Lecture 2.1

1.

Approaches to language
teaching
Gulvira Zhusupovna Matzhanova
Associate Professor

2.

EFL teaching course
Overview
This course provides learners with current methodologies for teaching English
learners (ELs) of different ages and learning contexts. You will discuss and
practice a variety of strategies and techniques). While exploring best practices
for teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing, including grammar and
vocabulary, you will learn how to create an effective and communicative
language classroom for all learners. You will examine what “best practices”
means in the context of teaching English in the 21st century, where English is an
international language, and use of English incorporates modern technologies.

3.

EFL methodology
Objectives
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
Use various effective foreign language teaching methods
Identify learners’ needs and motivation
Manage your classroom with different approaches and activities
Develop effective activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing
Develop a lesson activity that incorporates critical thinking and problem
solving skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, decision making, and creative
thinking)
Apply good feedback and assessment forms
Develop teaching skills
Design your own elective courses

4.

EFL methodology aims:
Teaching approaches, methods and techniques
Student’s needs and motivation
Classroom Management
Teaching Skills
Language Awareness and Grammar
Phonetics
Teaching practice lesson plans, materials and assessment

5.

Teaching methods
What methods do you use/did your teachers use when you studied at school?
Can you describe key features of it?
Can you name any principles of this method?

6.

My working day
My working day starts very early. From Monday to Friday I get up at half past
three and I have a shower and a cup of coffee. I usually leave the house at
ten past four because the car always arrives a few minutes early. I get to the
studio at about five o'clock and start work. My programme Good Morning
Britain starts at seven o'clock and finishes at nine o'clock. Then I leave the
studio at a quarter past ten. After that, I go shopping and visit some friends. I
get home at three o'clock. A woman helps me with the housework and the
ironing. I read a newspaper and do some work.
Subject+ Verb
I/you/we/they+ Verb
He/she/it+ verb+s/es
Sh,ch, s, x + es
Write your working day based on this sample.

7.

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION
This approach focuses on gaining knowledge of the language (not fluency).
Grammar and accuracy are stressed. Grammar is learned through reading,
translation, drills, repetition, and memorization. The classroom is a formal
setting and is teacher-centred. Tasks are mechanical and lacking in
creativity. Language settings of the past mainly employed this approach.
Motivation for students is a problem. Language is “learned” as opposed to
“acquired.”

8.

Listen to the audio and repeat
Tape script 1.1. Cutting Edge. Elementary SB
A: Hi, I’m Teresa.
B: Nice to meet you, Teresa.
B: My name is Adam. What’s your name?
A. And you.

9.

Audio-lingual method
Principally, the audio-lingual method is focused on repetition drill, dialog
memorization, grammar game, transformation drill, complete the dialog,
backward build-up(expansion) drill. However, it lacks teaching explanation.
The structures of the language are emphasized over all the other areas. The
syllabus is typically a structural one, with the structures for any particular
unit included in the new dialog. Vocabulary is also contextualized within the
dialog. It is, however, limited since the emphasized is placed on the
acquisition of the patterns of the language.

10.

COMMUNICATIVE
This approach teaches language as it is used in real life. The focus is on
conversation (including fluency and pronunciation), communication, and
listening comprehension. It uses communicative tasks/activities. The aim is to
help students USE the language (instead of knowing the language
technically). The approach is student-centred (the teacher guides/directs), so
it is less structured and more motivating, fun, and participatory. Teachers can
be creative using this approach. This approach applies mainly to students who
have had some previous exposure to the English language.

11.

Feelings

12.

Total Physical Response
It is based on the coordination of language and physical movement. In TPR,
instructors give commands to students in the target language with body
movements, and students respond with whole-body actions.
The method is an example of the comprehension approach to language
teaching. The listening and responding (with actions) serves two purposes: It
is a means of quickly recognizing meaning in the language being learned, and
a means of passively learning the structure of the language itself. Grammar is
not taught explicitly but can be learned from the language input. TPR is a
valuable way to learn vocabulary, especially idiomatic terms, e.g., phrasal
verbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkMQXFOqyQA

13.

