I.E.S.

Nº 9-007 “Salvador Calafat”

English Teaching Training Course- Second Year

Special Didactics 1

Assignment Nº 7- “Methods and Approaches in Language Teaching”

Name:……Torres Romina…….
Date: 29nd august, 2023.-

1) Complete the chart with the main characteristics of each of the Methods and Approaches seen in class.

DM GTM ALM PPP NA

SETTING IN was introduced in 1840-1940 1940s 1991 1983
TIME post-war and depression
era classrooms.
ADVOCATES F.Franke-L. Sauveur- Seidenstucker - Plotz- Mattheus, Spratt & Tracy Terrel and
M. Berlitz. Ollendorf- Meidinger Dagerfield. Carol Read Stephen Krashen
AIM Establishing the direct Its focus is on accuracy and -Accurate pronunciation Presentation: - to give Ss The goal of basic
bond between thought not fluency. and grammar the opportunity to realize interpersonal
and expressions and -Ability to respond the usefulness and communication skills,
between experience and quickly and accurately in relevance of a new that is, everyday
language. speech situations. language item. language situations
It is based on the -Knowledge of sufficient -to present the meaning such as making
assumption that the vocabulary to use with and form conversation,
learner should grammar patterns. -to check understanding shopping and listening
experience the new Practice: to provide to the radio.
language in the same maximum practice within
way as he experienced controlled, but realistic
his mother tongue. and contextualized
frameworks.
-to build confidence in
using new language
 Production: -to provide
the opportunity for Ss to
use new language in freer,
more creative ways.
-to check how much has
really been learnt
-to integrate new
language with old.
-to practice dealing with
the unpredictable
-to motivate Ss
-can be used for revision
or diagnostic purposes.
PRINCIPLES - The class is conducted -Literary language is superior .Language learning is It focuses on oral skills A.Beginning language
exclusively in the target to the spoken language. habit-formation. but it can also be applied instruction should
language. -Translating each language .Mistakes are bad and more broadly to a family focus on the
- Grammar is taught into each other is an important should be avoided, as of related methods which attainment of
inductively goal for learners. they are considered bad rely on the progression immediate
- The teacher should -The authority in the habit. from presentation, communicative
demonstrate not explain classroom is the teacher. .Language skills are through controlled competence rather
or translate -To be able to communicate learned more effectively practice, to free than on grammatical
- Words and forms with target language’s if they are presented production. perfection.
meanings are taught by speakers is not among the orally first, then in B.Instruction needs to
means of realia goals. written form. be aimed at the
(concrete voc. through -The primary skills to be .Analogy is better modification and
demonstration and improved are reading and foundation for language improvement of the
abstract voc. through writing. learning than analysis. students’ developing
association) -Error correction: If a student’s .The meaning of words grammar rather than at
- Vocabulary should be answer to a question is can be learned only in a building that grammar
learned in full sentences incorrect, the teacher selects a linguistic and cultural up one rule at a time.
- Correct Pronunciation different student to give the context. C.Teachers should
and Grammar are correct answer or s/he replies afford students the
emphasized himself/herself. opportunity to acquire
(self-correction language rather than
facilitates language force them to learn it.
learning) D.Affective rather
- The learner should be than cognitive factors
actively involved in
 using the target are primary in
language in realistic language learning.
everyday situation (80% E. The key to
of lesson time) comprehension and
- The syllabus is based oral production is the
on situations or topics, acquisition of
not usually on linguistic vocabulary.
structures
- Oral teaching precedes
reading and writing
(Speech and listening
comprehension)
- It believes in
introducing the
particular before
general, concrete before
abstract and practice
before
theory
TEACHER’S is to direct the class ● Authority central and active Informant, conductor, is the primary source
ROLE activities ● Teacher talking time is (authority) ; it is a corrector, monitor, of comprehensible
more (teacher centered) teacher-dominated adviser, encourager, input in the target
● Incorrect answers are method. mistake-hearer, language
corrected by the The role is to develop in consultant.
teacher immediately. learners good language
habits. (done by patterns
drills, memorization of
dialogues, etc)
Explanation of rules is
given.
ST’S ROLE is more active - Students do what teacher is a passive one. They do very controlled, they have Learners' roles are
says not show that they are limited choice seen to change
- Students are passive learning. There is not according to their
- It is important that the feedback. stage of linguistic
student must get the correct development. Central
answer by oneself. to these changing roles
are learner decisions
on when to speak,

