Managing a class Teaching large classes Humanistic Approaches

Chapter II. ELT Methods: A Basic Appraisal

This section very briefly outlines the basic principles and features of the main ELT (English language teaching) methods and approaches, listed below:

1. The Grammar-Translation Method
2. The Direct Method
3. The Audio-Lingual Method
4. Humanistic Approaches
a. Community Language Learning (CLL)
b. The Silent Way
c. Suggestopedia
d. Total Physical Response (TPR)
5. Communicative Language Teaching
Carefully reading each of the principles and features of each ELT method and taking the Palestinian teaching-learning context in consideration, try to identifying the main weaknesses and strengths of each method in relation to:
1. Level of focus on language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking)
2. Level of focus on language sub-skills (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling)
3. Teacher’s role
4. Learner’s role
5. Level of focus on affective factors
6. Level of focus on thinking skills
7. Types of activities and exercises used in class
8. Other comments222.1

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2Grammar Translation-Method

The Grammar Translation method was originally used to teach Latin and Greek in the 19th century. It was common method for many decades before 1970. Its primary focus is on memorization of grammar rules, and vocabulary. Application of this knowledge was directed on translation of literary texts--focusing on developing students' appreciation of the target language's literature as well as teaching the language.
Activities/ techniques utilized in classrooms include: questions that follow a reading passage; translating literary passages from one language to another; memorizing grammar rules; memorizing native-language equivalents of target language vocabulary. It uses highly structured class work with the teacher controlling all activities.
1. Primary purpose was to enable students to explore the depths of great literature. A secondary purpose was to “benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from learning a foreign language” (Richards and Rodgers 1986:3).
2. Reading and writing are emphasized and no focus on listening and speaking.
3. Students learn vocabulary in bilingual lists: L1 and L2 are always compared.
4. Accuracy is emphasised and grammatical rules are taught explicitly (deductively).
5. Deductive learning is essential: the teacher gives rules explicitly then the rules are reinforced with examples and exercises.
6. L1 is the medium of instruction Classes are taught in the students' mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.
7. The role of the teacher is very traditional and authoritarian in the classroom.
8. Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.