ELT Methods and ELT

Techniques
Ice-Breaker

A tutor who tooted a flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two
to their tutor, "Is it harder to toot or tutor two tooters to toot?"
Three competences needed by Teachers of English
User Competence

Analyst Competence Teacher

Competence
 English Language Teaching Methods

What do you think of the following statement?

Many teachers now share the belief that a single

right method does not exist. It is certainly true that
no comparative study has consistently demonstrated
the superiority of one method over another for all
teachers, all students and all settings.
 English Language Teaching Methods

Educational theories and models should be treated with caution. They are all
narratives. They each tell a story, but only one story. The may shed light on
one aspect of teaching and learning but, in the process, cast other aspects into
the shadows (Rowland, 1993: 16).
What’s the difference between Approach,
Method & Technique?

Approach
A set of assumptions dealing with the nature
of language, learning, and teaching

Method
An overall plan for systematic presentation of
language based upon a selected Approach

Technique
Specific activities manifested in the
classroom that are consistent with a method
and therefore in harmony with an approach
 An approach is the level at which assumptions and beliefs about language
and language learning are specified;
 Method is the level at which theory is put into practice and at which choices
are made about the particular skills to be taught, the content to be taught,
and the order in which the content will be presented;
 Technique is the level at which classroom procedures are described.
The Grammar-Translation
Method
The Grammar-Translation Method was called the Classical
Method since it was first used in the teaching of the
classical languages, Latin and Greek.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

This method was used for the purpose of helping students

read and appreciate foreign language literature.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

Through the study of the grammar of the target language, students would
become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and that
this familiarity with the grammar of their native language will help them
understand their language better.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

Finally, it was thought that foreign language learning would help students
grow intellectually.
The Grammar-Translation Method

Principles
Learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature
written in it. Literary language is superior to spoken
language. If students can translate from one language into
another, they are considered successful language learners.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

 The ability to communicate in the target language is not a goal of foreign

language instruction.

 The primary skills to be developed are reading and writing. Little

attention is given to speaking and listening and almost none to
pronunciation.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

 The teacher is the authority in the classroom. It is very important that

students get the correct answer.

 Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target

language and the native language.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

 Deductive application of an explicit grammar rule is a useful pedagogical

technique.

 Language learning provides good mental exercise.

 The Grammar-Translation Method

Students should be conscious of the grammatical rules of

the target language.
 The Grammar-Translation Method

 There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.

 There are no principles of the method which relate to students’ feelings.

 The Grammar-Translation Method

Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized. Reading and

writing are the primary skills that the students work on.
The Grammar-Translation Method

The role of the students’ native language

 The meaning of the target language is made clear by translating into the
students’ native language.

 The language that is used in class is mostly the students’ native language.
The Grammar-Translation Method

How is evaluation accomplished?

Written tests in which students are asked to translate from their native
language to the target language or vice versa are often used.
The Grammar-Translation Method

How does the teacher respond to student

errors?

Having the students get the correct answer is considered very important.
The Direct Method

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

allowed. Meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target
language through the use of demonstration and visual aids.
The Direct Method
Principles

1.Language is primarily speech.

2.Culture consists of more than the fine arts (e.g. the
students study geography and cultural attitudes).
3.The reading skill will be developed through practice with
speaking.
 The Direct Method
Principles
4. Objects (e.g. realia or pictures) present in the immediate classroom
environment should be used to help students understand the meaning.

5. The native language should not be used in the classroom.

 The Direct Method
Principles
6. The teacher should demonstrate, not explain or translate. It is desirable
that students make a direct association between the target language and
meaning.
 The Direct Method
Principles
7. Students should learn to think in the target language as soon as possible.
Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences
rather than memorizing word lists.
 The Direct Method
Principles
8. The purpose of language learning is communication.

9. Pronunciation should be worked on right from the beginning of language

instruction.
 The Direct Method
Principles
10. Self-correction facilitates language learning.

11. Lessons should contain some conversational activity—some opportunity for

students to use language in real contexts. Students should be encouraged
to speak as much as possible.
 Grammar should be taught inductively. There may
never be an explicit grammar rule given.
 Writing is an important skill, to be developed from the
beginning of language instruction.
 The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually
on linguistic structures.
 Learning another language also involves learning how
speakers of that language live.
What are the goals of teachers
who use the Direct Method?

 Teachers who use the Direct Method intend that

students learn how to communicate in the target
language. In order to do this successfully, students
should learn to think in the target language.
What is the role of teacher?

 Although the teacher directs the class activities, the

student role is less passive than in the Grammar-
Translation Method. The teacher and the students are
more like partners in the teaching/learning process.
What are some characteristics of
the teaching/learning process?

 Teachers believe students need to associate meaning

and the target language directly. Students speak in the
target language a great deal and communicate as if
they were in real situations. The syllabus is based upon
situations or topics.
What is the nature of
student-teacher interaction?
 The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from
teacher to students and from student to teacher,
although the latter is often teacher-directed.
How are the feelings of the
students dealt with?
 There are no principles of the methods which relate to
this area.
How is language viewed?

 Language is primarily spoken, not written.

