Today on March 17, 2015, I had a session of English as a Foreign Language with Ms. Nooshan that proved to be quite fruitful and knowledgeable. The topic of the session was Teaching Methods and I learned about the following methods:
1. Grammar Translation Method: In grammar-translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translate sentences between the target language and the native language. Advanced students may be required to translate whole texts word for word. The method has two main goals: to enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language, and to further students’ general intellectual development.
2. Direct Method: It is used in teaching foreign languages, refrains from using the learners' native language and uses only the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900 and contrasts with the Grammar Translation Method and other traditional approaches, as well as with C.J.Dodson's bilingual method.
3. Audio-lingual Method: Like the direct method, the audio-lingual method advised that students be taught a language directly, without using the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language. However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method didn't focus on teaching vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.
10. The Natural Approach: It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting, and to this end it emphasizes communication, and places decreased importance on conscious grammar study and explicit correction of student errors.
11. Content-based Teaching: In this method, learners are exposed to a considerable amount of language through stimulating content. Learners explore interesting content & are engaged in appropriate language-dependent activities. Learning language becomes automatic.
1. Grammar Translation Method: In grammar-translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translate sentences between the target language and the native language. Advanced students may be required to translate whole texts word for word. The method has two main goals: to enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language, and to further students’ general intellectual development.
4. Reading Approach: The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken. Only grammar necessary for reading comprehension and fluency is taught.
5. Community Language Learning: This approach is patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to the peculiar anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages. Consequently, the learner is not thought of as a student but as a client.
6. Suggestopedia: Suggestopedia is a portmanteau of the words “suggestion” and “pedagogy". A common misconception is to link "suggestion" to "hypnosis". However, Lozanov intended it in the sense of offering or proposing, emphasizing student choice.
7. The Silent Way:This method emphasizes the autonomy of the learner; the teacher's role is to monitor the students' efforts, and the students are encouraged to have an active role in learning the language. Pronunciation is seen as fundamental; beginner courses start with pronunciation, and time is spent practicing it in most lessons, even with advanced students.
8. Total Physical Response: It is based on the coordination of language and physical movement. In TPR, instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions. TPR is a valuable way to learn vocabulary, especially idiomatic terms, e.g., phrasal verbs.
9. Communicative Language Teaching: Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach, is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study.10. The Natural Approach: It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting, and to this end it emphasizes communication, and places decreased importance on conscious grammar study and explicit correction of student errors.
11. Content-based Teaching: In this method, learners are exposed to a considerable amount of language through stimulating content. Learners explore interesting content & are engaged in appropriate language-dependent activities. Learning language becomes automatic.