CRITISISM It was hard for public This method gives pupils the
schools to integrate it. wrong idea of what language
As R.Brown points out, is and of the relationship
the Direct Method did between languages. Language
not take well in public is seen as a collection of words
schools where the which are isolated and
constraints of budget, independent.
classroom size, time, Worst effect of this method is
and teacher background on pupil’s motivation. Because
(native speakers or (s)he cannot succeed-leeds to
native fluency) made frustration, boredom and
such a method difficult indiscipline.-
to use. It seemed there was no need
It does not take into for students to master the four
account ALL aspects of skills of English (listening,
language teaching (not speaking, reading, and writing)
comprehensive) This method is the easiest for a
teacher to employ. It doesn't
require a teacher to speak good
English or make good lesson
preparations.
what to speak about,
and what linguistic
expressions to use in
speaking.
Students were often Some critics have Many do not agree
found to be unable to suggested that it rests on a with the Natural
transfer skills acquired simplistic view of Approach. However,
through Audiolingualism language learning: it often most will agree that
to real communication involves more than the work of Terrell and
outside the classroom. mechanical practice. In Krashen have
addition, there is a lot of challenged teachers to
evidence to suggest that evaluate what they are
learners who do well in doing in the classroom
the practice phase fail to and, most importantly,
transfer this ability to the why they are doing it.
production phase, and
-even if they do
successfully manage the
production phase- they
often fail to transfer this
ability outside the
classroom.

2) Think about your own language learning journey. (How did you learn English? Do you remember what activities did you do in the class? Did
you learn English in the same way in primary/high school and college? How were those experiences different from each other?)
After brainstorming, select 3 activities or exercises that you vividly remember from your school years. Describe them and say whether those
techniques were useful or not in your language learning process (explain fully). Then, reflect on which approaches or methods do they belong
to and say how (if so) could be improved from your “teaching perspective”.

-I learned English through an institute, and over the years also through the internet. I remember some activities such as completing sentences,
linking, writing texts, reading out loud and others. I didn't learn in the same way because in primary school we only saw the verb to be and in
secondary school we saw Present simple, present continuous, past simple, etc. Those experiences were different because in primary school I
was little and the information was minimum, the explanations were more simple and easy. On the contrary, in high school the information was
more advanced, we did activities more difficult and we had more responsibility.
-First exercise: Write sentences with a specific verb tense. ➡ ️In this activity we had to memorize the structure of a verb tense and then write
sentences. For example: with the verb Past simple. ➡ ️Subject + verb in 2 or with ed/d. (Structure)
I played football. She went to Paris. Lucy and Kevin danced all night. My dog ate a lot. (Sentences)
This activity was useful because when you write so many times with the same structure it sticks in your memory and then you write it
naturally. You get used to it and it is easy to remember.
I remember a teacher who used to make us write two hundred sentences with Present Simple, then 200 with Future Simple, and so on with all
verb tenses. Then when it came time to create sentences ourselves or to say a certain verbal structure we already knew it from writing so
much.
It could be improved with students' interest. Because most of the time all the content is the same and maybe it does not catch student’s
attention. They do it because they have to and not because it is in their interest.

-Second activity: Choose the right option. ➡ ️In this activity there are some sentences with 2 verbs and you have to choose between them,
the correct one. For example: My sister don’t / doesn’t play tennis. Bob always drink/drinks tea in the morning.
This activity can and cannot be useful. The positive point of view is that you can see the difference between one form and the other to mark
the correct. But the disadvantage is that you have to remember the structure well otherwise you're going to mark it wrong.
In this case it helped me not to make a mistake as I could see both options.
This activity could be improved by changing it in some way so that it is not so repetitive.

-Third activity: fill in the blanks. ➡ ️Here we have to fill spaces in blank with the verbs in parentheses but in the specific verb tense.
For example with Present Continuous: 1- She _______ (be) _________ (sing) her favorite song.
2- They ______ (be)_______ (read) the wrong book.
In this case, I don't know if I can say that this activity was useful for me as it is also mainly to know the structure like the others, and after
doing the two previous ones it was a bit repetitive and boring. But on its own it is a good activity to recognise where each part of a sentence
goes.
This activity could be improved by having a little help. For example write next to the sentence an example or how to form the correct
structure.

I think that the three activities/exercises belong to Direct Method because Grammar is taught inductively, Vocabulary is learned in full
sentences, Correct Pronunciation and Grammar are emphasized, and although it has theory it is more about practice.