Values-based approaches:
The essentials kills in teaching are:
Understand the values behind the approach.
Select only those educational means which conform to these values.
Monitor the implementation process to ensure that the value system is being maintained.
Art-Craft Conceptions:
The essential skills of teaching are:
Treat each teaching situation as unique.
Identify the particular characteristics of each situation.
Try out different teaching strategies.
Develop personal approaches to teaching.
Eclecticism is not an option here, since the different conceptions of teaching represent fundamentally different representations of what teaching is and how teachers should approach their work. However it is possible to view these three conceptions as forming a continuum. Teachers entering the teaching profession need technical competence in teaching, and the confidence to teach
according to proven principles. Science-research conceptions of teaching might well provide a good
starting point for inexperienced teachers. As they gain experience, they can then modify and adapt
these initial theories of teaching, moving towards the more interpretive views of teaching implicit in
theory-philosophy conceptions. Eventually as they develop their own personal theories of teaching,
they can teach more from an art-craft approach, creating teaching approaches according to the
particular constraints and dynamics of the situations in which they work. In this way teacher
development can be seen as a process of on-going self-discovery and self-renewal, as top-down
approaches to teaching become replaced by more bottom-up approaches, or approaches which
blend the two. This moves the teachers’ work beyond the routine, creating both the challenges and
rewards of teaching.
Section II- Analyzing Methods of foreign language teaching
Understanding a method of foreign language teaching requires a systematic approach that has levels of analysis and criteria at each level. Method of teaching is about how a theory is put into practice and it tells what skills and content to be taught and in what order content needs to be taught. It comprises three levels: approach, design and procedure.
Approach:
Theories about the nature of language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.
The following questions reveal the background thoughts on the method:
What is the theory of learning?
What is the theory of teaching? (conception of the profession)
What are the roles of teacher / learners?
How are errors viewed and treated?
What is the role of L1?
What language skills are emphasized over others?
Design:
“...[it] specifies the relationship of theories of language and learning to both the form and function of instructional materials and activities in instructional settings.”
The questions include:
What kind of syllabus is used?
What are specific learning-teaching materials?
What is the order of language skills to be taught?
What is the learning-teaching environment like?
Procedure:
“...[it] comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs.”
The questions include:
What typical / popular classroom techniques are employed?
How does the teacher provide feedback? What are error correction techniques?
What are the interaction types?
2.2. An Overview of
Language Learning approaches and Methods
Audio-lingual Method
Overview
The
revolution in terms of language teaching methodology coincided with
World War II, when America became aware that it needed people to
learn foreign languages very quickly as part of its overall military
operations. The "Army Method" was suddenly developed
to build communicative competence in translators through very
intensive language courses focusing on aural/oral skills. This
in combination with some new ideas about language learning coming
from the disciplines of descriptive linguistics and behavioral
psychology went on to become what is known as the Audiolingual Method
(ALM).