E.P.

* INGLÉS Evolución de la Didáctica  1

TEMA 13: Historia de la evolución de la didáctica de las lenguas

extranjeras: de los métodos de gramática-traducción a
los enfoques actuales.
Autora: Raquel Martín Tena.

Contents

0.Introduction.
1. Legal frame.
2. History of the evolution of language teaching.
3. From the grammar-translation method to current approaches.
3.1. Grammar-translation
3.2. The Direct method
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3.3. The oral approach

3.4. Audiolingual method
3.5. Humanistic approaches
3.5.1. Suggestopedia
3.5.2. The silent way
3.5.3. Communicative language learning
3.5.4. Natural approach
3.5.5. Language from within
3.5.6. Delayed oral practice
3.5.7. Total physical response

3.6. Communicative Language Teaching Approach

3.7. The eclectic approach.
3.8. Succesful language learning.
3.9. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL)

4. Teaching English with the New Technologies.

5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography

0. INTRODUCTION

In the long search for the best way of teaching a foreign language,
hundreds of different approaches, or methods, have been devised.

Several classifications of teaching methods have been made, in an

attempt to impose some degree of order on what is a highly diverse and
idiosincratic field. Some analysts make use of the fundamental distinction
REV.: 02/23

between language structure (form) and language use (function). Under

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the first heading, they include those methods that focus on the teaching
of formal rules and categories, and that emphasize the importance of
accurate written translation and the understanding of literature. Under
the second heading, they include methods that lay stress on the teaching
of active participation in natural and realistic spoken language settings,
and where the emphasis is on communicative success rather than on
formal accuracy. Many approaches are biased in one or the other
direction, though it is also common to find approaches that claim to
integrate the strengths of both positions.

Since the 1940s, the definitive solution to successful ESL instruction has
been discovered many times. There is always another tried-and-true
methodology from yet another expert theorist who may or may not have
had first-hand experience learning a second language.

In this unit we will see the legal frame, the history and evolution of
different methods in language teaching and its main characteristics. We
will focus in a deeper detail on the Communicative approach, the method
that is being more used in teaching foreign languages at the moment
and we will see the importance of teaching English with the new
technologies.

1.LEGAL FRAME

Royal Decree 157/2022, 1st March, sets the organization and minimum
teaching requirements of Primary Education nationwide in our country. It
establishes a competence-based curriculum.

There are eight key competences established for this stage:

 Competence in linguistic communication.
 Competence in multilingual communication.
 Mathematics and Science competence, Technology and
Engineering.
 Digital competence.
 Personal, social and learning to learn competence.
 Citizen competence.
 Entrepreneur competence.
 Awareness and cultural expression competence.

The Foreign Language area contributes to the acquisition of the different

key competences that make up the Exit Profile of students at the end of
basic education and, directly, participates in the achievement of
multilingual competence. Likewise, this area contributes to students
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being able to face the challenges of the XXI century, helping them to
acquire the basic knowledge necessary to get started in the
management of intercultural situations, democratic coexistence, dialogue
resolution of conflicts and the establishment of personal and social
bonds based on respect and equal rights.
This area, in addition, allows students to develop better in digital
environments and get closer to the cultures conveyed through the foreign
language.

The article 7 of the curriculum states as an objective ‘to acquire in at

least one foreign language the basic communicative compentence that
allows them to express and understand simple messages and and to
function in everyday situations”.

This implies that the teaching of a foreign language should be aimed at

students to achieve the communicative competence in all its components
(grammar competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic
competence and sociocultural competence.

The action-oriented approach proposed by the CEFR, contributes to the

design of eclectic methodologies. Thus, to carry out the guidelines given
in the official curriculum, teachers sohoud have a good knowledge and
command of the different methods in language teaching to be more
effective in our teaching.
*Add the specific legislation that establishes the curriculum of your autonomous
community.

2. HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE TEACHING

All the different methods used to teach languages have a solid linguistic
support behind. Throughout the history language has been an object of
fascination and a subject of serious enquiry for over 2,000 years.

During the Greek times, the focus was entirely on the written language.
The Romans followed Greek precedents. However, they introduced the
codification of Latin grammar under the headings of etymology,
morphology and syntax. This model of grammatical description became
the basis of language teaching in the middle ages and the Renaissance.
In due course, this model became the ‘traditional’ approach to grammar.

