Theorists, Theories & Models in Language Teaching

Methodology
A UGC NET (Spanish) Exam Reference Guide
Based on: Jack C. Richards & Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 3rd
edition (Cambridge University Press)

This guide distils the book chapter by chapter into the theorists, theories and pedagogical models it
discusses, with dates and the core idea of each, organised for quick revision. It also flags exactly how a
question on a name/date/model is likely to be framed in NET-style papers.

1. Quick Chronology (for rapid revision)

A bird's-eye view — use this table to fix the sequence in your mind before going into chapter detail.
Period Method / Approach / Theory Key Figure(s)
16th–19th c. Latin-grammar model → Grammar-Translation Seidenstücker, Plötz, Ollendorf,
Method Meidinger
1860s–1890s Early reformers / “natural” precursors C. Marcel, T. Prendergast, F. Gouin,
L. Sauveur, F. Franke
1880s–1900s Reform Movement → Direct Method Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Viëtor, Paul
Passy, Maximilian Berlitz
1920s–1930s Oral Approach (Britain) Harold Palmer, A. S. Hornby (with O.
Jespersen, D. Jones)
1940s–1950s Army Method → Audiolingual Method (USA) Leonard Bloomfield, Charles Fries, B.
F. Skinner, Nelson Brooks, Robert
Lado
1950s–1960s Situational Language Teaching George Pittman, L. G. Alexander
1963 Approach–Method–Technique model Edward Anthony
1965 Language Teaching Analysis model William Mackey
1972 The Silent Way Caleb Gattegno
1971–present Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Dell Hymes, M. A. K. Halliday, Henry
Widdowson, D. A. Wilkins, Canale &
Swain, Sandra Savignon
1970s Community Language Learning Charles A. Curran
1970s Suggestopedia Georgi Lozanov
1965 Total Physical Response (TPR) James Asher
(theory)/1977
(method)
1977 / 1983 The Natural Approach Tracy Terrell & Stephen Krashen
1970s–80s Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) (US adult-ESL movement; Auerbach,
Docking, Grognet & Crandall)
1980s Whole Language Kenneth Goodman, Marie Clay,
Frank Smith
1983 Multiple Intelligences theory Howard Gardner
1980s–90s Cooperative Language Learning David & Roger Johnson, Robert
 Slavin, Spencer Kagan
1983–90s Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) N. S. Prabhu (Bangalore Project),
Michael Long, Peter Skehan, Jane &
Dave Willis
1990s Text-Based Instruction / Genre Approach M. A. K. Halliday (and the
Sydney/Australian genre school)
1993 The Lexical Approach Michael Lewis
1994 (EU Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) European Commission; Content-
policy) Based Instruction (CBI) parallel in N.
America
2001 Common European Framework of Reference Council of Europe
(CEFR)
1990s–present Post-method era / critique of Western-centric B. Kumaravadivelu, Adrian Holliday
methods

2. The Analytical Model Used Throughout the Book (Chapter 2)

Before the methods themselves, NET papers often test the framework used to analyse them — know
this cold.
• Edward Anthony (1963) — proposed the original three-level hierarchy: Approach (axiomatic
beliefs about language/learning) → Method (an overall procedural plan consistent with the
approach) → Technique (the actual classroom implementation). “Techniques carry out a method
which is consistent with an approach.”
• William Mackey (1965) — Language Teaching Analysis: a rival model focused only on
method/technique level — the dimensions of selection, gradation, presentation and repetition in
textbook design. Does not address “approach”.
• Richards & Rodgers (this book) — revised Anthony's model into Approach → Design →
Procedure. “Design” covers objectives, syllabus type, learning/teaching activities, learner roles,
teacher roles, and role of materials. “Procedure” replaces “technique”. This is the three-part lens
(Approach/Design/Procedure) applied to every method in the book and is a very common NET
conceptual question.

