Popular Methodology

Approach, method, procedure and technique

• Approach
• Theaories about the nature of language and language learning. Reasons for doing things in the classroom. Reasons for the ways they are done. How language is used and how its constituent parts interlock. A model of language competence. Describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote successful language learning.
• Method
• Practical classroom realisation of an approach. Decisions which will bring the approach they believe in to life. Includes various procedures and techniques.
• Procedure
• Ordered sequence of techniques. Sequence which can be described in terms such as First do this, then you do that. Smaller than a method, it is bigger than a technique.
• Technique
• Single activity rather than a sequence. For example, silent viewing, or murmuring words.

Three and a half methods

• Before the nineteenth century, many formal language learners were scholars who studied rules of grammar and consulted lists of foreign words in dictionaries. But in the nineteenth century, there were moves to bring the foreign language teaching learning into the school curriculums, so something more was needed.
• Grammar-translation method
• Ss were given grammar explanations in their L1, then they were given sentences which exemplified this points. They then translated from the L2 and back the L1. Language was treated mostly at the level of sentence only. Little if any consideration was given to spoken language. Accuracy was considered a necessity.
• The direct method
• Product of a reaction against The G-T method. Teacher and ss speaking together, relating the grammatical forms they should be learning to objects and pictures. Grammar is learned inductively (discovery). Dialogues were frequently used to exemplify conversational style. Only the L2 was used in class.
• Audiolingualism
• Rise of behaviourism (20s-30s). The DM morphed into an stimulus-response-reinforcement model. Relied heavily on drills and substitution. Stayed at the sentence level. Little placemnt of language in real-life context. Accuracy. The purpose was habit formation through constant repetition of current utterances, encouraged and supported by positive reinforcement (teacher praise). Drills are certainly "deliberate", but wether they are meaningful and mindful is another issue. (the good in the bad)
• British variant: oral-situational approach
• Nothing should be said before it was heard and nothing should be read before it was spoken. Grammar structures were graded and sequenced, but language items fell into certain situations. (context)

Communicaive language teaching

• Communicative revolution of the 70s-80s. CLT means different things to different people.
• Mainly, it shifted away from a focus on how language was formed to an emphasis on what language was used for. Functions (Wilkins 1976) and its purpose. Concern with spoken functions and written grammar, when and how it was appropiate to say certain things was of primary impotance. > minute listing of events an utterances that students would need.
• Essential belief that "language is communication". Ss should be involved in meaning-focused communicative tasks so that "language learning will take care of itself".
• The achievement of the communicative task is as important as grammar accuracy. > role play, simulation > Students have the desire to communicate something and a purpose for doing it. Focus on what they wanted to convey, using a variety of grammatical structures rather than focusing on one language form. The techer does not intervene, the material would not dictate any specific language form ss should use. > repliacte or mimic real conversation.
• CLT as a philosophy
• Stress the communicative nature of language. > Lessons started to include communicative activities, these were often seen as add-ons to the main business of teaching language incrementally. > Exams continued to test individual language items, rather than an ability to communicate.
• Major coursebooks shifted to a richer diet of interesting topics for language skills training, communicative activities and sections devoted to language in use. > It is somtimes difficult to convince ss that communication is a better and more realistic an aim than learning grammar.
• Many popiular exams have become more communication-oriented and, perhaps, teaching has reflected this. However, a visit to any classroom will suffice to see that "traditional" and communicative teaching are both alive and well. > Any traditional activity can be "rendered communicative" if done well. On the other hand, supposedly communicative role-plays, done in non-communicative way, can be not much more than dialogue memorisation. > See "traditional" methods as complementary to "communicative approaches" (Griffiths 2011).
• Dornyei 2013 - A principled communicative approach which should offer learners ample opportunities to participate in genuine L2 interaction, but which also includes a focus on form, controlled practice and "declarative input" (explicit focused language items). > A meaning-focused approach to language use which can, nevertheless, include, and welcome, explicit focus on language study where it is most needed and appropiate.

