Approaches in Foreign Language Teaching: A Short History Sarah Schrire Kibbutzim College of Education November 2005

Grammar Translation Approach  Up to end of 19 th century  Met needs of agricultural economy  Less need for international contact than today  Need for foreign language learning was to translate written texts received (by boat or train) from other countries  Analysis of language rather than use

Direct Approach  End of 19 th century  Emphasis on use rather than analysis of language “ A language cannot be taught. One can only create conditions for learning to take place. ” Alexander von Humboldt  No mother tongue use was permitted in the classroom  Use of actions and pictures to make meanings clear  Grammar taught inductively  Introduced in the USA but there was a lack of fluent language teachers, so …

Reading Approach  Until 1940s  Caused by limitations of skills of language teachers  Not many people traveled, so less need for oral skills  Emphasis was on ability to read target language  Vocabulary was controlled  Grammar was taught only as necessary  Study of literary works produced in the language

Audio-lingual Method (oral-aural)  Industrialized, militarized world: After World War II, need for communication between countries  Shift from reading and translation to oral production of language  Emphasis on use of language Structural emphasis Influenced by behaviorist psychology  Skills were sequenced: listening, speaking, and only later reading and writing  Grammatical structures were sequenced and rules were taught inductively  Language was manipulated without reference to meaning or context  Emphasis on accuracy and pronunciation

Situational Approach  Co-existed with audio-lingual approach  Slightly more communicative than audio-lingual approach  Presented “ situations ” for use of language Situational presentation of lexical items: “ at the grocery store ” Grammar carefully sequenced from simple to complex  Functional as well as structural  Only target language was used in the classroom  Teaching still mainly emphasized practice by choral repetition

Today… A number of approaches are used in combination. In addition to those mentioned …

Cognitive Approach  Reaction to behaviorist approach  Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition  Rules can be taught deductively or inductively  All four skills are emphasized (reading, writing, speaking, listening)  Vocabulary is considered important  Errors are used constructively in learning process

Affective-Humanistic Approach  Emphasis on self-actualization through meaningful communication for the learner  Importance of respect  Efforts are made to create positive class atmosphere Individualized learning Pair work and group work Teacher is facilitator

Comprehension-Based Approach  Applies research findings from L1 to L2 and FL learning  Listening comprehension is viewed as the basic skill from which the others will develop  Emphasis on meaningful input  De-emphasis of error correction  Rule learning may help learners monitor their learning but does not really help language acquisition  If teacher is not native speaker, use of audio and video is encouraged

Communicative Approach  Grew out of anthropological linguistics  Goal is to promote learner ’ s ability to communicate in target language  Content includes semantic and social functions, not only structures  Materials are authentic and encourage the development of cultural literacy  Encouragement of role-play and dramatization  Skills are integrated from the beginning  Teacher ’ s role is primarily to facilitate communication and secondarily to correct errors

So let’s proceed from here…