What areas of language are
emphasized?
 Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar.
What is the role of the
students’ native language?
 Students’ native language should not be used in the
classroom.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 The students might be interviewed orally by the teacher
or might be asked to write a paragraph about something
they have studied.
 Some Questions of Direct

Method
May the native tongue of the student be used at all in the Direct Method?
 If no translation is allowed, what is the teacher to do, if the pupil does not
understand?
 Would not translation save time in many instances?
 Aside from wasting time, could translation do real harm?
The Audio-Lingual Method

Theoretical and Historical Background

 When the American military suddenly needed a quick
and effective way to teach foreign language skills during
World War II, they turned to professional linguists. The
military’s call for help came at a time when the science
of Behaviorism was at its peak.
The Audio-Lingual Method

 The field of behaviorism included the work of classical

conditioning behaviorists such as Ivan Pavlov (1849–
1936) in Russia and the American operant conditioning
behaviorist B. F. Skinner (1904–1990).
The Audio-Lingual Method

 Behaviorism deeply affected the American linguists of

the time. What resulted was a type of linguistics known
as structural linguistics.
The Audio-Lingual Method

 Most structural linguists believed that the best way to

master a new language was through repetitive practice
with various language structures or sentence patterns.
Learning a language, they thought, required the learner
to form “speaking habits” that conformed to the
structure of the target language.
The Audio-Lingual Method

 The Audio-Lingual Method, like the Direct Method, is

also an oral-based approach. However, it is very
different in that the Audio-Lingual Method drills
students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns.
 It also, unlike the Direct Method, has
a strong theoretical base in linguistics
and psychology. It has principles from
behavioral psychology (Skinner,
1957)were incorporated. It was
thought that the way to acquire the
sentence patterns of the target
language was through conditioning—
helping learners to respond correctly
to stimuli through shaping and
reinforcement.
 Learners could overcome the habits of their native
language and form the new habits required to be target
language speakers.
The Audiolingual Method

 The Audio-lingual Method, like the Direct Method, is

also an oral-based approach. However, it is very
different in that the Audio-Lingual Method drills
students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns.
 It was thought that the way to acquire
the sentence patterns of the target
language was through conditioning—
helping learners to respond correctly
to stimuli through shaping and
reinforcement. Learners could
overcome the habits of their native
language and form the new habits
required to be target language
speakers.
Principles

 Language forms do not occur by themselves; they occur

most naturally within a context.
 The native language and the target language have
separate linguistic systems. They should be kept apart
so that the students’ native language interferes as little
as possible with the students’ attempts to acquire the
target language.
The language teacher’s role

 One of the language teacher’s major roles is that of a

model of the target language. Teachers should provide
students with a good model. By listening to how it is
supposed to sound, students should be able to mimic
the model.
 Language learning is a process of habit formation. The
more often something is repeated, the stronger the
habit and the greater the learning.
 It is important to prevent learners from making errors.
Errors lead to the formation of bad habits. When errors
do occur, they should be immediately corrected by the
teacher.
 The purpose of language learning is to learn how to use
the language to communicate.
 Particular parts of speech occupy particular ‘slots’ in
sentences. In order to create new sentences, students
must learn which part of speech occupies which slot.
 Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop
correct habits.
 Students should learn to respond to both verbal and
nonverbal stimuli.
 Pattern practice helps students to form habits which
enable the students to use the patterns.
 Students should ‘overlearn’, learn to answer
automatically without stopping to think.
 The teacher should be like an orchestra leader—
conducting, guiding, and controlling the students’
behavior in the target language.
 The major objective of language teaching should be for
students to acquire the structural patterns; students
will learn vocabulary afterward.
 The learning of a foreign language should be the same
as the acquisition of the native language. The rules
necessary to use the target language will be figured out
or induced from examples.
 The major challenge of foreign language teaching is
getting students to overcome the habits of their native
language.
 Speech is more basic to language than the written form.
The ‘natural order’ –the order children follow when
learning their native language—of skill acquisition is:
listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
 Language cannot be separated from culture. Culture is
not only literature and the arts, but also the everyday
behavior of the people who use the target language.
One of the teacher’s responsibilities is to present
information about that culture.
The nature of student-
teacher interaction
 Most of the interactions is between teacher and
students and is initiated by the teacher.
How is language viewed?

 Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-lingual

Method. The level of complexity of the speech is
graded, so that beginning students are presented with
only simple patterns. Culture consists of the everyday
behavior and lifestyle of the target language speakers.
What areas of language are
emphasized?
 Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the students are
mastering the sound system and grammatical patterns.
 The oral/aural skills receive most of the attention.
Pronunciation is taught from the beginning, often by
students working in language laboratories on
discriminating between members of minimal pairs.
The role of the students’
native language
 The target language is used in the classroom, not the
students’ native language.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 Students might be asked to distinguish between words
in a minimal pair, for example, or to supply an
appropriate verb form in a sentence.
How does the teacher
respond to student errors?
 Student errors are to be avoided if at all possible
through the teacher’s awareness of where the students
will have difficulty and restriction of what they are
taught to say.
The role of instructional
materials
 Instructional materials in the Audiolingual Method assist
the teacher to develop language mastery in the learner.
They are primarily teacher-oriented.
 Tape recorders and audiovisual equipment often have
central roles in an audiolingual course.
The decline of Audioligualism

 Audiolingualism reached its period of most widespread

use in the 1960s and was applied both to the teaching of
foreign language in the United States and to the
teaching of English as a second or foreign language.
 Audiolingualism stresses the mechanistic aspects of
language learning and language use.
Total Physical Response (TPR)

 TPR is a language teaching method built around the

coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach
language through physical motor activity. It was
developed by James Asher, a professor of psychology at
San Jose State University, California.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 He claims that speech directed to young children
consists primarily of commands, which children respond
to physically before they begin to produce verbal
responses.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 Asher shares with the school of humanistic psychology a
concern for the role of affective factors in language
learning.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 Asher has elaborated an account of what he feels
facilitates or inhibits foreign language learning. For this
dimension of his learning theory he draws on three
influential learning hypotheses:
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
1. There exists a specific innate bio-program for language learning which
defines an optimal path for first and second language development.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)

2. Brain lateralization defines different learning functions in the left-and-

right brain hemispheres.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)

