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History of language teaching

The document provides a history of language teaching methods from the 1500s to present day. It begins with Latin being the dominant language of education in the 1500s, though French, Italian, and English gained prominence in the 1600s. The 1700s-1900s saw the promotion of Latin in schools through grammar-focused instruction. In the 1800s, modern languages began to be taught using the same grammar-translation approach. Reform movements in the late 1800s advocated for a more natural approach focused on speaking, resulting in the Direct Method in the early 1900s emphasizing communication over translation. However, these natural methods proved difficult to implement in schools. Throughout the 20th century, debates occurred over the best language teaching methods to use

Education◦
History of Language Teaching ANNAS SURDYANTO
• Latin was the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in the Western world. 1500s • French, Italian, and English gained in importance as a result of political changes in Europe. • Latin gradually became displaced as a language of spoken and written communication. 1600s (Richards Rodgers 2001)
Promotion of Latin 1700s – 1900s The study of classical Latin (the Latin in which the classical works of Virgil, Ovid, and Cicero were written) an analysis of its grammar and rhetoric became the model for foreign language study. Children entering “grammar school” were initially given a rigorous introduction to Latin grammar.
Grammar School Grammar school Rote learning of grammar rules Study of declensions and conjugations, translation, and practice Once basic proficiency was established, students were introduced to the advanced study of grammar and rhetoric. (Kelly 1969; Howatt 1984)
The curriculum of European schools in 1800s “Modern” languages began • Students were taught using the same basic procedures that were used for teaching Latin Textbooks • The textbook consisted of statements of abstract grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and sentences for translation. The goal • Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. By the nineteenth century, this approach based on the study of Latin had become the standard way of studying foreign languages in schools.
Seidenstucker He divided his text carefully into two parts, one giving the rules and necessary paradigms, the other giving French sentences for translation into German and German sentences for translation into French Grammar-Translation Method This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the Grammar- Translation Method.
Grammar-Translation Method (1840’s- 1940’s) Grammar Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language. “The first language is maintained as the reference system in the acquisition of the second language” (Stern 1983: 455)
The principal characteristics of the Grammar- Translation Method were these: 1. Learn a language to read its literature. 2. Grammar Translation: To know the target language grammar rules (syntax and morphology) and translate according to the native language. 3. Reading and writing are the major focus. 4. Learning of vocabulary based on bilingual word lists, dictionary and memorization. 5. Accuracy is emphasized. 6. Grammar is taught deductively. 7. The student’s native language is the medium of instruction.
19th century innovations Marcel (1793-1896): child language learning. Reading Prendergast (1806-1886): Children’s use of situational cues to interpret utterances and memorized phrases and “routines” in speaking. First structural syllabus. Gouin (1831-1896): Children language. Use of gestures and actions. Increased opportunities for communication among Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages.
This Reform Movement, as it was referred to, laid the foundations for the development of new ways of teaching languages and raised controversies that have continued to the present day. Reform movement In the mid- and late nineteenth century, opposition to the Grammar-Translation Method gradually developed in several European countries
The International Phonetic Association (1886), and its International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) The study of the spoken language. Phonetic training. The use of dialogues to introduce conversational phrases and idioms. An inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. Avoidance of the mother tongue.
Henry Sweet (1845-1912) The Practical Study of Languages: Careful selection of what is to be taught. Imposing limits on what is to be taught. Four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Grading materials from simple to complex.
General considerations of the Reform Movement By Viëtor, Sweet, and other reformers in the late nineteenth century • The spoken language is primary. • Include phonetics in teaching and teachers. • Learners should hear the lang first, before seeing it in written form. • Sentences should be taught in meaningful contexts. • Grammar should be taught inductively. • Avoid translation. Use mother tongue to clarify.
In the sixteenth century, for example, Montaigne described how he was entrusted to a guardian who addressed him exclusively in Latin for the first years of his life, since Montaigne’s father wanted his son to speak Latin well. These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as the Direct Method, which refers to the most widely known of the natural methods.
The Direct Method Natural language learning (refers to Montaigne) Direct Method Natural Method
The Direct/Natural Method (until 1920’s) Sauveur (1826-1907) in Europe; Berlitz in the USA: Berlitz Method (commercial lang schools): ◦ Classroom instruction in Target lang. ◦ Learning based on everyday vocabulary & sentences. ◦ Small and intensive classes. ◦ Oral communication skills in graded progression. Communicative exchanges between student-teacher. ◦ Grammar taught inductively. ◦ Use of demonstration, objects and pictures in class.
Principles of the Berlitz school Never translate: demonstrate. Never explain: act. Never make a speech: ask questions. Never imitate mistakes: correct. Never speak with single words: use sentences. Never use the book: use your lesson plan. Never go too fast: keep the pace of the student. Never speak too slowly: speak normally. Never speak too quickly/loudly: speak naturally. Never be impatient: take it easy.
Difficulties to implement in public secondary school education naturalistic first language learning classroom foreign language learning lacked a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory the practical realities of the classroom?
1923: A study concluded that: No single method could guarantee successful results. Conversational skills were impractical in view of • the restricted time • Limited skills of the teachers • Irrelevance of conversational skills for average American students
Issues to form a method What goal? What skills? What language content? How organize, sequence and present a lesson? Role of native language? What techniques and activities work best? How is SLA accomplished?
The methods era One of the lasting legacies of the Direct Method was the notion of “method” itself. The controversy over the Direct Method was the first of many debates over how second and foreign languages should be taught. The history of language teaching throughout much of the twentieth century saw the rise and fall of a variety of language teaching approaches and methods, the major examples of which are described in this book. Common to most of them are the following assumptions: – An approach or method refers to a theoretically consistent set of teaching procedures that define best practice in language teaching. – Particular approaches and methods, if followed precisely, will lead to more effective levels of language learning than alternative ways of teaching. – The quality of language teaching will improve if teachers use the best available approaches and methods. Richards & Rodgers 2001
The nature of approaches and methods . . . An approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning. An approach is axiomatic. It describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught.... . . . Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural. . . . A technique is implementational – that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. Edward Anthony in 1963.
Theory of language Structural view • Language is a system of structurally related elements for the coding meaning. • The Audiolingual Method, Total Physical Response, the Silent Way Functional view • Language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. • Emphasizing semantic and communicative dimension • Language teaching content: meaning and function • Notional/functional syllabus, ESP movement Interactional view • Language is a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals. • Focusing on the patterns of moves, acts, negotiation, and interaction. • Task-Based Language Teaching, Task-Based Conversation, Whole Language, Content Based Instruction
Method Approach • Theory of language • Theory of language learning Design • Organization or Syllabus model • Types of learning and activities • Learner roles • Teacher roles • The role of instructional material Procedure • Classroom techniques, practices, and behaviors • Pattern of tactics and strategies