语言学基础教程
Q: Comment on the language teaching methods and approaches. What do you think is the best way to teach a foreign language?
A :There are five main language teaching methods and approaches: the grammar-translation method, the direct method, the audiolingual method, the communicative language teaching, the task-based approach, and what is the best way to teach a foreign language, I think it depends on purpose. Then, I will discuss those five language teaching methods and approaches.
一. The Grammar-translation Method:
1.The Principal Characteristics: The goal of the method is to read and translate the literary masterpieces and classics, not to communicate in the daily life. Grammatical rules are taught deductively in class; reading and writing are mainly focused; vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists; no attention is paid to speaking and listening; little attention is paid to pronunciation; reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of study; sentences are the basic unit of teaching and language practice; many` of the lessons are devoted to translating sentences into and out of the target language; written accuracy is emphasized. Also people’s native language is the medium of instruction. It is often used to explain the new language items. And it facilitates learning through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language. (Richards and Rogers, 1986)
2. The Advantages : A. Since the teachers teach the new grammar rules with deductive method, confusions of the rules can be avoided and it is an effective way to achieve the goal.
B. Using people’s native language to instruct is a direct way to explain some difficult points and to help students understand them quickly. C. Since the written accuracy is emphasized, students tend to master the capacity of writing.
3.The Drawbacks :A. For English study, the goal is to communicate with other people but the goal of the grammar-translation method is only to read literary masterpieces. Speech and listening are neglected. It is no longer to meet the people’s need. B. Since grammar rules are taught deductively not inductively, it harms the students’ creativity and they cannot think and discover the rules on their own. C. The teachers take control of the class and no class time is allocated to allow students to produce their own sentences. D. The vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated word and only to assistant the understanding of text. It lacks real context.
二. 2. The Direct Method
1. The Principal Characteristics : English is the language of instruction and communication in the classroom. The students are encouraged to learn to think in English and they have more opportunities to use English in realistic everyday situation. Meaning is explained by relating to physical word. Grammar is taught inductively through speaking and listening activities. Correct pronunciation is emphasized. Speaking is preferred to writing.
2. The Advantages: A. Only using English in classrooms help students to build up the habit of thinking in English. B. The emphasis on spoken language conforms to the goal of modern language teaching. C. Using the sentences as teaching units is favorable to learn English naturally and efficiently. D. Special attention paid to pronunciation and intonation is desirable in teaching spoken English teaching.
3. The Drawbacks A. The absolute avoidance of native language increases the difficulty of teaching when the meaning of some abstract concepts. B. Without the explicit explanation of
grammar, students lack in grammar knowledge of English. They tend to produce utterance with a lot of mistakes. C. It places high demands on the teachers. They must have native-speaker-like fluency in English.
三.The Audio-lingual Method
1. The Principle Characteristics: According to Richards and Rodgers, the goal of the audio-lingual method is to use the language to communicate. It gives priority to speech and oral skills, and rejects memorization of conjugations ,declensions and rules of grammar. Language is regarded as a set of habits. Everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught in class; new target language (words or phrases) were introduced orally through patterns or dialogues; no translation can be used; no native language should be used; instructions were conducted only in target language; oral communication skills are organized in a carefully graded progression; correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized; errors are avoided; grammar is taught inductively; both speech and listening comprehension are taught in class; all four skills are ordered, reading and writing after speech; students’ successful responses are positively reinforced.
2. The Advantages : A. It is focused in students’ activities and spoken English. Students get more time to involve in English situation. B. The use of visual aid has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching. C. Since the grammar is taught inductively, students tend to think and discover the rules on their own.
3. The Drawbacks: A. It is focused in students’ activities and spoken English. Students get more time to involve in English situation. B. The use of visual aid has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching. C. Since the grammar is taught inductively, students tend to think and discover the rules on their own.B. Since the method is based on repetition, students have few chances to create anything new or spontaneous and they cannot fluently use the patterns they have learned in the natural speech situations. C. Using audio-materials are inclined to be regarded as audio-lingual method, not as a teaching aid.
四.Communicative Language Teaching
1. The Principal Characteristics :The goal of the approach is to develop students’ communicative competence. It emphasizes real-life communication and communication in context. Grammar is still important in classrooms and the emphasis is communicating a message properly. The role of teacher in CLT is different from traditional teaching methods, In CLT the teacher serves as more of a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own learning.
2. The Advantages : A. Focusing on communication in real life, CLT helps students to build up the relationship between the communicative functions and the sentence structures. B. Emphasis of real-life communication in classroom allows students to overcome information gap in social communication.
3. The Drawbacks: A. Grammar and vocabulary are ignored. Students only master simple structure and oral vocabulary. It cannot improve students reading and writing ability. B. If the teacher is from the same region as the student, the teacher will understand errors resulting from an influence from their first language. Native speakers of the target language may still have difficulty understanding them.
五.The Task-based Approach
“Learning by doing” is the basic notion of this approach. In this teaching, students are required
to internalize key specific concepts of a subject domain and other necessary skills for the accomplishment of the tasks, so students are allowed to develop their creativity. However, it is not appropriate for fresh starter, it is be used under the rich basic knowledge.