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Abstract

It is a fact that all languages change through time, though they do so rather slowly. And the history of language teaching does indeed display a bewildering variety of different methods and approaches which all jostle for the teachers’ attention in the actual classroom procedures and reflect on their own teaching experiences. While teaching, the teachers have to face the students in different levels and deal with different kinds of textbooks with different methods. The way the students learn language in the classroom is to some extent influenced by the way the teacher teach them. So as a teacher, one must always have students in their mind and heart; One must reflect and adjust one’s teaching methods constantly to meet the needs of the development of society and teaching demands; One must focus on the full development of both student and oneself. For teachers, reflecting is quite a good way to improve their teaching skills because it can summarize, get rid of, digest, renew and refresh their ideas. In this way, teachers can not only make rapid progress in their teaching career but also develop the students and themselves.

Key words:

reflect and adjust    teaching methods    full development of students and teachers

Introduction

1.     Seven Teaching methods and their advantages and disadvantages

1.1  The Grammar-Translation Method

1.2  The Direct Method

1.3  The Audio-lingualism

1.4  The Situational and Audio-Visual Language Teaching

1.5  The Communicative Language Teaching

1.6  The Humanistic Approaches

1.7  The Task-based Language Teaching

2.  A reflection on teaching methods in senior ESL classrooms

2.1  Reflection on combining the teaching methods

2.2  Reflection on the full development of the students

3.  Teacher development

4. Conclusion

1. Seven teaching methods and their advantages and disadvantages

Second or foreign language teaching has a long history extending over centuries, and the worldwide debates about how language should be learnt and what makes language learning successful have accompanied this history. So there have appeared seven teaching methods in language teaching. Over decades of years, various forms of language teaching methods have been developed, criticized and displaced. (Howatt, 1984; Larsen-Treeman, 1986; Richard&Rodgers, 2000; Allwright, 1988; Mc Arthur, 1983). These seven teaching methods each have their own advantages and disadvantages. As a result, language teachers have been required to grasp certain teaching methods of these seven methods.

Different methods make different assumption about the nature of language and language learning. And those methods all experienced a certain stage of development after they were raised. Behind them there are certain beliefs of teaching a foreign language, nevertheless, they are not separate, and they all have been tested in practical teaching. In order to grasp the beliefs and spirits of the methods and make one’s teaching meaningful and effective, one should be clear about the advantages and disadvantages of them first.

1.1  The Grammar-Translation Method (GT)

The Grammar-Translation Method, which is also called the “Traditional Method”, the “Old Method”, or the “Classical Method”, which grew up in the early to mid nineteenth century. The general method used in the classroom was as follow: the text would be the basis of the lesson, its vocabulary drawn out and learnt with the mother-tongue translation, the grammar points drawn out and explained in the mother tongue, some practice was done with translating sentences containing these structures and words (first target language to mother tongue, then mother tongue into target language ), then the word would be read aloud sentence by sentence and each one would be translated. It is highly deductive, and the sequence is ruly. The focus in much GT teaching is on the written, not the spoken language. Howatte (1984, 136) vividly describes GT at its worst as “a jungle of obscure rules, endless lists of gender classes and gender-class exceptions. Self-conscious ‘literary’ archaisms, snippers of philology, and a total loss of genuine feeling for the language.” But he also points out that not all GT teaching was so bad. For someone who knows how to study a foreign language, the Grammar-translation Method is an excellent method to use when learning to read specialized texts. But no one considers this method as an appropriate  method to use for learning a contemporary foreign language in order to be able to read and write the language and to communicate with native speakers.

1.2  The Direct Method

At the end of the 19^th century, a group of linguists who have great interest in language teaching formed a society with the express aim of reforming FL teaching practice. Thus formed the Direct Method. The Direct Method has two features. The first is adherence to the “here and now principle” and teacher find it natural, even necessary, to concentrate on immediate surroundings in order to create comprehensible input. The second is that because they avoid use of the learner’s L1, they are almost forced into being inductive rather than deductive. One of the important people about the direct method is Henry Sweet whose central axioms was that “all study of language, whether theoretical or practical, ought to be based on the spoken language.” (Sweet 1899/1964, 49). Overall the principles were: immediate contact with the target language, lively interaction, no translation, no word-list, inductive rule-formation for grammar, emphasis on oral use.

