought about through “yogic techniques of relaxation, rhythmic breathing, and listening to readings by the teacher which are synchronised to music”.  

Learning is facilitated in an environment that is as comfortable as possible, featuring soft cushioned  seating and dim lighting. Students work from lengthy dialogs in the target language, with an accompanying translation into the students' native language.

4. Total Physical Response (TPR)  

TPR became well-know in the 1970s and derived its main principles from the observing how children  acquire their first language. “If children learn much of their language from speech directed at them in the form of commands to perform actions, then adults will learn best in that way too. Accordingly, TPR asks students to respond physically to the language they hear.”  In other words, language learning is reinforced by body movement and associating language to physical actions or movements (smiling, reaching, grabbing, looking, etc).  

TPR emphasised the role comprehensible input as comprehension precedes production.

 Memory is stimulated and increased when it is closely associated with motor activity.

  Learning should be as fun and stress-free as possible, and should be dynamic through the use of  accompanying physical activity.

 The following sequenced steps represent the techniques used in classroom as listed by Mora (2002):

Step I The teacher says the commands as he himself performs the action.

Step 2 The teacher says the command as both the teacher and the students then perform the action.

Step 3 The teacher says the command but only students perform the action

Step 4 The teacher tells one student at a time to do commands

Step 5 The roles of teacher and student are reversed. Students give commands to teacher and to other students.

 Step 6 The teacher and student allow for command expansion or produces new sentences.

 The Communicative Approach

All the "methods" described so far are symbolic of the progress foreign language teaching ideology underwent in the last century. These were methods that came and went, influenced or gave birth to new methods - in a cycle that could only be described as "competition between rival methods" or "passing fads" in the methodological theory underlying foreign language teaching. Finally, by the mid-eighties or so, the industry was maturing in its growth and moving towards the concept of a broad "approach" to language teaching that encompassed various methods, motivations for learning English, types of teachers and the needs of individual classrooms and students themselves. It would be fair to say that if there is any one "umbrella" approach to language teaching that has become the accepted "norm" in this field, it would have to be the Communicative Language Teaching Approach. This is also known as CLT.

 CLT is a generic approach, and can seem non-specific at times in terms of how to actually go about using practices in the classroom in any sort of systematic way. There are many interpretations of what CLT actually means and involves. http://www.englishraven.com/method_communicative.html

The goal of communicative language approaches is to create a realistic context for language acquisition in the classroom. The focus is on functional language usage and the learners communicative competence to express their own ideas, feelings, attitudes, desires and needs. Open ended questioning and problem-solving activities and exchanges of personal information are utilized as the primary means of communication. Students usually work with authentic materials (authentic realia) in small groups on communication activities, during which they receive practice in negotiating meaning.

Basic Features of CLT

 David Nunan  lists five basic characteristics of CLT:

1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.

 2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.

3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the learning process itself.

 4. An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.

5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.

 Other features and principles  

Represents a philosophy of learning which is mainly based on second language acquisition research.  

 Emphasizes a functional/notional approach, rather than grammatical structures.

 Based on functional linguistics and the communicative functions of the language.

 Communicative competence with an emphasis on fluency and acceptable language use is the goal of instruction.

 Communication should be purposeful and real: information gap.

  Meaning is of primary importance in CLT.

 Contextualization is a basic principle.

 Attempts by learners to communicate early on are encouraged.

  Role-play and simulation are very popular in CLT.

 Sequencing of materials is determined by the content, function, and meaning that will maintain the students’ interest.  

Activities and strategies for learning are varied according to learner preferences & needs.

 References & links

1. Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. OUP.

2. English Raven: http://www.englishraven.com/methodology.html