Language Teaching Approaches:An Overview Marianne Celce-Murcia

 

This chapter discuss about Language Teaching Approaches in many ways. The various approaches and methods available and find out which practice have proved successful. This chapter has just scratched the surface. There are also five things the teacher should do to make good decisions concerning the choice of an approach, a method or methods and finally techniques and materials are Assess student needs, Examine instructional constraints, Determine the attitudes and learning styles of individual students to the extent, Identify the discourse genres, speech activities, and text types, and specify how the students’ language learning will be assessed.   

INTRODUCTION

The foreign or Second Language teaching is a field in which fads and heroes have come and gone in a manner fairly consistent with the kinds of changes that occur in youth culture. this chapter is a brief survey that will encourage many language teaher to learn more about the origin of profession. Such knowledge will ensure some perspective when teachers evaluate any so-called innovation or new approaches to metgodology, which will  surely continue to emerge from tome to time.

Pre-twentieth-Century Trends:

A brief Survey

Prior to the twentieth century, language teaching methodology vacillated between two types of approaches: getting learners to use language versus getting learners to analyze a language.(i.e. to learn its grammatical rules).

Both the classical Greek and medieval Latin emphasized on teaching people to use foreign language. They were used as lingua francas all over Europe. The educated elite became fluent speakers, readers, and writers of the appropriate classical language.The classical languages, first Greek and then Latin, were used as lingua Francas. Higher learning was conducted primary through these languages all over Europe.

During the renaissance, the formal study of the grammar of Greek and Latin became popular through the mass production of printing books. Then, people found that the grammar of the classical text was different of it as lingua franca. then no one was speaking classical latin anymore and various european vernaculars had begun to rise.

Since the European venaculars had grown in prestige and utulity people in one country begen to learn language of another country. The most famous teacher and methodologist at the time was Johann Amos Comenius that used some tecniques: use imitation instead of rules to teach, have student repeat, use limited vocabulary initially, help student practice reading and speaking, and teach through picture to make it meaningful.

Some of the techniques that Comenius used and espoused were the following:

·         Use imitation instead of rules to teach a language.

·         Have your students repeat after you.

·         Use a limited vocabulary initially.

·         Help your students practice reading and speaking.

·         Teach language through pictures to make it meaningful.

By the beginning of nineteenth century, the analyrical grammar-translation approach not only for teaching Latin but also for modern languages. however, by the end of nineteenth century the direct method had begun to function as a viable alternative to Grammar-Translation. It is published by Francois Gouin in 1880.

The Direct Method beecame very popular in France and germany. In 1886, the international Phonetic Assoiation was established and developed the International Phonetics alphabet (IPA). The contribution of IPA to language teaching: spoken language is primary and should be taught first, the finding of phonetics should be applied, language teachers must have solid training in phonetics and learners should be given phonetic training to established good speech habit.

Quite apart from the Reform movement in Europe, Emile de sauze implemented the Direct method inthe public school in Cleveland, Ohio. The endeavor was not too successful since there were too few foreign language teacher in America. Later the Modern Language Association of America endorsed the Reading approach with emphasis on some of great works of literature and philosophy. It held sway in U.S.A until the late 1930s and early 1940s. When World War II broke out the U.S. military hired linguists to help teah languages and develop material: the audiolingual approach (Fries 1945).

In Britain the same historical pressures gave rise to the Oral or Situational Approach.

Nine Twentieth-Century Approaches to Language Teaching

There are nine approaches that the writer lists in this chapter: Grammar-Translation, Direct, Reading, Audiolingualism, Oral-Situational, Cognitive, Affective-Humanistic, Comprehension-Based and Communicative.

The writer presents the definition of the term approach, method, and technique. An approach is something that reflects a certain model or research paradigm, a theory. A method is a set of procedures, i.e., a system that spells out rather precisely how to teach a second or foreign language. A technique is a classroom device or activity and thus represent the narrowest of the three concept. The most problematic term is method. Some methods and their originators: silent way by Gattegno 1976), Community Language Learning (Curran 1976), total physical response (Asher 1977) and Suggetopedia (Lazanov 1978).

The outline of each approach listed above:

a. Grammar-Translation Approach

1.      Instruction is given in the native language of students.

2.      There is little use of target language for cummunication.

3.      Focus is on grammatical parsing.

4.      There is early reading of difficult text.

5.      A typical exercise is to translate sentences from target language into mother tongue.

6.      The result of this approach is usually an inability to use language for communication.

7.      The teacher does not have to able to speak the target language.

b. Direct Approach

1.      No use of the other tongue.

2.      Lesson begin with dialogues and anecdotes in modern conversation.

3.      Action and pictures are used to make meanings clear.

4.      Grammar is learned inductively.

5.      Literary texts are read for pleasure and are not analyzed grammatically.

6.      The target culture is also taught  inductively.

7.      The teacher must be a native speaker or have nativelike proficiency.

c. Reading Approach

1.      Only the grammar or reading comprehension is taught.

2.      Vocabulary is controlled at first.

3.      Translation is once ore a respectable classroom procedure.

4.      Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.

