FL Methods/Approaches

These notes are from Diane Larsen-Freeman's great classic: Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (1986)

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD (1840S-)

·     Analysis of grammar rules

·     Reading of literature

·     Mental or intellectual discipline

·     Direct correction – accuracy emphasized

·     Native language

FEATURES OF GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

–  Translation of literary passage or teacher-constructed passage –

–  grammar and vocabulary focus; 2) idioms.

–  Reading comprehension questions – 1) from the text; 2) inferences; 3) relate passage to own experience.

–  Antonyms/synonyms – 1) given words and asked to find antonyms or synonyms in the passage; 2) define words using context clues.

–  Cognates – 1) learn to recognize cognates; 2) memorize words that are false cognates.

–  Deductive application of rules – 1) grammar rule presented; 2) examples presented; 3) exceptions presented; 4) application of rule to different context.

–  Fill-in-the blanks – 1) with verbs and their conjugations; 2) vocabulary; 3) other grammar item such as prepositions.

–  Memorization – 1) memorize vocabulary words; 2)  memorize grammar rules and grammar paradigms such as conjugations.

–  Use words in sentences – 1) to show knowledge of words; 2) knowledge of use.

–  Composition – 1) write on topic related to passage; 2) summarize topic.

THE DIRECT METHOD/ THE NATURAL METHOD /BERLITZ METHOD (1900S-)

·     Exposure and use of the language

·     Exclusive use of the target language

·     Grammar taught inductively, never explicitly

·     No translation

·     Teacher induces self-correction

FEATURES OF THE DIRECT METHOD

–  Reading aloud – 1) sections of passage, dialogue, or play are read aloud; 2) use of realia, gestures, etc. to make meaning clear.

–  Question and answer exercise – 1) exclusive use of target language to ask and answer questions; 2) answer in complete sentences.

–  Getting students to self-correct – 1) teacher elicits correct answer by giving students a choice; 2) by repeating utterance in questioning intonation; 3) repeat what student said and stopping right before the error.

–  Conversation practice – 1) teacher asks questions students know answers to, but questions that require certain vocabulary and grammatical structures; 2) students ask each other similar questions using same grammatical forms.

–  Fill-in-the blank exercises – 1) different from GT method in that no rules are given and all instructions are in the target language; 2) students use examples from lessons.

–  Dictation – 1) teacher reads the passage three times—1st) at normal speed, 2nd), phrase by phrase and giving students time to write what they hear, 3rd) at normal speed 2) students check their work.

–  Map drawing – 1) used for listening- comprehension practice, teacher gives students directions to follow, e.g., labeling maps, location of items in a room.

–  Paragraph writing – 1) use topic from the passage to write paragraph; 2) can use paragraph as a model.

THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD (1950’S)

·     Imitation, repetition, memorization

·     Goal is error free speech (accuracy before fluency)

·     Grammar taught deductively

·     Controlled vocabulary

·     Use of language lab

FEATURES OF AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz0TPDUz3FU

–  Dialogue memorization – 1) dialogue or short conversation between two people used to begin a new lesson; 2) dialogue memorized; 3) practice dialogue in pairs; 4) specifically sequenced grammar structures are used for the dialogue.

–  Backward build-up (expansion) drill – 1) teacher breaks sentence down into parts, e.g., I’m going - to the - post office; 2) following teacher’s cue, students repeat each part until they are able to repeat the whole line; 3) teacher begins at the end of the sentence to keep intonation natural and because that is where new information occurs.

–  Repetition drill – 1) students are asked to repeat the drill as quickly and accurately as possible; 2) drill is often used to teach the lines of the dialogue.

–  Chain drill – 1) the drill is practiced by having the teacher start the drill with a student or a student start it with another student; the person asked passes the question to yet another students, and so on; 2) encourages controlled communication; 3) serves as opportunity for teacher to check individual student progress.

–  Single-slot substitution drill – 1) the teacher says a line clearly for all the students to hear, then the teacher gives them a cue (a phrase or word) that they will have to insert to replace a similar word or phrase; 2) student need to know how to change grammatical structure, i.e., conjugate a verb, use a different part of speech, etc.

–  Double-slot substitution drills – same as above except that teacher gives cues that cause more than one substitution in the line.

