The Nature of Approaches and Methods in Language Learning

Subject:AppliedLinguistics
Course Instructor:Dr. MuhammadAhsan
SubmittedBy:GroupNo:2
GroupMembers:
1. Iqra Asghar
2. Imtiaz Ahmad
3. Shumaila Ramzan
4. Jawad Sarwar
M.Phil. Linguistics (2nd)
Ghazi University DeraGhazi Khan
TheNatureofApproachesandMethodsinLanguageLearning
AssignmentNo:1

Table of Contents:-
◼ Language Learning
◼ Language Learning Methodology
◼ Difference Between Three Terms:
1. Approach
2. Method
3. Technique
◼ Grammar Translation Method
◼ The Direct Method
◼ The Audio Lingual Method
◼ The Natural Approach
◼ Communicative Language Teaching
◼ The Eclectic Approach
◼ Conclusion

Language Learning Process:
◼ Language learning is an active process that begins at birth and continues throughout
life. When a child learns a first language, we may say that the child learns the
language under natural conditions.
◼ Such a learning situation generally differs greatly from artificial ones, with the most
common one used in second language learning being the school classroom.
◼ A second language can be learned under natural conditions. For example, children
who are taken to live in foreign countries may learn a second language without
formal instructions by associating with speakers of the foreign language, e.g.
playmates, and household personnel.
◼ Students learn language as they use it to communicate their thoughts, feelings, and
experiences, establish relationships with family members and friends, and strive to
make sense and order of their world.

Language Learning Methodology:
◼ Methodologyinforms teachers about different waysto organize teaching
practices. There are three levelsof organizationat the level of
methodology, namely, approach, method, and technique.
◼ In language teaching, in the general area of teaching methodology, people
talk about approaches, methods, and techniques.
◼ Language teaching involvesapproachesthat lead to methods, methods
that are broken down intoprocedures, and procedures that are a collection
of techniques.
◼ Understandinghow these conceptsinterrelate can help a teacher to know
the reasons behind their choices in how they choose to teach. Here I will
differentiatethese three terms; approach,method, and techniquein a
simple way.

Approach:
◼ An approach is a way of looking at teaching and learning. Underlying any language
teaching approach is a theoretical view of what language is, and of how it can be
learnt. It gives rise to methods, the way of teaching something, which use classroom
activities or techniques to help learners to learn.
◼ An approach refers to the general assumptions about what language is and about
how learning a language occurs. It is a theory about language learning or even
a philosophy of how people learn in general.
◼ It represents the sum of our philosophy about both the theory of language and the
theory of learning. In other words, an approach to language teaching describes:
 The nature of language,
 How knowledgeof a language is acquired?
 And the conditions that promotelanguage acquisition.
◼ Each of these philosophies encouraged the development of the mind in the way of a
muscle. Train the brain and a person would be able to do many different things.
◼ E.g. Watch and fellow teacher, Focus on student’s experiences

Method:
◼ In language learning and teaching method is a way of teaching a language which is
based on systematic principles and procedures, i.e. which is an application of views
on how a language is best taught and learned and a particular theory of language
and of language learning.
◼ A method is an application of an approach in the context of language teaching. A
method is a practical implementation of an approach. A theory is put into practice at
the level a method. It includes decisions about:
 The particular skills to be taught,
 The roles of the teacher and the learner in language teaching and learning,
 The appropriateprocedures and techniques,
 The content to be taught,
◼ It also involves a specific syllabus organization, choices of the materials that will
boost learning, and the means to assess learners and evaluate teaching and learning.
It is a sort of an organizing plan that relies on the philosophical premises of an
approach.
◼ E.g. The Grammar Translation Method, The Direct Method

Technique:
◼ A technique is a single activity that comes from a procedure. Anyone of the steps of
the procedure list above qualifies as a technique. Naturally, various methods employ
various techniques.
◼ Implementing a procedure necessitates certain practices and behaviours that
operate in teaching a language according to a particular method.
 These practices and behaviours are the techniques that every procedure relies
on.
 Techniques, in this sense, are part and parcel of procedures.
 They are the actual moment-to-moment classroom steps that lead to a specified
outcome.
◼ Every procedure is realized through a series of techniques.
◼ They could take the form of an exercise or just any activity that you have to do to
complete a task.
◼ E.g. Case Study, Self Learning, Gamification, Social Media, Free Online Learning Tools

