Language Teaching Approaches: An Overview

Pre-Twentieth-Century Trends: A Brief Survey

Prior to the 20th century, language teaching methodology vacillated between two
types of approaches: getting learners to use a language (ie.e., to speak and
understand it) versus getting learners to analyze a language (ie. To learn its
grammatical rules).

Both the classical Greek and medieval Latin periods were characterized by an
emphasis on teaching people to use foreign languages. The classical languanges,
first Greek and then Latin, were used as lingua francas. Higher learning was
conducted primarily through these languages all over Europe. They were used
widely in philosophy, religion, politics, and business. Thus the educated elite
became fluent speakers, readers, and writers of the appropriate classical language.
We can assume that the teachers or tutors used informal and more or less direct
approaches to convey the form and meaning of the language they were teaching and
that they used aural-oral techniques with no language textbooks per se, but rather a
small stock of hand-copied written target language, or crude dictionaries that listed
equivalent words in two or more languages side by side.

During the Renaissance, the formal study of the grammars of Greek and Latin
became popular through the mass production of books made possible by the
invention of the printing press. In the case of Latin, it was discovered that the
grammar of the classical texts was different from that of the Latin being used as a
lingua franca – the latter subsequently being labeled vugate Latin, i.e., Latin of the
common people. Major differences had developed between the classical Latin
described in the Renaissance grammars, which became the formal object of
instruction in schools , and the Latin being used for everyday pruposes. This
occurred at about the same time that Latin began to be abandoned as a lingua
franca. (No one was speaking classical Latin anymore, and various European
vernaculars had begun to rise in respectability and popularity.) Thus, in retrospect,
stange as it may seem, the Renaissance preoccupation with the formal study of
classical Latin may have contributed to the demise of Latin as a lingua franca in
Western Europe.

Since the European vernaculars had grown in prestige and utility, it is not surprising
that people in one country or region began to find it necessary an duseful to learn
the language of another country or region. Thus the focus in language studyshifted
back to utility rather than analysis during the 17 th century. Perhaps the most
famous language teacher and methodologist of this period is JOHANN AMOS
COMENIUS, a Czech scholar and teacher, who published books about his teaching
techniques between 1631 and 1658. Some of the techniques that Comenius used
and espoused were the following:

 Use limitation 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

Thus, Comenius perhaps of the first time, made explicit an inductive approach to
learning a foreign language, the goal of which was to teach use rather than analysis
of the language being taught.

Comenius’s views held sway for some time; however, by the beginning of the 19 th
century thesystematic study of the grammar of classic Latin and of classical texts
had once again taken over in schools and universities throughout Europe. The
analytical Grammar-Translation Approach became firmly entrenched as a method
for teaching not only Latin but by extension modern languages as well. It was
perhaps best codified in the work of KARL PLOETZ, a German scholar who had a
tremendous influence on the language teaching profession during his lifetime and
afterwards. (He died in 1881).

However, the swinging of the pendulum continued. By the end of the 19 th century,
the Direct Method, which once more stressed the ability to use rather than to
analyze a language as the goal of language instruction, had begun to function as a
viable alternative to Grammar-Translation. FRANCOIS GOUIN, a Frenchman, began
to publish in 1880 concerning his work with the Direct Method. He advocated
exclusive use of the target language in the classroom, having been influenced by an
older friend, the German philosopher-scientist ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, who
had espoused the notion that a language cannot be taught, that one can only create
conditions for learning to take place (Kelly, 1969).

The Direct Method became very popular in France and Germany, and has
enthusiastice followers among language teachers even today (as does the Grammar-
Translation Approach).

In 1886, during the same period that the Direct Method first became popular in
Europe, the International Phonetic Assocaiton was established by scholars such as
HENRY SWEET, WILHELM VIETOR, and PAUL PASSY. They developed the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and became part of the Reform Movement in
language teaching in the 1890s. These phoneticians made some of the first truly
scientifice contributions to language teaching when they advocated principles such
as the following:
 The spoken form of a language is primary and should be taught first
 The findings of phonetics should be applied to language teaching
 Language teachers must have solid training in phonetics
 Learners should be given phonetic training to establish good speech habits
The work of these phoneticians focused on the teaching of pronunciation and oral
skills, which they felt had been ignored in Grammar-Translation. Thus, although the
Reform Movement is not necessariy considered a full-blown pedagogical approach
to language teaching, its adherents did have an influence on future approaches, as
we shall see.

