UNIT 15 APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING
It is clear that Approaches has to do with how
Language Learning takes place. There are people who defend their point of view
according to the way in which a language can be taught and learned by people,
and here are some approaches and their most common characteristics: Presentation Practice Production (PPP),
Lexical Approach, Functional Approach, and Communicative Approaches. Also,
there is Grammar Translation, Total Physical Response (TPR), Guided Discovery,
Content Based Learning, and Content and Language Integrating Learning (CLIL).
In the first approach
Presentation Practice Production it is believed that language should be learnt
at first by seeing the language in contexts, later there must be practiced by
controlled and guided conditions, and finally a free practice activity to
develop the outcomes from the students. Moreover, the syllabus focuses on grammatical structures and functions, the teacher inputs the language; however the
students do not make decisions about what to learn. Some of the activities for
this approach are: At the presentation stage Situational presentations and miming, in the practice stage it is possible to practice
with drills, and at the
production stage students can produce the language by role-playing and information-gap activities. The
Lexical Approach is focus on Functions of the language and has the same
strategies and stages as in the (PPP)
Communicative Approaches
focus on Communication and meaning is communicated through functions, grammar,
vocabulary, discourse and skills. In addition, to learn best
the language is appropriate to use it in Interaction. The syllabus is mainly
directed to tasks based on learners’ communicative needs. This approach
highlights in importance Fluency rather than accuracy, and the use of authentic
materials is necessary to encourage students to become active learners in their
learning process.
The oldest approach is
Grammar Translation. This approach focuses on grammatical rules and its
understanding to get the language. Through this methodology, learners are
presented a series of specific grammatical patterns of the target code and they
should produce the language applying those patterns. Additionally, students
translate texts and isolated sentences or words from L1 to L2 and vice versa to
make emphasis on grammatical accuracy.
On the other hand, Total
Physical Response focuses, and its syllabus, on grammatical structures and
vocabulary which can be best leant by the exposition of it to the students
where comprehension comes before production of the language. This methodology
is commonly applied with young learners who do not reject moving all the time
and doing things physically. Even though, they need a silent period to convey
the language rather than produce it yet. There is practice through giving and
following instructions among learners when they are in advanced stages.
In Guided Discovery the
language has patterns of meaning and use. It is believed that learners get the
language by building rules by themselves or discovering them. The teacher does
not give directly specific rules, he/she provides at first some examples of the
target grammatical point and later asks learners what could be the rule used in
those examples. It works together with PPP, Task-Based Learning and the
Functional Approach.
Content-based Learning has a
syllabus which focuses on grammar, lexis, functions or skills and is used
mainly in primary and secondary skills. In this approach the language is
presented through topics which are related to school subjects or topics about
the world.
Content and Language
Integrated Learning which is the most modern approach focuses on communicate
meaning. This approach is mainly related to skills, discourse, lexis, grammar
and functions. The strategy to get the language is by Acquisition the syllabus
is primarily focus rather than on language.
As it could be see, those
approaches have differences and also similarities, there also can be
appreciated the mix and match approach called an eclectic approach, that which
combines the best things from different approaches. The course book, teachers
and syllabuses use this eclectic approach and the learning experience is better
from time to time.
Please go to the following links for more information:
}http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/approach
BIBLIOGHRAPHY:
TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC, (2014). Approach. [online] Available at: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/approach [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].
Onestopenglish, (2014). Teaching approaches. [online] Available at: http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].
