Approaches to Language

Teaching

In this presentation, I will show for each approach

to classroom teaching, to what extent it satisfies

the requirements for optimal input and to what

extent it puts learning in its proper place. We will

review the most widely used methods, such as:

Grammar-translation, Audio-lingualism, Cognitive-

code Teaching, and one version of the Direct

Method, and We will study some new approaches,

Asher's Total Physical Response Method, Terrell's

Natural Approach and Lozanov's Suggestopedia.

by Jennifer Granja

Language Acquisition

Grammar-translation usually consists of the following activities:

(1) Explanation of a grammar rule, with example sentences.

(2) Vocabulary, presented in the form of a bilingual list.

(3) A reading selection, emphasizing the rule presented in(1) above and the vocabulary presented in (2).

(4) Exercises designed to provide practice on the grammarand vocabulary of the lesson. These exercises emphasizethe conscious control of structure ("focus on", in the senseof Krashen and Seliger, 1975) and include translation inboth directions, from L1 to L2 and L2 to L1.

Most grammar-translation classes are designed for foreignlanguage instruction and are taught in the student's firstlanguage.

GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION

Features:

- The Requirements for optimal input must be:comprehensible, interesting and relevant, notgrammatically sequenced, of quantity, the teacher must tohave an affective filter level, use tools for conversationalmanagement.

- In the Learning: learning needs to precede acquisition.There is no limitation of the set of rules to be learned tothose that are learnable, portable, and not yet acquired.There is no attempt to account for individual variation inMonitor use, nor is there any attempt to specify when rulesare to be used, the implicit assumption being that allstudents will be able to use all the rules all the time.

AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

Is an oral-based approach. The Audio-Lingual Methoddrills students in the use of grammatical sentencepatterns.

It was thought that the way to acquire the sentencepatterns of the target language was throughconditioning—helping learners to respond correctly tostimuli through shaping and reinforcement. Learnerscould overcome the habits of their native languageand form the new habits required to be targetlanguage speakers.

Features:

There are four basic drill types: simple repetition,substitution, transformation (e.g. changing andaffirmative sentence into a negative sentence), andtranslation.

The student can over-learn a variety of patterns tobe used directly in performance

Instructional materials in the Audio-lingual Methodassist the teacher to develop language mastery inthe learner.

Tape recorders and audiovisual equipment oftenhave central roles in an audio-lingual learning.

COGNITIVE-CODE

Features

Cognitive-code is that conscious learning can

be accomplished by everyone, that all rules are learnable, and that conscious knowledge should be available at

all times.

Cognitive code attempts to help the student in all four

skills, speaking and listening in addition to reading and

writing.

Cognitive code posits that "competence precedes

performance.

Cognitive code assumes, that "once the student has a proper degree of cognitive control over the structures of a language, facility will develop

automatically with the use of language in meaningful situations". In

other words, learning becomes acquisition.

Cognitive- code encourages over-use of the Monitor,

unless all rules "fade away" as soon as the structures

become automatic.

THE DIRECT METHOD

The direct method presumes thatconscious control is necessary foracquisition, that conscious knowledge ofgrammar can be accessed at all times, andby all students. It demands full control oflate-acquired structures in oral productionfrom the very beginning (e.g. gender),and may thus encourage over-use of thegrammar.

The direct method, has been verysuccessful with students who have intrinsicmotivation for language study and whobelieve that the study of consciousgrammar is essential. For these students,the inductive study of grammar is in itselfinteresting, and provides all the interestnecessary.

Features: The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is

allowed. Meaning is to be conveyed directly in the targetlanguage through the use of demonstration and visual aids.

The direct method presumes that conscious control isnecessary for acquisition, that conscious knowledge ofgrammar can be accessed at all times, and by all students.It demands full control of late-acquired structures in oralproduction from the very beginning (e.g. gender), and maythus encourage over-use of the grammar.

The direct method, has been very successful with studentswho have intrinsic motivation for language study and whobelieve that the study of conscious grammar is essential.For these students, the inductive study of grammar is initself interesting, and provides all the interest necessary.

THE NATURAL APPROACH

Applied Linguistics Research

A portion of appliedlinguistics research hasconsisted of empiricalcomparisons of languageteaching methods.

When older methods suchas grammar-translation,cognitive-code, and audio-lingual are compared witheach other, we see smalldifferences, or nodifferences in terms ofefficacy.

Cognitive-code, in somestudies, shows a very slightsuperiority for adultstudents when compared toaudio-lingual, and nodifferences are seen whenadolescents are compared.

Newer approaches, such asTotal Physical Response,produce significantly betterresults than olderapproaches.

We will conclude that we see little difference betweenolder methods since they all fail many of therequirements for optimal input and overemphasizeconscious learning. The newer methods put to themethod comparison test satisfy the requirementsbetter, and are also shown to outperform their rivals.

Alternative to Methods

•Refers only to interaction with a native speaker who is motivated to try to help the second languageacquirer understand, and who is genuinely interested in the acquirer as a person.

Conversation

•Pure pleasure reading. What is read depends on the student and what is available to him. The onlyrequirement is that the story or main idea be comprehensible and that the topic be something thestudent is genuinely interested in, that he would read in his first language.

Pleasure reading

•Another class of alternatives to classroom teaching involves the use of subject matter in the secondlanguage classroom, using the second language as a vehicle, as a language of presentation andexplanation, special classes for second language students, in which teachers make some linguistic andcultural adjustments in order to help their students understand.

Using subject matter for language teaching

• In immersion programs, initially monolingual majority children are schooled in a minority language.They are taught their academic subjects totally in the second language. In what is known as "total earlyimmersion", input in the second language begins in kindergarten.

Evidence for subject matter teaching

•Subject matter teaching can be extended to other second language acquisition domains, and utilized toat least supplement the second language classroom and provide some help in the difficult transitionfrom language class to real world. For example: one of these domain is the university.

Other possibilities in subject matter teaching

Some Problems

Acquisition is slow and subtle.

Acquisition takes time; it takes far morethan five hours per week over ninemonths to acquire the subjunctive. Itmay, if fact, take years. Good linguists,on the other hand, can consciouslylearn a great deal in a very short time.Also, when we have acquiredsomething, we are hardly aware of it.In a sense, it feels as if it was alwaysthere, and something anyone can do.

Learning is fast and, for some people,obvious.

Learning is different. Some peoplederive great pleasure from the learningand use of conscious rules. It issometimes hard for people like us tounderstand that this sort of pleasurableactivity is not real language acquisition.

These have to do with the acceptance, by teachersand students, of language acquisition as primary,and comprehensible input as the means ofencouraging language acquisition.These problems are caused by he fact thatacquisition differs from learning in two majorways:

by Jennifer GranjaThank you!