Methodology

Let's look at a brief history of language learning and the different methodologies seen over the years. Back in the old days people didn't really learn language to develop communicative competency, rather they learned languages like Greek or Latin for scholarly purposes. They used a classic approach, which included endless repetition, long winded translations and similarly boring exercises. For the last hundred years or so, communicating in the second language has become increasingly important. For that reason we have seen so many different 'new' methods popping up to replace the old. Some appear for a short time like a fad and just as quickly disappear while others fight for survival and, in some cases, experience a revival. But having a basic understanding of some of the methodological practices of the past can help us understand our methodological stance today and in what place our own personal style can contribute.

Grammar-Translation: This method is still seen today. You can see it every time you do a fill in the blank activity. You can see it every time you see a vocabulary list of animals or verbs to memorize. This was the ruling method in the early part of the twentieth century but it is given less and less credibility as more importance is placed on communication. This is because this method is often taught in the mother tongue, requires no auditory understanding and pronunciation is irrelevant.

Behaviorist: This method owes its thanks to a dog that used to drool whenever he heard a bell ring. It holds the belief that all learning comes from outside stimuli. It is shown that when a learner makes an utterance and receives a response, they are thus encouraged or discouraged to do so again, positive responses leading to a repeated behavior which is consequently habit forming.

Audio-Lingual: This method is very similar to the behaviorist approach in that it rewards good while it ignores the bad. It is also dubbed the army approach for the incessant drilling sessions. Students are subjected to memorization of dialogues and rote learning of surface forms yet fail to use the language with any proficiency.

Total Physical Response: This method is very well known today for its dynamic approach. It is an instruction-movement-response methodology that at the very least has students out of their chairs.

These are by no means the only methods out there. There are a great many different methodologies to choose from. Is one any better than another? Certainly yes. Better yet, are there aspects of each which we may incorporate into our own classrooms? Absolutely. What of an holistic approach? It is only with a basic understanding of all the tiresome work the theorists have done that we may begin to experiment in our own classroom and discover for ourselves what works for our class and our students.