A PPT presentation on the History of Language Teaching Methodology

1. A Brief
History of
Language Teaching

2. History of Language
Teaching
Many theories about the learning and
teaching of languages have been
proposed. These theories, normally
influenced by developments in the
fields of linguistics and psychology,
have inspired many approaches to the
teaching of second and foreign
languages.

3. Ancient time
• In the Western world back in the 16th, 17th and 18th
centuries, foreign language learning was associated with the
learning of Latin and Greek, both supposed to promote the
speakers’ intellectual . At the time was very
important to focus on grammatical rules, syntactic
structures, along with rote memorization of vocabulary and
translation of literary texts.
• Latin and Geek were not being taught for oral
communication but for the sake of speakers becoming
scholarly or creating an illusion of sophistication.
Knowledge of Latin was needed for the study of the bible
and for academic purposes like the study of medical books
and legal documents.

4. After all, speaking Latin played a
subordinate role because it was a “dead
Language” and because there were no
authentic living people who could serve as a
model for its phonetically correct
pronunciation. It was not before the year
1886 that linguists like Wilhelm Vietor,
Henry Sweet, and Daniel Jones created the
International Phonetic Alphabet for the
phonetic description of sounds in different
languages.

5. 16TH
CENTURY
• Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in
the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of
scholarly exchange and as the liturgical
language of the medieval Roman Catholic
Church, but also as a language of science,
literature, law, and administration. Despite the
clerical origin of many of its authors, Medieval
Latin should not be confused with Ecclesiastical
Latin. There is no real consensus on the exact
boundary where Late Latin ends and Medieval
Latin begins

6. Starting in late medieval
times, Italian language
variants replaced Latin to
become the primary
commercial language for
much of Europe (especially
the Tuscan and Venetian
variants). This became
solidified during the
Renaissance with the
strength of Italian banking
and the rise of humanism
in the arts.

7. French as a lingua franca
French was the language of diplomacy in Europe from
the 17th century until its recent replacement by English,
and as a result it is still a working language of
international institutions and it is seen on documents
ranging from passports to airmail letters. For many
years, until the accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland
and Denmark in 1973, French and German were the only
official working languages of the European Economic
Community.
French was also the language used among the educated
in many cosmopolitan cities across the Middle East and
North Africa.

8. JAN AMOS COMENIUS
Most famous language methodologist of 17th
century was J A Comenius (1592-1670).
Languages at this time were being taught by oral
methods for communicative purposes. The works
of Comenius stress the importance of
the senses rather than the mind, the
importance of physical activity in the classroom.
He is best known for his use of pictures in
language teaching. Much in Comenius is
surprisingly modern. "The exemplar should
always come first, the precept should always
follow".

9. 18TH CENTURY
Karl Julius Ploetz (1819-1881) was a German author
of scholarly works, most notably his Epitome of
History published in the English language in 1883.
He is credited with the idea of arranging historic
data by dates, geographic location, and other
factors. As later used in the English language,
Encyclopedia of World History credited with being
one of the most complete and comprehensive
academic tools available before the electronic
revolution.

10. His work was a compilation of factual
world events designed to help the
students and the general reader. The
first English translation was in the
U.S. in 1883 by William H. Tillinghast
and published by Houghton Mifflin
Company. The name of the original
work (in a form of a handbook) was
Auszug aus der alten, mittleren und
neueren Geschichte.

11. Grammar Translation
Method (1840 to 1940s)
• Started to be known as the classical method.
Proponents of this method believe that learning a foreign
language is achieved through the constant and fast
translation of sentences from the target language into the
learner’s first language and vice versa. Word by word
translation were popular because by them students could
demonstrate that they understood the grammatical
constructions underlying a specific sentence.
• It is typical of this approach, therefore, to play emphasis
on the rote memory learning of lists of bilingual “vocabulary
equations” and on the learning of explicit rules of grammar,
frequently in form of tables for the declension and
conjugation of nouns and verbs.
•

12. • This method teaches a foreign language in a
deductive way. It considers literary
language as the most important thing in
language teaching, and it also emphasizes
on reading skills. Classes that follow this
method are conducted in the student’s
native language
• Techniques used in this method are:
Translation of Literary Passages, Reading
Comprehension Questions, Antonyms/
Synonyms, Deductive Applications of Rules,
Fill in the Blanks, Memorization, Use of
Words in Sentences and Compositions.