5.      The teacher does not need to have good oral proficiency in the target language.

d. Audiolingualism

1.      Lessons begin with dialogues.

2.      Mimicry and memorization are used.

3.      Grammatical structure are sequenced and rules are taught inductively.

4.      Skills are sequenced: listening, speaking while reading and writing postponed.

5.      Pronunciation is stressed.

6.      Vocabulary is severely limited.

7.      A great effort is made to prevent learners error.

8.      Language is often manipulated without regard to meaning and context.

9.      Teacher must be proficient only instructures, vacabulary etc. since learning activites and materials are controlled.

e. Oral-Situational Approach

1.      The spoken language is primary.

2.      All language material is practiced orally before being presented in written form.

3.      Only the target language should be used in the classroom.

4.      Efforts are made to ensure that the most general and usefull lexical etems are presented.

5.      Grammatical structures are graded from simple to complex.

6.      New items are introduced and praticed situationally.

f. Cognitive Approach

1.      Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition, not habit formation.

2.      Instruction is often individualized.

3.      Grammar must be taught deductively or inductively.

4.      pronunciation is de-emphasized.

5.      Reading and writing are once again as important as listening and speaking.

6.      Vocabulary instruction is important especially at intermediate and advanced levels.

7.      Errors are viewed as inevitale.

8.      The teacher is expected to have good general proficiency in the target language as well as an ability to analyze the target language.

g. Affective-Humanistic Approach

1.      Respect is emphasized for individual.

2.      Meaningful communication is emphasized.

3.      Instruction involves work in pairs and small group.

4.      Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials and methods.

5.      Peer support and interaction are viewed as necessary for learning.

6.      Learning a foreign language is viwed as a self-realization experience.

7.      The teaher is a counselor or facilitator.

8.      The teacher should be proficient in the target languge and student’s native language since translation may be used.

h. Comprehension-Based Approach

1.      Listening comrehension is very important that will allow another skill to develop.

2.      Learners should begin by listening.

3.      Learner should not speak until they feel ready.

4.      Learner progress by being exposed to meaningful input that is just one step beyond their level of competence.

5.      Rule learning may help learner monitor what they do.

6.      Error corretion is seen as unnecessary.The important thing is that the learners can understand and make themselves understood.

7.      If the teacher is not a native speaker, the material such as audiotapes and videotapes must be available.

i. Communicative Approach

1.      The goal of teaching is learner ability to communicate in the target language.

2.      The content of a language course will include semantic notions and social function.

3.      Students work in groups or pairs.

4.      Students often engage in role play to different social context.

5.      Classroom materials and activities are often authentic to reflect real-life.

6.      Skills are integrated from the beginning. An activity might involve the four skills.

7.      The teacher’s role is primary to failitate communication and only secondarily to correct errors.

8.      The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and appropriately.

The four more recently developed approaches also do this to some extent; however, each one is grounded on a slightly differnt theory or view how people learn second or foreign language or how people use languages, and each has a central point around which everything else revolves.

A Note on Approach, Method, and Syllabus Type

Historically, an approach or method also tends to be used in conjunction with a syllabus, which is an inventory of objectives the learner should master. This inventory is sometimes presented in a recommended sequense and is used to design courses and teaching materials.

In  Grammar-translation, direct, audiolingual, cognitive and even comprehension approach have all employed a structural syllabus which consist of a list of grammatical inflection and construction. In the other words, teacher and textbook writers follow the approach.

In contrast to the structural syllabus, the reading approach is text-based. Inn the oral-situational approach there is often a dual-objective syllabus in which various situation are speified for instruction, along with some of the structures and the vocabulary.

In the communicative approach, syllabus is organized around notions (social transaction and interaction). In the syllabus, grammar and vocabulary are secondary. While the affective-humanistic approach has learner-generated syllabus. In this approach the learners decida what they want to able to do with the target language.

CONCLUSION

In Language Teaching Approaches ESL/EFL Teachers shall learn more about the various approaches and methods available and find out which practices have proved successful.

There are also five other things the teacher should do to make good decision concerning choice of an approach, a method and finally techniques and materials are:

1.      Assess student needs.

2.      Examine instructional constrains.

3.      Determine the attitudes and learning style.

4.      identify the discourse genre, speech activity and text type that student need to learn.

5.      Specify how the students’ language learning will be assessed.

Having done all these, the teacher will be in a position to select the most useful techniques or principles and to design a productive course of study by drawing from available approaches, syllabus types, and existing research findings.