Models of Language (“Theory of Language”) cited in Chapter 2

Model Core idea / where it surfaces
Cognitive model Language reflects properties of mind; learning = abstracting rules of
competence (Chomsky's notion of competence; cf. Universal Grammar,
proposed 1980s). Seen in Grammar-Translation, cognitive-code approach,
Silent Way.
Structural model Language = a system of structurally related elements (phonemes, morphemes,
sentence patterns). Seen in Audiolingual Method, Situational Language
Teaching, TPR.
Functional model Language = vehicle for functional meaning / real-world activity; linked to
“communicative competence”. Seen in CLT, CBLT; underlies the Council of
Europe's Threshold Level syllabus.
Interactional model Language = vehicle for interpersonal relations/social transactions; draws on
SLA, conversation analysis, ethnomethodology. Central to CLT and Task-Based
Language Teaching.
Sociocultural model Language as communicative activity where social context is central; knowledge
 built through social interaction. Underlies Task-Based Teaching, CBI,
Cooperative Language Learning.
Genre model Language = resource for meaning-making through socially shaped texts
(narratives, reports, recounts). Draws on the Australian school built on Halliday's
work. Seen in Text-Based Instruction, CBI/CLIL.
Lexical model Grammar and vocabulary are intrinsically related; multi-word “chunks” are
central. Basis of the Lexical Approach (Lewis).

Theories of Learning cited in Chapter 2

Theory Key name(s)/date Core idea
Behaviorism B. F. Skinner (1957) Learning = habit formation via stimulus–
response–reinforcement. Basis of the
Audiolingual Method.
Cognitive-code learning 1960s (reaction to Learning is a cognitive process combining
behaviorism) deductive/inductive rule learning with meaningful
practice; underlies the PPP lesson format and
the Silent Way.
Creative-construction 1970s Learning is a creative process producing
hypothesis common developmental patterns across
learners; errors are evidence of learning.
Underlies CLT's fluency work and TBLT.
Skill-learning theory — Complex language use = hierarchy of skills
moving from controlled to automatic processing
(controlled/automatic processing distinction).
Interactional theory — Learning depends on negotiation of meaning
between learners and more competent
interlocutors; central to CLT and TBLT.
Constructivism Jean Piaget, John Dewey Learning = the learner's own internal construction
of meaning, not passive transmission. Seen in
CLT, Whole Language, Community Language
Learning, Cooperative Language Learning.
Sociocultural learning Lev Vygotsky; scaffolding — Learning happens through guided
theory (social Lave & Wenger (1991); participation/dialogue with a “more
constructivism) Rogoff (1990) knowledgeable other”; the key mechanism is
scaffolding. Underlies CLIL, text- and task-based
instruction.

3. Part I — Foundations & Major 20th-Century Trends

3.1 Before the Reform Movement
• Grammar-Translation Method (1840s–1940s) — grew out of the Latin-teaching tradition.
Associated names: Johann Seidenstücker, Karl Plötz, H. S. Ollendorf, Johann Meidinger (hence
sometimes called the “Prussian Method” in the US). No learning theory underlies it; focus on
reading literature, deductive grammar, translation, accuracy.
• Roger Ascham & Montaigne (16th c.), Comenius & John Locke (17th c.) — early curriculum
reformers who questioned rote Latin teaching, predating the formal Reform Movement.
• C. Marcel (1793–1896) — French; treated child language acquisition as a model for L2 teaching;
argued reading should be taught first.
 • T. Prendergast (1806–1886) — English; noted children use context/situational cues and
memorized “routines”; proposed the first “structural syllabus.”
• F. Gouin (1831–1896) — French; built a method around observing child language use, organising
teaching around situational “series” of action sentences (e.g. opening a door). Anticipates
Situational Language Teaching and TPR.

3.2 The Reform Movement → Direct Method

• Henry Sweet (1845–1912) — English applied linguist; The Practical Study of Languages (1899);
argued teaching method must rest on scientific analysis of language and psychology.
• Wilhelm Viëtor (1850–1918) — German; pamphlet Language Teaching Must Start Afresh (1882);
stressed phonetics training and criticised Grammar-Translation.
• Paul Passy — French phonetician; with Sweet and Viëtor gave the Reform Movement intellectual
leadership from the 1880s. The International Phonetic Association was founded in 1886.
• L. Sauveur (1826–1907) — used intensive question-based oral interaction; opened a Boston
language school (1860s); his method became known as the Natural Method.
• F. Franke (1884) — German; gave the psychological/theoretical justification for direct,
monolingual association between form and meaning.
• Maximilian Berlitz — commercialised the approach as the “Berlitz Method”; together with
Sauveur popularised what came to be called the Direct Method in the US.
Note: the 1929 Coleman Report (USA) recommended a reading-based goal for foreign language study,
shaping American FL teaching until WWII.

