Language Teaching Methods: A critical Analysis

Humanistic Tradition

The best known interpreter and proponent of humanism in language teaching was Earl Stevick who was not satisfied with audio lingual habit theory and cognitive code learning.

 He concluded that success or failure in language teaching depended not so much on deductive or inductive techniques but he believed that  the positive attitude towards the teacher, the classmates , the target language and culture are the most relevant aspects to consider when we speak about language learning.

The most important functions of the teacher according to Earl Stevick are:

1. The cognitive function: the teacher possesses the knowledge that students need to manage.
2. The classroom management function: students and society think that teachers are responsible for how the student’s time is used in class.
3. Practical goals: Students and society have language goals that must be included in language teaching syllabuses.
4. The personal and interpersonal function:  teachers have the responsibility to set the tone or interpersonal classroom climate which is needed to learn the target language.
5. The teacher needs to be warm and enthusiastic to teach.

 Methods:

1. Community Language Learning ( CLL) devised by Curran 1972

“Learning another language is probably the most anxiety provoking activity an individual can undertake in the classroom.” (Nunan, 1991)

The primary aim of CLL is to create a genuinely warm and supportive

“ community” among the learners and gradually to move them from complete dependence on the teacher to complete autonomy.” ( Nunan, 1991

The method works in the following way: an homogeneous group of  first language learners work with a bilingual teacher. If a student wants to say something he whispers to the teacher the word he wants to say using L1. The teacher translates the word into L2 and whispers back. The student is able to  repeat the word to the group. These words are recorded and then the tape is replayed, analysed and  used as the basis of more formal language. At the beginning the method was developed to teach a homogeneous group it was then modified to teach  heterogeneous gropus.

The method has been developed to pitch directly at the emotions and attitudes of the learners and one of its weaknesses is that it can release not only positive but also negative emotions if the students feel uncomfortable with the climate generated inside the classrooms.

2. The Silent Way devised by Gattegno 1972

The method developed by Gattegno also establishes the importance of the emotional state of the learner in the learning process.

Students know that they are going to learn a foreign language and the teacher uses only the target language in the classroom. In this case the teacher uses a rod and he shows the rod to the students and he expects the students to say the word “ rod” when they see it. Then the teacher adds color and repeat green rod, red rod etc.

The method is artificial  and it is the spirit of the language that has to get hold of our minds.

“ Like Curran , he emphasizes the need to develop in learners an autonomy from the teacher and the teaching situation. He also claims that the method is learner-centred in that teaching is subordinated to learning. Despite these claims, the method is highly controlled, and extremely manipulative of the students.” (Nunan, 1991)

3.Suggestopedia devised by Lozonov

Lozonov believes  “ that the human mind is capable of prodigious feats of memory if learning takes place under the appropriate conditions. He attempts to realize the hidden potential of the mind by getting students to learn in a state of deep relaxation bordering on hypnosis.” (Nunan, 1991)

Ostrander and Schroeder 1981 suggested that students could learn between 1000- 3000 words a day.

Language Skills Reflection

I think that my strongest skill is writing, because writing gives me the chance to express my opinions without being worried of making mistakes. Whenever I write I normally read the idea and I correct the mistakes that I can notice in my sentence, topic, or essay.
The kind of  visual intelligence I have developed, helps me to remember the expressions that usually go together.I often  read a question and I don't have problems to write about any topic when I have the knowledge  to paraphrase or repeat the most important ideas.
Using the information you sent us with the picture we can see the importance of reading to improve your skill of writing . The more you read,  the better your writing skills will become.

On the other hand, the weakest skill I have is speaking because the ideas I have in my mind are not easily converted into oral language.I usually use less language to express my ideas than I have in my mind  and when I read something it`s incredible the amount of things I am able to understand but when I have to speak about this it´s more difficult.It happens to me even in Spanish . In my case I can improve my weakest skill by trying to speak more and finding moments to express my thoughts in an easy way.

My experience learning English

I started learning English many years ago when I was in the school. It was difficult to speak English because at that time many people felt ashamed to speak a different language. Because of cultural backgrounds many people said that we were living in an Spanish-speaking country so there was no need to learn another language. Not many people spoke English and the ones who did were those who had lived abroad or those who could afford to pay a bilingual school.
In my case I studied at a public school and I learned English with two English teachers who spoke a very good English. I was lucky though because my experience didn´t resemble the reality we had at those times.
I decided to study foreign languages and I started to learn German at the age of 14. I went to university to study German also and I did everything I could to learn to speak this beautiful language.I succeded to master that language but people became more interested to learn English in the schools and not Italian, French or German which were compulsory subjects in most of the schools in Chile. Times had changed, so very fast I decided to begin a new challenge and I began to study English at university.(UChile). It was really hard for me because I was able to understand many things but I was not able to answer.I felt frustrated at the beginning but I was not worried because I knew I could do it.
In my opinion learning new languages helps you to expand your experiences in a different way because you have to make efforts to be understood by native -speakers. It is not enough to study the structures of the language but also you must use the language as a tool of communication.In this part I have tried to improve because in the past I didn't feel comfortable to speak a language knowing that perhaps the person who was near me was not able to understand. It was awkward.But today I feel that I have improved a lot.One of the most important weaknesses that I have is that I don't usually read books in English and it is incredible the amount of words you can learn by reading different kinds of literature.