For All of Us Teachers of English

1. FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS:
SOME ISSUES AND NEW MOVES
Fernando Cerezal Sierra
Universidad de Alcalá
Summary
In thisartide,Ihave consideredthe mainFLTmethodsstill inuse atschoolsandpresentedthe theoryof
language andleamingunderiying them,theirmainfeatures,activitiesandtechniques,theirfoundation
and decline,aswell asageneral assessmentof ai!of them.The followingmethodshave beenanalysed:
the Grammar-TranslationMethod,the StructuralistMethods,andthe Communicative Approach.After
payingsome attentiontoinnovationsineducation,the Task-BasedandProcessmodelsare offeredasan
alternative.Finally,arelationshipisestablishedbetweencurriculuminnovationandchange andteacher
development.
11NTRODUCTION
The main purpose of thisartide isto provide acritical assessmentof the role playedbymethodsinthe
educational process,thoughthere isalsoanaccountof the maindifferentmethodsof foreignlanguage
teaching(FLT) that are in use today.A knowledgeof the differentmethodsgivesforeignlanguage
teachersa goodbackgroundreference totheirownstandonpedagogical mattersandclassroom
practice,and inadditionhelpsthemunderstandthe processthatFLThas undergone,particularly
throughthiscentury.To considerFLT as a processmeansthat teachingisnotstatic butchangingto
respondtonewneedsanddemandsasteachers,appliedlinguistsandeducationistscanprove.
Thisarticle dealswiththe differencesbetweenapproaches,methodsandtechniques,aswell asthe
three majorissueswhichare recurren!inFLT. Then,the maincharacteristics,the psychological bases
and the pedagogical featuresof the principal FLTmethodsare consideredchronologically,presenting
the contributionsandiimitations of the differentapproachesandmethods.Finally,asaconclusión,a
connectionisestablishedbetweenFLTmethods,innovationandclassroomresearch,asaway of teacher
developmentandof leamingimprovement.
2 THE CONCEPTS OF APPROACH, METHOD AND TECHNIQUE AND THE THREE MAJOR
GENERAL PROBLEMS IN MODERN FLT
Its seemsworthwhile,firstof all,toclarifybrieflythe conceptsof approachorprincipies,methodand
technique,whichare mutuallyandhierarchicallyrelated.Theyrepresent,infact,three levéisof analysis
and teacher'sdecisionmakingforteachingandleamingEnglishinthe classroom.Anapproachor
strategyisthe mostabstract of all three conceptsandreferstothe linguistic,psycho- andsociolinguistic
principiesunderiyingmethodsandtechniques.Actually,everyteacherhassome kindof theoretical
principieswhichfunctionasaframe for theirideasof methodsandtechniques.A techniqueis,onthe
otherhand,the narrowestof all three;itisjustone single procedure touse inthe classroom.Methods
are betweenapproachesandtechniques,justthe mediatorbetweentheory(the approach) and
classroompractico.Some methodscanshare a numberof techniquesand,thoughsome techniques

