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ELT APPROACHES - Coggle Diagram
ELT APPROACHES
a) DIRECT METHOD
- Focuses on full immersion in the classroom environment where not one word of the student's native language is spoken.
- The focus is not on grammar, but instead of learning through listening and speaking
HOW IT IS USED IN ESL CLASSROOM
- Props and total physical response.
Visual cues are extremely important for a student learning with the direct method (the students need to see the images/actions in order to associate the concept with the new word/language they are learning.
- Listening and repetition
To create an association, they also need to hear something. How the language is used, pronounced, and how to incorporate it into their oral communication.
CRITICISM
- Over-emphasis on oral practice, the other skills namely reading and writing are neglected.
- Counterproductive for average/below average students, as the avoidance of the use of native language makes it harder for them to grasp information.
(A simple brief explanation in native language would have been a more efficient route to comprehension.
b) GRAMMAR TRANSLATION
- An approach that focuses on the application of grammar and correct sentence structures.
- Mother-tongue is maintained as the reference system in the acquisition of the second language.
HOW IT IS USED IN ESL CLASSROOM
- In GTM, students translate literary extracts from the target language into their mother tongue.
- Students memorize bilingual vocabularies, grammar rules, and grammatical paradigms (apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native language).
- Example of activity:
Ask students to use google translate or any other translation applications to translate texts and see to what extent the translation was good. Students make necessary changes to improve it (apply necessary rules for improvement).
CRITICISM
- The translation of sentences/texts can be misleading (negative language transfer).
- The main focus is on reading and writing skills. Speaking and listening skills are neglected.
- Less interactive and engaging for students as they only focus on the provided learning materials.
c) AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
- Consists of teaching a new language through reading a dialogue or text and carrying out drills associated with it.
- Learning a language consists of getting to know its grammar and practicing its rules through many types of drills until habits in the new language are formed.
- Through listening, imitating, and performing controlled tasks, students acquire a new form of verbal behaviors.
HOW IT IS USED IN ESL CLASSROOM
- Repetition drill. The teacher utters a dialogue and asks the students to listen carefully. The students then try to replicate the dialogue as accurately and as quickly as possible.
- Replacement drill. The teacher utters a dialogue and students try to repeat the dialogue by replacing a phrase or clause by one word.
CRITICISM
- Students have a passive role since they have little control over their learning.
- Does not pay sufficient attention to communicative competencies (students turn into parrots who can reproduce but never create anything new/spontaneous).
- Oral skills receive more attention than written skills.
d) STRUCTURAL APPROACH
(Structures > Vocabulary)
- An approach that focuses on the learners mastering the patterns of sentences. It presents the idea of structures which are different arrangements of words in an accepted style.
- Based on the assumptions that language can be best learnt through a scientific selection and grading of the structures or patterns of sentences/vocabulary.
HOW IT IS USED IN ESL CLASSROOM - Students are required to:
- Understand the grammatical structures.
- Speak properly, accordingly to the rules of proper grammar and mechanics; using proper sentence structure.
- Read properly, according to the rules of comprehension.
- Write properly, according to the rules of proper grammar and mechanics; using proper sentence structure.
CRITICISM
- Structural approach may not be helpful in teaching some topics like poetry, novel and story (the language and style of poetry generally do not follow the normal structures of language.
- This approach may hamper the completion of syllabus of the course of the content as structural approach is a time-consuming technique.
- Emphasis on oral presentation and speech. It ignores the exposure of reading, writing, and vocabulary expression.
e) TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)
- A language teaching approach that combines verbal and physical movement.
- TPR teachers use physical movements to give students instructions in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions.
- Students are not forced to speak until they are ready, creating a comfortable setting that greatly reduces anxiety and stress.
- TPR will benefit both kinesthetic learners and visual learners.
HOW IT IS USED IN THE ESL CLASSROOM
- Songs and nursery rhymes
- Simon Says
- Circle games: The teacher says and performs an action that students repeat. The last student to react is out.
- Scavenger Hunt Challenge
CRITICISM
- It is basically mainly appropriate for beginners.
- Students are rarely given the opportunity to express their own ideas in a creative manner.
- It can be difficult for shy students.
- Certain target languages may be unsuitable for this approach.
- It is limited since this approach cannot explain everything.
g) SUGGESTOPEDIA
- A teaching approach that focuses on the link between mental potential and learning capacity.
- As there includes visual display, auditory, and physical involvement throughout the learning process, it is one of the approaches that cater to students' learning styles.
- It also incorporates emotional meaning into the taught lesson, which aids pupils in memorizing.