3.3 Chapter 3 — The Oral Approach & Situational Language Teaching (Britain,
1920s–1960s)
• Harold Palmer (1877–1949) — directed the Institute for Research in English Teaching, Japan
(from 1922); developed sentence-pattern/“substitution table” grammar and vocabulary-selection
principles. Key works: The Scientific Study and Teaching of Languages (1917), Principles of
Language Study (1921).
• A. S. Hornby (1898–1978) — with Palmer, classified English structures into sentence patterns;
compiled the first learner's dictionary (The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English,
1953) and used the term “Situational Approach” (1950).
• Otto Jespersen (1860–1943) & Daniel Jones — prominent linguist/phonetician whose work
Palmer and Hornby drew on.
• Michael West — examined English teaching in India (1920s); co-developed A General Service
List of English Words (1953).
• J. R. Firth, then M. A. K. Halliday — British linguists from the 1930s who linked structure to
context/situation — the theoretical root of “situational” language teaching.
• George Pittman — Australian; developed the influential Situational English materials (1965) used
across Australia/the Pacific; drew on Fries's American structuralism.

3.4 Chapter 4 — The Audiolingual Method (USA, 1940s–1960s)

• Leonard Bloomfield — Yale linguist; developed the “informant method” for the Army Specialized
Training Program (ASTP, established 1942) — precursor of Audiolingualism.
• Charles Fries — director of the first English Language Institute, University of Michigan (1939);
Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language (1945); founded contrastive analysis;
grammar/“structure” as the starting point of teaching.
• Nelson Brooks — coined the term “Audiolingual” in 1964.
 • B. F. Skinner — behaviorist psychologist; Verbal Behavior (1957) supplied the stimulus–
response–reinforcement learning theory behind Audiolingual drilling.
• Robert Lado — associated materials writer (Lado English Series).
• William Moulton (1961) — summarised the structuralist slogans underlying the method
(“language is speech, not writing… a language is a set of habits…”).
Trigger: Sputnik (1957) → US National Defense Education Act (1958) → funding push that
consolidated Audiolingualism nationally.

4. Part II — Current Approaches and Methods

4.1 Chapter 5 — Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), from 1971
• Noam Chomsky — Syntactic Structures (1957) undermined structural linguistics by showing
language's rule-governed creativity; his narrow notion of “competence” (the ideal speaker-listener)
was the foil against which Hymes reacted.
• Dell Hymes (1972) — coined “communicative competence” in reaction to Chomsky; defined
knowing a language as knowing what is formally possible, feasible, appropriate, and actually
performed.
• M. A. K. Halliday — functional theory of language; identified 7 functions of child language
(instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative, representational) —
frequently tested list.
• Henry Widdowson — Teaching Language as Communication (1978); distinguished linguistic
systems from their communicative value in discourse.
• D. A. Wilkins (1972, expanded 1976) — Notional Syllabuses; proposed notional categories (time,
quantity, location) and functional categories (requests, complaints) as the basis of a
communicative syllabus — fed into the Council of Europe's Threshold Level (Van Ek & Alexander,
1980).
• Canale & Swain (1980) — four-part model of communicative competence: grammatical,
sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence — a very commonly tested list.
• Christopher Candlin, Christopher Brumfit, Keith Johnson — other British applied linguists
central to early CLT theorising.
• Sandra Savignon (1983) — leading North American CLT proponent; surveyed SLA research as a
learning-theory base for CLT.
• William Littlewood (1981) — emphasised CLT's systematic attention to both functional and
structural aspects of language.
• Bronislaw Malinowski & J. R. Firth — earlier anthropologist/linguist pairing credited (by Halliday
and Hymes) as the root of context-based views of meaning.
Howatt's (1984) “strong” vs “weak” version of CLT is a classic distinction: weak CLT = practising
language for communicative purposes; strong CLT = language is acquired through communication
itself.

4.2 Chapter 6 — Content-Based Instruction (CBI) & CLIL

• Content-Based Instruction (CBI) — North American term; grew organically from CLT principles
and immersion-education research from the 1980s; no single named founder — an approach, not
a method.
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) — the European parallel; officially proposed
in a European Commission policy paper (1976); the acronym CLIL circulated officially from 1994
onward as an EU multilingualism policy instrument.
4.3 Chapter 7 — Whole Language
• Kenneth Goodman (1986, What's Whole in Whole Language?) — leading figure; reading
specialist who argued against “bottom-up,” skills-isolated reading instruction.
• Marie Clay & Frank Smith — fellow reading specialists who shaped the “top-down”, meaning-
driven reading view underlying Whole Language.
Theoretical base: humanistic and constructivist learning theory (Piaget/Dewey/Vygotsky lineage);
rejects breaking language into isolated skills.

