METHODS AND APPROACHES: A REVIEW

Methods/Approaches Key characteristics Teacher role Learner role Common activities

TPR  Focus on providing a stress-free  Makes most  Listener  Imperative drills
environment for learning decisions  Performer or requiring physical
 Comprehension precedes relating to actor responses
production learning  Role plays
 Learning is supported through  Controls the  Slide presentations
body movement language used in
class
 Director of a
stage play in
which students
are the “actors”

ALM Audio-Lingual  Language taught through  Expert  Developing  Pronunciation

speaking  Provides error linguist activities
Method  A focus on sentence patterns correction  Imitator  Pattern drills
 Repetition and drills lead to  Linguist  Mimicking native-
habit formation speaker speech
 Linguistic analysis and  Repetition-based
contrastive analysis inform tasks
syllabus content and sequencing  Acting out dialogues
 Little focus on writing
 Focus on avoidance of errors
and an emphasis
on grammatical
accuracy
 Teacher control
Communicative  Focus on meaning  Communication  Active  Collaborative
 Focus on functional aspects of facilitator communicativ learning through
Language Teaching language  Encourages e participant pair and group
(CLT)  Emphasis on interaction fluency  Collaborator work; negotiation
 Emphasis on authenticity of of meaning
input (REAL LIFE  Activities focusing
MATERIALS) on communication,
 Learning by doing through e.g., jigsaw, task-
direct practice completion,
 Learner-centered information-
gathering,
information- sharing
 Activities focusing
on fluency, with a
high degree of
tolerance for errors
 Information gap,
opinion, and
reasoning activities
 Role plays

Task-Based Language  Use of tasks as core units of  Creates  Collaborator  Information gap,
Teaching (TBLT) planning and instruction authentic,  Risk-taker jigsaw, problem-
 Use of real-world outcomes meaning-  Language user solving and other
 Focus on lexis and speaking, focused tasks collaborative tasks
and integration of skills  Provides  Communication
interactional activities
support
 Encourages
focus on form
Content and  Language learning combined  Subject and  Active creator  Performance-
Language Integrated with subject learning (NOT language of knowledge oriented activities
Learning (CLIL) LEARNING THE knowledge; may and  Discussion activities
LANGUAGE) be materials understanding  Collaborative work
 Focus on exchange of developer  Autonomous  (Critical) meaning-
information through  Collaborator learner oriented activities
communication (with subject  Collaborative
 Closely tied to learners’ needs teachers) learner
 Importance of comprehension  Needs analyst
 Development of intercultural  Learner-centered
awareness facilitator

Multiple Intelligences  Learner differences impact  Supports  Designer of  Multisensory

(MI) learning and need to be taken students’ his/her own activities
into account in teaching learning learning  The use of realia
 Learners have multiple  Orchestrates  Works on self-
intelligences multisensory improvement
 Learners are supported in learning (not only in
becoming better designers of experiences terms of
their own learning  Develops language)
students’
multiple
intelligences