–  Transformation drill – 1) teacher gives a sentence and student transforms it to its ‘opposite construction,’ e.g., affirmative sentence to negative, statement to question, active to passive.

–  Question-and-answer drill – 1) to learn question patterns; 2) to develop fluency.

–  Use of minimal pairs – 1) for pronunciation practice, teacher demonstrates, through contrastive analysis, the difference between two sounds, e.g., sheep/ship; 2) students practice sounds.

–  Complete the dialogue – 1) selected words are erased in the dialogue and students fill the blanks in (cloze exercise).

–  Grammar game – Supermarket Alphabet Game - Student A: I’m going to the supermarket. I need a few apples. Student B: I’m going to the supermarket. He needs a few apples. I need a little bread, bananas, bacon, etc. Student C: I’m going to the supermarket. He needs a few apples. She needs a little bread. I need some cheese.

SUGGESTOPEDIA (LOZANOV, 1978)

·     Belief that we can learn more and faster than we do

·     Need to “desuggest” negative beliefs about our ability to learn

·     Teacher must command respect and trust

·     Element of play and comfort permeates the classroom

·     Use of native language (lesson translated)

·     Adoption of new names

·     Visualization techniques

·     Use of séance or concert sessions

·     Incorporation of the fine arts

·     Errors are tolerated

FEATURES OF SUGGESTOPEDIA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rkrvRlty5M&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJhim70umCX0sAJFOtMRnda

–  Classroom set up – 1) environment feels relaxed, comfortable, and pleasant; 2) dim lights, music, and cushioned furniture; 3) walls decorated with scenes of the country where the target language is spoken.

–  Peripheral learning – 1) grammatical information is put on posters around the  room for students to “take in” passively; 2) posters are changed frequently.

–  Positive suggestion – 1) teacher provides positive suggestions directly (by telling them) and indirectly (by creating a pleasant and relaxing environment.

–  Visualization – 1) teacher has students close their eyes and concentrate on their breathing in order to a) help them relax and b) give students positive suggestions; 2) visualization is also used to help students imagine a scene described in the target language, to stimulate their creativity before doing something in the target language, e.g., writing a composition.

–  Choose a new identity – 1) students chose a new name or occupation; 2) later students can continue to the point of developing a new biography about their fictional selves; 3) this information can be used for assignments in the target language.

–  Role-play – 1) students are asked to act out roles (pretend they are someone else) in the new language, e.g., at a party (children already do this).

–  First concert – 1) this is the receptive phase of the lesson when the teacher introduces the story, explains some grammar, and reads the story; 2) students have the translation; 3) music is played (classical music from the early Romantic period) and teacher reads to the melody and intonation of the music, usually in a hushed voice.

–  Second concert – 1) students put their scripts aside, close their eyes, and listen to the teacher reading the script at normal speed; 2) pre-Classical or Baroque music is played and the teacher reads, not according to the music, but according to the contents of the script.

–  Primary activation – in this first phase of the activation part of the lesson students 1) playfully reread the target language dialogue out loud as individuals or in groups, e.g., one group reads it sadly, another reads it angrily, and the last, amorously.

–  Secondary activation – students use 1) singing, 2) dramatization, 3) play, 4) dancing, and 5) games to practice the communicative intent of the target language rather than the form.

COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING (CURRAN, 1972) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx_we_P3Pic&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJhim70umCX0sAJFOtMRnda&index=2

·     Counseling approach to learning

·     Teacher as counselor and Human Computer™

·     Learner centered with lots of discussion about feelings

·     Cooperation not competition is encouraged

·     Oral translation of students native language utterances

·     Students utterances are taped and transcribed

·     Students utterances dictate the language taught

·     Teacher provides the accurate forms in a non-threatening environment

FEATURES OF COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING

–  Tape-recording student conversation – 1) student generate the language to be used; 2) students take responsibility for their learning and for what they chose to say or not to say; 3) after each native language or gestured utterance, the teacher translates what the students say into the target language in appropriate chunks; 4) student repeated utterances are recorded; 5) students are motivated by being able to understand the conversation in English because they were part of its creation and also because they hear their own voices in the target language; 6) recording works best with 12 or fewer students.