HOW IT IS USED IN THE ESL CLASSROOM
- Use music to facilitate learning. Music can help to reduce stress, manage behavior, and inspire creativity. It also improves concentration, making it easier for students to focus on difficult tasks.
- Reading a text or a dialogue to the students. It is an excellent way for pre-teaching new vocabulary and reviewing important information at the end of a lesson.
- A comfortable and secure classroom space. The Suggestopedia approach encourages creating a secure, comfortable environment in which students feel at ease and enjoy learning. Students feel happy and safe for in the right environment, which leads to a positive learning experience.
CRITICISM
- Music can actually hinder certain tasks, For the most part, it’s music with lyrics that cause distractions. Some students, however, become distracted by music that they do not particularly enjoy.
- Suggestopedia relies on infantilization. This approach requires the student-teacher relationship to resemble that of a parent and child for this approach to work. Not every student is obedient enough to see the teacher as an absolute authority figure.
- Suggestopedia lacks a clear structure. This teaching approach might be confusing or simply overwhelming for certain students who require a more structured learning environment.
h) THE SILENT WAY
- A language-teaching approach that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching technique.
- Teacher uses gestures, sound, color charts, word charts to elicit and shape student responses.
- Learning is aided when the learner finds or develops something. The learner is not a passive observer, but an active participant in the learning process.
- Learning is facilitated by problem-solving involving the material to be learned. The teacher's responsibility is limited to providing minimum repetitions and corrections.
HOW IT IS USED IN THE ESL CLASSROOM
- Sound-color chart. This chart is used by the teacher to help teach pronunciation, as well as to point to colors to help students understand the different sounds.
- Word charts. The teacher uses the chart to emphasize the pronunciation of certain words in phrases that the students are learning.
CRITICISM
- In a Silent Way classroom, the learner works independently, and communication is severely limited.
- The materials utilized in this strategy (the rods and charts) will almost definitely fall short of introducing all aspects of language.
- Students may feel that they do not receive enough feedback. Students will have to adapt to the new way of obtaining feedback, and they may feel uneasy at first because there will be no verbal positive or negative reinforcement.
- Some pupils may find it tough. If a student needs more guidance or scaffolding due to particular needs, the Silent Way might be extremely difficult for them. To be competent, these students require frequent interactions with their teachers.
f) THE NATURAL APPROACH
- A language teaching approach that relies on observation and interpretation of how learners acquire first and second languages in non-formal settings.
- In the Natural Approach, an emphasis on comprehension and meaningful communication, as well as the supply of the appropriate types of comprehensible material, offers the essential and sufficient conditions for effective classroom second language learning.
- This approach put less emphasis on grammar, teacher monologues, direct repetition, and accuracy.
HOW IT IS USED IN THE ESL CLASSROOM
- Role Play. Students should be interested in each other's experiences and keep the focus on the subjects that arise. The teacher must continue to provide good comprehensible input in the follow-ups activities.
- The use of charts and tables. It provides comprehensible input while requiring only one-word or short answers.
- The use of newspapers, magazines, and brochures. These contain information that can be utilized to create communicative situations quite easily since in all cases the student will be involved in searching out information. The message focus is maintained. If interest in the task is created, the activity can be successful in providing input.
CRITICISM
- It prioritizes receptive language skills (reading and listening) rather than productive language skills (writing and speaking)
- It was essentially designed for beginners, and it may not prove useful for learners at higher levels of language proficiency.
i)THE ECLECTIC APPROACH
- A language teaching approach that integrates multiple methods and methodologies to teach language based on the goals of the lesson and the capacities of the learners.
- In this approach, the teacher has greater flexibility and adaptability in selecting the best elements based on the needs and goals of the students.
- Different teaching approaches are borrowed and altered to meet the needs of the students. It helps to break up the monotony of the class.
HOW IT IS USED IN THE ESL CLASSROOM
- The teacher will provide a passage for reading. The purpose is to provide a context for the next activities.
- Question Answers. This is a conversational practice in a controlled situation as well as to remind what students previously read.
- Fill in the blanks. This is to let the students interact with the teacher and memorize the vocabulary items.
- Story Writing. A picture will be presented and then the students will be asked to write a story according to their perception of the picture. Reasonable guides and clues will be provided by the teacher after the students have brainstormed.
CRITICISM
- Practical eclecticism does not satisfy the requirement of effectiveness.
- It strives to create a form of all-purpose language teaching out of current ways and persuade people that eclecticism is the only correct approach in foreign language teaching methodology.