1.3    The Audio-Lingualism (AL)

          The starting point for AL was practical need. During World War Two, the need for soldier to become orally proficient in the language of their enemies and allies refused once again the efforts on oral skills. It stressed drill and practice with stiffened guidelines: no translation, no grammar, emphasis on audio-oral habit-formation, in the line of the predominant psychological school: behaviorism. It has six central characteristics. It regards speech as “primary”, emphasis the model Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement (S-R-R), structural patterns taught using repetition drills, so material is “over-learned”, teaching points based on contrastive linguistics, student errors prevented and correct forms reinforced, and grammar taught inductively. Because of its effective teaching, it was supported with great enthusiasm at first. But a large-scale research projects compare the results through tests on students’ achievements, they’re not satisfying.

1.4    The Situational and Audio-Visual Language Teaching

         Situational Language Teaching evolved in the United Kingdom while a parallel method, Audio-Lingualism, emerged in the United State. In the middle-methods period, a variety of methods were proclaimed as successors to the prevailing Situational Language Teaching and Audio-Lingual methods. First, professor of general linguistics, emphasizes the notion of “context of situation”. It led to two developments in language teaching. One is the structural syllabus (one alternative to it is the situational syllabus), which emphasizes that language is best learned and remembered when presented in contertual settings. And the other is audio-visualism (AV) which attempts to make language memorable not just by presenting it in context, but by making the context as “vivid” as possible through the use of visual aids.

Situational Language Teaching is a term not commonly used today, but it had an impact on language courses which survive in some still being used today. AV and Situational Teaching tend to be rather inductive because the context is intended to play an important role in determining the meaning.

1.5    The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

        The Communicative Approach, also known as the Notional Approach, or the Semantic-Notional Approach, or the Communicative Language Teaching, was developed by British applied linguists as a challenge to Structure-based approaches such as the Audiolingual Approach. This method is learner-centered and emphasizes communication and real-life situations. The role of the instructor in CLT is quite different from traditional teaching methods. In the traditional classroom, the teacher is in charge and “controls” the learning. In CLT the teacher serves as more of a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own learning. The teacher still sets up exercises and gives direction to the class, but the students do much more speaking than in a traditional classroom. This responsibility to participate can often lead to an increased sense of confidence in using the language, CLT makes use of communication to teach language, it emphasizes real-life situations and communication in context (Galloway,1993). While grammar is still important in the CLT classroom, the emphasis is on communicating a message.

1.6    The Humanistic Approaches

        The Humanistic Approaches began in response to concerns by therapists against perceived limitations of psychodynamic theories, especially psychoanalysis. They consist of four parts which are the silent way. Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response and Suggestopedia. Roberts(1998,158) describes humanism in applied linguistics as “language teaching respecting the integrity of learners, allowing for personal growth and responsibility, taking psychological and affective factors into account, and representing ‘whole person learning’”. Humanistic teaching helps students discover the personal meaning of the information. It emphasizes the students’ own activity and enquiry, rather than the transmission of information by the teacher. The Humanistic Approaches are more concerned with the emotional aspects of people’s lives rather than their behavior. And it place more emphasis on the importance of our self image.

1.7    The Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

        Task-based language teaching to teaching language is a recent view which is based on the findings of linguists and psychologists. In language learning, task-based language teaching is “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention in principally focused on the meaning rather than on the form.”(Nunan,1989,15) It is related to the ideas about language learning, skill acquisition and automization. Teachers manipulate the amount of attention a learner gives to form by developing tasks that in various ways take up more or less of the learner’s attention. Much resent research into task-based language teaching is looking at a lot of features that will make tasks more or less difficult. These features are associated with what might be called a “cognitive approach to language teaching”(Skehan,1998) This cognitive offers exciting new dimensions for task-based language teaching.

