教学论课程理论读本2016年秋季学期
CHAPERT 2 TEACHING METHODS AND IDEAS
In this chapter we explore some of the main teaching methods and ideas that have influenced the way we teach English. These include:
— the Grammar-Translation Method
— the Direct Method
— Audio-lingualism
— Communicative Language Teaching
— Task-Based Learning.
ACTIVITY 1
Was the way you learnt English or another language influenced by a particular method? As a teacher do you use a particular method?
We are now going to look at the details of the methods in terms of their history, their main features, and the current influence they have on teaching and learning.
The Grammar-Translation Method
Background
The Grammar-Translation Method was developed in the 18th century and was introduced as a way of teaching modern languages to school children. The method itself came from the way individual learners studied classical languages such as Greek and Latin. This was done mainly by studying the grammar in detail and translating texts from the original into the learners’ language.
Features
Sentences and longer texts are translated both to and from the learner s first language. Little or no attention is paid to the ability to speak or communicate. Long lists of words are commonly memorized without being used in a sentence. Grammar rules are given a lot of attention, especially word endings and sentence formation. The teacher does not have to be able to speak the target language in order to teach.
Current status
Grammar-translation is still used to some extent in more traditional schools. Here are some problems that can occur:
— Learners learn about the language, rather than how to use the language.
— Learners do not get much, if any, opportunity to develop listening and speaking skills.
— Vocabulary is made more difficult to use because it is usually taught in isolated lists.
— Using correct grammar is given more emphasis than being able to communicate with someone.
— The attention given to grammatical accuracy and translation may be demotivating for some
learners.
One advantage the method does have is that teachers develop an awareness of grammar rules, which is not necessarily the case with Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). One feature of the Grammar-Translation Method which is still in general use is the translation of words and phrases from the target language into the learners’ first language. This can be an efficient way of learning some types of vocabulary and a help in learning some grammatical structures. On the other hand, it is not always possible to translate a word or structure accurately and the act of translating limits the extent to which learners think in English.
PORTFOLIO WORK
Select a grammatical structure which your learners need and choose five sentences in English which show this structure. Ask your learners to translate them into their first language (Li). Compare the pattern in the two languages.
To what extent does this type of activity lead to learning? How does it compare with more contemporary methods of teaching?
The Direct Method
Background
The Direct Method was developed in the early 20th century in order to overcome the problems connected with grammar-translation.
Features
The Direct Method moved away from translation and introduced the idea of lessons being conducted only in the target language. The meaning of words and structures was communicated 'directly through mime and gestures, and practiced in question-and-answer exchanges between the teacher and learners. Learners were not taught grammar rules but worked them out for themselves.
Current status
The Direct Method was an important step forward — the use of the target language as the language of instruction underpins a lot of teaching today. It was developed from the 1920s onwards into a more sophisticated method called Situational Language Teaching. This centered on the oral practice of carefully graded structures. One key feature was that the language was explained using a situation. (See Figure 2.1 for an example.) The language was practiced using guided repetition, dictation, drills, and oral-based reading and writing tasks.
READING-TEXT THIRTEEN
The time is half past two. Mrs West is in the kitchen. She is putting her apron on.
There is a gas-cooker in the kitchen. Mrs West is standing near it. She is going to turn the gas on in the oven and light the gas. Then she is going to make a call.
What has Mrs West done? She has put her apron on. She is wearing the apron now, over her dress. She has lit the gas in the oven. She has put a lot of things on the table: a jug of milk, some butter, some eggs, a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, some raisins and some currants.
She is going to mix all these things together in a bowl. Then she is going to put the mixture into a baking-tin.
The time is now a quarter to three. What has Mrs West just done ? She has mixed all the things together now. She has put the mixture into the baking-tin. She is not standing near the table now. She has just opened the oven door. She is going to put the tin into the oven and close the oven door.
2.35 p.m.
2.45 p.m.