Grammar Translation Method:
◼ Traditional way of teaching Latin and Greek. In the 19th century used to teach
French, German and English.
◼ Typical lesson consisted of a) presentation of grammatical rule, b) specially written
text that demonstrated the rule, c) list of new words, d) translation exercises, e)
grammar exercises.
◼ In grammar-translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply
those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native
language.
◼ Advanced students may be required to translate whole texts word-for-word. The
method has two main goals:
1. to enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language,
2. and to further students’ general intellectual development.

Characteristics:
◼ Classes are taught in the mother tongue.
◼ Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
◼ Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
◼ Reading of difficult texts is begun early.
◼ Emphasis on learning to read and write.
◼ Vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
◼ Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
◼ Medium of instruction was the mother tongue.
◼ No provision for the oral use of language.
◼ Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in in
grammatical analysis.
◼ Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the
target language into the mother tongue.

Why should I use this method?
◼ GTM focuses on the application of grammar and correct sentence structure. This is
especially helpful in teaching students how to write and read in another language.
◼ It allows them to explore interchangeable words and phrases (i.e., different words for
different tenses) more effectively than a verbal teaching method.
◼ Tests of grammar rules and of translations are easy to construct.
◼ Class activities or learning games are rarely necessary, as students are translating text
to another language directly.
◼ Teachers who are not fluent in English (but fluent in the other language that the
students primarily use) can teach English using this approach, as the emphasis is not
on the spoken word but on translations.
◼ It gives the chance of learning a new language using textbooks.
◼ Students can learn vocabulary not only in the target language but also in their
mother tongue.

Strenghts & Weaknesses:
◼ Strenghts:
 Students learn a lot of vocabulary.
 Reading and writing skills are excelled.
 It activates students´ memory.
◼ Weaknesses:
 Poor listening and speaking.
 Unnatural and Inaccurate Pronunciation
 GTM is not interactive and engaging for students.

The Direct Method:
◼ It was established in Germany and France and posited by Charles Berlitz around 1900
and contrasts with the Grammar Translation Method and other traditional
approaches.
◼ The basic idea of the Direct Method was that second language learning should be
more like first language learning (lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the
language, no translation between first and second languages, and little or no analysis
of grammatical rules)
◼ Second language learning is similar to first language learning.
◼ Emphasis on: - oral interaction, - spontaneous use of language, - no translation, –
little if any analysis of grammatical rules and structures.
◼ Classroom instruction was conducted in the target language.
◼ There was an inductive approach to grammar. Only everyday vocabulary was taught.
◼ Concrete vocabulary was taught through pictures and objects.
◼ Abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.

Characteristics:
◼ Classroom instruction was conducted in the target language.
◼ Grammar was taught inductively.
◼ Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.
◼ Both speaking and listening comprehension were taught.
◼ Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
◼ Lessons are in the target language.
◼ There is a focus on everyday vocabulary.
◼ Visual aids are used to teach vocabulary.
◼ Particular attention is placed on the accuracy of pronunciation and grammar.
◼ A systematic approach is developed for comprehension and oral expression.
◼ In this method the classroom instruction are conductive exclusively in the target
language. So teachers should not use the mother tongue to teach them a new
foreign language.

◼ In contrast with the GTM, the Direct Method is on target. It can be very effective at
creating fluent speakers of the target language who can actually use it to get by in
day-to-day situations.
◼ Teachers may also ask the students questions, have them fill in the blanks in an
example sentence, or have them read from a work of literature.
◼ All of these techniques emphasize the Direct Method's core strength---teaching
students to be able to speak the target language rather than merely be able to
translate it.
◼ Some technics that can be used are reading aloud. Students can read a paragraph
aloud and the teacher is going to correct the mistakes on the spot.
◼ And another one can be dictation. In this case teachers dictate a dialog or a
paragraph to their students, and they have to write it down. At the end the teacher
check them. At the end teacher can check it.