Very little is known about the development of linguistic ideas in Europe

during the ‘Dark Ages’ (The Middle Ages)

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Beginning around the 16th century, French, Italian, and English gained
in importance as a result of political changes in Europe, and Latin
gradually became displaced as a language of spoken and written
communication.

During the 17th century there was a rapid growth of scientific

knowledge, which gave rise to its inclusion in courses in the universities
of the European countries.

Other important trends have been noted during the 17th and 18th
centuries: the begginings of a systematic approach to phonetics or the
breakdown of Latin as a universal medium of communication, and its
replacement by modern languages.

In the mid-late nineteenth century, increased opportunities for

communication among Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency
in foreign languages. The Grammar Translation method was challenged
by new approaches to language teaching. Gouin’s approach to teaching
was based on his observations of children’s use of language. They
recognized the need for speaking proficiency rather than reading or
writing, and there was an interest in how children learn languages.

Twentieth-century: two main approaches to language study; one

European, one American. The first arises out of the aims and methods of
19th-century comparative philology, with its focus on written records, and
its interest in historical analysis and interpretation. The Genevan linguist,
F. Saussure (1857-1913) put all his emphasis on the study of the
principles governing the structure of living languages.
The second approach was to provide a careful account of the speech
patterns of the living American Indian languages. A pioneer in this field
was Franz Boas (1858-1942) and later Edward Sapir (1884-1939).

Later developments: In Europe, Saussure’s ideas were taken up. His

influence continues to be strong today, with his notion of a language
‘system’ becoming the foundation of much work in semiotics and
structuralism.

In America, the study of spoken language led to progress in phonetics

and phonology. Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) stimulated many
descriptive studies of grammar and phonology. In due course, the
Bloomfieldian approach came to be called ‘structuralist’, because of the
various kinds of techniques it employed to identify and classify features
of sentence structure.

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In 1957 Chomsky published ‘Syntactic Structures’ which proved to be a

turning point in 20th-century linguistics. He developed the concept of a
generative grammar. Chomsky drew a fundamental distinction between
a person´s knowledge of the rules of a language (competence) and the
actual use of that language in real situations (performance).

3. FROM THE GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION TO THE

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH.

3.1. The grammar-translation method.

The grammar-translation method was the dominant foreign language
teaching method in Europe from the 1840s to the 1940s.

Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the
target language. Emphasis was on learning grammar rules, lists of
vocabulary, and sentences for translation which usually had little
relationship to the real world. Speaking the foreign language was not the
goal, and oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the
sentences they had translated. Little or no attention is given to
pronunciation.

Advantages: big classes can be taught and it saves time.

Disadvantages: it does not sound natural to a native speaker; produces
difficult mistakes to eradicate; tedious experience of memorizing endless
lists of unusable grammar rules and vocabulary; little stress on accurate
pronunciation; and often creates frustration for students.

This approach dominated early work in modern language teaching, but

the vast majority of teachers now recognize that the approach does little
to meet the spoken language needs and interests of today´s language
students.

3.2. The Direct method.

The Direct method, also called natural method, was established in
Germany around 1900, and is best represented by the methods devised
by Berlitz and Sauveur in America and by Gouin in Europe. It became
very popular during the first quarter of 20th century.
This method was the out come of an action against the grammar
translation method. It was based on the assumption that the leaner of a
foreign language should think directly in the target language and
operates on the idea that second learning must be an imitation of first
language learning as this is the natural way humans learn any language.

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The direct method places great stress on correct pronunciation.

According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away
from second language learner for as long as possible, and grammar,
translation should be avoided because this would involve the application
of the learner’s first language.
Advantages:
- It provides students with the chance for intensive immersion in the
second language.
- It tries to emphasize effective language use.
Disadvantages:
- It is difficult to generate natural learning situations in the artificial
environment of the classroom.
- It is difficult to provide everyone with sufficient practice.
- This method lacked a basis in applied linguistic theory, and failed to
consider the practical realities of the classroom.
3.3. The Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching (Britain)
The Oral approach may seem to be very similar to the Direct method in
that the emphasis was on the spoken language, but it was based on a
much more systematic view of language. In the approach, there have
been attempts to analyse English and classify its major grammatical
structures into sentence patterns. For example:
He did it because I wanted him to.
She sold it because he told her to.
The structures were often situationalized to provide a context to help the
learners, but even so, the exercises stood alone and their only relevance
was that they presented a pattern for students to practise.