Teaching "unplagged"

• Thornbury 2000 - Based on Dogme 95 manifesto > return to materials and technology free classrom in which language emerges as teachers and ss engage in dialogic relationship. > The article provoked considerable interest and group of teachers emerged who wanted to apply Dogme ELT principles to language learning.
• They wanted to challenge "an over-reliance on materials and technical wizardry in current language teaching. The emphasis on the here-and-now requires the teacher to focus on the actual learners and the content that is relevant to them". (Meddings and Thornbury 2009)
• Features
• It is conversation-driven. Interactive talk in the classroom. Ss-ss, T-Ss. teachers primary role is to scaffold language that occurs, taking advantage of these affordances.
• Materials -light. Teachers respond to their students' need and intrests, rather than bringing in pre-packages material such as coursebooks.
• Emergent language rather than following a prescribed syllabus. Teachers work with learner language, and view learnr errors as learning opportunities. Role of the teacher: respond to the language that comes up, interact with the students and help them to say what they want to say more correctly and perhaps better.
• Critics worries
• This kind of dialogic model might favour native-speaker teachers.
• It is extremely difficult to counterance in large classes.
• Syllabuses are necessary. Material such as coursebooks are useful for teachers and cherished by ss.
• Teaching involves more than talking.
• Unexpected and unplanned language emerges during lessons > Magic or Dogme moments are ideal oppotunities to draw students' attention to features of language which are suddenly apparent. Whether teaching unplugged offers more than such moments in the form of an approach is less certain.

Task-based learning

• TBL - TBI (Task-based instruction) - TBLT (Task-based language teaching).
• The realisation of CLT "I would say that CLT adress the question why? TBLT answers the question how? (Nunan 2014).
• The performance of meaningful tasks is central to the learning process. Ss who are focused on the completion of a task, are just as likely to learn language as they are if they are focusing on language forms. Its advocates "have rejected a reliance on presentation methodology" and that further "the basis for language developement is the learner's attempt to deploy language and meaning" (Willis and Willis 2003).
• Basic procedure
• Pre task: questions and vocabulary > Perform task > Language focus: discuss language and make corrections.
• Willis TBL Framework (2012)
• ​​​​​​​Pre-task stage - Explores the topic with the class and may highlight useful words and phrases. > Looking up info discussing info (pairs, groups), analyse language items (vocabulary) > build students schema.
• The task cycle stage - students perform the task in pairs or small groups while the teacher monitors from a distance.
• The language focus stage - examine and discuss specific feaures of any listening or reading text which the have looked at for the task and/or the teacher may conduct some practice of specific language features which the task has provoked and offer "offline correction".
• "Learners should be encouraged to move from reprodutive to creative language use" (Nunan 2004).
• Problems: TBL means different things to different teachers, there is considerable variation in how it is applied in the clasroom, and it is in fact very difficult to define what a task is (or is not).
• Critics worries
• Since it lacks a clear definition. Abandon it altogether (Littlewood 2004)
• It is not only transational communicative tasks that ss want but also songs, games, humour, etc (Cook 2000)
• While it may successfully develop learnes' commando on already studied language it is considerably less effective to introduce new languge (Swan 2005)
• Timing: the teacher has to "make sure they learn the most common and useful words and chinks as fast as possible. There is no tie to wait for language to emerge". She doesn't argue that it is necessary to include communicative tasks but they should be "an added component of a structured, language based syllabus and methodology" (Ur 2006).
• The claims made for it are highly hypothetical. Having the students perform meaning related tasks is good for language processing and for giving them opportunities for trying out language, but whether a programme based exclusively on such tasks is apporpiate is open to question.

