Week 2 – 22/10/2022

Historical Overview of
Language Teaching
Methods
 A
"Methodical" Histor
y
1. A brief history (Lâm)

of Language
2. The Grammar Translation method (Hương)

3. Gouin and the series method + Direct method (Trinh)

Teaching
4. The audiolingual method (Phương)

5. The cognitive code learning (Thuỳ)

6. Designer method
a. CLL (Huyền)
b. Suggestopedia (Huyền)
c. The silent way (Huyền)
d. TPR (Nhung)
e. The natural approach (Nhung)

7. Beyond method (Tú)

 Brief history
Changes in languages teaching methods
throughout history reflect recognition of changes:

• Move over oral proficiency.

• Changes in theories of the nature of languages.

• Changes in language learning.

 Brief history

60% of today world’s population is multilingual.

Throughout history, foreign language learning has always been an
important practical concern.
 Brief history

500 years ago, Latin was the dominant

language of:
• Education,
• Commerce,
• Religion,
• Government in the Western world.
 Brief history

16th century:
• French, Italian and English gained in
importance.
• The status of Latin diminished.
• Latin was replaced and became an
“occasional” subject in the school curriculum.
The study of classical Latin
17th to 19th century:
• Latin’s grammar analysis & rhetoric became the
model for foreign language study

16th to 18th century:

• Children entered “grammar school” in England
• Children were initially given a rigorous introduction
to Latin grammar.
 The study of classical Latin
Learning Latin is taught through:
• Learning grammar rules

• Translation and practice in writing sample sentences.

 The study of classical Latin
• Children had deadening experience because lapses
in knowledge means brutal punishment.
=> Roger Ascham & Montaigne (16th century)
Comenius & John Locke (17th century)
• Made proposals for curriculum reform and changes in
Latin teaching methods.
• The decline of Latin brought new justification for
teaching Latin.
“Modern languages” enter European
curriculum
18th century: Languages were taught using the
same basic procedures that were used for teaching
Latin.
Textbooks:
• Statements of abstract grammar rules.
• Lists of vocabulary.
• Sentences for translation.

=> Speaking foreign language was not the goal, oral practice
was limited, students read aloud sentences they translated.
Language learning in 19th
century
19th century: the approach based on the study of
Latin had become the standard.
=> Chapters in textbook were organized around
grammar points.
Textbooks consisted of:
• Listed grammar points.
• Rules’ explanations.
• Sample sentences for grammar rules’ illustrations.
 Language learning in 19th
century
Compilers codified the foreign language into frozen rules:
• Morphology
• Syntax
=> Memorized
Oral work was reduced to minimum.
The book of Seidenstucker and Plotz was the most typical
 The book of Seidenstucker and
Plotz
Seidenstucker divided his book in two parts:
• The rule and necessary paradigms
• French sentences to translate into German and vice versa.

=> This approach to foreign language

teaching became known as the
“Grammar-Translation Method”.
 Brown, H. D. (2015) Chapter 2

Richards & Rogers (2001) Part Richards & Renandya

1, 2. (2002) Chapter 1, 2.
 DEFINITION

The Grammar-Translation Method is a method of foreign or

second language teaching which uses translation and
grammar study as the main teaching and learning activities.

1840
Classroom Techniques
The roles of the teacher and the student

Translation literary passage as the main classroom activity

Vocabulary activity

Reading comprehension activity

Grammar activity
Easiest for teachers to use Little active use of the target language.

Lesson preparations Isolated word lists.

Textbooks Elaborate explanations of grammar

Native speakers Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting

words together
Least stressful Little attention
Drills are exercises in translating disconnected
sentences
Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
 Conclusion
 An unnatural method:

Learning mother Grammar - Translation

tongue method
listening → speaking reading → writing
→ reading → writing
 Series method / Natural Method
• Late 1800s: Francois Gouin - a French teacher of • L. Sauveur (1860s): used intensive

Latin. oral interaction in L2.