3.4. The Audio-lingual method (United States)

The Audio-Lingual method was developed in the United States during
World War II. At that time there was a need for people to learn foreign
languages rapidly for military purposes. It flourished between about 1950
and 1965.
It was based on a behaviourist approach to learning. The language was
broken down into grammatical structures, which learners practised by
means of drills which were concerned with giving students practice in
forming correct sentences. For example:
‘David runs ten miles every day.’
‘……. walks………………….’
‘Sheila……………………….’
Advantages:
- Listening and speaking were given preference.
Disadvantages:
- Mechanical repetition led to the mastery of sentence pattern rather
than creative or real commnunicative use of language.
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- Relevant interests of the learners were generally ignored.

- The exercices turned out to be very artificial.
Nowadays this method is less popular because of its reliance on drills
which is found boring by the students.

3.5. Humanistic approaches.

Since the 1960, several fresh approaches to FLL have been devised,
aiming to provide a radical alternative to traditional methods. Cognitive
psychologists and transformational-generative linguists argued that
people cannot learn a language by repeating what they hear spoken
around them. They consider that:
 Speakers form rules, which allow them to understand and create
novel utterances.
 Learners are seen to be much more actively responsible for their
own learning.
 Errors are inevitable and are signs to the teacher that the students
are actively testing their hypothesis.
 Student progress is accomplished little by little, with a lot of
imperfection expected in the beginning.
 All four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are worked
on from the beginning.
 Meaning is thought to be at least as important as form.

The main Humanistic approaches are:

1. Suggestopedia (Georgi Lozanov).
2. The silent way (Caleb Gattegno)
3. Community language learning (Charles A. Curan)
4. Natural approach (Tracy D. Terrel)
5. Language from within (Beverly Galyean)
6. Delayed oral practice (Valerian A. Postovsky)
7. Total physical response (James J. Asher)

3.5.1. Suggestopedia (Georgi Lozanov)

Suggestopedia, the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy,
has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that they
cannot be successful and, thus, to help them overcome barriers to
learning.

According to Lozanov and others, we may be using only five to ten

percent of our mental capacity. In order to make better use of our mental
reserves, the limitations we think we have need to be “desuggested” and
a positive attitude towards language learning need to be developed
(“resuggestion”).

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Principles:
1. The emphasis is on informal communication.
2. No attention is drawn to grammatical errors.
3. Music and movement reinforce the linguistic material.
4. The teacher attempts to increase her student´s confidence.

3.5.2. The silent way (Caleb Gattegno).

This approach aims to provide an environment which keeps the amount
of teaching to a minimum and encourages learners to develop their own
ways of using the language elements introduced.
Principles:
1. The teacher does not repeat the material or provide sentences for
students to imitate (she points to the words or pictures)
2. No use is made of the learner´s L1.
3. The teacher guides the student´s learning while saying as little as
possible, so the students say more – hence the “silent way”.

3.5.3. Community language learning (Charles A. Curran).

This method takes its principle from the more general Counseling-
Learning approach. Charles A. Curran discovered that adults often feel
threatened by a new learning situation.
Principles:
1. The main aim is to foster strong personal links between the teacher
(counsellor) and the learners to eliminate what is threatening in the
FLL.
2. There is no prepared material. The learners talk naturally in their L1,
and seek from the teacher FL equivalents for what they want to say.
The teacher provides the translation, and the studens repeat it.
3. Each session is tape recorded, and is followed by a discussion with
the teacher of what went on.

3.5.4. Natural approach (Tracy D. Terrell 1983).

It uses the same name as the established Natural Method because
emphasizes the role of natural language acquisition and underscores the
parallels between the first and second languages.
Principles:
1. It stresses the importance of emotional rather than cognitive factors in
learning and of mastering vocabulary rather than grammatical rules.
2. There is no formal correction.
3. The aim is to establish an ability to understand the basic content of a
communication in informal settings.
4. Learners use their L1 while their L2 comprehension is developing.

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3.5.5. Language from within (Beverly Galyean).

This method encourages learners to be introspective about their own
needs, interests, values, and “here and now” activities, and to talk about
these emotional responses to others. All material comes from the
students, as they become more self-aware, and build up a close
relationship with each other.

3.5.6. Delayed oral practice (Valerian A. Postovsky)

This approach, often known as the ‘comprehension approach’ is based on
the principle that it is far easier for learners to achieve competence in
recognizing language, whether in speech or writing, than in producing it.

