TECHNIQUE IN TESL

2. •British linguist: Harold Palmer and A.S.
Hornby, 1920s to 1960s
•It involves Systematic principles of
selection, gradation and presentation.
ORAL APPROACH AND
SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE
TEACHING

3. •SELECTION
- the procedures by which lexical and
grammatical content were chosen.
•GRADATION
- principles by which the organization and
sequencing of content were chosen.
•PRESENTATION
- techniques used for presentation and
practice items in a course.

4. 1) Language teaching begins with the spoken
language.
2)The target language is the language of the
classroom.
3) New language points are introduced and
practiced situationally.
CHARACTERI
STIC

5. 4) Vocabulary selection procedures are
followed.
5)Items of grammar are graded following a
principle.
6)Reading and writing are introduced once
a sufficient lexical and grammatical
basis is established.
CHARACTERI
STIC

6. •VOCABULARY CONTROL
- focuses on vocabulary and reading is one of the
most salient traits of SLT. In fact, mastery of a set of
high frequency vocabulary items is believed to lead
to good reading skills.
•GRAMMAR CONTROL
- An analysis of English and a classification of its
prominent grammatical structures into sentence
patterns, also called situational tables, is believed to
help learners internalize grammatical rules.
FEATURES

7. •Theory of Language
- The theory of language underlying Situational
Language Teaching can be characterized as a
type of British “structuralism.”
•Structuralism is the methodology that elements
of human culture must be understood in terms of
their relationship to a larger, overarching system
or structure. It works to uncover the structures
that underlie all the things that humans do,
think, perceive, and feel.
APPROACHE
S

8. •Speech is regarded as the basis of
language and structure is viewed as
being the heart of speaking ability.
•“The emphasis now is on the description
of language activity as part of the whole
complex of events which, together with
the participants and relevant objects,
make up actual situation” (Halliday,
McInTosh and Strevens 196:30)

9. •Theory of Learning
- The theory of learning underlying Situational
Language Teaching is a type of behaviourist habit-
learning theory. It addresses primarily the processes
rather than the conditions of learning.
•Learning theories are conceptual frameworks describing
how information is absorbed, processed, and retained
during learning.
•Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as
well as prior experience, all play a part in how
understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed
and knowledge and skills retained.
APPROACHE
S

10.  To teach a practical command of the four basic
skills of language
 Approach through structure
 Accuracy in both pronunciation and grammar
errors to be avoided
 Automatic control of basic structures and
sentence patterns is fundamental to reading and
writing skill
OBJECTI
VES

11. Structural syllabus and a word list
Basic structure and sentence patterns
THE
SYLLABUS
Note:
situation =
manner of
presenting and
practicing
sentence patterns

12. Situational language teaching employs a situational
approach presenting new sentence patterns and a drill-based
manner of practicing them.
Guided repetition and substitution activities e.g. Chorus
repetition, dictation, drills, and controlled oral-based reading
and writing tasks
Pair practice and group work
Types of
Learning and
Teaching
Activities

13.  Learner Roles
-required to simply listen and repeat what teacher says
-respond to questions and commands
-active participation is encouraged
 Teacher Roles
-serves as a model
-setting up situations in which the need for target
structure is created
-modelling the new structure for students to repeat

14. •ADVANTAGES
- Situational Language Teaching is still
attractive to many teachers who still
believe in structural practice of language.
Its practicality in the teaching of
grammar patterns has contributed to the
survival of the approach until recently.
Besides, its emphasis on oral practice still
attracts support among language
teachers.

15. •DISADVANTAGES
- Many premises underlying the approach have been
criticized. For example Chomsky (1957) showed that the
structural and the behaviouristic approaches to
language are simply incorrect as they do not explain the
fundamental feature of language learning: the ability to
create novel and unique sentences. Children do not
acquire their mother tongue through repetition and
habit formation. There must be, however, an innate
predisposition that lead them to a certain kind of
linguistic competence.

16. •http://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/situational-
language-teaching-oral-approach/