Quite apart from the work of the Reform Movement, the influence of the Direct
Method grew, it crossed the Atlantic in the early 20 th century when EMILE DE
SAUZE, a disciple of Gouin, came to Cleveland, Ohio, in order to see to it that all
foreign language instruction in the public schools there implemented the Direct
Method. De Sauze’s endeavor, however, was not completely successful (in Cleveland
or elsewhere) since there were too few foreign language teahcers in the United
States who were fluent speakers of the language they taught. Later, the Modern
Language Association of America, based on the Coleman Report (Coleman, 1929),
endorsed the Reading Approach to language teaching, since given the skills and
limitations of most language teachiers, all that one could reasonably expect was that
students would come away from the study of a foreign language able to read the
target language – with emphasis on some of the great works of literature and
philosophy that had been produced in the language.

The Reading Approach, as reflected in the work of MICHAEL WEST (1941) and
others, held sway in the United States until the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, when
World War II broke out and made it imperative for the U.S. military to quickly and
efficiently teach foreign language learners how to speak an dunderstand a language.
At this time, the US government hired linguists to help teach languages and develop
materials: the Audiolingual Approach (Fries, 1945), which drew heavily on
structural linguistics (Bloomfield, 1933) and behavioral psychology (Skinner, 1957)
was born. In Britain, the same historical pressures gave rise to the Oral or
Situational Approach (e.g., Pittman 1963), which drew on Firthian Linguistics
(codified in the work of Firth’s best known student, M.A.K. Halliday (1973) as well
as drawing on the experience of Britain’s language educators with oral approaches
to foreign language teaching. Although somewhat influenced by, but less dogmatic
than, its American counterpart (the Audiolingual Approach), the Oral or Situational
Approach advocated organizing structures around situations that would provide the
learner with maximum opportunity to practice the target language, with “practice”
nonetheless often being little more than choral repetition. Some historians of
language teaching (e.g., Howatt 1984) believe that the earlier Reform Movement
played a role in the development of both Audiolingualism in the Unitted States and
the Oral Situational Approach in Britain.

Nine 20th Century Approaches to Language Teaching

In addition to the Grammar- Translation Approach, the Direct Approach, the

Reading Approach, the Audiolingual Approach, and the Oral- Situational Approach-
whose historical development I have sketched above briefly-there are four other
discernible approaches to foreign language teaching that developed and were
widely used during the final quarter of the twentieth century. Thus, there are nine
approaches altogether that I shall be referring to:

1. Grammar – Translation
2. Direct
3. Reading
4. Audiolingualism (United States)
5. Oral - Situational (Britain)
6. Cognitive
7. Affective-Humanistic
8. Comprehension Based
9. Communication

Definitions:

An approach to language teaching is something that reflects a certain model or

research paradigm – a theory, if youlike. This term is the broadest of the three

A method, is a set of procedures, i.e., a system that spells out rather precisely how to
teach a second or foreign language. It is more specific than an approach but less
specific than a technique. Methods are typically compatible with one (or sometimes
two approaches.

A technique is a classroom device or activity and thus represents the narrowest of

the three concepts. Some techniques are widely used and found in many methods
(e.g., dictation, imitation, an drepetition); however, some techniques are specific to
or characteristic of a given method (e.g., using cuisnaire rods = the Silent Way
(Gattegno 1976).

The most problematic of Anthony’s three terms is method. Methods proliferated in

the 1970s. they were typically very specific in terms of the procedures an
dmaterials that the teacher, who required special training, was supposed to use.
They were almost always developed and defined by one person. This person, in
turn, trained practitioners who accepted the method as a gospel an dhelped to
spread the word. Some methods, and their originators follow:

 Silent Way (Gattegno 1976)

 Community Language Learning (Curran 1976)
 Total Physical Response (Asher 1977)
 Suggestology, Suggestopedia, or Accelerated Learning (Lozanov 1978)

However, the lack of flexibility in such methods led some applied linguists (e.g.,
Richards 1984) to seriously question their usefulness and aroused a healthy
skepticism among language educators, who argued that there is no such thing as the
best method.
 the complex circumstances of teaching and learning languages – with
different kinds of pupils, teachers, aims and objectives, approaches, methods
and materials, classroom techniques and standards of achievement – make it
inconceivable that any single method could achieve optimum sucessin all
circumstance. (STrevens 1977, p. 5).