NATURAL
This approach focuses on having students speaking naturally in English, by
having free-flow conversation and not being afraid of using English or making
errors. The aim is to get the learners to use the language in a meaningful way
as soon as possible. The focus is on speaking and the students‟
accomplishments. The students learn naturally through a process of natural
language progression. Students are comfortable and enjoy using the language.
This approach is useful for beginners as it does not inhibit speech. Students
learn English through pictures, actions, and limited grammar. The teacher starts
with easy, single-word responses, followed by progression to more coherent
phrases and sentences. Students willingly participate because they do not fear
making mistakes. Errors are not corrected. This may lead to entrenched (or
“fossilized”) errors, in pronunciation, grammar, or other patterns of speech
that can become very difficult to correct.

14.

TASK-BASED LEARNING
This approach refers to language learning by having students focus on a
task or activity that requires students to use the language. Speaking and
fluency are focused on with this approach. The tasks/activities usually involve
pair/group work. Students interact in a social and specific context. This
approach is excellent for creative thinking and student interaction. However, it
may be difficult to monitor all students‟ use of language at all times. Some
examples of tasks are: follow directions on a map, hide-and-seek treasure
hunts, question and answer in order to complete a task, ordering food at a
mock restaurant, etc.

15.

IELTS/TOEFL preparation
PET/SAT preparation
Speaking fluency
Writing an essay
English for journalists, Technical English

16.

ECLECTIC
This approach uses a combination of approaches based on the students‟
needs. Factors that can affect the style of teaching are: desired goal, present
level of comprehension, age, time available for study, dedication, resources
available, learning environment, etc. Assessment of these factors will
determine your students‟ needs and your teaching style(s).

17.

Teaching approaches
Text A
This is William. He isn’t well-known, he isn’t well-off. And I’ve never heard anyone say he was goodlooking. But he is a very nice person, kind, friendly and very easy-going. In this picture, he’s wearing a
short-sleeved shirt and a brand-new hat.
Task 1. Find the synonyms of the words in the text:
Famous –
Handsome –
Prosperous –
He has been working for 15 years as a farmer. M: Did he work as a farmer? Yes Is he still working ? Yes
Meaning Form Pronunciation F: Subject+has/have+been+ V+ing

18.

Teaching approaches
A deductive approach to language is used in the more recognisable methods that are
used to present new ideas to learners. It is the typically teacher-led presentation of
individual items, introduced one by one at the beginning of the lesson, often
accompanied by explanations of the forms being taught, followed by practice of the
same language points based on what the teacher presented at the beginning of the
class. Students typically apply a given set of criteria to apply the language based on the
way that it was introduced to them initially. Deductive approaches require little
cognitive processing other than selecting accurate forms to use, usually in standard
gapfilling or multiple choice questions.
This approach is useful for the introduction of brand new forms which the learners have
little to no experience with, or for complex items which are not easy to work out
without some clear, explicit instruction given by the teacher first.

19.

Teaching approaches: A deductive
approach
Form: Present Simple Tense Subject+Verb (bare verb)
He/she/it+ V+es/s
Meaning: We use it everyday, for true facts, schedules/time tables
Pronunciation: Does [dɅ z] he speak English?

20.

Teaching approaches
By contrast, an inductive approach requires more mental effort on the part
of the learners, who are given very little direct instruction, but have to work
out rules or language patterns for themselves, often based on examples of
how the language can be used in sentences or texts. Although this requires
more cognitive processing, the theory is that the more mental work that
learners have to do as they learn, the more deeply new information sticks in
their long-term memory. Letting students work things out for themselves is
also more rewarding for them, and can give them more ownership over the
language, and often results in braver trial-and-error activity from learners (an
important part of language development).
e.g. I walk to school. – Learners should work out the rules by themselves.
I + walk
Form: Subject+ Verb
Meaning: Do I go walk to school? – Yes, I do – Happens every day

21.