4.4 Chapter 8 — Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT), Standards & the

CEFR
• Competency-Based Education (CBE) — emerged in the US in the 1970s; defines outcomes as
precise, measurable competencies rather than specifying input/syllabus content (“backward
design”).
• Elsa Auerbach (1986) — documented CBLT's adoption as “state-of-the-art” in US adult ESL
policy and listed its eight defining features (focus on life skills, modularised instruction, explicit a
priori outcomes, continuous assessment, etc.).
• Docking (1994) — advocate; framed CBLT/competency assessment as a tool to improve teaching
quality system-wide.
• Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) — Council of Europe framework
describing language proficiency as sets of “can-do” competencies across six levels (A1–C2); the
direct institutional descendant of the Council of Europe's earlier Threshold Level work that fed
CLT.

4.5 Chapter 9 — Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)

• N. S. Prabhu (1983, 1987) — the Bangalore/Communicational Teaching Project (South India) —
an early, influential task-based syllabus; argued meaning-focused tasks (not grammar) best
develop communicative competence. Highly examinable for an India-based NET candidate.
• Michael Long — SLA researcher; tasks as a research tool for studying negotiation of meaning
(mid-1980s onward); Long & Crookes (1993).
• Peter Skehan (1998) — synthesised the learning principles behind task-based and
communicative pedagogy.
• Jane & Dave Willis (1996, 2007) — developed practical TBLT frameworks; contrasted task-based
learning with the PPP (Presentation-Practice-Production) lesson format inherited from Situational
Language Teaching.
Other early task-based syllabus: the Malaysian Communicational Syllabus (1975) — official secondary-
school syllabus in Malaysia for over a decade.

4.6 Chapter 10 — Text-Based Instruction

• M. A. K. Halliday & the Australian “genre school” — Text-Based Instruction is built on the
genre model of language (Chapter 2): texts (narratives, reports, recounts) are units of discourse
shaped by social context.
• Susan Feez (1998) — outlined the genre/text-based syllabus design principles drawn on in this
chapter.

4.7 Chapter 11 — The Lexical Approach (1993)

• Michael Lewis (1993, 1997, 2000) — founder of the Lexical Approach; argued language is
“grammaticalized lexis,” not “lexicalized grammar” — multi-word “chunks”/collocations, not single
words or grammar rules, are the basic unit of fluency.
 • Pawley & Syder (1983) — classic paper establishing the theoretical status of memorised multi-
word sequences in fluent speech.
• Nattinger (1980) — argued language production is largely “piecing together” ready-made chunks
rather than novel grammatical generation.
Earlier root: Palmer (1925) had already drawn attention to the role of chunks in language learning.

4.8 Chapter 12 — Multiple Intelligences (MI)

• Howard Gardner (Harvard Graduate School of Education) — proposed the Multiple
Intelligences model (Frames of Mind, 1983; discussed in this book via Gardner 1993); challenged
the idea that a single IQ measures intelligence. The original eight intelligences: linguistic, logical-
mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist (an
existential intelligence was later proposed but not confirmed).
• Mary Ann Christison — applied MI theory specifically to second language learning/teaching.

4.9 Chapter 13 — Cooperative Language Learning (CLL)

• David Johnson & Roger Johnson (with Edythe Holubec, 1994) — core theorists of
Cooperative Learning in general education; defined cooperation as working toward shared goals,
contrasted with competitive classroom structures.
• Robert Slavin — major researcher establishing Cooperative Learning's achievement effects in
mainstream education.
• Spencer Kagan (1992) — developed structured cooperative activity formats; linked CLL to
Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) for fostering critical thinking via the “Question Matrix” (Wiederhold,
1995).
• Mary McGroarty (1989) — outlined six specific advantages of CLL for ESL learners.
Note: “CLL” is used in this book both for Cooperative Language Learning (Ch. 13) and
Community Language Learning (Ch. 17) — a classic NET distractor.