3.5.7. Total physical response (James J. Asher)

This method is also within the ‘comprehension approach’. It stresses the
importance of listening comprehension. The idea of focusing on listening
comprehension during early foreign language instruction comes from
observing how children acquire their mother tongue. A baby spends
many months listening to the people around it long before it ever says a
word. The child has the time to try to make sense out of the sounds he
hears.
The name derives from the emphasis on the actions that learners have
to make, as they are given simple commands (e.g. ‘stand up’, ‘sit down’).
More advanced language is introduced by building up chains of actions,
using either spoken or written commands.

3.6. The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) or

Communicative Approach (*see topic 14 for more information)

According to Richards and Rodgers (1986), Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT) starts with a theory of language as communication. The
classroom goal of instruction is focused on developing learners'
communicative competence. Thus, learners are encouraged to
communicate with target language through interaction from the beginning
of instruction.

CLT has its origins in two sources. First, the changes in the British and
American linguistic theory in the mid-late sixties and secondly, changes
in the educational realities in Europe. Applied linguists saw the need to
focus in language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on
mere mastery of structures.

Meanwhile, the role of the European Common Market and the Council of
Europe had a significant impact on the development of CLT since there
was an increasing need to teach adults the major languages for a better
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educational cooperation. The rapid application of the new ideas by

textbook writers and its acceptance by teaching specialists gave
prominence to what became the Communicative approach or simply
Communicative Language Teaching.

The communicative approach bases its theoretical background on what

new linguistics like Hymes, Halliday, Sinclair or Coulthard prove in
their works about Communicative competence.

First we will define Communicative competence: it is a linguistic term

which refers to a learner's L2 ability. It not only refers to a learner's ability
to apply and use grammatical rules, but also to form correct utterances,
and know how to use these utterances appropriately. The term unlies the
view of language learning implicit in the communicative approach to
language teaching.

For Hymes (1967, 1972), the goal of language teaching is to develop a

‘communicative competence’, that is, the knowledge and ability a learner
needs to be communicatively competent in a speech community.

Halliday (1970) elaborated a functional theory of the functions of

language: ‘the internal organisation of language is not arbitrary but embodies a
positive reflection of the functions that language has evolved to serve in the life of
socialman’.
Canale and Swain (1980) identified four dimensions of communicative
competence: grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic
competence.

In 1971 the British D.A. Wilkins attempts to demonstrate that a language

learner needs to understand and express within two types of categories:
notional categories and categories of communicative function.
The category of communicative function refers to the purpose for which
an utterance or unit of language is used (“asking and giving information,
describing people, expressing likes and dislikes, requests, offers,
complaints”). The functional use of language cannot be determined
simply by studying the grammatical structure of sentences. For example:
FUNCTION-----invitation: ‘Do you like to play football?’
‘You can´t play football alone, can you?
FUNCTION: greeting (informal) ‘Hello’
(formal) ‘Good evening’
The same way, sentences in the imperative mood may perfom a variety
of different functions:
-Suggestion:’Try the salad’.
-Invitation: ‘Come back soon’ (saying goodbye to a friend)

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-Notions: are meaning elements which may be expressed through

noums, pronoums, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives, or
adverbs. These words express time, quantity, duration, location,
sequence, or frequency (‘numbers and letters, furniture, food,’)

When designing a Communicative Syllabus, Johnson (1982) proposed

five principles:
1. The information transfer principle.
2. The information gap principle.
3. The jigsaw principle.
4. The task dependency principle.
5. The correction for content principle.
1. The information transfer principle: focuses its attention on the ability
to understand and convey information content. The students are
asked to extract certain pieces of information from a reading or
listening text, and transfer them without any comment of the
grammatical structure.
2. The information gap principle: one student knows information
(information gap) and the other student doesn´t know it. The
conversation helps to close that gap so that both speakers have the
same information at the end of the activity.
3. The jigsaw principle: different students get at the same time different
information in order to organize it, so that at the end they will be able
to build up the whole situation or story.
4. The task dependency principle: is to have the goals clear and precise.
Without a reason for listening or reading, the student will probably fail
to do either.
5. The correction for content principle: at some stage the student´s
language production should be judged on its communicative efficacy
in relation to a specific task. It stresses the importance of achieving a
balance between accuracy and fluency.