2. have developedautonomously,the mostimportantonesstartfromthe mainmethods(Hubbardetal.
1983: 31).
Nowit seemsappropriate tomentionthe threemajorlanguage learningissuesthatlanguage pedagogy
and ELT have dealtwiththroughthiscenturyandthat alwaysconcernresearchersandthe teaching
profession.Stern(1983:401-5) labelsthemasfollows:
1. The L1-L2 connection,thatis,the disparityinthe learner'smindbetweenthe inevitable
dominance of the mothertongue andthe weaknessesof the secondlanguage knowledge.
2. The explicit-implicitoption, thatis,the choice betweenmore consciouswaysof learninga
foreignlanguage andmore subconsciousorautomaticwaysof learningit.Thisissue remainsto
a great extentunresolvedandhasveryoftenposedadilemmatothe FLT professionand
research,as,for example,duringthe debate betweencognitivismandaudiolingual approaches
inthe 60s, and lateron withKrashen'sMonitorTheory,whichmakesadistinctionbetween
language learning(explicitandconscious) andlanguage acquisition(implicitandsubconscious).
3. The code-communicationdilemmahasbecome amajor issue recently.Itreferstothe problems
that learnershave tocope withwhenlearninganew language,astheyhave topay attentionon
the one hand to linguisticforms(the code) andonthe otherto real communication.
3 METHODS AS DEVELOPMENT OF ACOMMUNITY OF LINGUISTS, RESEARCHERS AND
TEACHERS
In thissectionwe will take alook,first,atmethodsaspart of a paradigmor model of FLT, second,at the
mainmethodsstill inuse inthis centuryasarchetypesand,third,at otherproposalsof foreignlanguage
teaching.
3.1. Methods as part of a paradigm
Each of the mainFLT methodsthatwe presenthere wasnotsupersededbyasubsequentone as
soonas it appearedbut,rather,itwenton living,the new one superimposingonthe former.We can
evensaythat the appearance of a new methodcorrespondswithalossof expectationof the former
one alongwiththe progressionsof theory,researchandthe experience of school practice.There is
not,broadlyspeaking,amarkedline betweendifferentmethods,butoftenaneclecticmixture
betweenmethodsispresent.
In thissense methodsare consideredrepresentationsof language knowledgeforpedagogical
purposesandare part of a paradigm(aunitof theory,researchandpractice),whichmeansa
predominantwayof buildinguptheories,doingresearchandcarryingoutclassroomactivities.In
fact, FLT methodshave appearedasa resultof the applicationof the new theoretical findings.
Methodsare alsoconditionedbyeducational philosophy,approachesaboutlanguagenature and
howit can be taught and learnt,andconceptionsaboutclassroominteraction.All thispervaded by
those valuesconcerningsocietyandhumanrelationships.Whenthese aspectsstarttochange they
can be saidthat a shiftof model istakingplace (Alcaraz1990: 10-14).
3.2. The Traditional or Grammar-Translation Method
Thismethodappliedthe studyof LatinandGreekgrammars to the studyof foreignlanguagesfromthe
XVIIthtothe XXth centuries.Inthe 19th centurythismethodwasratherwidespreadforlearningforeign
languages,thoughbythe endof the centurymovestowardsthe DirectMethod were noticed.Even
today,inspite of its obsolescence,ithasnotentirelydiedoutassome textbooksstillinuse andthe
practice of some classesare there toprove.

3. a) The principles of the Grammar-Translation Method.
The most relevantprinciplesof thismethodcanbe summarizedasfollows(basedonLarsen-
Freeman1986, and Richardsand Rodgers 1986):
1. It emphasizesthe studyandtranslationof the writtenlanguage,asitisconsideredsuperior
to spokenlanguage.
2. Successful learnersare those whotranslate eachlanguage intothe other,thoughthey
cannot communicate orally.
3. Readingandwriting are the mainlanguage skills.
4. Teachersplayan authoritarianrole inthe classroomandthe predominantinteractionis
betweenteacher-student.
5. Studentsmustlearngrammatical rulesovertlyanddeduce theirapplicationstoexercises.
6. Studentshave toknowverbconjugationsandothergrammatical paradigms.
7. The basic unitof teachingisthe sentence.
8. The student'snative language isthe mediumof instructionandusedaswell tocompare
withthe language studied.
b) The main techniques used by the Grammar-Translation Method.
The Grammar-TranslationMethodfocusesonthe teachingof the foreignlanguage grammar
throughthe presentationof rulestogetherwith some exceptionsandlistsof vocabulary
translatedintothe mothertongue.Translationisconsidereditsmostimportantclassroom
activity. The mainprocedure of an ordinarylessonfollowedthisplan:a presentationof a
grammatical rule,followedbyalistof vocabularyand, finally,translationexercisesfrom
selectedtexts(Stern1983: 453).
Otheractivities andprocedurescanbe the following:
— readingcomprehensionquestionsaboutthe text;
— studentsfindantonymsandsynonymsfromwordsinthe text;
— vocabularyisselectedfromthe readingtextsanditismemorized;sentencesare formed
withthe newwords;
— studentsrecognize andmemorize cognatesandfalse cognates;
— fill-in-the-blankexercises;
— writingcompositionsfromagiventopic.
c) The major dísadvantages of the Grammar-Translation Method.
Retrospectively,there are some veryobviousdisadvantagesof this method,whichare
summarisednext(seeRoulet1975):
1. No accountof present-daylanguageusage ispresented.Normsare imposedfromthe
great literaryauthors.
2. Secondarygrammatical points,listsof formsandexamplesreceive alotof attention;
some definitionsandexplanationsare oftenincoherentbecause of theirheterogeneous
criteria.Asa resultfactsabout the language are confusingforthe students.
3. It givesa predominantplace tomorphologybutneglectssyntax.Therefore,rules
enablingthe learners toconstructsystematicallycorrectcomplex sentencesare not
presented.
4. It givesanexaggeratedimportance tofaultstobe avoidedbythe learnerandto
exceptions,emphasizingthe prescriptive andmechanical aspectof language.
5. Translationsare oftenunsatisfactoryastheyare done wordbyword.

4. 6. Studentshave tolearna lot of grammatical termsand toomuch weightfallsontheir
memories.Frustrationonthe part of studentsandlackof demandsonteachersare
effectsof thismethod.