–  Transcription – 1) teacher transcribes student utterances and provided them with a corrected script; 2) each student is give an opportunity to translate his own utterance; 3) students may copy the script.

–  Reflection on experience – 1) students are asked about their feelings with respect to the language-learning experience, themselves as learners, their relationships with one another; 2) teacher shows lots of understanding and openness to encourage student independence and responsibility.

–  Reflective listening – 1) students listen to their voices in the target language; 2) teacher can read students utterances to them.

–  Human Computer™ - Student is in control and the teacher is programmed to model what the student requests. 1) student points to a language item and asks teacher to repeat it; 2) teacher repeats it as often as student requests; 3) teacher does not overtly correct student’s pronunciation but continues to repeat the word or phrase clearly so that the student self-corrects.

TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE or THE COMPREHENSION APPROACH (ASHER, 1977) (Also, used in THE NATURAL APPROACH) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuS3ku-PSL8&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJhim70umCX0sAJFOtMRnda

·     Emphasis on oral proficiency at beginning level

·     Commands accompanied by a physical response

·     Grammar not taught

FEATURES OF TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

–  Use commands to direct behavior – 1) teacher demonstrates action; 2)  commands are decided ahead of time to keep the pace up; 3) teacher varies commands so students do not memorize sequence; 4) number of commands are kept low so that students are successful; 5) some commands can be used for more difficult structures.

–  Role reversal – 1) students command teachers after 10-20 hours of instruction; 2) students should not be forced to speak before they are ready.

–  Action sequence – 1) multiple commands are given for activities with many steps, e.g., writing a letter.

THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRT-rsKxn4&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJhim70umCX0sAJFOtMRnda

·     Meaning emphasized over forms (grammar)

·     Information gap leads to communication

·     Fluency before accuracy

·     Functional uses of language emphasized

FEATURES OF THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

–  Authentic materials – 1) use of “authentic” materials is believed to transfer better when language is needed in the “real” world, e.g., newspapers, recipes, live radio or television broadcast; 2) authentic materials are easier to use at an intermediate level of proficiency; 3) at beginning levels, it is more important that materials be used authentically even if they are not genuine; 4) some materials for beginners are menus, weather forecasts, timetables or schedules, etc.

–  Scrambled sentences - 1) sentences are cut up and students are required to order them so that the sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct; 2) students learn about the elements that make a sentence cohesive and coherent; a) cohesiveness is accomplished through the use of linguistic devices, e.g., using a pronoun instead of repeating a person’s name over and over, and b) coherence refers to the semantic (meaning) clues that give logical order to a sentence; 3) other examples include putting the pictures of a picture script in order and writing captions for each one, unscrambling a mixed-up dialogue.

–  Language games – 1) games must be cleverly designed to be communicative and not just play; 2) games provide three features of communication (according to Johnson and Morrow 1981): information gap, choice, and feedback; 3) some examples of games

–  Role-play – 1) role-play is used extensively in the communicative approach; 2) students are given scenarios to act out using language and vocabulary they have been exposed to.

–  Problem solving – 1) communicative activities might ask students to negotiate the construction of a town, the organization of a party, the pros and cons of presidential candidates.

ORAL  OR SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING (ENGLAND, 1920S & 1930S)

·     Exposure to systematic view of language

·     Use of target language in teaching

·     Grammar taught inductively

THE READING METHOD (U.S. COLEMAN REPORT, 1929)

·     Reading based approach

·     Translation used

·     Grammar for reading only

·     Vocabulary importance

THE SILENT WAY (GATTEGNO, 1972) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqLzbLCpack&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJhim70umCX0sAJFOtMRnda

·     Colored rods represent sounds

·     Sounds are introduces and reinforced and used to introduce structures

·     Grammar is not explicitly taught

·     After initial presentation, teacher is silent, but forces awareness

·     Encourages cooperation between students

·     Encourages discovery and problem solving

·     Students develop own “internal criteria” to discover ‘rules’

·     Correction is done between peers and by the student himself

THE NATURAL APPROACH (TERRELL & KRASHEN, 1972; 1982)

·     Communication is seen as primary function of language

·     Language should be acquired not learned

·     Vocabulary more important than grammar

·     Action, gesture and context emphasized

·     Physical surroundings used