Strenghtes & Weaknesses:
◼ Strengths:
 This method is focused on question-answer patterns.
 Grammar is taught inductively.
 The most important aspect is spoken language, so that pronunciation and
grammar are taken into account.
 STT should be more than TTT on the time during the lesson.
 Instructions are given in the target language.
◼ Weaknesses:
 There is no attention to some areas like reading and writing.
 It is not convenient for large classes.
 For people that are accustomed to teach or to be taught with the Grammar
 Translation Method, Direct Method may not hold well.

The Audio-Lingual Method:
◼ Audio-lingual Method strongly dominated the field of education in the 1950s and
1960s.
◼ The Audio-lingual Method (also known as the army method, the aural-oral method,
or the new key), is a method of foreign language teaching in which the students learn
language by repeating/imitating the recurring patterns/dialogues of everyday
situations by a succession of drills.
◼ Typically, the audio-lingual method proceeds through drills or pattern practice.
◼ It gives overemphasis on pattern practice since it conditions the students to form
habits of correct responses.
◼ The teacher strictly conducts, guides and controls the students’ behaviour in the
target language.
◼ New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through sentences/dialogues.
◼ The teacher presents the correct model of a sentence/dialogue and the students
endeavour to repeat it again and again until they achieve the same accuracy

Characteristics:
◼ Material is presented in dialoge form.
◼ There is no dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and ovelearning.
◼ Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
◼ There is little or no grammatical explanation.
◼ Great importance to pronunciation.
◼ Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted.
◼ Vocabulary is strictly limited in context.
◼ Speech is more basic to language than the written form.
◼ Language structure and form are more significant than meaning.
◼ Elements in a language are produced in a rule-governed (structural) way.
◼ Language samples could be exhaustively described at any structural level of
description.

◼ In the Audio-lingual Method the teacher has an active role as he is the sole authority
to control and direct the whole learning programme. He monitors and corrects the
students’ performance. He is also responsible for providing the students with a good
model for imitation
◼ As the GTM, students can learn by repetition. Students pay attention and carry a
sequence of what they are doing, but despite of learn it in class, teachers can make
activities to be performed at home so they can practice writing and reading.
◼ It sounds really boring the fact that students have to repeat only.
◼ Teachers might find the way to make it interesting and look for different and funny
activities.
◼ To enable the students to learn how to use English in everyday oral communication.
◼ To encourage the students to produce utterances with accurate pronunciation and
grammar.
◼ To grow the students’ ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations
like native speakers.

◼ Strenghts:
 All of students are actives in the class
 The circumstance class are more interesting and life
 The speaking and listening skill are more drilled, so the pronunciation are more
controlled.
 Automatic learning without stopping.
 It is emphasized in sentence production.
◼ Weaknesses:
 For the smart students this method is bored, because this procedure of the
Audio-Lingual Method is majority repeat the sentence
 Sometimes the students are confused because the teacher explain the material
in simple way not in detail way.
 The grammar skill is not more drilled.
 Errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all costs.

The Natural Approach:
◼ The natural approach is a method of language teaching developed by Stephen
Krashen and Tracy Terrell in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
◼ It aims to foster naturalisticlanguage acquisition in a classroom setting, and to this
end it emphasises communication, and places decreased importance on conscious
grammar study and explicit correction of student errors.
◼ Efforts are also made to make the learning environment as stress-free as possible. In
the natural approach, language output is not forced, but allowed to emerge
spontaneously after students have attended to large amounts of comprehensible
language input.
◼ The natural approach shares many features with the direct method (itself also known
as the "natural method"), which was formulated around 1900 and was also a
reaction to grammar-translation.
◼ Both the natural approach and the direct method are based on the idea of enabling
naturalistic language acquisition in the language classroom; they differ in that the
natural approach puts less emphasis on practice and more on exposure to language
input and on reducing learners' anxiety.