At this point, I will outline each of the nine approaches listed above. In addition, I
will note any special proficiency or role that the teacher is expected (or not
expected) to fulfill.

1. Grammar-Translation Approach (an extension of the approach used to

teach classical languages to the teaching of modern languages)
a. instruction is given in the native language of the students
b. there is no little use of the target language for communication
c. focus is on grammatical parsing, ie., the form and inflection of words
d. there is early reading of difficult texts
e. a typical exercise is to translate sentences from the targe language
into the mother tongue (or vice versa)
f. the result of this approach is usually an inability on the part of the
students to use the language for communication
g. the teacher does not have to be able to speak the target language

2. Direct Approach (a reaction to the Grammar-Translation Approach and its

failure to produce learners who could communicate in the foreign language
theyhad been studying)
a. No use of the mother tongue is permitted (i.e., the teacher does not
need to know th estudent’s native language)
b. lessons begin with dialogues and anecdotes in modern conversational
style
c. Actions and pictures are used to make meanings clear
d. Grammar is learned inductively
e. Literary texts are read for pleasure and are not analyzed
grammatically
f. The target culture is also taught inductively
g. The teacher must be a native speaker or have nativelike proficiency
int the target language

3. Reading Approach (a reaction to the problems experienced in implementing

the Direct Approach; reading was viewed as the most usable skill to have in a
foreign language since not many people traveled abroad at that time; also,
few teachers could use their foreign language well enough to use a direct
approach effectively in class)
a. Only the grammar useful for reading comprehension is taught
b. Vocabulary is controlled at first (based on frequency and
usefulness) and then expanded
 c. Translation is once more a respectable classroom procedure
d. Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized
e. The teacher does not need to have good oral proficiency in the
target language

4. Audiolingualism (a reaction to the Reading Approach and its lack of

emphasis on oral-aural skills; this approach became dominant in the United
States during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s; it draws from the Reform
Movement and the Direct Approach but adds features from structural
linguistics (Bloomfield 1933) and behavioral psychology (Skinner 1957)
a. Lessons begin with dialogues
b. Mimicry and memorization are used, based on the assumption that
language is habit formation
c. Grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are taught
inductively
d. Skills are sequenced: listening, speaking – reading, writing, postponed
e. Pronunciation is stressd from the beginning
f. Vocabulary is severely limited initial stages
g. A great effort is made to prevent learner errors
h. Language is often manipulated without regard to meaning or
context
i. The teacher must be proficient only in the structures, vocabulary,
etc. that he or she is teaching since learning activities and materials
are carefully controlled.

5. Oral-Situational Approach (a reaction to the Reading Approach and its Lack

of emphasis on oral-aural skills; this approach was dominant in Britain
during the 1940s,1950s, and 1960s; it draws from Reform Movement and
Direct Approach but adds features from Firthian linguistics and the emerging
professional field of language pedagogy)
a) The spoken language is primary.
b) All language material is practiced orally before being presented in written
form ( reading and writing are taught only after an oral base inn lexical and
grammatical forms has been established).
c) Only the target language should be used in the classroom.
d) Efforts are made to ensure that the most general and useful lexical items are
presented.
e) Grammatical structures are graded from simple to complex.
f) New items (lexical and grammatical) are introduced and practiced
situationally (e.g. at the post office, at the bank, at the dinner table).

6. Cognitive Approach ( a reaction to the behaviorist features of the Audiolingual

Approach; influenced by cognitive psychology [Neisser 1967 and Chomskyan
linguistics [Chomsky 1959, 1965])
 a) Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition, not habit formation.
b) Instruction is often individualized; learners are reposible for their own
learning.
c) Grammar mustbe taught but it can be taught deductively 9rules first, practice
later) and/ or inductively (rules can either be stated after practice or left as
implicit information for the learners to process on their own)
d) Pronunciation is de-emphasized;perfection is viewed as unrealistic and
unattainable.
e) Reading and writing are once again as important as listening and speaking.
f) Vocabulary instruction is once again important especially at intermediate
and advanced levels.
g) Errors are viewed as inevitablr, to be used contructively in the learning
process.
h) The teacher is expected to have good general proficiency in the target
language as well as an ability to analyze the target language.