3. Stress intervenes between the act of learning and what is to be learned;

the lower the stress, the greater the learning.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 Listening should be accompanied by physical movement.
Speech and other productive skills should come later.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 Asher sees TPR as directed to right-brain learning, whereas most second
language teaching methods are directed to left-brain learning. Asher
holds that the child language learner acquires language through motor
movement.
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 Similarly, the adult should proceed to language mastery through right
hemisphere motor activities, while the left hemisphere watches and
learns.
The objective of TPR

 The objective of TPR is to teach oral proficiency at a

beginning level. Comprehension is a means to an end.
The ultimate aim is to teach basic speaking skills. TPR
requires initial attention to meaning rather than to the
form of items. Grammar is thus taught inductively.
 The objective of TPR
 Learners in TPR have the primary roles of listener and performer. They
listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the
teacher. Learners are also expected to recognize and respond to novel
combinations of previously taught items.
 The objective of TPR
 Learners monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged
to speak when they feel ready to speak—that is, when a sufficient basis in
the language has been internalized. The teacher plays an active and
direct role in TPR.
The Silent Way

 The Silent Way is the name of a method of a language

teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno.
The Silent Way

 Teaching is subordinated to learning.

The Silent Way

 Teacher silence encourages students to produce as

much language as possible.
The Silent Way

 Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates

rather than remembers and repeats what is to be
learned.
The Silent Way

 Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical

objects.
The Silent Way

 The teacher should start with something the students

already know and build from that to the unknown.
The Silent Way

 Language learners are intelligent and bring with them

the experience of already learning a language. The
teacher should give only what help is necessary.
The Silent Way

 Language is not learned by repeating after a model.

Students need to develop their own ‘inner criteria’ for
correctness—to trust and to be responsible for their own
production in the target language.
The Silent Way

 Learning involves transferring what one knows to new

contexts.
 It is based on the premise that the teacher should be
silent as much as possible in the classroom but the
learner should be encouraged to produce as much
language as possible.
 Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color
charts and the colored Cuisenaire rods, grew out of
Gattegno’s previous experience as an educational
designer of reading and mathematics programs.
Learning hypotheses

 Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates

rather than remembers and repeats what is to be
learned.
 Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical
objects.
 Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the
material to be learned.
Theory of language and
learning
 The sentence is the basic unit of teaching, and the
teacher focuses on propositional meaning, rather than
communicative value. Students are presented with the
structural patterns of the target language and learn the
grammatical rules of the language through largely
inductive processes.
 Gattegno sees vocabulary as a central dimension of
language learning and the choice of vocabulary as
crucial.
 Gattegno looked at language learning from the
perspective of the learner by studying the way babies
and young children learn.
 The teacher points to five blocks of color without saying
anything. The blocks of color represent the sounds of
five English vowels close to the five simple vowels of
Portuguese.
Principles

 The teacher should start with something the students

already know and build from that to the unknown.
Languages share a number of features, sounds being the
most basic.
 Language learners are intelligent and bring with them
the experience of already learning a language. The
teacher should give only what help is necessary.
 Language is not learned by repeating after a model.
Students need to develop their own ‘inner criteria’ for
correctness—to trust and to be responsible for their own
production in the target language.
 Students’ actions can tell the teacher whether or not
they have learned.
 The teacher makes use of what students already know.
The more the teacher does for the students what they
can do for themselves, the less they will do for
themselves.
 Learning involves transferring what one knows to new
contexts.
 Reading is worked on from the beginning but follows
from what students have learned to say.
 Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonomy, or the
exercise of initiative. It also removes the teacher from
the center of attention, so he can listen to and work
with students. The teacher speaks, but only when
necessary.
 Meaning is made clear by focusing students’
perceptions, not through translation.
 Students can learn from one another. The teacher’s
silence encourages group cooperation.
 Student attention is a key to learning.

 Students should engage in a great deal of meaningful

practice without repetition.

 Language is for self-expression.

 The teacher can gain valuable information from student
feedback.
What are the goals of teachers
who use the Silent Way?

 Students should be able to use the language for self-

expression—to express their thoughts, perceptions, and
feelings.
What is the role of teacher?

 The teacher is a technician or engineer.

 The teacher should respect the autonomy of the

learners in their attempts at relating and interacting
with the new challenges.
What is the role of the
students?
 The role of the students is to make use of what they
know, to free themselves of any obstacles that would
interfere with giving their utmost attention to the
learning task.
What are some characteristics of
the teaching/learning process?

 Students begin their study of the language through its

basic building blocks, its sounds.
 This provides valuable information for the teacher and
encourages students to take responsibility for their own
learning.
What is the nature of
student-teacher interaction?
 For much of the student-teacher interaction, the
teacher is silent.
 Student-student verbal interaction is desirable (students
can learn from one another) and is therefore
encouraged.
How are the feelings of the
students dealt with?
 The teacher constantly observes the students. When
their feelings interfere, the teacher tries to find ways
for the students to overcome them.
How is language viewed?

 Languages of the world share a number of features.

However, each language also has its own unique reality
since it is the expression of a particular group of
people.
How is culture viewed?