Characteristics:
◼ The reproduction stage is the development of listening comprehension skills.
◼ The early production stage is usually marked with errors as the student struggles
with the language.
◼ The teacher focuses on meaning.
◼ The last stage is one of extending production into longer stretches of discourse
involving more complex games, role plays, open-ended dialogues, etc.
◼ Teaching according to the Natural approach focuses on communicative abilities.
◼ One of its objectives is to help beginners become intermediate.
◼ Vocabulary is considered prior to syntactic structures.
◼ A lot of comprehensible input must be provided.
◼ Use of visual aids to help comprehension.
◼ The focus is on listening and reading. Speaking emerges later.

◼ The natural approach enjoyed much popularity with language teachers, particularly
with Spanish teachers in the United States.
◼ Markee (1997) puts forward four reasons for the success of the method.
◼ First, he says that the method was simple to understand, despite the complex nature
of the research involved.
◼ Second, it was also compatible with the knowledge about second-language
acquisition at the time.
◼ Third, Krashen stressed that teachers should be free to try the method, and that it
could go alongside their existing classroom practices.
◼ Finally, Krashen demonstrated the method to many teachers' groups, so that they
could see how it would work in practice.
◼ This means that language acquisition cannot take place unless the acquirer
understands messages in the target language and has developed sufficient
vocabulary inventory.

◼ Strenghts:
 Actually, Natural Approach can be used in all language skills.
 The students feel comfort during teaching-learning process.
 The students can speak English without thinking about grammar.
 The teacher teaches by using the target language, so that the students are not
strange with the language.
 Natural Approach can be used in teaching all language skills simultaneously.
◼ Weaknesses:
 The Natural Approach may be too slow of a process for language learners who
are already experts in grammar and lexical semantics.
 For these people it may be much faster to learn the target language by
studying dictionaries and grammar books prior to immersion.
 It doesn´t develop the 4 skills.
 Too much easy for teachers.

Communication Language Teaching:
◼ The “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” — also known
as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) or the “communicative approach” —
emphasizes learning a language through genuine communication.
◼ Learning a new language is easier and more enjoyable when it is truly meaningful.
◼ Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second
and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the
ultimate goal of learning a language.
◼ It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign
languages” or simply the “communicative approach”.
◼ Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach, is an
approavh to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and
the ultimate goal of study.
◼ Language learners in environments utilizing CLT techniques learn and practice the
target language through interaction with one another and the instructor, study of
"authentic texts“.

Characteristics:
◼ The communicative approach is concerned with the unique individual needs of each
learner.
◼ By making the language relevant to the world rather than the classroom, learners
acquire the desired skills rapidly and agreeably.
◼ CLT is the most effective way to teach second and foreign languages.
◼ However, audio-lingual methodology is still prevalent in many text books and
teaching materials.
◼ Learning to communicate through interaction .
◼ The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
◼ Learners focus on language and the learning process itself.
◼ An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences.
◼ linking classroom language learning with language activities.

◼ The term "Communicative Language Teaching" (CLT) means different things to
different teachers. To some teachers, it simply means a greater emphasis on the use
of the target language in the classroom, and in particular, a greater emphasis on
orality.
◼ To other teachers, communication entails the exchange of unknown information
between interlocutors.
◼ And finally, some teachers understand communication in the most global,
anthropological terms, that is, as a cultural-bond system for making meaning.
◼ Despite their various definitions of CLT, all the module instructors seem to advocate
for a communicative approach.
◼ The most common educational model applied in the context of the Communicative
Method is the Functional-Notional approach, which emphasizes the organization of
the syllabus.
◼ This breaks down the use of language into 5 functional categories that can be more
easily analyzed: personal, interpersonal, directive, referential, and imaginative.

◼ Strenghts:
 Language learning is learning to communicateand effectivecommunication is sought.
 Drilling may occur, but peripherally.
 Comprehensiblepronunciation is sought.
 Translation may be used wherestudents need or benefit fromit.
 Teachers help learners in any way thatmotivates them to work with the language.
 Students are expected to interact with other people, either in the flesh, through pair and
group work, or in their writings.
◼ Weaknesses:
 CLT approach focuses on fluency but not accuracy.
 The weaker learners who struggle and cannot use the target language continue to make
mistakes and eventually give up.
 During pair and group work activities teacher focus on accuracy through error correction
because learners need to understand their mistakes.
 The CLT approach is greatfor Intermediateand Advanced learners, but for Beginners some
controlled practiceis needed.

