Methods of teaching English: A brief history

teaching English which were popular in the past?

to those that have always been at the centre of

In the past some of the questions were raised that prompted innovations and new directions in ELT

!!! Today’s controversies reflect contemporary responses to questions that have been

These issues are as follows:

a language course try to teach conversational proficiency, reading, translation,

What processes do learners use in mastering a language, and

sweep them away.

Jespersen (1860-1943), and Harold Palmer (1877-1949) elaborated principles and theoretically

Harold Palmer

gives rules explicitly then the rules are reinforced with examples

Role: Students are the passive receivers of the new information.

memorisation of long lists of vocabulary with their equivalents in

introduces the rules explicitly and wants the students to apply

teacher may either write the text or use an authentic

Role of L1: L1 (i.e., students’ native language) has an important function in teaching vocabulary and grammar. Since oral communication in the target language is not important, classroom instructions are given in L1.

to read and understand literary texts in the target language,

from the target language into their native language. The passage

in the passage.
Second, they answer inference questions based on

words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading

words and their native language equivalents and are asked to

(e.g. verb conjugations) after the classical languages, Latin and

to the spoken version;

- written texts were translated and

still use in the modern language teaching?

was the behaviourist theory based mainly on the work of

relation between form and meaning. L2 learning is similar to

is not as dominant as in GTM. Sometimes acts like

teach vocabulary. The use of L1 is not allowed. There

use the language is tested. Not about language, the language

speaking and listening are emphasised. Vocabulary is over grammar.

Techniques: Reading

skills;
- the medium of instruction was English;
- students

phrases being taught, or via lists grouped under types of

its modern incarnation survives in the omnipresent language phrasebooks, and the method is still the basis of lower-level teaching in Berlitz’s successful language schools.

such as those of the Berlitz chain, where paying clients

education.
!!!

language learning and classroom foreign language learning
It failed to

for this reason it was often criticised by the more

Method do we use in the modern teaching practice?

the direct method; the new science of linguistics suggested that

Habit Formation is essential. Rules are induced from examples. Explicit

Speaking, 3. Reading, 4. Writing.

Language is primarily for Oral

and controls the language behaviour of the students. T is

teacher.
Vocabulary Teaching: Meaning is taught directly. L1 is prohibited

It may cause interference and bad habit formation in L2.

Goals

order of skills.
Listening 2. Speaking 3. Reading 4. Writing
Error

speaking and listening were the most important skills;
- the

epitomised the audio-lingual approach and was meant to revolutionise language

as soon as he has heard it. He does this

form when repeated. I brought the ticket. – I brought

3. Replacement. One word in an utterance is replaced by another. He bought this house cheap. – He bought it cheap. Helen left early. - She left early.

to someone else, according to instructions.
Tell him to wait

4. Completion. The students hears an utterance that is complete except for one word, then repeats an utterance in completed form. I’ll go my way and you go … I’ll go my way and you go yours.

must be honest. This is important. - It is important

6. Transformation. A sentence is transformed by being made negative or interrogative or thorough changes in tense, mood, voice, aspect etc. He knows my address. – He doesn’t know my address.

that have been picked out from a sentence but still

UK) version of audio-lingualism; the key difference from the audio-lingual

speaking and listening were the most important skills;

practice, production),

e.g. the Present Simple Tense for routines (called

stages was what the students should learn,

this equation of

etc.

code: learners as thinking beings


The affective factor: learners as emotional

the basis. Language learning is not habit formation. It is

who facilitates learning. Only the learner can do learning. The

know. They are responsible for their own learning. They actively

and word-charts. Vocabulary is always recycled by means of word-charts.

when necessary. Meaning is made clear by focusing the student's

target language for self expression (to express their thoughts, feelings,

rods.
3. Peer correction to improve co-operative manner.
4. Self correction gestures
5.

day's instruction (what they have learnt that day during classes).

order to make better use of our mental reserves, limitations

Suggestopedia. Lozanov method

Students should eliminate the feelings that they cannot be successful and thus, to help them overcome the barriers to learning. Psychological barriers should be removed

1). People remember best when the new information comes from

boredom. T should present the material with different intonation patterns.

they get the information from a reliable authority. Students must

grammar rules are provided in L1.
7. Materials: Dialogues are used

5. Vocabulary Teaching: Vocabulary is emphasised. Claims about the success of the method often focus on the large number of words that can be acquired. Comments and explanations about the meanings can be provided in student's L1.

by which students learn to use a foreign language for

to students' feelings. Students should feel relaxed and secure. Teacher's

and posters on the walls.
Direct Suggestion: The teacher tells students

hung on the walls of the classroom. Students learn from

about their fictional new identity, new home town, family, etc.

components of the active phase of the lesson. Students read

Innate Bio-program: There exists a specific, innate bio-program for language

J. Asher

hemisphere, and right hemisphere, which have different learning functions. If

student behaviour. In the later stages, the teacher is being

kernel. Other categories like adjective, adverb, and noun can be

L1. After the introduction, rarely would the mother tongue be

speak. Silent period must be taken into consideration. When they

are given to students to perform an action; actions make

B) Role reversal: Students command their teacher and classmates to perform actions. Students speak after the silent period. Students should not be forced before they feel ready.
C) Action sequence: The teacher may give three connected commands (e.g. "Point to the door, walk to the door, and touch the door")

Listening (Very important during the silent period)

the idea of grouping bits of language according to communicative

The second tranche of the communicative ‘revolution’ really took off by the early 80s, mostly radiating out from the UK; the key principle was the separation of classroom work into ‘accuracy’ work and ‘fluency’ work;

whether accuracy-based or fluency-based, was the ‘information gap’, which has

have ‘communicative drills’ (e.g. students interview each other about their

H. Widdowson

away from PPP altogether;

students are not taught language points

a recreational weekend in London for a visiting friend coming

here, the language they need will be: discussion exponents, telephoning language, arrangement language, lexis of sightseeing, etc; each group would be given what language they need by the teacher as they ask for it;

the 'Cutting Edge Series' by Peter Moor and Sarah Cunningham

noticed that the language was full of set phrases;

it

the early 1990s, the Lexical View of Language has become

quick and efficient to get across meaning; we still teach

as well as fluency work;

we use personalisaton all the

role-play without time to prepare, and this is taped and