 Their culture, as reflected in their own unique world

view, is inseparable from their language.
What areas of language are
emphasized?
 Since the sounds are basic to any language,
pronunciation is worked on from the beginning.
What language skills are
emphasized?
 All four skills are worked on from the beginning of the
course, although there is a sequence in that students
learn to read and write what they already produced
orally.
What is the role of the
students’ native language?
 Meaning is made clear by focusing the students’
perceptions, not by translation.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 The teacher’s silence frees him to attend to his
students and to be aware of these needs.
How does the teacher
respond to student errors?
 Student errors are seen as a natural, indispensable part
of the learning process. Errors are inevitable since the
students are encouraged to explore the language.
 Silent Way
Check your understanding of the Silent Way.
1. There are many reasons for the teacher's silence in the Silent Way. Some of
these have been stated explicitly in this chapter, others have been implied.
Can you state the reasons?
 Silent Way
Reasons for teacher’s silence:
1. It encourages students to produce the language as much as possible.
2. It prevents teacher dominance of the teaching learning situation.
3. It helps learners grow more dependent on themselves and on each other.
4. It makes students more attentive to the teacher’s cues as there is no model for
them to imitate.
 Silent Way
Reasons for teacher’s silence:
5. It helps learners develop their own inner criteria of correctness.
6. It creates a cooperative atmosphere in the classroom.
7. It helps students to trust and be responsible for their production of the
language.
 Silent Way
Check your understanding of the Silent Way.
2. What does the phrase, 'Teaching is subordinated to learning,' mean?
 Silent Way
Check your understanding of the Silent Way.
 It means that the teacher should base his/her
lesson on what the students are learning at the
moment and not on what he/she wants to teach
them.
 It also means that teaching should serve learning and not to dominate it.
 Silent Way
Check your understanding of the Silent Way.
It may refer to the fact that the teacher spends a
lot of time working on students’ errors. if students
are given answers rather than trying to correct
themselves, they will not retain them.
 Desuggestopedia

Desuggestopedia is illustrative of the

affective-humanistic approach, an
approach in which there is respect for
students' feelings.
Desuggestopedia

 Desuggestopedia, the application

of the study of suggestion to
pedagogy, has been developed to
help students eliminate the
feeling that they cannot be
successful or the negative
association they may have toward
studying and, thus, to help them
overcome the barriers to learning.
 Desuggestopedia

In other words, in order to make

better use of our reserved capacity,
the limitations we think we have need
to be ‘desuggested.’
Principles of
Desuggestopedia
 Learning is facilitated in a cheerful environment. The
classroom is bright and colorful.
Principles of
Desuggestopedia
 Students can learn from what is present in the
environment, even if their attention is not directed to it
(‘Peripheral learning’).
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 If students trust and respect the teacher’s authority, they will accept
and retain information better. (The teacher speaks confidently.)
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 The teacher gives the students the impression that learning the target
language will be easy and enjoyable.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 The students choose new names and identities and feel less inhibited
since their performance is really that of a different person.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 The dialogue that students learn contains language they can use
immediately. Songs are useful for ‘freeing the speech muscles’ and
evoking positive emotions.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 Fine art provides positive suggestions for students.

 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 One way that meaning is made clear is through native

language translation.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 Communication takes place on ‘two planes’: the linguistic message is

encoded on one plane and factors which influence the linguistic message
are on the other.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 On the conscious plane, the learner attends to the language; on the

subconscious plane, the music suggests that learning is easy and pleasant.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 When there is a unity between conscious and subconscious, learning is

enhanced.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 A calm state, such as one experiences when listening to

a concert, is ideal for overcoming psychological barriers
and for taking advantage of learning potential.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 The fine arts (music, art, and drama) enable suggestions

to reach the subconscious. The arts should, therefore,
be integrated as much as possible into the teaching
process.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 The teacher should help the students ‘activate’ the material to which
they have been exposed.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 Novelty aids acquisition.

 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 Music and movement reinforce the linguistic material. If they trust the
teacher, they will reach this state more easily.
 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 Errors are corrected gently, not in a direct, confrontational manner.

 Principles of Desuggestopedia

 In an atmosphere of play, the conscious attention of the learner does not

focus on linguistic forms, but rather on using the language. Learning can be
fun.
What are the goals of teachers
who use Desuggestopedia?

 Teachers hope to accelerate the process by which

students learn to use a foreign language for everyday
communication. In order to do this, more of the
students’ mental powers must be tapped.
What is the role of teacher?

 The teacher is the authority in the classroom. In order

for the method to be successful, the students must trust
and respect her. Once the students trust the teacher,
they can feel more secure. If they feel secure, they can
be more spontaneous and less inhibited.
What are some characteristics of
the teaching/learning process?

 The posters are changed every few weeks to create a

sense of novelty in the environment. Students select
target language names and choose new occupations.
During the course they create whole biographies to go
along with their new identities.
What is the nature of
student-teacher interaction?
 The teacher initiates interactions with the whole group
of students and with individuals right from the
beginning of a language course.
How are the feelings of the
students dealt with?
 If students are relaxed and confident, they will not
need to try hard to learn the language. It will just
come naturally and easily.
How is language viewed?

 Language is the first of two planes in the two-plane

process of communication. In the second plane are the
factors which influence linguistic message.
How is culture viewed?

 The culture which students learn concerns the everyday

life of people who speak the language. The use of fine
arts is also important in Desuggestopedic classes.
What areas of language are
emphasized?
 Vocabulary is emphasized. Grammar is dealt with
explicitly but minimally.
What language skills are
emphasized?
 Speaking communicatively is emphasized. Students also
read in the target language (for example, dialogues)
and write (for example, imaginative compositions).
What is the role of the
students’ native language?
 Native-language translation is used to make the
meaning of the dialogue clear. The teacher also uses
the native language in class when necessary.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 Evaluation is usually conducted on students’ normal in-
class performance and not through formal tests, which
would threaten the relaxed atmosphere considered
essential for accelerated learning.
How does the teacher
respond to student errors?
 Errors are corrected gently, with the teacher using a
soft voice.
Community Language Learning
Method (CLL)
 Developing a community among the class members
builds trust and can help to reduce the threat of the
new learning situation.
Community Language Learning
Method (CLL)
 CLL advises teachers to consider their students as
'whole persons.' Whole-person learning means that
teachers should consider not only their students'
intellect, but also should have some understanding of
the relationship among students' feelings, physical
reactions, instinctive protective reactions, and desire to
learn.
Community Language Learning
Method (CLL)
 It takes its principles from the more general Counseling-
Learning approach developed by Charles A. Curran.
Community Language Learning
Method (CLL)