Audio-lingualism
Background
Audio-lingualism was developed in the 1950s and 1960s when it was believed that learning a language was similar to learning new habits. Language was described in terms of the way it was structured — individual sounds and letters, words, structures, and sentence types. Learners were expected to learn the grammar of the new language not by learning rules but by producing the language accurately by responding to stimuli. These stimuli were prompts which would lead the learner to produce particular sentences. Speaking and listening were seen as the basis of language learning with reading and writing coming later.
Features
A common feature of the audiolingual classroom was the drill. A drill was an activity where the teacher provided prompts and the learners would produce a sentence using the appropriate grammatical structure, for example:
teacher [holding up a picture of a post office] Where s Mary going?
learner She’s going to the post office.
Here are some features of a typical lesson:
— Lessons often began with dialogues.
— The emphasis was on the form (or structure) of language rather than on content and meaning.
— Grammatical structures were taught in a particular order - structures which were thought to be simpler were introduced before more complicated ones.
— Correct pronunciation was strongly encouraged from the beginning.
— Vocabulary was severely limited in the early stages.
— The teacher made a great effort to prevent errors.
— Drills were the main way new language was practiced (see Figure 2.2).
Current status
Some language teachers find drills useful for practicing sentence patterns. They can be especially valuable in getting elementary learners to build their confidence in speaking. However, nowadays the usefulness of drills is regarded as limited in that they do not give the learners an opportunity to interact naturally with other speakers.
ACTIVITY 2
Have you ever learnt or taught English using the audiolingual method? Was it effective? What, if any, problems did you have?
4．Drill: Continue:
T: I usually have water with my meals. sometimes
T: sometimes wine
T: I sometimes have water with my meals. He
T: wine always
T: I sometimes have wine with my meals. They
T: I usually have water with my meals, beer
Repeat! She
C: I usually have water with my meals. never
5．Drill:
J: He usually has water, . . . tonight/champagne.
T: He usually has water, but tonight he's having champagne.
Continue:
He usually has water, . . . tonight/wine.
He usually has eggs, . . . tonight/steak.
He usually has beer, ... tonight/whisky.
He usually smokes cigarettes, ... tonight/cigars.
He usually eats at home, ... tonight/restaurant.
6．Drill:
T: Please don't call me Mr/Mrs/Miss (Smith). My friends always call% me (John/Mary).
Get the students to do the same using their own names. Prompt by addressing students by their title and surname.
T: Now, Mr Schmidt....
S: Please don't call me Mr Schmidt. My friends always call me Franz.
7．Drill: Continue:
T: She doesn't like restaurants. They
T: They Do they ... ?
T: They don't like restaurants. he
T: Do they . . .? you
T: Do they like restaurants? pubs
T: She doesn't like restaurants. Why . . .?
Repeat! he
C: She doesn't like restaurants. they
PORTFOLIO WORK
Choose a structure to practise with your class using a drill - there are more details about using drills in chapter 5 on p.61. Decide on the type of drill to use and try it out with your class.
Make notes on how effective the drill was, whether there were any limitations to using the drill, and how it affected the learners* motivation. Would you use drills in the future?
Background
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) started in the late 1960s and continues to evolve. It is not actually a method but an approach to teaching based on the view that learning a language means learning how to communicate effectively in the world outside the classroom. It developed mainly as a reaction to the limitations of previous methods which put little, if any, emphasis on the ability to communicate or interact. It was also influenced by developments in the way the language was described — taking into account the communicative function of language, i.e. that we use language to do things like suggest, invite, agree, request, criticize, predict, and so on.
Features
Here are some of the main features of CLT:
— The goal is to learn to communicate in the target language.
— There is an emphasis on meaning and using the language rather than on the structure and form of the language.
— Oral and written activities may be used from the start, for example, role plays, dialogues, games, and problem-solving.
— One role for the teacher is that of a 'facilitator who helps learners to communicate in English and motivates them to work with the language.
— Learners often interact with each other through pair or group work.
— The four skills are developed simultaneously.
Many CLT classrooms use a Presentation-Practice-Production or PPP model of teaching. The teacher first presents5 the new language, possibly by playing a recorded dialogue or getting the learners to read a written text. Then the learners practise the new language in a controlled way, possibly by completing written exercises using the new language or in controlled pair work
practicing similar dialogues. Finally, the learners produce, the language in a freer activity that allows them to communicate, hopefully using the language they have just studied.
