STEP #1 - THE WRITTEN REFLECTIONS ABOUT THEORIES OF TEACHING IN

LANGUAGE TEACHING

By studying the document written by Jack C. Richards entitled teaching theories

in the teaching of a language there, he exposes three theories each with their respective
foundations and the results that their own creators obtained in order to conclude them and
apply them in the processes of teaching a foreign language.

On a personal basis it is very important to be able to study each theory very

thoroughly since, the text was created to analyze the conceptualizations of teaching found
in teaching English to speakers of other languages, it places a lot of emphasis on the
classification of teaching what did Zahorik in 1986, dividing teaching according to him
into three categories: Conceptions of Science-Research, Conceptions of Theory-
philosophy and Conception of Education as Crafts.

I think that the exposition that the document makes to each of the theories is very
well founded since it allows me to delve into those tools that every future educator in
foreign languages should know and have in mind in the professional training of their
career.

Zahorik bases the theory of science and research on the development of principles
focused on memory, transfer and motivation that he considers important in mastering and
learning a language; For this, it was based on the monitoring of the acquisition of a
language through the tasks because it deduces that the same student must be taken to look
for the meaning and thus facilitate learning.

Interesting is the program developed by Prahbu in India in 1983 based on the

creation of didactic materials to support three types of tasks that according to him
facilitated the observation of students in their study process. The research aimed to let
designers know what types of tasks could best facilitate the acquisition of specific
structures and functions of the target language.

Zahorik recommends following a proven teaching model, for this he presents an

analysis of the method on the teacher's question patterns for the students and the response
time. Long established in 1984 that research affected teaching patterns and student
participation in language acquisition.
 On the other hand, Tikunoff in 1985 did a study in California and Hawaii on the
importance of identifying effective teachers and following their teaching practices for
which they have positioned them as role models in teaching. He exposes three conclusions
to which he arrived: they organized the instruction, structured the teaching activities very
well and did the proper monitoring of how the students improved through the tasks. Blun
in 1984 concluded that teaching that reflects these principles applied by effective teachers
has been called direct instruction or active teaching.

Zahorik It is based on the fact that teachers understand philosophical theory well
From their ideal methodology and that when teaching they achieve in the classroom to
materialize it said Through practice, while for Gattegno in 1982 he said that, although the
method of the silent path initially for adults has not been subjected to some form of
verification was based on the fact that the minds of the students had to be activated by the
teachers so that they would express themselves spontaneously.

I like the article why it has a values-based approach that looks at the role of
education in society and the way the school bases its curriculum on the humanistic
approach in the development of human values and understanding of others, leads the
teacher to critically reflect on their teaching experience. They propose that trainee
teachers collect data on their own practices in the classroom, taking notes in a diary,
having conversations with other teachers or observing and discussing videos related to
their teaching practice.

Finally, I very much agree with Zahorik when in 1986 he says that he focuses on
teaching as a trade or an art and what has a lot to do with the personality of the teacher to
achieve the desired result in the student since, he advises all future teachers We must not
stick with just one method, but must constantly discover things that work by discarding
the old and incorporating new things every day.