7. Affective-Humanistics Apprtoach (a reaction to the general lack of affective

consideration in both Audiolingualism and the Cognitive Approach; e.g. Moskowitz
1978 and Curran 1976).

a) Respect is emphazised for the individual (each student, the teacher) and for
his or her feelings.
b) Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
c) Instruction involves much work in pairs and small groups.
d) Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials or methods.
e) Peer support and interaction are viewed as necessary for learning.
f) Learning a foreign language is viewed as a self-realization experience.
g) The teacher is a counselor or facilitator.
h) The teacher should be proficient in the target language and the student’s
native language since translation may be used heavily in the initial stages to
help students feel at ease;later it is gradually phased out.

8. Comprehension-Based Approach (an out-growth of research in first language

acquisition that led some language methodologist to assume that second or foreign
language learning is very similar to first language acquisition; e.g., Postovsky 1974;
Winitz 1981;krashen and Terrell 1983)

a) Listening comprehension is very important and viewed as the basic skill that
will all speaking, reading and writing to develop spontaneously over time
given the right conditons.
b) Learners should begin by listening to meaningful speech and by responding
nonverbally in meaningful ways before they produce any language
themselves.
c) Learners should not speak until they feel ready to do so; this result in better
pronunciation than if the learner is forced to speak immediately.
d) Learners progress by being exposed to meaningful input that is judt one step
beyond their level of competence.
 e) Rule learning may help learners monitor (or become aware of) what they do,
but it will not aid their acquisition or spontaneous use of the target language.
f) Error correction is seen as unnecessary and perhaps even
encounterproductive; the important thing is that the learners can
understand and can make themselves understood.
g) If the tacher is not a native (or near-native) speaker appropriate materials
such as audiotapes and videotapes must be available to provide the
appropriate input for the learners.

9. Communicative Approach (an outgrowth of the work of anthropological

linguists [e.g., Hynes 1972] and Firthian linguists[e.g., Halliday 1973], who view
language first and foremost as a system for communication; see Savignon’s chapter
in this volume)

a) It is assumed the goal of language teaching is learner ability to communicate

in the target language.
b) It is assumed that the content of a language course will include semantic
notions, and social functions, not just linguistic structures.
c) Students regularlu work in groups or pairs to transfer (and if necessary
negotiate) meaning in situations in which one person has information that
the other (s) lack.
d) Students often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the
target language to different social contexts.
e) Classroom materials and activities are often authentic to reflect real-life
situations and demands.
f) Skills are integrated from beginning; a given activity might involve reading,
speaking, listening, and also writing (this assumes the learners are educated
and literate)
g) The teacher’s role is primarily to facilitate communication and only
secondarily to correct erros.
h) The teacher should be able to use tha target language fluentlu and
appropriately.

To sum up, we can see that certain features of several of the first five
approach arose in reaction to perceived inadequancies or impracticalities in a
earlier approach or approaches. The four more recently developed approaches also
do this to some extent; however, each one is grounded on a slightly differnet theory
or view of how people learn second or foreign language or hoe people use
languages, and each has a central point around which everything else revolves.

Cognitive Approach: Language is rule-governed cognitive behavior a(not

habit formation)

Affective-Humanistic Approach: Learning a foreign language is a process of

self-realization and of relating to other people.
 Comprehensive Approach:Language acquisition occurs if and only if the
learner comprehends meaningful input.

Communicative Approach: The purpose of language (and thus the goal of

language teaching communication).

These four more recent approaches are not necessarily in conflict or totally
incompatible since it is not difficult to conceive of an integrated approach which
wouls incle attention to rule formation, affect, comprehension, and communication
and which would view the learner as someone who thinks, feel, undetrstands,and
has something to say. In fact,. Many teachers would find such an approach, if well
conceived and well integrated, to be very attractive.

A Note On Approach, Method and Syllabus Type

We now understand that an approach is general (e.g., Cognitive), that a
method is specific set procedures more or less compatible with an approach a)e.g.,
the Silent Way), and that a technique is a very specific type of learning activity used
in one or more methods (e.g., using colored rods of varying lengths to cue and
facilitate language practice with a syllabus, which is an inventory of objective the
learner should master, this inventory is sometimes presented in a recommended
sequence and is used to design courses and teaching materials.

