English Didactics

Unit 2
Language teaching and teacher education.
 English Didactics

Warm-up

Mention or let's recall all the different approaches you have

learned.
 English Didactics

Theme 5
Different approaches or methodologies to teach English as a
foreign language.

 AUDIO-LINGUAL APPROACH
 NATURAL APPROACH
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
 English Didactics

Objective: By the end of the lesson,

 You will have a clear idea of the evolution of the methodologies or

approaches in L2 as well as their differences.
 You will be able to compare and contrast different activities to use
within each methodology.
 AUDIO-LINGUAL APPROACH

 It was also called the Army Method. It was implemented as a result of

World War II as soldiers needed to communicate orally with their
enemies and their allies in a quick and effective manner.
 The drilling technique is central to this approach. The end goal is for
students to be able to speak the L2 so as to communicate with natives.
 No cultural knowledge was taught.
 AUDIO-LINGUAL APPROACH

 Everything is done orally and no attention whatsoever was

paid to the written form of the language.

 Teachers use the L2 and students repeat over and over until
they learn the information by heart.

 Teachers were supposed to use a native-like accent to make

sure students picked it up completely.
 AUDIO-LINGUAL APPROACH

 Students only has to replicate the sounds and make an effort to

be as accurate as possible.
 Mistakes are corrected on the spot and grammar rules are
offered.
 Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in the context.
 Very little use of the L1 is made.
NATURAL APPROACH

This approach is not focused on the presentation of

grammatical structures. It attempts to engage students
through topics of personal interest: personal information,
their past, and their dreams and ambitions.
 NATURAL APPROACH

Krashen (2003) describes this approach in Principles and Practices in SLA:

1. Class time is devoted for providing comprehensible input.

2. Teachers only use L2 in class. Students are allowed to use L1 if necessary.
3. Mistakes are never corrected on the spot unless they impede
communication.
4. Homework may include grammar work.
 NATURAL APPROACH

5. Error correction exercises are practised.

6. The goals are semantic: activities may involve the use of certain
grammatical structures but the goals are to enable students to talk about
ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems.
7. The main focus is to create a low anxiety environment where
students can learn and practise even if they make mistakes.
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

The communicative approach enables learners to work on different

communicative competences to gain language ability and knowledge:

1. Knowing how to use the language for different purposes (inform, persuade etc)
2. Knowing how to use the language in different situations (register).
3. Know how to produce and understand different types of texts: narratives,
reports, letters, etc.
4. Knowing how to use the language effectively even when the language is
limited: definitions, synonyms, explanations, etc.
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

 This means that in the language classroom students have to be given the
chance to practise real and practical communication.

 The language curriculum should include activities the students are most likely to
be involved in, the functions of the language that are most frequently used as
well as the most common topics (Xia, 2014)

 Teachers are dynamic: planner participant, diagnostician, provider and

organiser.
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

What are teachers expected to do:

1. Provide social situations for students to use a foreign language (on

holidays, in a shop, etc)

2. Provide the topics they are likely to address (asking for directions,
daily routines, etc)

3. The language functions they need to use.

 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

What are students expected to do:

1. Interact with real speakers of the language.
2. Create meaning collaboratively.
3. Create meaningful and purposeful interactions through language.
4. Negotiate meaning.

5. Pay attention to the language one hears and trying to incorporate new
forms into one’s developing communicative competence.
6. Experiment with different ways of saying things.
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

In the Communicative Approach:

 The concept of setting is important: the context where students will and to use the language
(in an office, etc.)

 The purpose has to be clear too: business English, academic English, English for tourists,
industry, etc.

 The role the learner adopts in each activity has to be very clearly defined.

 Students have to be provided with the grammatical and lexical content they would need to
perform the tasks.
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

In the Communicative Approach:

 Culture is seen to play an instrumental role in shaping speakers’

communicative competence.

 Language learning is a process which is facilitated by activities, which

also require analysis and reflection.

 The classroom is a community.

 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

Example:
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
 COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

Criticism

The CA has been criticised by some on the grounds that:

 There is no agreed classification about the functions of language, which makes it unclear how
to choose what language functions to teach and arrange them in a teaching syllabus.

 Arranging these functions and grammar is hard to decide.

 Teachers are expected to improve their language ability and communicative competence.
Exit Slip:

 Let´s answer the questions in the padlet.