 Curran believed that a way to deal with the fears of

students is for teachers to become ‘language
counselors.’
 Community Language Learning
Method (CLL)
 By understanding students’ fears and being sensitive to them, he/she can
help students overcome their negative feelings and turn them into positive
energy to further their learning.
 Principles of Community Language
Learning Method (CLL)

 Building a relationship with and among students is very

important.
 Principles of Community Language
Learning Method (CLL)

 Any new learning experience can be threatening. When

students have an idea of what will happen in each
activity, they often feel more secure.

 Students feel more secure when they know the limits of

an activity.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Language is for communication.

 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The superior knowledge and power of the teacher can be threatening. If

the teacher does not remain in the front of the classroom, the threat is
reduced and the students’ learning is facilitated.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The teacher should be sensitive to students’ level of confidence and give

them just what they need to be successful.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Teacher and students are whole persons. Sharing about their learning
experience allows learners to get to know one another and to build
community.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Guided by the knowledge that each learner is unique, the teacher creates
an accepting atmosphere. Learners feel free to lower their defenses and
the learning experience becomes less threatening.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The teacher understands what the students say.

 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The students’ native language is used to make the meaning clear and to
build a bridge from the known to the unknown. Students feel more secure
when they understand everything.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The teacher asks the students to form a semicircle in front of the

blackboard so they can see easily.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Learning at the beginning stages is facilitated if students attend to one

task at a time.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The teacher encourages student initiative and independence, but does not
let student flounder in uncomfortable silences.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Students need quiet reflection time in order to learn.

 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 In groups, students can begin to feel a sense of community and can learn
from each other as well as the teacher. Cooperation, not competition, is
encouraged.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 The teacher should work in a non-threatening way with what the learner
has produced.
 Principles of Community Language Learning Method (CLL)

 Retention will best take place somewhere in between novelty and

familiarity.
 What are the goals of teachers
who use CLL Methods?
 Teachers who use the Community Language Learning Method want their
students to learn how to use the target language communicatively.
What is the role of the
teacher?
 The teacher’s initial role is primarily that of a
counselor. Rather, it means that the teacher recognizes
how threatening a new learning situation can be for
adult learners.
What is the role of the
students?
 Initially the learners are very
dependent upon the teacher. It is
recognized that as the learners
continue to study, they become
increasingly independent. CLT
methodologists have identified five
stages in this movement from
dependency to mutual
interdependency with the teacher.
 It should be noted that accuracy is always a focus even
in the first three stages; however, it is subordinated to
fluency.
What are some characteristics of
the teaching/learning process?

 In a beginning class, which is what we

observed, students typically have a
conversation using their native
language. The teacher helps them
express what they want to say by
giving them the target language
translation in chunks. These chunks
are recorded, and when they are
replayed, it sounds like a fairly fluid
conversation.
 During the course of the lesson, students are invited to
say how they feel, and in return the teacher
understands them.
 According to Curran, there are six elements necessary
for non-defensive learning: security, aggression,
attention, reflection, retention, and discrimination.
What is the nature of
student-teacher interaction?
 The Community Language Learning Method is neither
student-centered, nor teacher-centered, but rather
teacher-student-centered. Teacher-student-centered,
with both being decision-makers in the class.
How are the feelings of the
students dealt with?
 Responding to the students’ feelings is considered very
important in Counseling-Learning. The teacher listens
and responds to each comment carefully. While
security is a basic element of the learning process, the
way in which it is provided will change depending upon
the stage of learner.
How is language viewed?

 Language is for communication. Curran writes that

‘learning is persons, meaning that both teacher and
students work at building trust in one another and the
learning process.
How is culture viewed?

 Curran believes that in this kind of supportive learning

process, language becomes the means for developing
creative and critical thinking. Culture is an integral
part of language learning.
What areas of language are
emphasized?
 The most important skills are understanding and
speaking the language at the beginning, with the
reinforcement through reading and writing.
What is the role of the
students’ native language?
 Where possible, literal native language equivalents are
given to the target language words that have been
transcribed.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 Although no particular mode of
evaluation is prescribed in the CLL
Method, whatever evaluation is
conducted should be in keeping with
the principles of the method. Finally,
it is likely that teachers would
encourage their students to self-
evaluate—to look at their own learning
and to become aware of their own
progress.
How does the teacher respond to
student errors?

 Teachers should work with what the learner has

produced in a non-threatening way. One way of doing
this is for the teacher to repeat correctly what the
student has said incorrectly.
 The two most basic principles which
underlie the kind of learning that can
take place in the CLL Method are
summed up in the following phrases:
(1) ‘Learning is persons,’ which means
that whole-person learning of another
language takes place best in a
relationship of trust, support, and
cooperation between teacher and
students and among students. (2)
 ‘Learning is dynamic and creative,’ which means that
learning is a living and developmental process.
Communicative Language Teaching
Method

 It became clear that communication required that

students perform certain functions as well, such as
promising, inviting, and declining invitations within a
social context.
Communicative Language
Teaching Method

 In short, being able to communicate required more than

linguistic competence; it required communicative
competence —knowing when and how to say what to
whom.
 Communicative Language Teaching Method

 Such observations contributed to a shift in the field in the late 1970s and
early 1980s from a linguistic structure-centered approach to a
Communicative Approach.
Communicative Language Teaching Method

 CLT aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspectives of the

Communicative Approach by making communicative competence the
goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the
interdependence of language (areas) and communication.
Principles of Communicative Language
Teaching Method

Whenever possible,
‘authentic language’ –
language used in a real
context — should be
introduced.
Principles of Communicative Language
Teaching Method

Being able to figure out

the speaker’s or writer’s
intentions is part of
being communicatively
competent.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method

The target language is a vehicle for

classroom communication, not just
the object of study.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method

 One function can have many different linguistic forms. Since the focus of
the course is on real language use, a variety of linguistic forms are
presented together.