The lexical approach

• "Language consists not of traditional grammar and vocabulary but often of multi-word prefabricated chunks" (Lewis 1997). Fluency is the result of acquisition of a large store of these fixed and semi-fixed pre-fabricated items > lexical phrases, collocations, idioms, fixed and semi-fixed phrases.
• The lexical approach steers us away from an over-concentration on syntax and tense usage > teaching of phrases which show words in combination, and which are generative too.
• "Archetypical utterances" (Lewis 1993) > I'll give you a ring, I'll be in touch, I'll see what I can do...
• Add intensifiers to semi-fixed expressions > It's (quite) obvious...
• Underline nouns and verbs that collocate with them
• Word-order exercises.
• Exposure to enough suitable input is the key to increasing the lerner's lexicon. Most vocabulary is acquired, not taught (Lewis 1997).
• There is doubt about how the learning of fixed and semi-fixed phrases can be incorporated into the understanding of a language system. For Timmis it lacks clear principles and there is a tendancy to relay too much on noticing, without offering guidelines. (Timmis 2008)
• Dellar and Walkley (2015)> There are many patterns in the lexis that are generative to some degree > teach lexically: rather than trying to adopt an entire lexical approach, we should adopt a lexical "dimension" > raising awareness of collocations and chunks.
• Therefore, the internal construction os a chink should only be analysed when the learner needs to vary the structure in some way to create new messages. (Woolard 2013)

For old humanistic methods

• Developed in the 70s-80s. - Almost never used exclusively in mainstream teaching - Still influence the classroom
• Community language learning: A "knower" stands outside a circle of students and helps them say what they want to say by translating, suggesting or amending the students' utterances. > May be recoreded > reflection.
• Suggestiopedia (Georgi Lozanov): concerned with the environment > ss must be confortable and relaxed - lowered affective filters. Ss take a different name and have a child-parent relationship with the teacher (infantilization). Traumatic topics are avoided. Three part procedure: read a pre-learned dialogue with music (baroque)> solemn silence > leave the class in silence.
• Total phsysical response (TBL - James Asher): Children learn language through commands. > "Pick up the red triangle and give it to me"
• The silent way (Caleb Gattegno): The teacher speaks as little as possible. Learner create and discover language. T points to sounds on a phonemic chart modelling them before aking ss to say them. T is then silent, showing when a sound is said correctly by moving to the next item. It is up to the ss, under the controlling but indirect influence of the teacher to solve problems and learn language. > Solve communication problems.
• These procedures are somehow eccentric but CLL, for example, reminds us that the T are in classromes to facilitate learning and help ss say what they want to say. > Focuses on Ss as people. Suggestopedia reminds us of how important affect is to learning, and there is no doubt of how important it is for ss to move around the classroom, especially for ss with kinaesthetic inclination. Finally, getting ss to think about what they are learning and to rely on themselves demands cognitive activity that is beneficial for the learning process.

A procedure

• Presentation > parctice > production - PPP
• Example:
• Show students a set of pictures > phases of a routine.
• Get ss to repeat a sentence in chorus. Nominate certain ss to repeat itindividually > correct mistakes> Model some more sentences > freer drill - cue-response (cue before nominating, avoid predictable nomination) > could put ss in pairs to practice a bit more.
• "inmediate crativity" > use language in sentences of their own. > Their own routines (personalization)
• PPP does have some drawbacks: highly teacher-centered, assumes ss learn in "staight lines". (Language isn't quite that tidy).
• Alternatives and variations
• Deep-end strategy (Johnson 1982): Turn the procedure on its head > The t evaluates the problems ss have at the production level and then turns back to presentation or practce.
• ESA (Engage, study, activate): Ss are emotionally engaged with what is going on. Focus on how something is constructed (focus on forms or communicative task). Ss are encouraged to use all or any of the language they know. ss also activate when they read for pleasure or general interes. ESA allows for three basic lesson procedures.
• Straight arrows: Engage-study-activate
• Boomerang: Engage-Activate-study > Follows a more task-based or deep-end approach - gets ss engaged before the, say, writen task. based on what happens there, we study certain aspects of languague.
• Patchwork: Multiple possiblities.
• PPP can be extremely useful in a focus-on-forms lesson, especially at lower levels, but is significantly lees relevant in a skills lesson, where focus on form may occur as a result of something the ss read or hear. It is especially useful also in teaching grammar points.