• Failed to understand German. • Questions as a way of presenting

• Language learning is transforming perceptions into and eliciting language.

The Series Method The Natural Method

conceptions.

“But alas! I could not understand a single word, not a single word.”
am a n
ar
m
Gr rm
Ge

Language should be taught directly (without translation) and

conceptually (without grammatical rules and explanations).

 Direct method
• Beginning of 20th century: the Direct method became widely known and
practiced.
• One of the best known popularizers - Charles Berlitz
• End of the first quarter of 20th century, the method had declined in Europe
and in the US:
- Constraints of budget, classroom size, time and teacher background.
- Weak theorical foundations.
• Middle of 20th century: revived and redirected into the Audiolingual
Method.
AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
1 Historical account

2 Characteristics

3 Decline
1 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
 1 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

- World War II: A need for multilingual

personnel in American military

- 1940s: Army Specialized Training

Program (ASTP)
 intensive oral drilling

"A great deal of oral activity – pronunciation and

 small classes of mature and highly
conversation practice – with virtually none of the
motivated students
grammar and translation found in traditional
classes."
1 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

- 1950s: Audiolingual Method

• Combination of structural linguistic

theory, contrastive analysis, aural-oral
procedures, and behavioristic psychology
• Goal: Students are able to use the target
language communicatively.
- 1960s: Audiolingual Method became
popular
 2. CHARACTERISTICS

1. Material is presented in dialogue form.

2. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of
D
set phrases, and overlearning.
3. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive
analysis and taught one at a time.
4. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
There is little or no grammatical explanation.
5. Vocabulary is strictly limited to pronunciation.
6. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual
ads.
 2. CHARACTERISTICS

7. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual

ads.

D
8. Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
9. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is
permitted.
10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
11. There is a great effort to get students to produce
error-free utterances.
12. There is a tendency to manipulate language and
disregard content.
Audioligualism
TEACHERS & LEARNERS ROLE
o Learner roles: a reactive role.
=> “listen to the teacher, imitate accurately, and
respond to and perform controlled tasks” (Richards
and Rodgers,2001, p.62).
o Teacher roles: an active and central role in the class.
=>model the target language, control the direction and pace of learning, monitor and
correct the learners’ performance.
=> Audiolingualism is a teacher-dominant method.
 3. THE DECLINE OF ALM

Equal importance
is not given to all
It lacks cognitive and four skills
creative aspects on the
part of the learners.

It is expensive and
works only with small
classes
COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING – What?

• Conscious awareness of
rules and their applications
• Learning rules of a language
as a code
 COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING –
Who?

Advocators: John B. Carroll and Kenneth Chastain

Time: 1960s
COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING –
When?

CCLT
 COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING –
How?

Grammar Translation Audio Lingual Method (ALM)

Explicit Rule learning Repetition = Mastery

COGNITIVE
CODE
LEARNING
 COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING –
How?

Grammar Translation Audio Lingual Method (ALM)

Explicit Rule learning Repetition = Mastery

Facility
developed
Cognitive Control automatically
over the structures Meaningful
of the language Practice
 COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING –
Disadvantages?

COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING

Grammar Rule explanations and reliance Audio Lingual
Translation on grammatical sequencing + Method (ALM)
A return of some Drilling typical of ALM Behavior Practice
practice
 COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

THE SUGGESTOPEDIA

“DESIGNER” THE SILENT WAY

METHODS TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

1970s THE NATURAL APPROACH

 COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

Learning – social phenomenon

Supportive environment of a
"community" of learners
Teacher: non-defensive environment
Learners: initiate oral communication Charles
Curran
Principle: reinforce communication
b/w learners >> production of Specialist in counseling
"correct" language Professor of psychology
 COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