The Eclectic Approach:
◼ The eclectic approach is the label given to a teacher's use of techniques and activities
from a range of language teaching approaches and methodologies. The teacher
decides what methodology or approach to use depending on the aims of the lesson
and the learners in the group. Almost all modern course books have a mixture of
approaches and methodologies.
◼ Eclectic approach is a method of language education that combines various
approaches and methodologies to teach language depending on the aims of the
lesson and the abilities of the learners.
◼ Different teaching methods are borrowed and adapted to suit the requirement of the
learners. It breaks the monotony of the class.
◼ It is a conceptual approach that does not merely include one paradigm or a set of
assumptions.
◼ Instead, eclecticism adheres to or is constituted from several theories, styles, and
ideas in order to gain a thorough insight about the subject, and draws upon different
theories in different cases.

Characteristics:
◼ It makes class atmosphere dynamic and drop monotony idea. Other advantage or
characteristic is no aspect of language skill ignored .
◼ These types of programs not only negotiate teacher skill-development within an
improved recognition of and respect for cross-cultural and multilinguistic classroom
settings , but also encourage student pride in their heritage, language,
communication.
◼ Different teaching methods are borrowed and adopted to suit the requirement of
the learners. It breaks the monotony of the class.
◼ In addition , it is conceptual approach that does not merely include one paradigm or
a set of assumptions.
◼ Such variety and combinations of methods and techniques which are used in this
method it maintain keeping the learning process interesting and no boring can be
touched during the whole learning and teaching process to gain the main object of
the class.
◼ Then communicative competence will be developed in a unique way.

◼ Basic skills in English teaching consist of two elements as understanding skills
(reading, listening) and the skills of expression (speaking, writing) in general terms.
◼ The eclectic method is a very common method based on the principle of choosing a
method that is appropriate for the level and the interest level of the learners. There
are many studies in the field of methodology.
◼ Expression skills are the expressions of the individual's own feelings and thoughts in
verbal or written way.
◼ Understanding skills are concerned with understanding a speaker or a written
expression.
◼ The skills to achieve understanding of the feelings and thoughts of others by hearing
or reading form the basis of understanding skills. Understanding skills could also be
examined under two headings.
◼ These are Listening-Understanding Skills and Reading-Understanding Skills."

Strengths & Weaknesses:
◼ Strenghts:
 Does not restrict to one perspectiveso allows new ideas to be formed.
 Therapeutic methods treat the entire disorder and not justone symptom.
 Humans arecomplex and it is not always possibleto identify one precisecause.
 Combining methods is a useful way of validating ideas.
 The strengths of one method can be used to offsetthe weaknesses of another.
 Trying to identify causation precisely risks reinforcing stereotypes.
 Individuals'needs are better matched to treatments when more options are available.
◼ Weaknesses:
 Itdoes not lend itself to prediction and controlof behaviour.
 It's difficult to identify the relative contributions of each approach.
 Explanation of behaviour may become "watered down" when combining many
perspectives.
 There are practicaldifficulties in investigating the integration of the approaches.
 Itdoes not lend itself to hypothesis testing.
 Research methods chosen must be compatible with the paradigmatic stance of the
researcher.

Conclusion:
◼ In a nutshell we can say that langauge plays an imortant role in our everyday life anx
through this source of communication we can interact with other people.
◼ There are different methods, appraoches, and techniques of language learning and
teaching process for second language learning.
◼ Each of the different methods has contributed new elements and has attempted to
deal with some issues of language learning.
◼ However, they derived in different historical context, stressed different social and
educational needs and have different theoretical consideration.
◼ Therefore, in teaching practice, in order to apply these methods effectively and
efficiently, practitioners should take these questions in mind;
 Who the learners are?
 What their current level of language proficiency is?
 What sort of communicative needs they have?, and the circumstances in which
they will be using English in the future, and so on.
◼ In a word, no single method could guarantee successful results.

Thanks for Reading..
“If you talk to a man in a languagehe understands,that goes to his
head. If you talk to him in his own language,that goes to his heart”.
_ Nelson Mandela

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