Overview: methods or approaches and their most salient characteristics
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Period: 1300 to 1400
Aural-oral techniques (Renaissance)
Two main approaches
*To use a language
Greek/Latin became popular.
These languages were used as a means of communication.
It is presumed that during these early stages, teachers used informal or less direct approaches, had no textbooks (maybe some hand-copied manuals instead), and probably used some kind of crude dictionary (that provided side by side words that meant the same). *To analyze a language
The language of the Elite (religion, scholars, politics, business, philosophy). -
Period: 1440 to
Creation of the movable type and printing press
Thanks to this new invention, Latin spread and was know considered a "Vulgate" language (spoken by common people).
Vernacular languages began to gain respectability and popularity.
Since these were foreign languages, this caused a turn back to a practical use of language (to communicate effectively with foreign people). -
Period: to
Jan Amos Comenius
Probably the most famous language teacher, he published books about his teaching techniques.
Some tips from him:
* Use imitation instead of rules to teach a language
* Have your students repeat after you
* Help your students practice reading and speaking
* Use limited vocabulary initially
* Teach language through pictures to make it meaningful -
Period: to
The grammar-translation approach (Karl Ploetz)
Key elements:
*Instruction is given in the native language of the students
*Little use of the target language
*Focus on grammatical parsing
*Early reading of difficult texts
*Translate sentences from target language into the mother tongue (or vice versa)
*As a result the students are often unable to communicate in the target language
*The teacher does not need to be fluent in the target language. -
Period: to
The direct method (Francois Gouin)
Key features:
*No use of mother tongue in the classroom
*Lessons begin with dialogues and anecdotes (modern style)
*Use actions and pictures to make the content meaningful and clear
*Grammar is learned by repeated exposure to language in use
*Literary texts are read for pleasure not to be analyzed grammatically
*Target culture is learned inductively
*The teacher must be either native or have native-like proficiency in the target language. -
Period: to
The reform movement (Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Vietor, Paul Passy)
Main principles:
*Focused on the spoken form of language
*Language teachers should have solid training in phonetics
*Learners should be given basic phonetic training to establish good speech habits. -
Period: to
The reading approach