13. International
Phonetic Alphabet
It began in the late 19th century, at the formation
of the association and its declaration of creating a
phonetic system used for describing the sounds of
spoken language. The association was formed by
French and British language teachers (led by Paul
Passy) and established in Paris in 1886 (both the
organisation and the phonetic script are best known
as IPA). The first official version of the alphabet
appears in Passy (1888). These teachers based the
IPA upon the Romic alphabet of Henry Sweet (1881,-
1971), which was formed from the Phonotypic
Alphabet of Isaac Pitman and Alexander John Ellis

14. Pre-Reform Movement
The Frenchman Marcel (1793-1896)
•Conection between child learning and
his/her language and foreign language
teaching .
• Importance of meaning
•Reading taught before others skills
The Englishman T. Predengarst (1806-
1886)
• The first to record the observation that
children use contextual and situational
cues to interpret utterance and they
memorize phrases and routines in
speaking.

15. The Frenchman Gouin (1831-
1896)
He attempted to build a
methodology around
observation of child language
learning Other Reformers focus
on naturalistic principles of
language learning "Natural"
method
• For more information:
• http://esl.aladdin.shu.edu.tw/ezcatfiles/esl/download/attach/3/TESL
%20histiory.ppt#262,7,Gouin’s (Frenchman) contribution

16. The Reform Movement
Reformers sought to organize and simplify the traditional exposure to
texts by using specimen sentences and emphasizing practice by
translating in both directions. Through translation of specially
constructed sentences that were keyed to lessons centred on
particular grammatical points, learners could be exposed to the
grammatical and stylistic range of the target language in an
economical and systematic way. The reform was not, however,
complete, and for the next 200 years the grammar–translation method
and the less systematic literary method coexisted and often blended.
The Reform Movement Dissatisfaction with the practice of teaching
modern languages by such text-based methods came to a head in the
Reform Movement of the 1880s–90s, among scholars and teachers in
Germany, Scandinavia, France, and Britain who were interested in the
practical possibilities of a science of speech. It began with the
publication in 1877 of Henry Sweet .

17. With its analysis of different sound systems,
opened up the prospect of teaching speech
systematically and escaping from the ancient
dependence on texts. In 1882, the German
phonetician Wilhelm Viëtor expressed the growing
impatience in the pamphlet “Language teaching
must start afresh”, initially published under a
pseudonymin. It was credited with inventing the
term la méthode directe (the Direct Method) to
sum up the aims of the reformers; other names are
the Natural Method, New Method, and Phonetic
Method.

18. L. Sauveur (1826-1907)
• He used intensive oral interaction in the
target language
• A foreign language could be taught without
translation or the use of the L1
• Meaning was conveyed directly through
demonstration and action

19. Harold E. Palmer (1877
-1949)
• Unlike Natural Methodologists, Palmer
felt that language teachers needed
training in all balances of linguistics
and not simply in phonetics
He advocated oral and conversational
approaches to language teaching
• His sequencing or graduation
included ears before eyes, receptions
before production, oral repetition
before reading, group work before
individual work, drill exercise before
free production, concrete before
abstract meaning
•

20. F. Franke
He provides a theoretical justification
for a monolingual approach to teaching.
Teacher must encourage direct and
spontaneous use of the foreign
language in the classroom (avoid
analyzing and explaining grammar
rules). Students would be able to induce
rules of grammar Speaking began with
systematic attention to pronunciation.
Known words could be used to teach
new vocabulary, using mine,
demonstration, and pictures

21. LANGUAGE TEACHİNG
METHODOLOGY
Language Teaching
Methodology
Theories of Language
and Learning
Instructional
Design Features
Observed
Teaching Practices
Objectives
Syllabus
Activities
Roles of Teachers
Roles of Learners
Materials

22. Your understanding of what
language is and how the learner
learns will determine to a large
extent, your philosophy of education,
and how you teach English: your
teaching style, your approach,
methods and classroom technique.

23. ELEMENTS AND SUB-ELEMENTS OF A
METHOD
• A method is
theoretically related
to an approach, is
organizationally
determined by a
design, and it is
practically realized
in procedure
• Approach
– Assumptions and
beliefs about language
teaching and learning
• Design
– Objectives
– Syllabus
– Activities
– Roles of Teachers
– Roles of Learners
– Materials
• Procedure
– Implementational Phase

24. REFERENCES
• Cambridge Study of Language 4th edition
• Cambridge Language Typology and
Syntatctic Description 2nd Edition
• Cambridge . Nunan. Task-based
language Teaching

29. Direct Method
This method was proposed by Charles Berlitz, in the
last two decades of the 19th century. According to this
method second language learning is similar to first
language learning. In this light, there should be lots of
oral interaction, spontaneous use of the target language,
no translation is allowed, and little, if any, analysis of
grammatical rules and syntactic rules.
•

30. • The Direct method is not new, most recently it was revived as
a method that has as the most important goal how to use a
foreign language to communicate. This method’s name
comes from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly
in the target language through the use of demonstrations and
visual aids, without using the student’s native language.
• Its main features are: only the use of target language is
allowed in class, the learner should be actively involved in
using the language in realistic everyday situation, students
are encouraged to think in the target language, first speaking
is taught and then reading and writing, the teacher should
demonstrate not explain or translate.
• This method uses some techniques like: Reading Aloud,
Question and Answers Exercises, Getting Students to self
Correct, Conversation Practice, Dictations, Map Drawing, and
Paragraph Writing.

