2018-02-23
4142
A) Basic methodological concepts in Methods b) Methodological Principles
c) Some ideas on methods of teaching d) Types of teaching methods
e) Methods of foreign language teaching
f) The system of teaching and teaching Aids
It is worthwhile discussing briefly the difference between three words which are often used when talking about teaching foreign languages: techniques, methods and approaches.
When we use the word approach we mean that an idea or theory is being applied: that whatever the teacher does certain theoretical principles arev always born in mind. When we talk about a technique we mean a procedure used in the classroom. Finally a method is a set of procedures or a collection of a techniques used in a systematic way which it is hoped will result in efficient learning.
A technique then is the narrowest term, meaning one single procedure. A method will consist of a number of techniques, probably arranged in a specific order. The word approach is much more general and has the implication that whatever method or techniques the teacher uses, he does not feel bound by these, but only by the theory in which he believes. If he can find new and better methods or techniques which will fit in with his approach, then he will adopt these. We therefore have a hierarchical system:
Approach
Method 1
Method 2
etc
Technique A
Technique 2
etc.
It follows from this that different approaches may share the same techniques and even the same methods; and different methods may share the same techniques.
We have already introduced the scheme of behaviorist learning theory. In this case it makes sense to talk about “the behaviorist approach” but “the audio - lingual method”. We can also talk about different drilling “techniques”.
A final word of warning Approach has been introduced: later we will introduce the mentalist approach and the communicative approach. However approach is often used informally to mean something closer to method. We might say for example that a teacher should “vary his approach when teaching different types of class”. This does not mean that the teacher should change his theoretical believes for each type of class! Some techniques have developed independently, but many of the important ones have arisen from particular methods Success in teaching a foreign language and in learning this subject depends greatly on the interrelation of aims, content and principles which determine the strategy of this bilateral process. Indeed aims settle the content of teaching; methodological principles decide the methods and techniques of the teaching learning process.
Methods of teaching include those things that are done to stimulate learning Methodmay be defined as away of governing or guiding the learning. In teaching learningprocess method may be conceded as a structural - functional component of Teacher-Learner activity. Teacher and learner are interrelated. This interrelation is carried outthrough methods. The main function of the teacher is to help pupils to learn namely:
1) The teacher organizes their learning.
2) he instructs and educated pupils.
3) He provides the evaluation and checking of pupils’ learning.
The main function of a learner lies in the very process of language learning:
1) The acquisition of knowledge about a linguistic or language item the pupil is to learn.
2) drill and transformation or the process of manipulating knowledge to make it fit new tasks, new situations to form habits.
3) Making use of what he learns in the act of communication developing language
skills.
One more important task should be emphasized in teaching-learning process, i.e. evaluation, checking whether the way the pupil learns the adequate to the task. When the pupil uses the material learnt in the act of communication in hearing, speaking, or reading the teacher checks the pupils’ ability to communicate in the target language.
New knowledge is acquired by illustration and object teaching by pictures and maps, by explanation and by stimulation of the thought on the part of the teacher of those teaching materials which are used for the purpose.
Each method is realized in techniques. We mean an individual way of doingsomething in gaining a certain goal in teaching –learning process. For Example, while organizing pupils’ acquisition of a new should 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.
The choice of techniques is of great importance for effective teaching, since the techniques the teacher uses may produce poor or good effect on pupils learning.
E.g. Only imitation
The choice of techniques for each method depends mainly on the methodological principles the teacher observes. In the example the teacher violates the principle of conscious approach in teaching reading.
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, their progress in language learning, their intellectual development, and the conditions under which pupils learn. It is very important that the techniques used by the teacher should put the pupils in such a position that he is faced with the necessity to solve problems that require thinking and not only merely memorizing. The pupil would not only reproduce the speech unit, but would himself be able to build sentences, for example, be able to gay: we are going to go on a Nike next Sunday.
Give me a pen.
It may be concluded that methods indicate an activity that is organized by the teacher and carried out by the pupil in the process of learning a foreign language. Methods possess a universal character and may be found in any system of teaching ways and techniques are the precise content of actions which differ considerably from each other depending on the principles that are accepted in the teaching of a given subject in schools. Consequently the choice of techniques is determined by the methodological principles which govern the teaching of foreign languages in schools.
Lecture 4