What teachers do

• Methods are "good servants but generally bad masters". T are far more intellectually discerning than applied linguists give them credit for.
• T pick and chose from what is available, they are ecclectic in their decisions and are constantly interested in what research tells them and in what methods can be used in the classroom. Understanding methods and the undelying theories, help us decide what type of ecclecticism to take. Whaterver ts do, they have to have some idea of what their ss will achive as a result of it. > aims and action research (explore what actually happens in the classroom).
• Post-method and learning culture
• Sticking to one method is no longer relavnt. In the post-mathod phase, it is actually limiting. Kumaravadivelu suggests ten macrostrategies, among which we find: maximising learning opportunities, contextualise language input, integrate language skills, promote learning authonomy and ensure social relevance.
• Dick Alwright > exploratory practice > Ts should determine and understand the classroom quality of life, identify a learning puzzle, reflect on itm gather data and try out different ways of solving the puzzle, reflecting at each stage what happens in order to deide what to do next.
• Stephen Bax> Methodology is just ine factor in language learning. Ts should do some context analysis before they start teaching so that they can develop their own procedures from the range of methodological knowledge and thechniques available to them. Then reflect and evaluate to decide how to proceed next. > This counteracts the tendency to impose their methodological views.
• Culture is as important a factor as applied linguistics. > native speakerism > import a wholesale methodology into a different cultural milieu > Ss might feel unconfortable and show resistance thus affecting learning negatively > Good teachers "learn their stodents".
• Methodological culture clashes are easily observed when T and Ss have a markedly different cultural background. T have ingrained patterns in the way they teach> it might be positive to bargain with our ss to reach some negociated iddle position. The opposite compromises the optimal learning zone for our learners.
• Good teachers examine methods to see how far these agree with their own beliefs. It is important for t to know why they are doing things in lessons. Every classroom activity should be based on the fact thar we believe the procedure we are using will achieve certain outomes, and that it agrees with our beliefs on how people learn languages.
• Principled eclecticism > Having theories about how people learn and transforming them into beliefs about elements from the methods that have been suggested.

Coursebooks and other materials

• For and against coursbook use
• Somewhere in between these two, many teachers use coursbooks from time to time but supplement them with their own ideas and other material.
• Arguments in favor:
• Carefully prepared. Offers a coherent syllabus and satisfactory language control
• Attractively presented
• Lively and interesting material, topics and texts
• Useful for students to look at again to remind themselves of what they have been studying.
• Pedagogic artifice which is perfectly justified asa stage in the process of becoming a competent user although it cannot end there.
• Good teacher books suggest a variety of procedures to help teachers use the materials effectively and appropiately.
• They offer extrasthat can keep track of students participation and homework taking some of the load from t shoulders.
• Argumants against:
• They impose learning styles
• They often rely on PPP
• They stifle some teachers creativity
• They are often bland
• They are not about ss current interests
• Unrelenting format which can be very unmotivating.
• Boring
• In the interenet era a static pre.cnstructed body of material is out of date.
• In the light of all this: "at most, coursebooks are jumping-off point for t an d ss. Teir prime functuin should be enabling the learning experience to blossom outside the scope of the materials (Levrai 2013). Another possiblity is that courebooks will soon disappear as more digital solutions replace them (Harrison 2014)

How to use coursebooks

• It is perfectly possible for the teacher to use a coursebook in the way its writers have suggested. Most teacher however, bring their own possiblities , choices and abilities to bear on the material thay are using.
• Omit things that dont fit making sure it is not a matter of testing. Think about editing it before omitting.
• Replace things with your own choices. If the content is important and can't be left out but we are not keen on it we can replace it with material we think is more siutable. Replacing/omitting a large percentage of the book is inappropiate.
• Adapt and add things. Perhaps the best way to approach a coursebook, because it allows to bring the contents to life for our students.
• Act out dialogues, expand dialogues and exchanges, give their opinions about exercises
• Search sentences online, search for three more things about the topic
• Change the gender, copy the text interview people
• Make sentences that show the opposite, reassemble words from the text (form sentences)
• Choose random words ask them to write sentences.
• Summarize, tell a story from the text, act out dialogues (adding emotions)

Diapositiva 12

• Effective coursebook use
• When we have taught a coursebook unit we will want to reflect on how we felt about it and how we might do it better. Make notes on the teachers book , sticky notes, special notebook, suggestions box.
• Checklist
• Price and availability
• Layout, design and ease of use
• Instructions
• Methodology
• Syllabus
• Topics and content
• Teachers guides/support
• Designing our own material
• What will it achieve?
• TITO test
• Easy to use
• Can I use it again?
• Engage students