An example of a PPP lesson at an elementary level would be introducing the language of giving directions. First, the teacher might present the target language by asking the learners to listen to a
recording of someone asking for directions and to complete some sentences on a worksheet. The sentences would include the language of directions. The learners then practice this language using simple maps provided by the teacher (see Figure 2.3).
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Directions 1
1 Look at the street map* Where can you buy these things?
some aspirin, a CD, a plane ticket, a newspaper, a book, some stamps
2 Listen to the conversations and complete them.
1
A. Excuse me! Is_______a chemist________here?
B. Yes. It's over_____.
A. Thanks.
2
A.________me! Is there a______near here?
B. Yes.______________Church Street. Take the first____________________right. It's____________the music shop.
A. Oh yes. Thanks.
3
A. Excuse me! Is there a_______near here?
B. There's a Chinese one in Park Lane______________the bank and there's an Italian one in Church Street next to the____________.
A. Is that one_______?
B. No. Just two minutes, that's all.
4
A. Is there a post office near here?
B. Go straight ahead, and it's_____________left _____________the pub.
A. Thanks a lot.
3) Make more conversations with your partner Ask and answer about these places, and practise the conversations with a partner.
— a bank
— a phone box
— a public toilet
— a music shop
— a supermarket
— a bus stop
— a park
— a swimming pool
— a post box
— a pub
— a bookshop
Talk about where you are. Is there a chemist near here? Is it for? What about a bank/a post office/ a supermarket?
Finally, they can produce the language more freely by giving directions to places they actually know, possibly using real maps brought into the classroom for this purpose by the teacher or drawn by the learners themselves.
Role playing is a common feature of the CLT classroom and involves the learners acting as someone else, for example, a customer, a ticket sales person, etc. in a situation where they need to use English, for example, to order a meal or buy tickets at a railway station. In this case, one learner
would be the customer asking questions about the train times and ticket prices, etc., while another would be the ticket seller giving the information.
ACTIVITY 3
Imagine you are preparing your learners for the following role plays. Note down for each of the situations below some of the language you would teach before the role play. Take into account the learners* age and level.
1 Meeting someone for the first time Young beginners
2 Planning a night out with friends Teenage intermediate learners
The original PPP model has been developed and modified since it was first introduced and no longer represents CLT as the only teaching model. Language can be introduced and practiced in a variety of ways. Learners can be encouraged to discover the patterns of the language for themselves through reading or listening to texts and answering questions about the patterns of the language contained in the texts. For example:
— Who’s going to the cinema? We are.
— Who’ll go to the cinema? We will.
— Who’s been to the cinema? We have.
— Who goes to the cinema? We do.
— Who went to the cinema? We did.
How do we give a short response to a ‘wh’ question? (use the full form of the original auxiliary or ‘do’ if there is no auxiliary; the main verb and indirect object are omitted.)
An alternative to this would be to give the learners a rule and then give them an exercise to practise the application of the rule. For example:
• To make a comparison we add -er to words of one syllable, for example, ‘tali’ 一► taller, and more before words of three syllables, for example, ‘beautiful’ 一► ‘more beautiful’. For words of one syllable ending in er’ we change the ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘-er, for example, ‘happy, 一► 'happier.
1 John is (short) than Paul.
2 Your boots are (dirty) than mine.
3 This garden is (attractive) than the other one.
The Test-Teach-Test (TTT) approach is useful when the teacher is not sure whether the learners are familiar with a particular item of language. For example, the class are asked to work in pairs and arrange a time to meet using a pre-prepared schedule. The learners do the activity and the teacher monitors and notes down the use of tenses referring to the future, for example, CI will meet John tomorrow5,1 will go shopping on Saturday, etc.
Based on these results the teacher decides which areas the learners need to do more work on and devises an activity that introduces the present continuous to talk about arrangements (Tm meeting John tomorrow.’) and going to’ to talk about intentions (I’m going to go shopping on Saturday). The learners then do a practice activity similar to the original one.