5. Part III — Alternative 20th-Century Approaches and Methods

5.1 Chapter 14 — The Natural Approach (1977 / 1983)
• Tracy Terrell (1977) — California Spanish teacher; first proposed the “Natural Approach” as a
new philosophy of language teaching emphasising input over production practice.
• Stephen Krashen — USC applied linguist; supplied the theoretical rationale (Krashen & Terrell,
The Natural Approach, 1983). Krashen's Monitor Model comprises five hypotheses — a near-
certain NET topic:
– Acquisition–Learning Hypothesis — “acquisition” (subconscious, like L1) vs. “learning”
(conscious knowledge of rules); learning cannot become acquisition.
– Monitor Hypothesis — conscious “learned” knowledge can only edit/monitor output, given
sufficient time, focus on form, and known rules.
– Natural Order Hypothesis — grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order,
largely independent of teaching order.
– Input Hypothesis — acquisition occurs through comprehensible input slightly beyond current
competence: the formula “i + 1.”
– Affective Filter Hypothesis — motivation, self-confidence, and low anxiety lower the “affective
filter” and allow more input through.
 • Roger Brown (A First Language, 1973) — documented common developmental stages in L1
acquisition that influenced Krashen's natural-order claims.

5.2 Chapter 15 — Total Physical Response (TPR)

• James Asher — professor of psychology, San Jose State University; built TPR around
coordinating speech with physical (motor) action, modelling L2 learning on the way children
respond physically to caregiver commands before speaking.
• Harold & Dorothy Palmer (English through Actions, 1925) — earlier action-based teaching
precedent Asher drew on.
• Theoretical roots — “trace theory” of memory (Katona, 1940) and humanistic psychology's
concern for lowering affective stress.

5.3 Chapter 16 — The Silent Way (1972)

• Caleb Gattegno (1911–1988) — devised the Silent Way; also known for Cuisenaire rods
(borrowed from mathematics educator Georges Cuisenaire) and the “Words in Color” reading
method. Core premise: the teacher should be silent as much as possible so learners produce
language themselves; learning is fostered through problem-solving with colour charts and rods, not
imitation.

5.4 Chapter 17 — Community Language Learning (CLL)

• Charles A. Curran — counselling psychologist, Loyola University Chicago; adapted Rogerian
(Carl Rogers, 1951) counselling techniques into “Counseling-Learning”; teacher =
“knower/counselor,” learners = “clients.” Learners speak in L1, the knower translates into L2,
which is then recorded/repeated — no pre-set syllabus (an a posteriori syllabus).
• Carl Rogers (1951) — source of the humanistic counselling theory CLL is built on.

5.5 Chapter 18 — Suggestopedia (1970s)

• Georgi Lozanov — Bulgarian psychiatrist (University of Sofia); developed Suggestopedia from
“Suggestology”, the study of non-rational/non-conscious influences on learning; drew on yoga and
Soviet psychology. Claimed dramatically accelerated memorisation through music, classroom
decor, comfortable seating, and an authoritative teacher persona.

6. Part IV — Teaching/Learning Environment & the Post-Method Era

• B. Kumaravadivelu (2012) — critiqued mainstream (“center-produced”) methods as Western,
“one-size-fits-all” constructs that cannot anticipate every teaching context — a foundational post-
method critique.
• Adrian Holliday (1994) — argued that the Communicative Approach, as taught by native-English-
speaker trainers, reflects culturally bound (“inner-circle”/Western) assumptions about teaching and
learning.
• Forward, Central, and Backward Design (Richards, 2013) — a curriculum-planning distinction
discussed in Chapter 21: forward design starts from syllabus content (most traditional methods);
backward design starts from learning outcomes (CBLT, CEFR); central design starts from
classroom methodology itself.
7. High-Yield NET-Style Pairings to Memorise
Name Associated with
Anthony 1963 — Approach–Method–Technique
Mackey 1965 — Language Teaching Analysis
Palmer & Hornby Oral Approach / Situational Language Teaching
Fries Audiolingual Method (structural linguistics base)
Skinner Behaviorism → Audiolingual learning theory
Brooks Coined “Audiolingual” (1964)
Hymes Communicative competence (1972)
Halliday 7 functions of language; functional/genre model
Widdowson Teaching Language as Communication (1978)
Wilkins Notional Syllabuses (1976)
Canale & Swain 4 components of communicative competence (1980)
Goodman Whole Language (1986)
Gardner Multiple Intelligences (1983)
Johnson & Johnson Cooperative Learning
Prabhu Bangalore Project / Task-Based Teaching (1983)
Lewis Lexical Approach (1993)
Krashen & Terrell Natural Approach (1983) / Monitor Model
Asher Total Physical Response
Gattegno The Silent Way (1972)
Curran Community Language Learning (Rogerian counselling)
Lozanov Suggestopedia
Kumaravadivelu / Holliday Post-method critique

¡Mucha suerte con el examen UGC NET! — use the Quick Chronology table (Section 1) for a 5-minute
final revision pass, and the pairings table (Section 7) for last-minute MCQ drilling.