Approaches, Methods and Techniques

PLAN

Aims of teaching a foreign language

Content of FLT

Principles of FLT

The methods and approaches of teaching-learning process

Communicative competence

Communicative techniques.

MFLT (Methods of Foreign Language Teaching) is a scientifically tested theory concerning the teaching of foreign languages in schools and other educational institutions. It covers three main problems:

1. aims of teaching a FL;

2. content of teaching (i.e. what to teach to attain the aims);

3. methods and techniques of teaching (how to teach a FL to attain the aims in the most effective way).

MFLT is closely related to other sciences such as pedagogy, psychology, physiology, linguistics and some others.

In MFLT we differentiate between aims (long-term goals) and objectives (short-term goals, immediate lesson goals).

Aims of teaching a foreign language

There are three aims which should be achieved in FL teaching: practical, educational, cultural.

A)The practical aim: the acquisition of a FL as a means of communication. Practical aims cover habits and skills which pupils acquire in using a foreign language.

A habit is an automatic response to specific situations, acquired normally as a result of repetition and learning.

A skill is a combination of useful habits serving a definite purpose and requiring application of certain knowledge.

B) The educational aim: through FL study we can develop the pupil’s intellect. Teaching a FL helps the teacher to develop the pupils’ voluntary and involuntary memory, his imaginative abilities and will power.

C) Cultural aims: learning a FL makes the pupil acquainted with the life, customs and traditions of the people whose language he studies through visual material and reading material; with the countries where the target language is spoken.

Content of FLT

The first component is habits and skills which pupils should acquire, that is (listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing).

The second component is a linguistic one. It includes:

1. Language material (sentence-patterns, pattern-dialogues, texts)

2. Linguistic material, i.e. phonology, grammar and vocabulary

3. The third component is a methodological component, i.e. the techniques which pupils should acquire to learn the FL in a most effective way. The content of teaching is laid down in the syllabus and realized in teaching materials and in the teacher’s own speech.

Principles of FLT

MFLT are based on the fundamental principles of didactics:

· scientific approach in teaching school subjects,

· accessibility,

· durability,

· conscious approach and activity,

· visualization and individual approach to language institutions.

1. Scientific approach implies careful determination of what and how to teach to achieve the aims set by the syllabus. Since the leading role belongs to the practical aim, one of the main methodological principles is the principle of practical or communicative approach. It means pupils should be involved in oral and written communications throughout the whole course of learning the FL. Pupils are taught a FL as a means of communication.

2. The next principle is closely connected with the selection of the material and its arrangement to provide accessibility for language learning on the part of the pupils.

3. The principle of durability implies the ability of a pupil to keep in his memory linguistic and language material. The durability is ensured by vivid presentation of the material, by constant revision of drill, by the use of the material for communicative needs, by systematic control.

4. The principle of conscious approachto language learning implies comprehension of a linguistic phenomenon of language material by the pupil. Pupils are supposed to understand both the form and the content of the material and to be aware of how they should treat the material while performing various examples.

5. The principle of activity. In teaching a FL it is necessary to stimulate pupils’ activity by involving them in the act of communication in the target language, either in its oral (listening, speaking) or written (reading, writing) form. One needs a lot of practice in the use of the language to master it.

6. The principle of visualization. Visualization may be defined as specially organized demonstration of linguistic material and language behavior characteristic of the target language with the purpose of helping the pupil in understanding, assimilating and utilizing this in connection with the task set. Visualization implies an extensive use of audio-visual aids and audio-visual materials throughout the whole course of FLT.

7. The principle of individualization. The teacher should assess the progress of each individual in the class and find the way how to manage the classroom activity so that the slowest learners are not depressed by being left behind and the fastest and most able learners are not frustrated by being held back.

Approaches, Methods and Techniques

Approach refers to theories about the nature of language and language learning that serves as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.

A method is the practical realization of an approach. Method may be defined as a way of governing or guiding the learning. In a teaching-learning process method may be considered as a structural-functional component of Teacher- Learner activity. Teacher and learner are interrelated. This interrelation is carried out through methods.

The methods of teaching-learning process include:

1. The acquisition of new info about a new linguistic or language phenomenon (the pupil gets knowledge of what he is to learn).

2. The drill and exercises (the pupil performs exercises to form habits on the material he learns).

3. Making use of the acquired habits in the act of common, i.e. in listening, speaking, reading, writing, in other words, in language skills.

Each method is realized in techniques. A technique is a way to organize a learning procedure. By a technique we mean an individual way in doing something, in gaining a certain goal in teaching-learning process. For example, while organizing pupils’ acquisition of a new sound the teacher can use either demonstration of the pronunciation of the sound or an explanation of how the sound should be pronounced in the target language or he uses both demonstration and explanation. To help pupils to grasp this sound and produce it correctly as an isolated element, then in a word in which it occurs and in various sentences with the word. An activity is a procedure of getting involved in learning. An exercise is a skill-developing procedure.

The choice of techniques is of great importance for effective teaching. When organizing pupils’ acquisition of a new material the teacher thinks of the techniques which are more suitable for his pupils: he takes into consideration pupils’ age, the progress in language learning (the stage of learning), their intellectual development, the conditions under which pupils learn.