CHAPTER 2: Popular Methodology

This chapter looks at how theory has been realized in methodological practice. Within the general area
of methodology, people talk about approaches, methods techniques, procedures, and models, all of which
go into practice of English teaching. These terms, though somewhat vague, are definable:
 Approach: people use the term approach to refer to theories about the nature of language and
language learning which are the source of the way things are done in the classroom and which
provide the reasons for doing them. An approach describes how language is used and how its
constituent parts interlock—it offers a model of language competence. An approach describes
how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the condition
which will promote successful language learning.
 Method: a method is the practical realization of an approach. The originators of a method have
arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles of teachers and learners, the kinds of materials
which will be helpful and some models of syllabus organization. Method include various
procedure and techniques as part of their standard fare.
 Procedure: a procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. For example, a popular dictation
procedure starts when students are put in small groups. Each group then sends one
representative to the front of the class to read (and remember) the first line of a poem which has
been placed on a desk there. Each student then goes back to their respective group and dictates
that line. Each group then sends a second student up to read the second line. The procedure
continues until one group has written the whole poem. A procedure cis a sequence which can be
described in terms such as First you do this, then you do that...Smaller thana method, it is bigger
than a technique.
 Technique: a common technique when using a video or film material is called silent viewing. This
is where the teacher plays the video with in sound. Silent viewing is a silent activity rather than a
sequence, and as such us a technique rather than a whole procedure.

2.1 Grammar-translation, Direct method and audiolingualism

Grammar-translation methods did exactly what they said. Students were given explanations of individual
points of grammar, and then they were given sentences which exemplified these points . These sentences
had to be translated from the target language(L2) back to the students’ first language(L1) and vice versa.

A number of features of the Grammar-translation method are worth commenting on. In the first place,
language was a treated at the level of the sentence only, with little study, certainly at the early stages, of
longer texts. Secondly, there was little if any consideration of the spoken language. And thirdly, accuracy
was considered to be a necessity.

The Direct method, which arrived at the end of the nineteenth century, was the product of a reform
movement which was reacting to the restrictions of Grammar-translation. Translation was abandoned in
favor of the teacher and students speaking together, relating the grammatical form they were studying to
objects and pictures, etc. In order to establish their meaning. The sentence was still the main object of
interest. During its initial stage it was called natural method. Linguists wanted learners to learn English
Language as they learnt their first language or in other words, as a child learns a language. ‘Direct’
suggests that this method intends to teach without translation, grammar or dictionary. Every human being
has the ability to communicate in the necessary situations. Most proper and successful way to acquire
language is by conversation drills. Maria Dakowska (2005) deems the basic principles of direct method as
learning language in a situational context by connecting new words to related contexts for getting suitable
meanings.

Direct method gives importance to correct pronunciation. In a Direct Method class, new teaching units
were introduced orally. Words were selected based on its usefulness in the given situations. Meaning was
taught using objects, pictures, gestures etc. Grammar is learned inductively

Audiolingualism relied heavily on drills to form these habits; substitution was built into these drills so
that, in small steps, the student was constantly learning and, moreover, was shileded from the
possibility of making mistakes by the design of the drill.

The following example shows a typical Audiolingual drill:

Task framework A task used in the task based language teaching is similar to or identical to any activity
which a person does in his or her routine life. Halliday (1985) divides real world tasks, into three general
activities. He calls them three ‘macro functions of language. People use language to buy or sell or
exchange goods and perform and get service. This is transactional or service macro function. We as social
human beings use language to interact with others. This is known as the interpersonal or social macro
functions. We use language to write or read, i.e., for enjoyment and entertainment and this according to
Halliday is the aesthetic macro function of language.

Collaborative learning. Entire stake holders, including students and teachers, in English language
education can collaborate for the following reasons: (i) to experiment with additional methods of
teaching, (ii) encouraging an atmosphere of Co-operation or collaboration among learners instead of
competition for which is practiced by the traditional teaching approaches, (iii) collaborative learning will
create a situation where all stake holders benefit in equal quantity and terms by sharing information and
knowledge, making it a win-win situation, (iv) placing the learner at the centre of the learning process
instead of the traditional teacher centered process. (Nunan, Introduction. 2003: 1) All students are varied
and study in his/her own way. These differences in the students’ style of learning might be considered for
choosing the right learning experiences. Nunan (2003: 2) says, “At each stage in the curriculum process,
be it planning, implementation or evaluation, information about learners (and, where feasible, from
learners) will be used to guide the selection content, learning experiences and the means of assessing
outcomes”.

The Lexical approach

Four methods, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, are often considered together. While, individually, they
are rarely used exclusively in ‘mainstream’ teaching, in different ways their influence is still felt today. In
the classic form of Community Language Learning, a ‘knower’ stands outside a circle of students and helps
the students say what they want to say by translating, suggesting or amending students’ utterances. The
students’ utterances may then be recorded so that they can be analyzed at a later date. Students, with
the teacher’s help, reflect, reflect on how they felt about the activities.

