FOUR METHODS IN

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
TEACHING

By 韦慧华 薛媛
03 研
Introduction:
As an interdisciplinary science, the field of
applied linguistics has been constantly
influenced by theoretical trends in
linguistics, psychology, and sociology.
Hence, this influence is reflected in the
various methods and approaches in secon
and foreign language teaching in history.
A Retrospective of Foreign
Language Teaching Methodology
 1st period: the period of Classical language
teaching (before 1880): Grammar- Translation
Method
 2nd period: the beginning of Modern
Language Teaching (from 1880 to the 1st world
war): Direct method
 3rd period: the Development of Modern
Language Teaching (from the first world war to
’70) : Audio-lingual Method
 4th period: the intensification of Modern
Language Teaching (after ’70): Communicative
Approach
Grammar-Translation Method
Background:
Time period : until late 19th century
Under the influence of the teaching of Latin and Greek:
FL as cultural refinement.Language is viewed as a set
of knowledge, just like physics, chemistry,
mathematics, etc.

Theoretical Foundation:
Rationalism & Prescriptivism
Representative: Greco-Latin Model of Grammar: Ger
man scholar Karl Ploz (late 1800s)was influential
Grammar-Translation Method
Approaches:
Accuracy emphasized
Grammar taught deductively
Native language-----medium of instruction

Central Issue: Why to teach?

The Direct Method
Background

Late 19th-early 20th century, practical needs and

interests for modern languages calls for reform: GT was
found to be inadequate for teaching living languages, so
DM was developed which emphasized the primacy of
speech.
the founding of IPA in 1886,

Theoretical Foundation :
Pragmatism & Descriptivism
The Direct method
Principles & Methods
Begin with spoken language
Inductive teaching of grammar
Classroom instruction conducted in mother tongue
Factual texts
Systematic oral training and exercise
Exposure to living speech

Central issue: What to teach?

The Audio-lingual Method
(1940s-1970s)
Social Background: Developed in the US during WWII, as
a need for people to learn foreign languages rapidly for military
purposes. on the one hand, and growing body of researches on
foreign langrage teaching on the other.

Theoretical Foundation:
Exciting new ideas about language and learning:
Structuralism: as chemistry, break sentences up into phrases,
words, sounds, etc.
Language is viewed as a set of skills, such as swimming,
driving, riding a bike, etc. .
Behaviorism: Stimulus & Response

Proponents:
Fries, Skinner, Bloomfield, N. Brooks
The Audio-lingual Method
Principles and methods:
FL as a process of habit formation
Emphasizes speaking and listening before reading and
writing

Uses dialogues and drills

Discourages use of the mother tongue in the

classroom

Often make use of contrastive analysis

Central issues : How to teach?

The Communicative Approach
Principles and methods:
Teaching language as communication

Appropriateness rather than acceptability

Content not form is emphasized

Learner factors
Authenticity

Central Issue: Whom to teach?

Characteristics of the
Communicative Approach:
1. Student-centered.
2. Teacher acts as an advisor, organizer, facilitator,
guide, monitor, evaluator, etc. in class.
3. The use rather than the usage of English is stressed
4. Students learn to communicate by communicating
through truly communicative activities: three features:
information/opinion gap, choice, and feedback
5. The use of authentic materials. It is considered
desirable to give students an opportunity to develop
strategies for understanding language as it is actually
used by native speakers.
 Some Famous models of Communicative
Approach:
Canale and Swain Model
Bachman Model
Li Xiaoju Model

