Approaches and methods in language teaching. (2nd edition). Jack C. Richards and Theodore S.

Rodgers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp.ix+270.

The first edition of this book, published in 1986, soon became a standard and best-selling

work explaining various approaches to, and methods of, language teaching. I have felt for some

time that a new edition was needed to bring readers up to date with recent developments.

The most useful aspect of the book is its systematic presentation of a very wide range of

language teaching methods and approaches. After a brief introductory chapter on the history of

language teaching, the authors discuss in Chapter Two the nature of approaches and methods in

language teaching, a discussion that sets the scene for the rest of the book. Thereafter, each

method or approach is dealt with in a separate chapter, each beginning with the theories of

language and of language learning which underpin the specific approach and followed by the

relevant discussed objectives, syllabus, typical activities, and the roles of teacher, learner and

materials. Each chapter ends with a useful set of current references to published works dealing

with the specific method.

This overall structure is retained in the new edition, which is about a hundred pages longer

than the original. Chapters Three and Four on the Oral Approach and the Audiolingual Method are

retained unchanged in this edition. However, the authors have abbreviated the chapters in the 1986

edition that dealt with the ‘designer’ methods of the 1970s and 1980s – Total Physical Response,

The Silent Way, Suggestopedia and Community Language Learning. As Richards and Rodgers

say (page vii) “because these methods are no longer widely used, a shorter treatment seemed

appropriate.” In contrast, they have written entirely new chapters on more recent approaches, such

as Whole Language, Multiple Intelligences, Neurolinguistic Programming, the Lexical Approach,

and Competency-based Language Learning. Thus, the new edition brings the reader up to date

with the latest methodological trends. However, a notable and perhaps surprising omission from

the book is any discussion of the current debate over issues such as focus on form and

consciousness-raising.

A whole section of the book is devoted to current communicative approaches. The new

edition retains the original chapters on Communicative Language Teaching and the Natural

Approach (but adds updated references), and new chapters on various aspects of communicative

teaching, such as Cooperative Language Learning, Content-based Instruction, and Task-based

Language Learning. In these chapters, therefore, communicative teaching is seen from a much

wider perspective than was possible fifteen or so years ago. Like all the others in the book, these

chapters are well-written, informative and well-referenced.

Whereas the original edition concluded with a chapter on comparing and evaluating methods, the

new book ends (Chapter 19) with a discussion of a “post-methods” era. Here, the authors discuss

the need for language teachers to relate insights gained from “brand name” approaches and

methods to their own values and beliefs and principles and the specific contexts in which they

work. They argue (page 250) that teachers should be encouraged to transform and adapt the

methods they use to make them their own”.

I have had the 1986 edition beside me and have made constant reference to it over the years – so

much so that my copy is now very dog-eared. I heartily recommend the new edition to all who

seek clear and dispassionate information about the wide range of current approaches and methods
to language teaching. Students of ELT, practicing second language teachers, and those involved in

professional development programs, should read this book.

Roger Barnard

University of Waikato

Waikato, New Zealand