Lecture 1: General problems of Foreign Language teaching

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LECTURE 1: General problems of Foreign Language teaching

Plan:
1. Methods of teaching English, its aims and tasks.
2. Methods of teaching English, and its relations to other sciences Methods of Foreign Language teaching and Pedagogic.
3. Methods of Foreign Language teaching, its links with Psychology and Linguistics.
Glossary: method, methodology, foreign languages, methods, a branch of study, Techniques, general (special) methods, effective ways, relations, mother tongue, language proficiency, to assimilate

The word “method” primarily means way or manner of doing something. It is a word of international currency, borrowed into all European languages through the Latin “Methodus’’ from the Greek “Methodos”.

Methods of Foreign Language Teaching is understood here as a body of scientifically tested theory concerning the teaching of Foreign Languages in schools and other educational institutions. It covers three (sometimes four) main problems:

1. 
   Aims of teaching a foreign language, why to teach a foreign language.
   
2. 
   Content of teaching, i.e. what to teach to attain the aims.
   
3. 
   Methods and Techniques of teaching, i.e. how to teach a foreign language to attain the aims in most effective way.
   
4. 
   Whom to teach.
   

We must distinguish between General Methods and Special Methods. By general methods we mean the methods dealing with general problems of foreign language teaching irrespective of the language taught (whether it is English, German or French).
By special methods we mean a method of teaching of a particular foreign language, i.e. the teaching of a definite foreign language is treated.
The English word “method” has accordingly, two meanings. It expresses (1) the corresponding Russian word, as a way of doing something, and (2) unlike the Russian word, that branch of knowledge and study which deals with ways of teaching. In the first meaning, besides denoting a more or less procedure consisting of a series of interconnected acts, the English word, more often than its Russian counterpart , is employed to designate a single teaching device, or a single form of procedure in teaching (прием).
In its second meaning the English word, may denote the body of the ways of teaching (1) any subject instruction, (2) foreign language generally, (3) any particular foreign language, or (4) any particular aspect of instruction in a foreign language, such as speech, reading, phonetics, grammar, etc.
In pedagogical process the term “Methods” is used in three meanings. In its meaning it means the subject of instruction, for example, (Tomorrow we have methods according the timetable), the second meaning is the sum total of all ways (methodological) of instruction (I like our teacher’s methods), in the third meaning it means the theory of instruction and a special subject.