This communicative view is considered an approach rather than a

method which provides a humanistic approach to teaching where
interactive processes of communication receive priority. Its rapid
adoption and implementation resulted from a strong support of leading
British applied linguists and language specialist, as well as institutions,
such as the British Council. However, some of the claims are still being
looked at more critically as this approach raises important issues for
teacher training, materials development, and testing and evaluation
(Richards & Rodgers 1992).

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To summarize the principles of the CLT or the Communicative

approach.
1. Communicative competence involves being able to use the language
appropiate to a given social context. Thus, the learner needs
knowledge of forms and meanings and functions and take into
consideration the social situation in order to convey his intended
meaning appropriately.
2. The teacher is a facilitator of his students’ learning (he is in charge of
providing students with situations to promote communication) and
often an initiator.
3. Students are viewed as communicators and are more responsible of
their own learning.
4. Students use the language through communicative activities such as
games, role-plays, and problem-solving tasks, information-gap
activities, through pair and group work (Larsen-Freeman, 1986).
5. The communication is purposeful. Larsen-Freeman maintains that
‘Almost everything that is done is done with a communicative intent’ (1986:132
6. CLT emphasizes the use of authentic materials in teaching language
(Widdowson, 1996).
7. Students interact with one another (pairs, small groups and whole
roup).
8. Students feel they are learning to do something useful with the
language they study. Teachers give students an opportunity to
express their individuality, by having them share their ideas and
opinions on a regular basis. This helps students ‘to integrate the foreign
language with their own personality and thus to feel more emotionally secure with
it ‘(Littlewood 1981, 94).
9. Students work on all four skills from the beginning.
10. The target language is a vehicle for communication in different
situations, not just an object to be studied. It encourages giving
learners the opportunity to respond to genuine communicative needs
in real-life situations.
11. A teacher evaluates not only his student´s accuracy, but also their
fluency. The student who has the most control of the structures and
vocabulary is not always the best communicator.
12. Errors of form are tolerated. ‘Students can have limited linguistic knowledge
and still be successful communicators’. (Larsen-Freeman, 1986)

Advantages of the Communicative Approach or CLT:

- It provides fluent natural speech appropriate for all linguistic levels
and different situations.
- Much exposure to spontaneous speech.
- Tolerance of errors. (indirect correction is strongly recommended)
- Motivating activities.
- Teacher´s first aim is to encourage students to communicate.
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Disadvantages:
- This exposure to communication involves much risk-taking and much
trial and error, which won´t suit a careful learner.
- It requires small groups. When group work is applied to a very large
class, the teacher has practically no control over what the learners are
doing in groups and has no opportunity to provide expansions.
- Teneegers or adults may feel inhibit about using the target language,
doing it in a rather playful manner.
- The fossilization of learners´errors. Brown (1980:183) describes this
process in the following way: ‘Fossilized items, are those ungrammatical or
incorrect items in the speech of a learner which gain first positive affective
feedback, then positive cognitive feedback, reinforcing an incorrect form of
language’.
- The danger of pidginization of the learner´s L2. It consists on the -
development of a fluent but very inaccurate type of speaking ability.
We also have to consider how this kind of speech is received and
judged by native speakers of the target language (a speaker can be
judged socially according to his level of linguistic competence)

Brumfit (1984:131-3) does not recommend “pure” communicative

teaching but balances activities focusing on fluency with activities aiming
at accuracy”.
CLT emphasizes the use of authentic materials in teaching language
(Widdowson, 1996). It also encourages giving learners the opportunity to
respond to genuine communicative needs in real-life situations. This is to
help learners develop strategies for understanding language as actually
used by native speakers (Canale and Swain, 1980).
3.7. The eclectic approach.
Today the professional language teacher has a good grounding in the
various techniques and new approaches, and they know and understand
the history and evolution of teaching methodologies.

The modern teacher will use a variety of methodologies and approaches,

choosing techniques from each method that they consider effective and
applying them according to the learning context and objectives.

They prepare their lessons to facilitate the understanding of the new

language being taught and do not rely on one specific ‘best method’.

In the words of Rivers (1981), the eclectic approach must be included on

language teaching theory due to its prominence on our present
educational system.

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Royal Decree 157/2022, 1st March which establishes the basic

curriculum for Primary Education nationwide in our country, follows the
guidelines of the *Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages. The action-oriented approach proposed by the CEFR,
contributes to the design of eclectic methodologies.
*The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): ‘Competence in foreign languages
requires knowledge of vocabulary and functional grammar and an awareness of the main types of verbal
interaction and registers of language. Knowledge of societal conventions, and the cultural aspects and variability
of languages is important.’