Proponent of CLT in China

Work: “ Communicative English for Chinese Learners”
Recently the course of CECL is graded as an excellent
course by the Chinese Educational Ministry.
 What the class will be like when
the teacher uses different method?
Experiencing the four
methods:
 Four elementary level adult English classes
we make up at a university in China
 Teaching methods:
Grammar-Translation Method
Direct Method
Audio-Lingual Method
Communicative Approach
 Number of students: 30
 Teaching content: a short funny English story
in about 40 words about watching TV at home.
Experiencing the four methods:
 A little funny story: Is Jim Clever?
 One day, Jim and his brother were
watching TV. Suddenly Jim turned
off the TV. “Why do you turn it off?”
asked his brother. “I want to drink
water and I don’t want to miss the
TV program.” replied Jim.
Grammar-Translation Method
 The teacher teaches some new words first, eg, watch, miss, pro
gram;
 then goes through the whole passage sentence by sentence, an
d translates them into Chinese;
 meanwhile explains some key grammatical points in the passag
e, such as past continuous tense, the phrases: turn off and turn
on
 and asks the students to do some exercises about them.
 Alternative:
 Some students are called on to read a few lines from the passa
ge. After each has finished reading, s/he is asked to translate int
o Chinese the few lines he has just read.
 When the reading and translating are finished, the teacher may
respond to the questions if any raised by the students in Chines
e, then move to the comprehension and vocabulary exercises a
bout the story.
Direct Method

 No translation, meaning is directly

connected with the target language.
Direct Method
 At the beginning of the lesson, the
teacher puts up the picture of the story
on the blackboard first,
Then , s/he calls on the students one by one and read a sentence from the
reading passage. The teacher may then point to the part of the picture the
sentence describes after each student has read his sentence.
Direct Method
 At last, comes the questions and answe
rs session in the target language, and th
e teacher tries her/his best to answer t
he students’ questions in English by ges
tures, facial expressions, drawings on th
e blackboard, and giving examples and
relating the explanations to the student
s’ own life.
Audio-Lingual Method
 When the class begins, the teacher presents and
acts out the new story and the short dialogue in the
story in English.
 The students are expected to pay attention to the
new text and try to understand the meaning of it and
learn the whole text by heart.
 After the teacher makes sure that the students can
understand the text, s/he has the whole class repeat
each of the lines of the text after his/her model.
 Then the teacher and students take turns to do the
lines of the characters in the story to further get their
mouth around the words. Then other language drills
are followed to help the students to grasp the key
language points or sentence patterns. Finally, the
students are asked to role play the dialogue in the
story in class with half of the class do the part of one
speaker and the other half does the role of the other
speaker.
Communicative Approach
 The teacher may first give the students some key
words in the story and asks them to predict the
content of the story.
 The teacher may also present the first part of the
story and ask the students to guess the end of the
story.
 The teacher can design a role-play based on the
story, ask the students to work in pairs and play the
roles of the speakers in the story and present their
play in class.
 The teacher can also ask the students to have a
debate contest on the impact of TV on Children in
two teams or a speech contest on the topic of My
Favorite TV Program or TV and Our life to provide
the students as many chances as possible to use the
English they learned to express their ideas and
communicate with others.
An analysis of the activities used in the class on
the basis of CLT characteristics:
 1. Student-centered.
 2. Teacher acts as an advisor, organizer, facilitator,
guide, monitor, evaluator, etc. in class.
 3. The use rather than the usage of English is
stressed.
 4. Students learn to communicate by communicating
through truly communicative activities: role-play,
reader’s theatre, chained story, etc.
 5. The use of a semi-authentic material. The students
are given an opportunity to develop strategies for
understanding language as it is actually used by
native speakers.
In short,
 A truly communicative English
class!
Concluding remarks
 From the above discussions we can infer that
the main domain of applied linguistics: the
study of second and foreign language
learning and teaching is closely related to the
social conditions, the development of various
other disciplines: psychology, sociology,
philosophy, etc., above all, the better
understanding of the knowledge and role of
language in our life.
Questions for thought:
 1. What foreign language, especially
English language learning and teaching
method is most effective and
appropriate in China now?
 2. What contributions the practice of
second and foreign language learning
and teaching can make to the further
exploration of the marvelous scope of
linguistics?
References:
 Gui Shichun. 2001. Applied Linguistics Course hando
ut.
 Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 1985.
 Ur, Penny. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching: Pr
atice and Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
 Zhengchao. 2003. Introduction to Linguistics and App
lied Linguistics course handout.
 桂诗春 . 应用语言学与中国英语教学 . 济南：山东教育
出版社， 1988.

 李筱菊 . 交际英语教程 . 上海：上海外语教育出版社

， 2000.
 王鸣 . 笑学英语 365 天 . 上海：东方出版中心， 200
2.
 Thank you for your
attention.
good-bye!