2.    A reflection on teaching methods in ESL classrooms

        With growing realization of the complexity of learning, theory development has stepped into a rapid-developing stage which all the advantages of each kind of method are accepted and used, besides realizing the function of the language, the problem how a human being is developed has been taken into consideration. With respect to the development of a human being, a higher goal how we develop a complete human being is set and is infiltrated into the ESL classrooms.

2.1    Reflection on combining the teaching methods

        It is difficult to describe these various methods briefly and fairly. There has been a rather sensible recognition, previously shared by many language teachers, that there is no “panacea method” for making students learn a language well. Students have different learning skills, different “intelligence”, to use a fashionable phrase, whilst teachers have different personalities and schools have different traditions. There are so many variables involved in language learning that one method can’t work well for all students.

        Actually, it is found that there is no pure and uncontaminated practice of any method in ESL classroom, whether to use a certain method depends on the students’ knowledge, cognitive and understanding level, their needs and teachers’ needs and teaching aims.

2.2    Reflection on the full development of the students

        Since the textbooks and materials used in ESL classrooms have changed constantly and the goal of each kind of textbooks emphasizes differently, teachers become to design the classroom activities richer, more colorful and meaningful by many new ideas and beliefs to motivate students to develop. Nowadays, ESL classes are learner-centered with much more meaningful, functional activities. The learner’s role has shifted into the master of the learning. They are encouraged to express their opinions of certain things. By exchanging ideas with each other and with the help of the teacher, they may form a correct outlook on life, a correct world outlook and values. While learning, learners shall be regarded as the whole person to be cultivated. With respect to the learners and their needs of their development, the innovations that teachers should consider cultivating are: multi-intelligence, co-operative learning, task-based instruction, alternative assessment and so on. In this way, teachers can help learners develop themselves.

3.    Teacher development

        Teacher development is a hot issue at present. It is expected by people at different levels, either internally by teachers themselves or externally by policy makers, administrators and teacher trainers. It is seen as a continuous process. It is related to the change or development of individual teachers because teachers’ mental models, beliefs and perceptions influence students’ minds and learning. As shulman states ‘where there is no pain, I suspect there has not been much conceptual change”(shulman,2000,131). Therefore, it is crucial for teachers to develop themselves from time to time.

        While teaching in class, teachers are trying out the new ideas which are reflected by teaching in a collaborative process together with learners and colleagues. They can sometimes acquire some new skills and knowledge through listening to others’ lessons, comparing and reflecting their own teaching, carrying out classroom research and interacting with colleagues. And also they can acquire from advanced books.

        Teacher development does not only involve a personal commitment of individual teacher, but also the changing of the school and other factors, such as the social atmosphere and political environment. It is never a short term activity to facilitate the growth of the teachers’ general understanding of teaching and of themselves as a teacher.

4.    Conclusion

        Teaching a foreign language is a difficult thing to do. Professor Eric Hawkins said that teaching a language is like “gardening in a gale”--you plant your seeds and then the seeds are blown away by the gale of mother tongue from one lesson to the next.

        So language teachers focus on how to become a good language teacher. Wang Qiang states “The most important and most difficult part of the making of a good language teacher is the development of professional competence, which is the state or quality of being adequately qualified for the profession,and armed with a specific range of skills,strategies, knowledge and ability.”(Wang Q,2000,7) This is the goal that a language teacher seeks to adapt to a changing learning and teaching. This is the goal that encourages teacher learning and promotes teacher development.

References:

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2. Dai weidong & He Zhaoxiong (2002).  A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English.  Shanghai Foreign language Education Press.

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5. Wu Zongjie (2005).  Teachers’ knowing in Curriculum Change.  Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

6. Wang Qiang (2000).   A Course in English Language Teaching.   Advanced Education Press.

7. Wu Xin (2005).   Teacher Change Issue in In-Service EFL Teacher Education.  Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.