• Remove threats • Reliance on inductive

alienation & inadequacy strategy

• Learner centered -> Teacher: too nondirective

dependence independence • Hugely depend on

self assurance
translation expertise
helplessness
 SUGGESTOPEDIA
Georgi Lozanov
The power of suggestion for acquiring language

Relax More receptive to learn

Comfortable new information

Right condition => process great

quantities of materials

• Learners relax in comfortable seat

• Teachers read in L2
• MUSIC during reading
 SUGGESTOPEDIA

• Music: reduce stress, • Wrong music: distraction

inspire creativity, enhance
• Not practical (in setting):
concentration
music + comfortable area
• Comfortable
• No clear structure
environment: motivate
learner
• Teacher reads out loud:
pre-teach, catch attention
 THE SILENT WAY

Learning – problem solving

Learner: independent, autonomous,

responsible

Teacher: silent, direct learners’ focus

Learner: encourage to produce much
lang.
Caleb
Learner’s learning >> teacher’s
Gattegno
teaching
Mathematician
 THE SILENT WAY
• Sts-directed learning: sts
learn better when be • Challenging for some
active participant in their students: unsure how to
own learning handle
• Improve problem solving • May not enough feedback
skill
• Positive learning
environment
=> learner centered, self-
correction
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
and The Natural Approach-
innovative methods of 1970s
Child language
acquisition

The Natural
Approach

TPR
James Asher TPR
Krashen and Terrell The Natural Approach
 Total Physical Response (TPR)

-Teacher’s active and -Listen  actions (through - Comprehensible

direct role T’s voice, gestures,…) input in the right-brain
-Ignore correction - Right-brain learning  Left-brain learning
left-brain language Productive skills later
processing
 Similarities and Differences
TPR The Natural Approach
Traditional language teaching methods
Sparse in correction of errors
-Objective: language acquisition - Objective: basic personal
through physical responses communication skills
 Stress-free  Self-confidence
 TPR AND THE NATURAL APPROACH
Merits Limitations

-Create positive mood (reduce stress - Depend on teacher

 relax) - Limit oral communication
-Get familiar with everyday language
situations (conversations, shopping,
listening to the radio, …)

 Teacher should be flexible in using various

language teaching methods.
Notional – Functional Syllabus (NFS)
 the work of the Council of Europe (Van Ek & Alexander 1975)

 Used in the UK (1970s)

Function + Notion
what to do with what meanings to
the language convey
 NFS A structural syllabus
Attention to functions
(pragmatic purposes). – Attention to grammatical form -
English language curriculum Sequenced grammatical
as organizing elements. structures as organisers.

NOT a method
=> An approach, but curricular
structure is more focused.
 Identifying

Apologizing Reporting

Asking Functions
permission
Denying

Declining Accepting
 Notional – Functional Syllabus (NFS)

General Specific
(abstract concepts) (contexts / situations)
• Existence  Personal info.
 Space • Travel
 Time • Health and welfare
• Quantity • Education
• Quality • Shopping
-> express thought and feeling • Services
• Free time
 Key Characteristics
- It focuses on what people want to do or accomplishes
through language.
- More learner-oriented.
- Assessment - the ability to use language to react to and
operate on natural environments.

- Learning activities involve authentic language use.

- It’s motivating because it provides actual communicative

functions to serve the learner’s needs.
 THE END

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

AND NOT SLEEPING DURING THE
PRESENTATION
 Discussion
1) Taking into account the reading of "A "methodological" history of
language teaching" could you consider the "Grammar translation Method"
would fit one, or even a group of students nowadays. Justify your answer.

2) What are the pros and cons of each method presented in the text
regarding effectiveness in learning a second language?

3) If you would build a method, what features of the methods presented

in the text would you take into account while building yours? Would you
add any characteristic to it that is not presented in any of the methods in
text? Justify your answer.

4) It was said that the Grammar Translation “is a method for which there
is no theory. But it is clear that its principles were always being taken
part in and reused by some of the following methods. Why do you think