 The emphasis is on the process of communication rather than just mastery

of language forms.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method

 Students should work with language at the discourse or suprasentential

(above the sentence) level. They must learn about cohesion and
coherence, those properties of language which bind the sentences
together.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method
 Games are important because they have certain features in common with
real communicative events—there is a purpose to the exchange. Also, the
speaker receives immediate feedback from the listener on whether or not
he or she has successfully communicated.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method
 Students should be given an opportunity to express their ideas and
opinions.
Principles of Communicative Language Teaching Method

 Errors are tolerated and seen as a natural outcome of the development of

communication skills. When an activity focuses on fluency, the teacher
does not correct students, but simply notes the error, which he/she will
return to at a later point.
 Principles of Communicative Language Teaching
Method

 One of the teacher’s major responsibilities is to establish situations

likely to promote communication.
 Principles of Communicative Language Teaching
Method

 Communicative interaction encourages cooperative relationships

among students. It gives students an opportunity to work on
negotiating meaning.
 The social context of the communicative event is
essential in giving meaning to the utterances.
 Learning to use language forms appropriately is an
important part of communicative competence.
 The teacher acts as a facilitator in setting up
communicative activities and as an advisor during the
activities.
 In communicating, a speaker has a choice not only
about what to say, but also how to say it.
 The grammar and vocabulary that the students learn
follow from the function, situational context, and the
roles of the interlocutors.
 Students should be given opportunities to listen to
language as it is used in authentic communication.
They may be coached on strategies for how to improve
their comprehension.
What are the goals of
teachers who use CLT?
 The goal is to enable students to communicate in the
target language. To do this students need knowledge of
linguistic forms, meanings, and functions.
Communication is a process; knowledge of the forms of
language is insufficient.
What is the role of the
teacher?
 The teacher facilitates communication in
the classroom. In this role, one of his
major responsibilities is to establish
situations likely to promote
communication. During the activities he
acts as an adviser, answering students’
questions and monitoring their
performance. He might make note of
their errors to be worked on at a later
time during more accuracy-based
activities.
At other times he might be a ‘co-communicator’ engaging
in the communicative activity along with students
(Littlewood, 1981).
What is the role of the
students?
 Students are, above all,
communicators. They are actively
engaged in negotiating meaning—in
trying to make themselves
understood and in understanding
others.
Since the teacher’s role is less dominant than in a teacher-
centered method, students are seen as more
responsible managers of their own
learning.
What are some characteristics of
the teaching/learning process?

 The most obvious characteristic of CLT is that almost

everything that is done is done with a communicative
intent. Students use the language a great deal through
communicative activities such as games, role plays, and
problem-solving tasks.
 According to Morrow (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981),
activities that are truly communicative have three
features in common: information gap, choice, and
feedback.
 In communication, the speaker has a choice of what she
will say and how she will say it. True communication is
purposeful. A speaker can thus evaluate whether or not
his purpose has been achieved based upon the
information he receives from his listener.
 Another characteristic of CLT is the use of authentic
materials. It is considered desirable to give students an
opportunity to develop strategies for understanding
language as it is actually used.
 Finally, we noted that activities in CLT are often carried
out by students in small groups. Small numbers of
students interacting are favored in order to maximize
the time allotted to each student for communicating.
What is the nature of
student-teacher interaction?
 The teacher may present some part of the lesson, such
as when working with linguistic accuracy. At other
times, he is the facilitator of the activities, but he does
not always himself interact with the students.
 Students interact a great deal with one another. They
do this in various configurations: pairs, triads, small
groups, and whole group.
How are the feelings of the
students dealt with?
 One of the basic assumptions of CLT is that by learning
to communicate students will be more motivated to
study a foreign language since they will feel they are
learning to do something useful with the language.
How is language viewed?

 Language is for communication. Linguistic competence,

the knowledge of forms and their meanings, is just one
part of communicative competence. Another aspect of
communicative competence is knowledge of the
functions language is used for.
 Thus, learners need knowledge of forms and meanings
and functions. However, they must also use this
knowledge and take into consideration the social
situation in order to convey their intended meaning
appropriately.
How is culture viewed?

 Culture is the everyday lifestyle of people who use the

language. There are certain aspects of it that are
especially important to communication—the use of
nonverbal behavior which might receive greater
attention in CLT.
What areas of language are
emphasized?
 Language functions might be
emphasized over forms. Typically, a
functional syllabus is used. A variety of
forms are introduced for each function.
Only the simpler forms would be
presented at first, but as students get
more proficient in the target language,
the functions are reintroduced and
more complex forms are learned.
What language skills are
emphasized?

 Students work on all four skills from the beginning. Just

as oral communication is seen to take place through
negotiation between speaker and listener, so too is
meaning thought to be derived from the written word
through an interaction between the reader and the
writer.
What is the role of the
students’ native language?
 Judicious use of the students’ native language is
permitted in CLT. However, whenever possible, the
target language should be used not only during
communicative activities, but also for explaining the
activities to the students or in assigning homework.
How is evaluation
accomplished?
 A teacher evaluates not only the students’ accuracy,
but also their fluency.
 A teacher can informally evaluate his students’
performance in his role as an adviser or co-
communicator.
How does the teacher
respond to student errors?
 Errors of form are tolerated during fluency-based
activities and are seen as a natural outcome of the
development of communication skills.
 Content-based Approach

In CBI rather than ‘learning to use

English,
‘students use ‘English to learn it’.

