Foreign Language Teaching Methods, Apuntes de Idioma Inglés

¡Descarga Foreign Language Teaching Methods y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! Unit 3. Foreign Language Teaching Methods (English). The Grammar Translation Method. This method derives from the traditional approach for the teaching of Latin and Greek. It involves two components: • Explicit study of grammatical rules and vocabulary • Use of translation The principal characteristics of the grammar-translation method were: 1.- The study of the LITERATURE of the second language 2.- The student’s NATIVE LANGUAGE was the medium of instruction 3.- READING and WRITING were the major focuses, little or no systematic attention was paid to speaking or listening 4.- VOCABULARY selection was based on the reading texts used, and words were taught through bilingual WORDS LISTS 5.- The SENTENCE was the basic unit of teaching and language practice 6.- ACCURACY was emphasized. Students were expected to attain high standards in translation 7.- Grammar was taught DEDUCTIVELY, that is, by presentation and study of grammar rules, which were then practiced through translation exercises. The grammar-translation method was widely used in European academic institutions from the 1840’s to the 1940’s and in a modified way it continues to be used in some parts of the world today. In the mid and late 19th century opposition to the grammar-translation method arose. In Germany, England, France and other parts of Europe new approaches to language teaching were developed by individual language teaching specialists, each with a specific method for reforming the teaching of modern languages. The ideas put forward by the members of the Reform Movement led to what have been called Natural Methods and the Direct Method. The Natural Method. This method developed as a reaction to grammar-translation, mainly in France. Its name comes from what was considered to be the natural way to learn a language: exposure to the language used in everyday communicative interactions. As its model was first language acquisition, grammar was not taught and translation was irrelevant. Rather than using analytical procedures that focus on the explanation of grammar in classroom teaching, teachers must encourage direct and spontaneous use of the foreign language in the classroom. Learners would then be able to introduce rules of grammar. The teacher replaced the textbook in the early stages of learning and speaking started with systematic attention to pronunciation. These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as the Direct Method, which is the most widely known of the natural methods. The Direct Method. It was introduced in France and Germany and its main aim was to emphasize the learning of speech, acquiring meaning in context and learning grammar through induction. The main characteristics were: 1.- Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language 2.- Grammar was taught INDUCTIVELY 3.- New teaching points were introduced orally 4.- Vocabulary was taught through demonstration objects and pictures 5.- Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized 6.- Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught 7.- Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students. But, on the other hand, this method has some drawbacks: • This method requires teachers with a high level of proficiency in the foreign language, nearly native speakers It was developed by Gattegno in 1972 and takes its name from the fact that the teacher doesn’t say anything but points to individual letters, which, in combination, indicate to the student how a word might be pronounced. A relation between color- phoneme is established and then the vocabulary is set up (charts containing vocabulary and color-coded guides to pronunciation are made available to enable the teacher to guide the student’s learning while saying as little as possible). The program of a “silent way” course consists of basically structural lessons that are planned on the basis of certain items and related vocabulary. The items are introduced according to their grammatical complexity. Suggestopedia Suggestopedia is a method developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist educator Georgi Lozanov. The main characteristics of the method are: • It is based on the view that the brain has great unused potential, which can be exploited through the power of suggestion. • Presentation of new material: it is introduced in the form of written dialogues based on situations familiar to students. • The dialogue is read by the teacher and students with eyes closed repeat the text while classical music is played. • First written, then in spoken forms. Communicative Language Teaching. The origins of this method are found in the reactions against the Audiolingual and situational methods dating from the late 1960’s. The major distinctive features of the Communicative Approach are: • Language learning is learning to communicate. Communicative competence is the desired goal. In this method the essential issue is the transmission of information in which the pronunciation isn’t necessarily perfect, that’s to say, the content of the message is more relevant than the way it has been expressed. • In this method the students are considered the central point of the teaching-learning process and the teacher is the organizer of the same. This method is centered on real communication situations connected to students’ experiences. For example: likes/ dislikes, free time, sports and so on. Therefore, the communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication. We can highlight three types of principles: • The communication principle: “activities that involve real communication promote learning” • The task principle: ”activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning” • The meaningfulness principle: “language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process” The range of exercise types and activities compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication and require the use of such communicative process as information sharing, negotiation of meaning and interaction. The Communicative Approach has attracted universal interest and has heavily influenced the practice of modern language teaching. “State of the art” of language teaching Ever since the concept of Communicative Competence was generally accepted, most ESL/EFL methods have been concerned by the need to supply the language learner with as many opportunities to communicate in the second/foreign language as possible. One of the main objections to some of the early Communicative Approaches to Language Learning it was that a lot of “fake” communication was taken place on classrooms. In other words, the aim of books, learning materials and classwork was to “prepare” for communication, but real communication did not occur. Task-based and content-based approaches came to solve that problem and were broadly assumed by many Teacher Training programs and researchers, with CLIL (see 1.5) as both a complement and a consequence of those new approaches. Research and materials have nowadays in mind, thus, the need for actual communication and the interactive nature of that communication. An instance of that recognition is the inclusion of new “skills” in both the Common European Framework for Languages and most Teacher Training Courses syllabi. In the last twenty years, another trait of new Communicative Approaches is the attention devoted to grammar, absolutely different from the structural view and the tendency of early communicative courses to discard it. “Focus on form” (“form”, and not “forms” as a way to distinguish it from structural methods) emphasizes the importance of grammar in the learning process within a communicative framework, considering grammar as a vehicle and part of meaning. Some may claim that the actual classroom remained quite unaffected by the new scope. Up to the present, well into the 21st century, a great many of ESL/EFL teachers find it difficult to include a communicative approach on their teaching. Particularly so when syllabuses and school curricula continue to focus on what the student is supposed to “know about” the language and not what he/she is able to do with/through the language. Not to mention the great range of ESL resources on the Web which remain instances of sheer structuralism, however interactive they might claim to be. With those problems in mind –and a great deal of evidences of successful models of language immersion- the European Union has undertaken a series of projects and commitments (the active promotion of CLIL and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages –CEFR-being the two outstanding ones) that can really make a difference in the way additional languages are approached to in our schools. It is our responsibility, therefore, to take those principles promoted by the CEFR into our primary school classroom. We can summarize our goal, what we consider language learning and teaching to be, with the following: We want our students to develop their ability to learn and to relate to the world, improving their communicative competence in English. We want them to do so with all the skills involved in language speaking and learning, and we are aware that to achieve that goal they need to participate in communicative processes, they need to have an interest and will to do so (and that is why we consider of the outmost importance intercultural competence and every single affective factor) and an ability to use two basic kinds of strategies, those allowing them to successfully communicate and those helping them to learn. Furthermore, we know that to improve communicative competence and the ability to learn and relate to the world students need not only as many opportunities as possible to engage in communicative processes, but also to have explicit meaningful formal work (that is to say, an appropriate teaching of grammar within the communicative framework), collaborative learning and the reinforcement of autonomy and awareness in the learning process.