3. 8. Succesful Language Learning.

There is as yet no single theory that can account for the diversity of FLL
(Foreign Language Learning) behaviour, and explain why some learners
succed in their task, whereas others fail. There are certain aspects to
consider:
1. It is unclear how far there may be a genuine aptitude for FLL. Apart
from a positive attitude and motivation towards the learning of a
foreign language, people need to have a good memory and be
good at finding linguistic patterns. Of particular importance is an
ability to detect phonetic differences.
2. Exposure to the foreign language needs to be regular. The aim
should be to teach “little and often”.
3. Exposure to authentic materials and to native teachers whenever
possible. An important dimension is the use of educational visits
abroad, pen friends, weekend culture simulation courses…, etc.
4. Teaching objectives need to be carefully selected and graded, to
permit realistic progress with underachievers, as well as with the
gifted.
5. Teaching methods need to be flexible to suit the needs of individual
children and to make best use of classroom design and resources.
6. Teachers should have opportunities to interact with children in
groups, pairs, and individually.
7. It is important to motivate students. Learners need to see that
learning a foreign language is taken seriously around them.
8. Teachers need to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest
research in FLL.

3.9 Content and language integrated learning (CLIL)

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) involves teaching a
curricular subject through the medium of a language other than that
normally used. The subject can be entirely unrelated to language
learning, such as History or Science lessons being taught in English in a
school in Spain, France...

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CLIL is taking place and has been found to be effective in all sectors of
education from primary through to adult and higher education. Its
success has been growing over the past 10 years and continues to do
so.
Teachers working with CLIL are specialists in their own discipline rather
than traditional language teachers. They are usually fluent speakers of
the target language, bilingual or native speakers. The key issue is that
the learner is gaining new knowledge about the 'non-language' subject
while encountering, using and learning the foreign language. Ideally, the
dual-focussed nature of CLIL-programmes fosters per se the usage of
the foreign language as a tool to communicate and work on content
matter; as such, students utilise the foreign language in a functional as
well as authentic way and deal with the tasks and problems the subject
raises.

Benefits of CLIL
CLIL's multi-faceted approach can offer a variety of benefits. It:
 Builds intercultural knowledge and understanding.
 Develops intercultural communication skills.
 Improves language competence and oral communication skills.
 Develops multilingual interests and attitudes.
 Provides opportunities to study content through different
perspectives.
 Allows learners more contact with the target language.
 Does not require extra teaching hours.
 Complements other subjects rather than competes with them.
 Diversifies methods and forms of classroom practice.
Increases learners' motivation and confidence in both the language
and the subject being taught.
Alex Taylor has published in his blog: https://blog.tjtaylor.net/teaching-
methods/, this chart with the main methods based on Techniques and
Principles in Language Teaching (Oxford University Press).

Method Focus Characteristics

Translate from English into your

Grammar Translation Written literary texts native language

Direct Method (also called Everyday spoken language Student learns by associating

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Natural Method) meaning directly in English

Listening and speaking drills

and pattern practice only in
Audio-Lingual Method Sentence and sound patterns English

English grammar rules deduced

Cognitive Code Approach Grammar rules and then understood in context

Humanistic Approaches – 4 popular examples:

Student interaction rather than Teacher is silent to allow student

– The Silent Way teacher awareness of how English works

Relaxed atmosphere, with

music; encourages subliminal
– Suggestopedia Meaningful texts and vocabulary learning of English

Understanding of English
– Community Language through active student
Learning Student interaction interaction

– Comprehension Approach English speaking delayed until

(Natural Approach, the students are ready; meaning
Learnables, and Total Physical clarified through actions and
Response) Listening comprehension visuals

Understanding of English
Interaction, authentic through active student
Communicative Language communication and negotiating interaction; role play, games,
Teaching meaning information gaps

Content based on relevance to

Content-based, Task-based, and What is being communicated, students’ lives: topics, tasks,
Participatory Approaches not structure of English problem-solving

Teach learning strategies,

Learning Strategy Training, cooperation; activities vary
Cooperative Learning, and according to different
Multiple Intelligences How to learn intelligences

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By Alex Tayilor

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4. TEACHING ENGLISH WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES

