6/24/2023
Module 3: Approaches and methods in ELT
Lecturer: Dr. Vu Hai Ha
1. Definition of terms: Approaches vs. Methods
2. Most notable 11 methods and approaches in
ELT history
3. Today’s perspectives on methods and
approaches in ELT
APPROACH: theories underlying the
principles and practices of language learning
and teaching.
METHOD refers to the practical plan for
language teaching and learning, based on a
selected approach.
TECHNIQUE is the detailed procedure to
achieve a particular teaching and learning
objective or set of objectives.
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1. methods with a lowercase m means a grab
bag of classroom practices
2. Methods with an uppercase M seems to
mean a fixed set of classroom practices that
serve as a prescription and therefore do not
allow variation
3. Richards and Rodgers (2001) write about
methods as an umbrella term comprising
approach, design, and procedure
Approaches have core sets of principles but
no specific set of prescriptions and classroom
techniques.
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Late 19th 20th
L. is a system of rules
Literary L. > Spoken L.
L. can be compared and contrasted
Consist: memorizing rules & facts understand &
manipulate: morphology + syntax
Objectives:
to read its literature
benefit from: mental discipline & intellectual
development resulted from FL study
(Natural method)
1920s-1930s
L. is a system of habits
L. is primarily speech
Naturalistic principles
Second language teaching should be more
like 1st LT.
Make 2nd LT more like 1st LT
WW II
Deprived from structural linguistics and Behavioral
psychology)
L is a system of rule-governed structures hierarchically
arranged
Reinforcement helps students to develop correct
habits
Primary objective: Oral proficiency = accurate
pronunciation, grammar + quick, accurate
response (W: avoided in early stage)
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Experience is what gives meaning to language
L is sepearted from its social context and taught
through artificial situations, usually represented by
rods
The self= a learning system (activated = intelligent
awareness silent helps concentration)
(General) Near-native fluency in the target
language correct pronunciation and mastery of
the prosodic elements
Teach learners how to learn a L
1970s, later: “desuggestopedia”
Emphasis on memorization of vocabulary
pairs
Desuggestion (unload unwanted or blocking
memory from the memory banks) &
suggestion (desire or facilitating memory)
To deliver advanced conversational
proficiency quickly
L as a social process (different from L as a
communication, which here refers to earlier
sender-message-receiver model) (the speaker is
both subject and object of his message)
LL is both cognitive and affective. The
development of learner’s relationship with the
teacher is central.
Psychological requirements for successful learning:
SARD (security, aggression, retention and
reflection, discrimination)
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Language: (much) structuralist, grammar-
based
language can be internalized as wholes or
chunks > single lexical items
Stimulus – response view
Reduction of stress
Teach oral proficiency at a beginning level
Language is communication to develop
“communicative competence” Celce-Murcia,
Dornyei, and Thurrell
1995
(1) discourse competence (textual knowledge: selection,
sequencing, arrangement of words, structures, sentences
and utterances)
(2) linguistic competence (grammar knowledge + lexical
knowledge)
(3) actional competence (functional knowledge: match
actional intent + linguistic form)
(4) social-culture competence (sociocultural knowledge)
5) strategic competence (metacognitive strategies: coping
strategies to repair breakdown in communication)
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Content: information/ subject matter that we learn or
communicate through language > the language used to
convey it
Content-based learning: Decisions about content are
made first, others later
Based on:
People learn a language more successfully when using language
as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end itself
Content-based teaching better reflects people’s needs for
learning a second language
Content provides a coherent framework to link and develop all
the language skills
Task: activities where the target of language is used
by the learner (1) for communicative purposes to (2)
achieve an outcome. It involves a real-world
processes of language use, AND learnersfunction
primarily as language users rather than language
learner
Framework:
(1) Pre-task
(2) Task cycle
(3) Language focus
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