Teaching through communication

rather
than for it
 Content-based Approach

 Using content from other disciplines in language courses is not a new idea.
For years, specialized language courses have included content relevant to
a particular profession or academic discipline.
 Content-based Approach

 The special contribution of content-based instruction is that it integrates

the learning of language with the learning of some other content, often
academic subject matter. It has been observed that academic subjects
provide a natural content for language instruction.
 Content-based Approach

 In content-based instruction the selection and sequence of language items

arise from communicative needs, not predetermined by syllabi.
Principles of Content-based Approach

 The subject matter content is used for language

teaching purposes.
Principles of Content-based Approach

 Teaching should build on students’ previous experience.

 Principles of Content-based Approach

 When learners perceive the relevance of their language use, they are
motivated to learn. They know that language is a means to an end, rather
than an end in itself.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 The teacher ‘scaffolds’ the linguistic content, i.e. helps learners say what
it is they want to say by building together with the students a complete
utterance.

Scaffolding: refers to the idea that specialized instructional supports need to

be in place in order to best facilitate learning when students are first
introduced to a new subject.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Language is learned most effectively when it is used as a medium to

convey informational content of interest to the students.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Vocabulary is easier to acquire when there are contextual clues to help

convey meaning.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 When they work with authentic subject matter, students need language
support.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Learners work with meaningful, cognitively demanding language and

content within the context of authentic material and tasks.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Communicative competence involves more than using language

conversationally. It also includes the ability to read, discuss, and write
about content from other fields.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

‘Language across the curriculum' movement for native English speakers in

England, was launched in the 1970s to integrate the teaching of reading
and writing into all other subject areas.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

Content-based instruction is a method with many ‘faces’:

• One face is language immersion, where academic subjects are learned
through the medium of a foreign language.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Another content-based instruction ‘face,’ where content and language

instruction have been integrated, is the adjunct model. Students enroll in
a regular academic course. In addition, they take a language course that
is linked to the academic course.
 Principles of Content-based Approach
Then, during the language class, the language teacher's focus is on helping
students process the language in order to understand the academic
content presented by the subject teacher. The language teacher also
helps students to complete academic tasks such as writing term papers,
improving their note-taking
abilities. and reading academic textbooks assigned by the content teacher.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 In sheltered–language instruction in a second

language environment, both native speakers
and non-native speakers of a particular
language follow a regular academic curriculum.
For classes with non-native speakers, however,
‘sheltered’ instruction is geared to students’
developing second language proficiency.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 Sheltered-language instructors support their

students through the use of particular
instructional techniques and materials. It offers
the significant advantage that second language
students do not have to postpone their
academic study until their language control
reaches a high level.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

 In sum, what all modes of content-based

instruction have in common is learning both
specific content and related language skills. In
content-based language teaching, the claim in a
sense is that students get “two for one”- both
content knowledge and increased language
proficiency’.
 Principles of Content-based Approach

What Is the SIOP Model?

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
(SIOP)
Model is a research-based and validated
instructional
model that has proven effective in addressing the
academic needs of English learners throughout
the
United States.
 Principles of Content-based Approach
What Is the SIOP Model?

The SIOP Model consists of eight interrelated components:

 Lesson Preparation
 Building Background
 Comprehensible Input
 Strategies
 Interaction
 Practice/Application
 Lesson Delivery
 Review & Assessment
 Principles of Content-based Approach
What Is the SIOP Model?
Using instructional strategies connected to each
of these components, teachers are able to design
and deliver lessons that address the academic
and linguistic needs of English learners.
 Task-based Instruction

 A task-based approach aims to provide learners with a natural context for

language use.
 Task-based Instruction

 As learners work to complete a task, they have abundant opportunity to

interact. Such interaction is thought to facilitate language acquisition as
learners have to work to understand each other and to express their own
meaning.
 Task-based Instruction

 By interacting with others, learners get to listen to language which may be

beyond their present ability, but which may be assimilated into their
knowledge of the target language for use at a later time.
 Task-based Instruction

 The central purpose we are concerned with is language learning, and tasks
present this in the form of a problem-solving negotiation between
knowledge that the learner holds and new knowledge.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher tells The class activities
the class that they have a perceived
are going to purpose and a
complete a clear outcome.
timetable.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher begins by A pre-task, in which students
having the class help her work through a similar task to one
that they will later do
begin to fill out a class individually, is a helpful way to
schedule. This is done have students see the logic
through whole-class involved in what they are being
interaction in the form of asked to do.
teacher question and
It will also allow the language
student response. necessary to complete the task to
come into play.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher first has the The teacher breaks down
students label the time into smaller steps the
periods logical thinking process
and then the days. necessary to complete the
task.