Teaching approaches
Inductive approaches are useful for groups of students who enjoy puzzles and
logical thinking, and more confident students who are ready to give things a
go and are not afraid of getting things wrong (though inductive approaches
used with intuitive language items can also develop this skill in less confident
students, so should not be ruled out). Inductive learning is also useful when
working with language which has been partially learnt by students before, or
which they have seen a lot but may not fully understand. By looking at texts
which contain idiomatic language, for example, a lot can be deduced from
the context in which the target phrases appear, meaning that students can
work out meanings for themselves without too much confusion.

22.

Teaching approaches
Top-down and Bottom-up approaches
Another teaching choice arises when we think about using texts or listening recordings in
class. Can we use a reading text to introduce new language, or do we need to teach it in
isolation first, and then move on to in-text work? This is the essence of the top-down /
bottom-up choice. Imagine a ladder where the top rung represents a whole text (an essay, a
report or even a book), and the bottom rung represents a single word, or even a word ending.
All the rungs of the ladder in between contain smaller and smaller units of language as you
descend the ladder. As teachers, we need to choose where on the ladder we would like to
start our lesson: is it useful for learners to focus on individual words and learn what they
mean first, or can we present them with a text that contains all of those words, and ask them
to deal with them in context? The former method of moving from words to phrases, to
paragraphs and then texts, is a bottom-up approach. The latter, where students identify
where items occur in a text, focus down to the sentence around the word, then look at the
word itself, for example, is a top-down approach. A top-down approach can be used for
vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation features, and is useful in that it demonstrates exactly
how target items can be used authentically and in real texts. It also has the same set of
benefits as an inductive approach (as outlined above) in that learners have to process what
they are learning more, based on other forms and their existing experience with the
language, which is a key skill for dealing with written and spoken language.

23.

Teaching approaches
Bottom-up approaches are useful for more deductive teaching, where the
target items are tricky or irregular, and so difficult to work with instantly.
However, the aspects of meaning and use that you teach prior to using the
text can be designed to give students a deeper understanding of the language
before they read, and can then reflect on how it is used based on those
criteria. Again, there is no right or wrong approach, and both should be used
in a course of study to develop the full language skill-set that we aim for in
our students.
E.g. bright person = smart one; thorough = someone who does everything with
great attention to details.

24.

Teaching approaches
An Integrated skills approach
An integrated skills approach assumes that if all four of these actions is
covered in a language lesson, then learners are much more likely to retain
and be able to use what you are teaching in the future.

25.

LEARNER-BASED METHOD
This approach is student-centred and focuses on students‟ needs and
weaknesses. It uses the student as a valuable information resource in the
classroom. Extract student-relevant vocabulary and topics, then build your
lesson from there. This approach helps to create independent learners by
teaching students to self-correct and peer correct.

26.

WHOLE LANGUAGE/INTEGRATED
METHOD
This approach focuses on teaching all aspects of the English language
simultaneously. Grammar, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary building, and
speaking are all stressed. There is no emphasis on just one aspect. This
approach was designed to teach a language to students who have not had
any previous exposure to the foreign language (“zero beginners”).

27.

LEXICAL
This approach focuses on vocabulary and all other language skills are
secondary. It focuses on teaching students the language word by word, or in
groups of related words (fruit, family members, numbers, etc.) chunks, set
expressions. Retention of all the new vocabulary is a concern when using this
approach.

28.

Personal method
Personal method involves many approaches and can be selected to meet the
needs of your learners.
It depends on the level, motivation, age, interest criteria.

29.

Literature and links
1.How to teach English. J. Hammer, Longman, 2010
2.How to teach writing. J. Hammer, Longman, 2004
3.Learning Teaching. J. Scrivener. McMillan, 2002
4.How to teach pronunciation. G.Kelly, Longman, 2000.
5.TESOL foundation coursebook.
6.Raymond Murphy. English Grammar in Use. OUP, 2012
7.www.americaembassy.kz
8.www.britishcouncil.teachingenglish.org.uk
9.https://www.cambridgeenglish.org.ru/teaching-english/teachingqualifications/