31. The Coleman Report
The Coleman Report in 1929 recommended a reading-based
approach to foreign language teaching for use in American schools
and colleges. This emphasized teaching the
comprehension of texts.
Teachers taught from books containing short reading passages in
the foreign language, preceded by lists of vocabulary. Rapid silent
reading was the goal, but in practice teachers often resorted to
discussing the cotent of the passage in English. Those involved in
the teaching of English as a second language in the United States
between the two world wars used either a modified Direct Method
approach, a reading-based approach, or a reading-oral approach
(Darian 1972). Unlike the approach that was being developed by
British applied linguists during the same period, there was little
attempt to treat language content systematically. Sentence patterns
and grammar were introduced. There was no standardization of the
vocabulary or grammar that was included.

32. Reading Method
1920-1930s
The reading method was prominent
in the U.S. following the Committee
of Twelve in 1900 and following the
Modern Foreign Language Study in
1928. The earlier method was
similar to the traditional
Grammar/Translation method and
emphasized the transference of
linguistic understanding to English.
Presently, the reading method
focuses more on silent
reading for comprehension
purposes.

33. Charles Kay Odgen
Basic English
Basic English is an auxiliary international
language of 850 words comprising a system
covering everything necessary for everyday
purposes..The language is based on a simplified
version of English, in essence a subset of it.
Ogden did not put any words into Basic English
that could be paraphrased with other words, and
he strove to make the words work for speakers of
any other language. He put his set of words
through a large number of tests and adjustments.
He also simplified the grammar but tried to keep it
normal for English users.

34. • The concept gained its greatest publicity just
after the Second World War as a tool for world
peace.
• Ogden said that it would take seven years to
learn English, seven months for Esperanto and
seven weeks for Basic English. Thus Basic
English is used by companies who need to
make complex books for international use, and
by language schools that need to give people
some knowledge of English in a short time
• To promote Basic English, Ogden founded the
Orthological Institute, from orthology, the
abstract term he proposed for its work

35. Charles Fries:
The English Language
Institute
The English Language Institute was
established in 1941 as the first English
language research and teaching program of
its kind in the United States. Since its
founding, the ELI has become a leader
in language teaching, learning, and
assessment, in applied linguistics research,
and in teacher education at the University of
Michigan and throughout the world.

36. • "Until this Institute was founded, there
was no oral methodology for teaching
English. A fast method was desired,
and Fries developed the Oral Approach,
which presented grammatical forms and
patterns as exercises that were listened
to, repeated and varied in a series of
drills."

37. Bloomfield’s work in 1942 inspired both
the massive US wartime programme of
language teaching and postwar theories of
teaching and learning. The audio-lingual
method In the US in the 1950s there
developed a movement based on the
precepts of structural linguistics and
behaviourist psychology and known
variously as the audio-lingual method
(ALM), audio-lingual teaching,
audiolingualism, the structuralist approach,
and structuralism.

38. Audiolingual
Method • The outbreak of world War II heightened the need for
Americans to become orally proficient in the languages of
their allies and enemies alike. To this end, bits and pieces of
the direct method were appropriated in order to form and
support this new method, “the Army Method” which came to
be known in the 1950s as the Audio – lingual Method.
• This method was based on linguistics and psychological
theory, and one of its main premises was the scientific
descriptive analysis of a wide assortment of languages.

39. • On the other hand conditioning and habit –
formation models of learning put forward by
behaviouristics psychologists were married whit the
pattern practices of the Audio – lingual method.
• This method is characterized because of the
very little use of the mother tongue in the
classroom, lessons begins with dialogues, use of
tapes and visual aids, learning vocabulary in
context, it is focused on pronunciation, dependence
on mimicry and memorization, According to this
method speaking and listening competence
preceded reading and writing competences.

40. The Cognitive Code
approach
At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 70s, as a
reaction against the defects of the audio-lingual method,
and taking as its theoretical base the transformational and
generative grammar of Chomsky, the so-called cognitive-code
approach became popular. According to this
approach, the learning of a language consists in acquiring
a conscious control of its structures and its
phonetic, lexical and grammatical elements, by means of,
above all, the study and analysis of these structures,
organised into coherent groups of knowledge. Once the
student has reached a certain level of cognitive command
of these elements, he will develop almost automatically
the ability and capacity to use the language in realistic
situations.

41. REFERENCES
• Cambridge Study of Language 4th edition
• Cambridge Language Typology and
Syntatctic Description 2nd Edition
• Cambridge . Nunan. Task-based
language Teaching