Why approaches and methods

Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Language pedagogy. This site web ils very special for me , because what I need and need also to more about Methods Teaching. Thank you very much. I bestow my gratitude for sharing such a nice information on approaches and methods.

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Tags: methods Teaching terminology. Fousseni Diane July 22, at am. Thank you very much for your genuine collaboration and for your special web as well. Aria Petit May 19, at pm. Muchas, gracias, de verdad esto era justo lo que necesitaba leer.

Aditi Goyal July 16, at am. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. An overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach.

The actual implementation in the language classroom. Anthony is fifty-two years old and many other publications that followed his work contributed enormously to the understanding of these three dimensions of English language teaching.

Nevertheless, if the discussion on methods and approaches has stood the test of time, a few teachers still define methods in the pejorative narrow sense used by post-methodologists, that is, in a rather utilitarian fashion Larsen-Freeman and Anderson, The points raised by these scholars show that despite being a relatively frequent topic in the ELT universe, some practitioners still cut their teeth on drawing clear distinctions between methods, approaches and techniques.

Thus, although we do not aim to provide an exhaustive account of the existing distinctions in the three terms, we will try to contribute to the discussion with a quick general characterization based on Anthony :. If approaches, methods and techniques can be epistemologically puzzling in the micro area of ELT, other areas of research must confront the idea of approaches with that of theories.

This is probably because, to many scholars, these are areas whose boundaries are hard to distinguish given how intertwined they are on practical grounds. In the ELT, it would probably be best to characterize an approach as a framework that is meant to outline a view of language as well as a view of learning. As such, approaches are not ELT internal, that is, ELT approaches are oftentimes drawn from other autonomous and independent disciplines such as linguistics for the view of language and education theory for the view of learning.

Among the examples of approaches adopted by the ELT community are the behaviorist, structuralist, cognitivist and functional approaches to language. In other words, in logical terms a method cannot preexist an approach since it is bound to it and it serves the purpose of applying the chosen approach in an orderly and principled manner.

Some of the widely known methods are the grammartranslation method, the direct method, the silent way, suggestopedia, etc. Techniques are at the most practical end of the continuum since they embody the operational stepby- step procedures in the classroom.

Techniques are meant to make it possible for the method to be followed and guarantee the accurate execution of the principles predicted in the adopted approach. An example of a communicative language teaching technique for reading would be the three-phrased reading process which is composed of pre-reading step students make predictions about the content of a text, for instance , a while-reading step students answer information-based questions and lastly a post-reading step students react to the content presented in the text by casting their own opinions about a specific point raised therein.

In the words of Edward M. Anthony, the three dimensions can be summarized by stating that approaches, methods and techniques should be hierarchically organized in a way that exhibits the extent to which the boundaries and functions of one layer are defined in light of the layer immediately below in the hierarchy see the figure. Methods, on the other hand, are procedural in that they state how a theoretical approach will be applied by coming up with viable and tangible principles to be used in the classroom.

There can be a more than one way to approach a task. In academic field, approach can refer to the theoretical framework you are going to use in a project.

For example, if a teacher gives her students a piece of literature, and ask them to write an analysis, there will be different approaches. Some students will approach the work by analyzing the language while some students will focus on themes. There will be others who approach the work through an analysis of structure.

Similarly, in analyzing a work of literature, students will use different angles and theories. Once you have decided how you are going to approach the task, you can decide the methods you are going to use.

Method is the way in which something is done. Method is always organized, structured and systematic. It can refer to a step by step description of tasks to be completed in order to perform a task.