What sort of syllabuses have been used with approaches discussed above?
Most of them have used-implicitly or explicitly- a structural syllabus, which consists
of a list of grammatical inflections and constructions that the teacher is expected to
teach and the learner is expected to master.the Gramma-Translation Approach, the
Direct Approach, the Audiolingual Approach, the Cognitve Approach and even some
methods following the Comprehension Approach have all employed a structural
syllabus. In other words, teachers and textbook writers following these approaches
have organized their language-teaching materials around grammar points, with
Audiolingualism also specifying pronunciation points and the Oral-Situational
Approach ofteh specifying vocabulary objectives in additional to grammar.

In contrast to the structural syllabus, the Reading Approach is text-based;

this kind of languane course is organized around texts and vocabulary items with
only minor consideration given to grammar.

In the Oral-Situational Approach, there is often a dual-objective syllabus in

which various situations are specified for instruction (e.g., the post office, a
restaurant, a bus, the doctor’s office, etc.)Along with some of the structures and the
vocabulary that one might need to produce the language needed in these situations.

In th Communicative Approach, one type of syllabus is organized around

notions (meanings such as spatial location, time, degree) and functions (social
transactions and interactions suchj as asking for information of complimenting
someone). Oin this syllabus format, grammar and vocabulary are secondary, being
taughtnot ends in themselves, but only insofar as they help express the notions and
functions that are in focus. Many adherents of the Communicative Approach,
however, reject any sort of atomistic syllabus, whteher structural or notional –
functional. They advocate instead a communicative syllabus (e.i., process-based or
task based syllabus) in which real –world tasks and authentic materials are used to
design language course (Yalden 1983)

The Affective –Humanistics Approavh has produced the most radical syllabus
type- the learner-generated syllabus. Thus, in methods like Community language
Laerning (curran 1976)and Project Works (see Erying’s chapter in this volume), the
learners decide what they ewant to learn and what they want to be able to do with
thae tareget lamguage. For fuller discussionof syllabus design, see Nunan’s chapter
in this volume.

CONCLUSSION

What is the solution for the ESL/EFL teacher, given the abundance of past,
current, and futre approaches? The only way to make wise decisions is to learnmore
about the various approaches and methods available and to find out which practices
have proved successful. This chapter has just scratched the surface. Further
information is available in the reminder of this volume and in many other books, in
jouenal articles, at professional conferences and workshop and on the World Wide
Web.

There are also five other things the teaher should do to make good decisions
corcerning the choice of an approach, a method (or methods), and finally techniques
and materials.

1. Assess student needs: why should the be learning English? For what purpose?

2.Examine imstructional contraints: time (hour per wek, days per week, weeks per
term): class size (nature of enrollment);materials (set syllabus and text, or
completely open to teacher); physical factos(classroom size, AV support). Then
decide what can reasonably be taughr.

3. Determine the attitudes and learning styles of individual students to the extent tht
this is possible and develop activities and materials consistent with the findings.

4. Identify the discourse genres, speech activities and tect types that the students
need to learn so that you can incorporate them into materials and learning activities.

5. Specify hoe thw students’ language learning will be assessed.

During done al these, the teacher will be in a position to selct the most useful
techniques or priciples and to design a productive course of study by drawing from
available approaches, syllabus types, and existing research findings. Clifford Prator,
a former professor and colleague of mine, summed up the professional ESL teacher’s
responsibility nicely (person communication):
 Teachers are certainly in a better position too follow Prator’s advice if they
are familiar with the history and the state of the art of our profession. Some
suggestion for furthert reading are provided below to aid the reader in attaining
these objectives.

In fact, all of the chapters in this volume end with discussion questions,
suggested activities, suggestions for further reading, and where relevant, useful Web
sites. Section 1 of this volume discuss topics in language methodology, Section 2
focuses on teaching the individual language skilld, section 3 presents some
integrated approaches to languageteaching, Section4 focuses on specific groups of
learners, and Section 5 provides language teachers with background information
and skills that will help them become more knowledgeable and skillful practitioners.