The demand on thinking

made by the activity should
be just above the level
which learners can meet
without help.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher asks the students The teacher needs to seek
if ways of knowing how involved
a particular answer is right. the students are in the
process, so she can make
adjustments in light of the
learners' perceptions of
relevance and their readiness
to learn. Such teacher-class
negotiation ensures that as
many students as possible in a
mixed ability class grasp the
nature of the activity.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher asks, 'What The teacher does not
about Saturday? Do we have consciously simplify her
school on Saturday ?' language; she uses whatever
language is necessary to have
students comprehend the
current step in the pre-task.
Here she switched from an
abbreviated wh-question to a
yes/no question. This switch is
a natural strategy that
proficient speakers use when
interacting with less proficient
speakers inside and outside of
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The teacher asks about The teacher supplies the
Saturday, The students correct target form by
reply. ‘Holiday.' The reformulating or recasting
teacher what the students have
responds, 'Yes. Saturday's said.
a
holiday.'
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The students then do the This jigsaw task, where
task in groups, following the students have to listen to
teacher's instructions. They different parts of a total set of
are each given part of the information they need to
information they need to complete a task, gives them
complete the task. plenty of opportunity to engage
in authentic speaking and
listening and provides
opportunities to develop their
comprehension and speaking
skills.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
The students' papers were Students should receive
marked by the teacher on feedback on their level of
the basis of the content. success in completing the task.
The overall focus is on
meaning.
 Principles of Task-based Instruction

Observation Principles
Students are asked to design Students have input into the
a way to survey the other design
students about their favorite and the way that they carry out
subjects. They are to figure the
out a way to report their task. This gives them more
findings to the rest of the opportunity for authentic and
class. meaningful interaction.
 Task-based Instruction
 Three types of tasks:
An information-gap activity involves the
exchange of information among participants in
order to complete a task.

For example, an information-gap activity might

involve a student describing a picture for
another student to draw or students drawing
each others' family trees after sharing
information. In this lesson, students had to
exchange information within their groups in
order to complete the timetable.
 Task-based Instruction
 Three types of tasks:
An opinion-gap activity requires that students
give their personal preferences, feelings, or
attitudes in order to complete a task. For
instance, students might be given a social
problem, such as high unemployment and be
asked to come up with a series of possible
solutions.
 Task-based Instruction
 Three types of tasks:
Another task might be to compose a letter of
advice to a friend who has sought their counsel
about a dilemma. In our lesson, the students
were only at the advanced-beginning level.
Their opinion-gap task was a rather simple one
which involved students' surveying their
classmates about their favorite subjects.
 Task-based Instruction
 Three types of tasks:
A reasoning-gap activity requires students to
derive some new information by inferring it from
information they have been given. For example,
students might be given a railroad timetable and
asked to work out the best route to get from one
particular city to another or they might be asked
to solve a riddle.
 Task-based Instruction
 Three types of tasks:
In the lesson we observed, students were asked
to use their findings to figure out how best to
discover their classmates' three most popular
subjects. Prabhu (1987) feels that reasoning-gap
tasks work best since information-gap tasks often
require a single step transfer of information,
rather than sustained negotiation, and opinion-
gap tasks tend to be rather open -ended.
Reasoning-gap tasks, on the other hand ,
encourage a more sustained engagement with
meaning, though they are still characterized by a
somewhat predictable use of language.
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)

What is presentation – practice – production?

Presentation – Practice – Production, or PPP, is a method for teaching
structures or vocabulary in a foreign language. As its name suggests, PPP is
divided into three phases, moving from tight teacher control towards
greater learner freedom.

There is progression from presentation, through controlled practice, to free

production.
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
What happens during the presentation phase?

A presentation phase is controlled by the teacher.

The teacher might use a text, an audio tape or visual aids to demonstrate a
situation. From this, she will extract the required language forms. For
example, the teacher may show the class the following picture and model
the following sentences:
 PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)

• Mr Smith is feeding the baby.

• Mr Smith IS feedING the
baby.
• Mr Smith …IS feed…ING the
baby.
• Mrs Smith is looking at her
laptop.
• Mrs Smith IS lookING at the
laptop.

and so on. She might then write the

PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)

I am playing
now.
You are working at the moment.
today.
He is sitting
A SUBSTITUTION TABLE

She is coming
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)

What happens during the practice phase?

During the (controlled) practice phase, learners practice saying or writing the
language structure correctly. Typical practice activities include drills, multiple-
choice exercises, gap-and-cue exercises, transformations etc. In this phase, the
teacher’s role is to direct the activities, to provide positive feedback to
students, correct mistakes and model the correct forms.

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
T: Read!
S1: I am reading.
T: Play!
S2: I am playing.

A DRILL
Tom _______ (play) tennis.
We ________ (do) our homework.
Susan and Mary ______ (have) lunch.
I _______ (cook) spaghetti.

A GAP-AND-CUE EXERCISE

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)

I drive to work every day.

Today….
Mary watches TV every afternoon.
Now…
A TRANSFORMATION EXERCISE

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
What happens during the production phase?
When the learners have completely mastered the form and have learnt how to
produce it without mistakes in controlled exercises, they can move on to the
(free) production phase. In this phase, they use the newly learnt language
structure to produce oral or written texts.

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
What happens during the production phase?
Typical production activities include dialogues, oral presentations, and the
production of sentences, paragraphs or longer texts. The teacher does not
generally intervene or correct in this phase: after all, the students should not
make mistakes by now. If mistakes are made, they are pointed out after the
exercise has finished.

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
What is the difference between practice and production activities?
Practice activities typically will have only one correct answer, whereas in free
production several answers will be acceptable. Furthermore, in the practice
phase emphasis is on accuracy (the ability to produce the correct form),
whereas the production phase is supposed to develop fluency (the ability to
speak naturally).

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
Is PPP an effective way to learn?

It could be said that PPP is an effective way to teach, since it makes planning easy and it can be
implemented by relatively inexperienced teachers. However, this is not the same as saying
that it is an effective way to learn. Some critics have suggested that it rests on a simplistic
view of language learning: language learning often involves more than mechanical practice.

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE
PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION (PPP)
Is PPP an effective way to learn?

In addition, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that learners who do well in the
practice phase fail to transfer this ability to the production phase, and –even if
they do successfully manage the production phase– they often fail to transfer
this ability outside the classroom.

A SUBSTITUTION TABLE