A.

Background

The first step toward developing a principled approach to language teaching will
be to turn back the clock about a century in order to learn from the historical
cycles and trends that have brought us to the present day. It is difficult to
completely analyze the class session you just observed without the backdrop of
history. The quality of language was improved since in the late nineteenth century.
The principles and theories concerning to how languages are learned, how
knowledge of language is represented and organized in memory, or how
language itself is structured.

As the study of teaching approaches and methods in language teaching assumed

a more central role within applied linguistic form the 1940s on, various attempts
have been made to conceptualize the nature of methods and to explore more
systematically the relationship between theory and practice within a method.
Anthony’s model, approach is the level at which assumptions and beliefs about
language and language learning are specified; method is the level at which theory
is put into practice and at which choices are made about the particular skills to be
taught, the content to be taught, and the order in which the content will be
presented.

B. Approach

Approach refers to the theory about the nature of language and language
teaching that serves as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.
Approach is a way of dealing with something.2An approach is a set of correlative
assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning.
An approach is axiomatic. It describes the nature of the subject matter to be
taught.3 An approach is theoretically well-informed positions and beliefs about
the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of
both to pedagogical settings.4 The aims of approach are overtly communicative
and great emphasis is placed on training students to use language for
communication. A job of a teacher as that of ensuring that students get variety of
activities which foster acquisition and which foster learning.

C. Method

Method is a way of doing something. 5 Method is a generalized set of classroom

specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. 6 Method is an overall plan
for the orderly presentation of language material, not part of which contradicts,
and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic,
a method is a way of doing something. 5 Method is a generalized set of classroom
specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. 6 Method is an overall plan
for the orderly presentation of language material, not part of which contradicts,
and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic,
a method is procedural. Within one approach, there can be many methods.

Methodology of language teaching refers to:

1. Study of the nature of the language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and
listening) and procedures for teaching them.

2. Study of the preparation of lesson plans, materials, and textbooks for teaching
language skills.

3. The evaluation and comparison of language teaching methods.

Methods tend to be primarily concerned with teacher and students’ roles and
behaviors and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter
objectives, sequencing, and materials. Communicative method might be specified
in the following terms:
1. Materials will focus on understandable, relevant, and interesting expression, and
negotiation.

2. Materials will focus on understandable, relevant, and interesting exchanges of

information, rather than on the presentation of grammatical form.

3. Materials will involve different kinds of texts and different media, which the
learners can use to develop their competence through a variety of different
activities and tasks.

Two principal contributions to our understanding of the concept of method: They

specified the necessary elements of language teaching designs that had
heretofore been left somewhat vague. Their schematic representation of method
described six important features of designs: objectives, syllabus, activities, learner
roles, teacher roles, and the role of instructional materials.9 An understanding of
language teaching history also implies the importance of the place of second
language acquisition research, this piece offers a useful bridge from research to
practical pedagogical concerns in the language classroom.
Foreign language study is a long-term and challenging process that demands
many skills from both educators and learners to succeed and achieve
appropriate results. At the same time, there are numerous aspects impacting
all participants and showing the emergence of particular outcomes. That is why
much attention is devoted to the development of tools, models, and methods
of language teaching that are used in modern educational establishments to
achieve success and ensure a high level of language skills.

The assigned reading also delves into this aspect and revolves around the
nature of approaches and methods that can be used by skilled specialists
depending on the situation and current needs of learners. Understanding this
area is critical for the appropriate selection of models and their implementation
into practice.

Describing the methods, the chapter assumes that the difference between a
philosophy of language teaching regarding theory and principles becomes
critical. That is why there are the three suggested levels of conceptualization
which are defined as approach, method, and technique. They form a particular
bond and remain in hierarchical relations that determine their further use and
implementation. Thus, an approach is described as a set of assumptions
describing the nature of language teaching and learning.

The method is outlined as the plan needed to present the language material in
terms of the selected approach. One approach might include many methods
used by educators to achieve their goals. Finally, the technique is a set of
actions that take place in classrooms and are used to accomplish the objective.
These three terms become central while speaking about language teaching and
final success.

Continuing cogitation about the outlined basic elements, the reading delves
into the critical peculiarities of the approach, design, and techniques to avoid
misunderstandings and reveal essential features. For instance, the existence of
multiple theoretical concepts of language is emphasized as they impact
teaching and results significantly. That is why there is a detailed description of
models influencing the effectiveness of methods and tools such as the
cognitive, structural, functional, interactional, sociocultural, genre, and lexical
ones.
The necessity of their detailed discussion comes from the idea that language is
an extremely complex phenomenon that can be studied using various
perspectives determining its understanding. For instance, the cognitive model
presupposes that the way a person speaks reflects the central properties of
his/her mind. In accordance with this theory, our mind contains specific
grammar and principles universal to all languages, which is critical for learning.
For this reason, it is fundamental to take into account all existing models.

Speaking about language, one should also consider the existence of theories
that are designed to explain how second languages are learned by individuals
and what peculiarities impact outcomes. There is a wide array of frameworks
such as behaviorism, cognitive-code learning, the creative-construction
hypothesis, constructivism, sociocultural learning theory, and skill learning. All
of them try to describe the main stages of language acquisition and factors that
impact individuals during the educational process. At the same time, the
reading emphasizes the existence of the direct correlation between language
and learning theory. It means that all teachers should be ready to take them
into account while trying to select the most appropriate methods.

The design is also discussed in the assigned chapter. Being determined as the
level of method analysis helps to understand what are the main objectives,
reasons for the selection, types of tasks, roles of learners, teachers, and
instructions of various approaches. In other words, analyzing the nature of a
certain methodology, one should remember the reason for certain topics, texts,
and word inclusion. Finally, the procedure also plays a critical role as it involves
the choice of appropriate techniques that can be applied within the language
theories discussed above.

Altogether, the reading can be considered an important source that provides

information about the nature of language teaching. From the text, I can
understand the existence of the direct correlation between the theory that
describes the way learners get new data, master their language, acquire new
information, and selection of appropriate approaches that can help to achieve
success. Another idea is that the effectiveness of techniques used in the class
and methods come from the utilized approach that should consider the most
relevant learning theory peculiar to certain learners.
In other words, language teaching is situational and should be planned in terms
of existing demands, characteristics of learners, and dominant theoretical
frameworks. There are also certain learning style preferences that come from
the personal characteristics of students that should be considered while
selecting the style to increase the effectiveness of language learning.

In such a way, the analyzed reading contributes to the improved understanding

of the nature of language teaching approaches, methods, and techniques and
how they should be used in various situations depending on the existing tasks,
peculiarities of learners, and their needs. Moreover, the chapter outlines the
need for an effective selection to ensure that preferred learning styles are
utilized and applied to achieve the best possible results and help students to
master their language.