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EFL Methodology

Learners of English who have the opportunity to live in an English speaking environment while studying have a huge advantage. They are surrounded by the language continuously and are able to put acquired language into practice in everyday, realistic situations. However, the majority of English learners are living in their native countries, where English is not the first language and as a result do not have these benefits. Many of these students may have the opportunity to use English at work, with their friends or in some other practical way where they are able to use their English on a fairly regular basis. Many other learners of English are not so fortunate and their only contact with the language may be daily, twice weekly English classes at school or at a private language institute. As a result these students do not get the same exposure to the language and opportunity to put into practice.

As children we all learnt our native language without the aid of language teachers and course books. We simply absorbed the language around us, processed it and through trial and error formulated internal ideas and rules to allow us to be able to use the language fluently and accurately. This ‘natural language acquisition’ is impossible to replicate in the classroom but many of the most popular methodologies in EFL teaching today try to imitate it as far as practical.

For as long as people have been learning and teaching language, there has been continual, and often heated, debate as to which methods and techniques produce the best results. The most common of these, along with a brief description, are listed on the following page.

Grammar – translation
This was probably the main stay of language teaching and learning for hundred of years, and indeed is still practiced in many situations. Many of us will have been exposed to this system of learning in the state school sector.

The basic principle of this system is, as its name suggests, learning about a language through finding equivalent in the students’ own language and the foreign language being learned. In is in effect, a system of translation.

The major drawback with grammar – translation is that it seems to prevent the students from getting the kind of natural language input that will really help them acquire the language. The danger therefore, is that students will learn about the language rather than learning the language itself. This methodology also requires the teachers to be proficient in the students’ native language.

Audio – lingualism
This is the name given to a language teaching/learning methodology based upon behaviorist theories of learning. This theory basically suggests that much learning is as a result of habit formation through conditioning. Audio- lingualism concentrates therefore, to a large degree, on long repetition-drills, in which the students would be conditioned into using the language correctly.

Audio – lingualism largely went out of fashion because most linguists believe that language learning consisted of more than merely forming habits and that speakers of a language are able to process language more effectively from the knowledge they have acquired . However, it is useful to that the language drills are still popular (though in a much more limited way) especially for low level students.

Presentation, Practice and Production
In this method teacher first present the context and situation for the language, as well as explaining and demonstrating the meaning and form of the new language. The students then practice making sentences with the language in a controlled way (including drilling) before going on to the production stage where they are able to be more creative with the language.

PPP has proved to be extremely effective in teaching simple language at lower levels. It is less effective with higher level students who already know a lot of language, and therefore do not need such a marked production stage.

Many teacher training centers (and teachers) still use PPP today. The system does, however, lack a good in flexibility and it is easy for the lessons to become too ‘teacher-cantered’.

Task – Based Learning
In this method the focus is more on a task than the language. Students are given a task to complete (while using the English language). When they have completed the task, the teacher can, if necessary – and only if necessary- provides some language study to help clear up some of the problems they had while doing the task.

Communicative Language Teaching
The communicative approach stresses the importance of language functions (such as agreeing, inviting, suggesting, etc.) as opposed to reliance only on grammar and vocabulary. This approach also suggests that if students have enough exposure to the language and opportunity to use it then language learning would in effect, take care of itself. Activities in CLT typically require students to use the language in real life situations, so role-play and simulation have become popular with this method. CLT places far more emphasis on completion of the task than the accuracy of the language.

Community Language Learning
In CLL students will typically sit in a circle and it is up to them to decide what they want to talk about. The teacher (standing outside the circle) will help, as and when necessary, with language problems that arise during the course of the discussion. This methodology has helped teachers focus on the need to make the lessons as ‘student- centered’ as possible by allowing the students to choose the topic and language.

The silent way
The most notable feature of the silent way is the behavior of the teacher- who says as little as possible. This is because it is believe that if the students had to ‘discover’ the language for themselves ,learning will be better facilitated rather than just remembering and repeating what had been taught . Many teachers have found this method to be a little unnatural in application.

Suggestopaedia
This method was developed largely on the need for the students to be comfortable, confident and relaxed in order for learning to be more effective. Another feature is that the teacher and students exist in a parent-children relationship; students are given new names and traumatic themes are avoided. A suggestopaedia lesson has three main parts firstly there is an oral review of the previous lesson. This is followed by the presentation and discussion of the new language. Finally, students listen to relaxing music while the teacher reads the new dialogue.

The lexical approach
This approach argues that words and phrases are far better building blocks for language acquisition than grammatical structure.

The Natural Approach
Stephen Krashen’s theories of second language acquisition have been widely discussed and debated. Both Krashen and his colleague Tracy Terrell felt that learners would benefit from delaying out put of language until the learner starts to speak. “Learners should be relaxed in the classroom and that a great deal of communication and acquisition should take place, as opposed to analysis”, H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles. In fact this approach recommends the TPR activities at the starter level when “comprehensible input” is a key element in the process of acquisition.

The Natural Approach was aimed at basic personal communication in everyday life situation. The teacher needed to provide oral inputs that the learner is able to understand while the learner was expected to remain silent and take everything in and respond only when he or she was ready. So the teacher through a different, interesting activities would be the source for all language input.

Krashen and Terrell defined three main stages in this process: (i) Pre-production stage wherein listening comprehension skills are developed. (ii) Early production stage where the learner struggles with the language and naturally makes errors. (iii) The last stage demands production of more complex and longer “discourses” through role-plays, games, open-ended dialogues in groups. The aim is developing fluency rather than accuracy, so error correction should be minimal.
This approach was criticized due to the delay in oral production (silent periods) and its dependence on the teacher to give “comprehensible input”. How does the teacher decide which structures are to be provided to the learner? Some teachers may not be able to do so, on their own. The positive of this approach was to allow students to remain silent till the time they are comfortable to speak. Therefore they do not feel threatened or embarrassed to experiment with the new language. The resulting self-confidence helps in language learning.

The teacher needs to choose the best of what others have experimented with and adapt those insights to the situation he or she is in.

Which methodology is best?
With so many different approaches and methods it can be rather difficult to decide which is the best to use. Unfortunately there is no clear answer as much will depend upon your individual circumstances. Your personality the culture for students, and their needs will all play a part in your decision. In, reality each method has its pulses and minuses but certain conclusion can be drawn:

• Students need as much exposure to language as possible.
• Students need a certain amount of input from the teacher
• Communicative tasks offer real learning possibilities but are not enough on their own.
• Anxiety and stress needs to be low for effective language learning.
• Where possible students should be encouraged to discover language for themselves.
• Vocabulary is as important as grammar. Both need each other.
The methodology that the teacher prefers may not be the preferred or correct option for students from different cultures. Comprise may be necessary
 

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