As English teachers, we’re almost always on the lookout for new and
interesting ways to stimulate our language learners. With the developing
technologies in the first decade of the 21st century, internet has opened
limitless possibilities for us to use it in education. New and different
activities out of the norm, allow improved learning on the part of students
and also lower learner “affective filters” (Krashen-Terrel, 1983). With the
internet, we have gained an entry to limitless storage of videos, music,
slides related to English teaching (blogging, wikis, podcasting, digital
storytelling etc.)
Some advantages
Technology:
 Allows students to vary
the amount of time they spend.
the help they request.
the path they take through a learning activity
 Enables the teacher to tailor instruction specifically to individual
learners.
 Provides individualized interaction.
 Helps learners develop learning strategies that will benefit them
beyond the language classroom.
 Provides authentic material in a quick, accessible way making
teachers work easier.
 Facilitates creativity, collaboration and sharing between users.

For Chapelle and Jamieson in their book “Tips for Teaching with CALL -
Computer Assisted Language Learning- (2008)” teachers play a decisive role
in providing opportunities for learning and balancing online, in-class, and
out-of-class activities. In their opinion, Web sites and technology ‘perform
functions similar to what many teachers do in class and through textbooks’ in
serving as teaching tools and providing opportunities for language
learning, and multimedia software is an excellent source of input at each
student’s proficiency level.

Even using the new technologies, we should consider some basic

principles of language:
 Learners need guidance in learning English.
 There are many styles of English used for many different purposes.
 Teachers should provide guidance by selecting appropriate
language and structuring learning activities.

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Computers trigger communication between teachers and students and

among students by providing appropriate input, especially in listening,
reading, and vocabulary, and by facilitating oral communication. These
are some tips Chapelle and Jamieson offer in their book:
Working vocabulary: Internet gives sufficient exposure to words in
English that students hear or read. Include vocabulary illustration,
explanation and practice in a meaningful context and using Web sites
that can promote autonomous learning by using Compleat Lexical Tutor
(http://www.lextutor.ca/).
Working with grammar; software with discourse-level activities, such as
listening to a part of a dialogue and then producing the target form orally.
We can use cartoons or movies for grammar learning which are available
online. (http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/multimedia/programs/uuegi.htm)
offers a larger variety of grammar exercises.
Reading; choose appropriate Web sites and reading texts, emphasize
the vocabulary, and help students to understand the salient lexical and
grammatical forms in online texts.
Writing has become very important in our daily lives for professional and
non-professional communication, for example, through e-mail. There are
software and online programs that help students write and contextualize
their work according to genre, purpose, and audience.
Listening: to select appropriate listening materials, teachers should look
for those that have already been categorized by level, have relevance to
the ESL learner, and have pre-listening activities intended to activate the
student’s background knowledge. The authors recommend using videos
to enrich listening activities.
Speaking and pronunciation: Internet is a convenient tool for obtaining
speaking and pronunciation input because language learners can use it
autonomously. It can make students more confident about their speaking
skills because practice is not subject to in-classroom anxiety from which
some less confident students may suffer. Computers can be used to
complete dialogues, segment the pauses in a text, check the answer,
record his/her voice, and obtain feedback from the computer.
Some webs are: www.tellmemore.com,
http://www.masterspokenenglish.com/index.html
Focusing on communication skills: the book conveys that ‘technology is
an important part of normal communication for students today’ (p. 171), and those
students learn to communicate through communicating.
Among the pros of Internet communication, the authors consider the
ability to speak to people in distant locations, which can give students
extra motivation. Pen pal Web sites, like Linguistic Funland TESL Pen Pal

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Center (www.linguistic-funland.com), messenger forums, or chat spaces can

fulfill this goal.
Chapelle and Jamieson also mention possible risks of using the Internet,
such as plagiarism, criminal uses of the Web, technical problems with
equipment and software, and varying levels of teacher familiarity with
computers.
Some possibilities with the new technologies:
Word processor, websites, email, chats, wikis, blogs, podcasts, online
reference tools.
 Word processor: inserting images and links, creating forms (Adding
text boxes, check boxes and drop-down menus), creative writing,
collaborative writing, etc.
 Powerpoint is a program that can be used to display text and images
and play sound and video.
 Genially is a program that can be used to make interactive
presentations, animated infographics and multimedia e-learning.
 Websites: check the webpage for accuracy, currency, content and
functionality; save the links to your favourite webpages in your
favourite menu.
 Doing things with webpages: treasure hunts (similar to find someone
who…), webquests, comparing versions, internet-based project work,
access to authentic listening comprehension texts, access to videos
and videoclips.
 Email support: learners can use email for collaborative writing (In
groups Learner 1 starts the story and so on), questions, etc.
 Chats: chat is a tool which allows for real-time communication over
the internet. It may include a video and sound component or only text.
Advantages of chats: contact with other learners/cultures, real
communication with a real purpose, use of a new medium in the
classroom, opportunity to practice both spoken and written English.
Check:http://www.skype.com for voice and text chats
 A wiki is like a public website or public web page started by one
person, but which subsequent visitors can add to, delete or change as
they wish. Check:http://www.wikispaces.com
 Podcasts: Similar to a radio or TV show. You can listen to or watch (or
even create) a podcast on a topic that interests you whenever you
want to. Check:http://www.englishcaster.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.npr.org
http://www.audacity.com