Suggestopaedia was developed by Georgi Lozanov and is concerned above all with the physical
environment in which the learning takes place. Students need to be comfortable and relaxed so that their
effective filter is lowered. Students take on different names and exist in a child-parent relationship with
the teacher (Lozanov calls this ‘infantilisation’). Traumatic topics are avoided, and at one stage of a three-
part prodecure, the teacher reads a previously-studied dialogue to the accompaniment of music
(preferably Baroque). During this phase there are also ‘several minutes of solemn silence’ (Lozanov 1978:
272) and the students leave the room silently.

A typical Total Physical Response(TPR) lesson might involve the teacher telling students to ‘pick up the
triangle from the table and give it to me’ or ‘walk quickly to the door and hit it’ (Asher 1977: 54-56). When
the students can all respond to commands correctly, one of them can then start giving instructions to
other classmates. James Asher believed that since children learn a lot of their language from commands
directed at them, second-language learners can benefit from this, too. Crucially, in TPR students don’t
have to give instructions themselves until they are ready.
One of the most notable features of the Silent Way is the behavior of the teacher who, rather than
entering into conversation with the students, says as little as possible. This is because the founder of the
method, Caleb Gattegno. Believed that learning is best facilitated if the learner discovers and creates
language rather than just remembering and repeating what has been taught. The learner should be in the
driving seat, in other words, not the teacher.

In the Silent Way, the teacher frequently points to different sounds on a phonemic chart, modelling them
before indicating that students should say the sounds. The teacher is then silent, indicating only by gesture
or action when individual students should speak (they keep trying to work out whether they are saying
the sound correctly) and then showing when sounds and words are said correctly by moving on to the
next item. Because of the teacher’s silent non-involvement, it is up to the students-under the controlling
but indirect influence of the teacher-to solve problems and learns the language. Typically, the Silent Way
also gets students to use Cuisenaire rods (wooden blocks of different colors and sizes, see page 180) to
solve communication problems.

To some, the Silent Way has seemed somewhat inhuman, with the teacher’s silence acting as a barrier
rather than an incentive. But to others, the reliance students forced to place upon themselves and upon
each other is exciting and liberating. It is students who should take responsibility for their learning; it is
the teacher’s job to organize this.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) focuses on the learner’s role, and the importance of meaning.
Communicative competence is given prominent position in the process of language learning. CLT deals
with most of the aspects of language learning compared to the conventional and modern language
teaching methods. Canal and Swaine (1980) say that communication competence is made of grammatical,
socio-linguistic and strategic competence. The Aim of teaching should be for the betterment of the
communicative competence. The facilitator (teacher) using CLT methodology should take into
consideration the communication requirements of students. The students should be allowed to interact
with target language speakers. On the other hand, students’ mother tongue and the skills used in it should
be amply used. Primary purpose of Communicative Language Teaching is to allow the students to
experience target language and use it in different contexts. Widdowson (1978: 31) says “meanings do not
exist, readymade in the language itself: they are worked out. We are given linguistic clues to what
propositions are expressed and what acts are performed, and on the basis of these clues we make sense
of the sentences”.

Some of the procedures employed in these four methods may strike us as being (or having been) outside
the mainstream of classroom practice, or even somewhat eccentric. Nevertheless, in their own ways, they
contain truths about successful language learning. Community Language Learning, for example, reminds
us that teachers are in classrooms to facilitate learning and to help students with what they want to say.
Suggestopaedia’s insistence on lowering the affective filter remind us how important affect is in language
learning. Nor is there any doubt about the appropriacy of getting students to move around in lessons, as
in TPR. For students with a more kinaesthetic inclination (see page 89), this will be especially useful.
Finally, getting students to think about what they are learning and to rely on themselves matches our
concern for cognitive depth (see page 57), where close attention to language by individual students has a
beneficial effect on the learning process.

Task based language learning Long (1985:89) defines task as any job undertaken by somebody for himself
or for other people. It can be buying a ticket, reserving a seat in the theatre and similar other jobs anybody
does in his or her everyday life, personally or professionally. Richards (1986: 289) defines a pedagogical
task as a performance done as a result of ‘processing or understanding language’. Watching a play and
later enacting it is an example of a pedagogical task. Practicing or doing variety of tasks will enhance
language learning and can be considered as successful task completion. It also will increase the
communication skill of the student. Language is practiced for learning communication and not for the sake
of the language. Breen (1987:23) defines pedagogical task as any language learning attempt which has a
definite aim, suitable content and a planned procedure. Doing the task should enhance language learning.
Tasks can be done individually, in pair or as a group activity.