Current status
CLT is very widely used in language teaching all over the world. It has shifted the focus in language teaching from learning about the language to learning to communicate in the language. However, there are problems associated with CLT:
— The emphasis on pair and group work can create problems in some classes. Some learners, particularly adults, think it is a waste of time talking to other L2 speakers rather than a native-speaker teacher.
— Native-speaker teachers do not need to know much about the language in order to become teachers.
— The approach can lead to too much emphasis on speaking and listening.
— Dividing the language up into discrete units under the headings of Vocabulary, 'grammar, and functions, and the four skills is misleading. Communication involves using all these elements simultaneously.
— Learners do not necessarily learn what they are taught, i.e. the discrete language items, in the order that they are taught.
The most serious criticism of CLT is that it is not as effective as it claims to be. A lot of learners complete their studies but are still unable to communicate in English. One reaction to this has been to change the learning focus from the content, i.e. the structures, functions, and vocabulary, to the process, that is ‘to use English to learn it’ rather than ‘to learn to use English’. This brings us to the next model of learning, Task-Based Learning.
ACTIVITY 4
Look at these typical CLT-related problems and think of possible solutions that you could use with your learners.
1 Learners are shy about working in pairs or groups.
2 The class is very large and the seats and desks cannot be moved.
3 The class has to prepare for written, not spoken, exams.
4 Learners often ask for new vocabulary in English which you are unprepared for.
Task-Based Learning
Task-Based Learning (TBL) focuses on the process5 of communicating by setting learners tasks to complete using the target language. During this process, it is claimed, the learners acquire language as they try to express themselves and understand others. The tasks can range from information gap to problem-solving tasks. One advantage of TBL is that learners are given the opportunity to use the full range of skills and language they have at the same time, rather than in discrete units, as they sometimes do with the CLT model.
A typical task sequence may include:
— pre-tasks: these are activities which prepare learners to complete a task, for example, by guiding learners through an example of the task they will have to do. There can be a number of pre-tasks in one lesson.
— tasks: these form the main body of the lesson and can involve a number of steps. For example, learners working in pairs or groups may first complete the task, then prepare a report on the task, and finally present the report to the class.
— post-tasks: these move away from activities designed to promote fluency to those designed to promote accuracy.
An example of a task might be to plan a journey by train. The class is divided into groups of five. Each learner in the group has information which the rest of the groups’ needs, for example, train times, the route, the price of tickets, etc. By sharing this information, the group can successfully plan the trip and in doing so consolidate and extend their language ability.
There are several uncertainties regarding TBL. What language the learners acquire depends on how the task is performed, so it is difficult to state what language will be learnt, if any - the learners may avoid learning or using new language and make do with the language they have. Learners may also feel that they are not 'learning or 'being taught5 as there is no formal input or practice stage. As with CLT, some learners feel that interacting with L2 speakers rather than the teacher is a waste of time.
PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY
Plan a task you could use with your learners. What language do you think they will need to complete the task? Try out the activity with your class. Make a note of the language they use and any language that they acquire.
What was the outcome of the lesson? Did your learners learn anything or develop any of their language skills? If so, what? Will you use tasks in the future?
SUMMARY:
Teaching has been influenced by a wide variety of methods and trends. New methods have been introduced as part of the ongoing search for the 'best5 way to teach. In some ways this has been beneficial — we now know a lot more about teaching and learning than we did 50 years ago, and the learner s role has been integrated into the learning and teaching process. However, some ways of teaching that might still be useful - translation, using a situation to demonstrate meaning, and drilling, to take three examples - have been sidelined. At the same time, teachers have constantly had to keep up with the latest trends which may or may not be appropriate for them or their learners.
We are now at the point where there is more emphasis on teachers and learners making their own choices about how to teach and learn. Teachers can use the back-catalogue of methods as a starting point to make decisions about this process.
Case study
Go to the 'Case study section at the back of the book and listen to a teacher talk about their experiences of teaching methods.
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