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 Online reference tools: dictionaries, language translators,

thesauruses, encyclopedias(www.britannica.com
www.wikipedia.com)

5. CONCLUSION

In this unit we have given a general view of the history and evolution of
different methods in language teaching and its main characteristics and
the legal frame that supports the need to learn about them.

As far as we can see during all its history, the foreign language teaching
methods changed a lot of times emphasizing reading, translating,
audition or combining these processes.

What’s now, what’s next? applied linguistic journals assume the carrying
on and refinement of current trends within a communicative approach.
The Internet Age anticipates the development of teaching and learning in
instructional settings by means of an on-line collaboration system,
perhaps via on-line computer networks or other technological resources.
We have already seen how the use of ICT facilitates the teaching and
learning of the second language.

The contemporary attitude is flexible and utilitarian: it is recognized that

there are several ways of reaching the goal of FL competence, and that
teachers need to be aware of a range of methods, in order to find the
one most appropriate to the learner´s needs and circumstances, and to
the objectives of the course. It is frequently necessary to introduce an
eclectic approach, in which aspects of different methods are selected to
meet the demands of particular teaching situations.

As teachers, our primary responsability to our learners is to give them a

new tool with which to communicate and to experience hitherto unknown
areas of life. As Waldemar Marton (1987:15) says ‘we should also remember
that in real life, where the time, energy, and finacial resources of our learners are
limited, language teaching has to meet the criterion of efficiency’.

Finally, fostering intercultural communicative competence is one of the

challenges facing education in the globalised world of the 21st century.
The integrative nature of CLIL classes provides an opportunity for taking
not only a dual-focussed but a triple-focussed approach: simultaneously
combining foreign language learning, content subject learning and
intercultural learning as described in the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages.
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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

 BOLETÍN OFICIAL DEL ESTADO num. 52 del 2 de marzo 2022: Real

Decreto 157/2022, de 1 de marzo, por el que se establecen la
ordenación y las enseñanzas mínimas de la Educación Primaria.
 Evolution of Foreign Language Teaching Methods, Ekaterina
Mihailovna Kuznetsova, 2015.
 Language Teaching Methods: An overview by Alex Taylor BLOG
(https://blog.tjtaylor.net/teaching-methods/)
 Gabriel Díaz Maggioli, M.A. 14th March 2009.
 Comparison two method direct method and communicative
approach hadirukiyah2.blogspot.com/.../comparison-two-meth 2009.
 Chapelle, C. and Jamieson, J. (2008) Tips for teaching with CALL:
Practical Approaches to Computer-Assisted Language Learning.
Email: info@preparadores.eu  Web: http://www.preparadores.eu

White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.

 Dudeney, G. and Hockly, N. (2007) How to teach English with
Technology. Harlow: Pearson Longman
 Simkins, M., Cole, K., Tavalin, F. and Means, B. (2002) Increasing
Student Learning with Multimedia Projects. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
 Richards, J, and Rodgers, T, “Short Article on Origen and Evolution of
Language Teaching”, 1992
 Waldemar Marton, “Methods in English Language Teaching”, Prentice
Hall, 1988.
 David Crystal, “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language”,
Cambridge University Press, 1987.
 Diane Larsen-Freeman, “Techniques and Principles in Language
Teaching”, Oxford University Press 1986.
 A.P.R. Howatt, “A History of English Languge Teaching”, Oxford
University Press, 1984.
 Mary Finocchiaro Christopher Brumfit, The Functional-Notional
Approach, From Theory to Practice, Oxford University Press. 1983.
 Johnson Keith, “Communicative Syllabus Design and Methodology”,
Pergamon Press. Oxford 1982.
REV.:02/23

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