Teaching Methods:

Teaching methods are techniques and strategies that

teachers/educators can use to facilitate the teaching process and
help students feel engaged/interested in the material and they
succeed in the learning process.

ELT Methodology
 1. Teacher-Centered Instruction:
- It is based on the idea that the teacher has the main responsibility in the learning
environment.
- Typically, in this approach, students are seated at individual desks that face the
teacher.
- While group work may take place, most classroom time is spent with the teacher
explaining concepts and assigning individual work
- students passively absorb the information while the teacher actively delivers it.
 Advantages:
1. It highlights the importance of the teacher’s role as facilitator.
2.
2. Having been built on behavioral theory, this teaching method facilitates control over changes in student
behavior through direct instruction. It might be helpful to use the core of this approach and modify it
depending on the teacher’s and students’ needs, gradually shifting the focus from the former to the latter.

Disadvantages:
1. Critics cite lack of stimulation student motivation. Indeed, the teacher-centered method, used blindly, may not
allow students enough freedom of mind and creativity.

2. It is poor at promoting analytical thinking and problem solving skills. Not having enough opportunities for
students to make their own choices may result in lack of decision making skills and even inability to think
critically.
 2. Student-Centered/ Constructivist Approach
- Student-centered classrooms include students in planning, implementation, and
assessments. Involving the learners in these decisions places more responsibility and
ownership on them rather than on the teacher.
-Also, teachers must become comfortable with changing their leadership style from
directive to consultative. Meanwhile, students may work in small groups, access
centers, and move about the classroom freely.
 Advantages:
Students play a more active role in their learning and develop a sense of responsibility.

2. Thanks to teachers avoiding transmission of knowledge directly, students have a chance to stimulate their
analytical thinking, by “making sense of what they are learning by relating it to prior knowledge and by
discussing it with others,”

Disadvantages:
There is a risk of facing some behavioral problems by giving students independence, especially when it comes to
young children. To avoid such problems, teachers must lay a groundwork by creating a model of correct
behavior: having the freedom to do what you want means being ready to take responsibility for the process and
the results.

2. This method works best when the instructor makes the lesson interesting. Without this, students may get
bored, their minds may wander, and they may miss key information.
 3. Small Group Instructions:

- SGI allows teachers to work more closely with each student on a specific learning
objective, reinforce skills learned in whole group instruction, and check for student
understanding.

- This teaching method is based on constant activities around workstations: groups

working with the teacher and groups working independently on varied activities,
such as using manipulatives or computer/online resources.
 Advantages:
1. Lessons are adapted to each student’s level. This allows teachers to provide targeted, differentiated instruction
to small groups of students in a natural way. It helps the instructor to more closely evaluate what each student is
capable of and construct strategic plans around the assessments.
2. It promotes students’ social adaptation skills. Students who find it difficult to ask questions and participate in
a large group setting may benefit from working in a small group setting, where they feel more at ease and less
overwhelmed.

Disadvantages:
1- It takes more time and effort to prepare materials and organize workstations for each student group. Teachers
need to think through each type of activity that will be provided at workstations: they should be equally
engaging and effective.
2- Students might feel pressure to always be involved, always contributing to lessons, and always taking some
kind of role in group work.
4. Project-Based Learning:
- Project-based learning falls within the student-centered approach. As the
name suggests, in project-based learning students complete projects in
which students acquire knowledge, research, think critically, evaluate,
analyze, make decisions, collaborate, and more.
- Typically, projects are created in response to an open-ended question
such as “How can our school be greener?” or “How was our city planned
in the past and how could it be planned in the future?” Another important
part of the projects is that they relate to real-world problems. The projects
shouldn’t just apply to the classroom but have an impact, too. For
example, students might make a radio show for the whole school to hear.
Or, they might write a letter to the town council and attend a meeting to
express an opinion.
 Advantages:
1- Between projects, the teacher may provide scaffolding and smaller bite-sized
projects to help build skills such as how to research, how to solve division problems,
how to write a letter, etc. Thus, students build on what they know by asking
questions, investigating, interacting with others, and reflecting on these experiences.
2- Cooperative learning is enhanced by letting students organize their work in
groups.
Disadvantages:
1- It’s quite time consuming and requires good classroom management skills (from
equipment availability to organizing and controlling the usage of it).

2- Students without experience in group work may have difficulties adapting roles
and negotiating compromise.
 5. Inquiry-Based Learning:

What if learning was question-driven? This is exactly what

inquiry -based learning is about: it engages students by making
real-world connections through exploration and high-level
questioning.
Advantages:
1- Teachers guide students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.To learn these
skills, the teacher helps students think through their processes, teaches them possible approaches, and
encourages them to try various methods.

2. Students are encouraged to fail as a part of the process and then improve their performance
in subsequent activities.

3. Instead of repeating answers students have been taught, students learn to seek their own
answers to questions. So, students develop strong research skills.

Disadvantages:
1- There is always a risk of embarrassing students who may not be quick thinkers.
2- When too much time is dedicated to student inquiries, there’s always the risk that important “core”
topics could be left out. Naturally, this hurts standardized testing performance.
 6. Flipped Classroom:
- The concept of delivering online lectures that students can view from home to
substitute lecturing in the classroom is known as flipped learning.
- The letters FLIP represent the four pillars included in this type of learning:
Flexible environment, Learning culture shift, Intentional content, and Professional
educator.
- This technique, in theory, allows for more time in class to be devoted to active
learning rather than instruction.
 Advantages:
1. Students have more control over their learning. When viewing video content or other materials at
home, students have the option of learning at their own pace.

2. It promotes student-centered learning and collaboration.

Disadvantages:
1. It is difficult to implement: unequal access to technological resources disadvantages certain
populations.
2. Being based mostly on auditory perception of students, it leads to less effective comprehension.
3. It depends highly on students’ compliance: the approach assumes that students will complete the
out-of-class preparation and always be prepared for participation in class. There’s a risk though that
not all students will always be prepared for the lesson.