1. What are “methods”? Introducing APLNG 493: Methods of Teaching ESL

2. What are methods? There are many different terms that you might hear: Teaching method Methodology Approach Teaching style Strategy Technique

3. A “post-method” era? Over the last decade and a half, scholars have argued that narrow attention on “methods” can be dehumanizing, (Bartolome, 1994) and as well as disempowering to teachers and learners (Kumaravadivelu, 1994; 2001).

4. Bartolome, 1994 “One of my greatest challenges throughout the years has been to help students to understand that a myopic focus on methodology often serves to obfuscate the real question -- which is why in our society, subordinated students do not generally succeed academically in schools.” (176)

5. Kumaravadivelu, 1994 Suggested a “post-method” era in TESOL “After swearing by a succession of fashionable language teaching methods and dangling them before a bewildered flock of believers, we seem to have suddenly slipped into a period of robust reflection…. Not only do these studies caution us against the uncritical acceptance of untested methods, but they counsel us against the search for the best method and indeed against the very concept of method itself.” (27)

6. Historical context of methods in language teaching an learning Prior to the post-war era, second language teaching modeled on “Latin grammar school” model (now sometimes referred to as Grammar Translation Method”) From 1950’s to 1990’s explosion of new “methods” “Audiolingual Method” “Communicative Language Teaching”

7. Post-method pedagogy Kumaravadivelu (2001) proposes we change how we think about methods. “Best” methods aren’t handed down from academics or textbook publishers. Context and situation drive our decisions, based on reflection and our own professional judgment Teacher must embrace a professional identity, rather than a “teacher as technician” stance.

8. What does it mean for us? What does a “post-method” pedagogy mean for you working in the Ecuador ESL certificate program? There is no top-down methods you are going to apply in your class, and no single “right way” to teach the language and content, rather a “strategic pragmatism” (Kumaravadivelu, 1994). You will be developing a sense of how theory and research relate to teaching practice and learning how to base professional judgments on current research and theory. (More to come in APLNG 493 and WLED 400)