A Brief History of Early Developments in Language Teaching PDF

A Brief history of early developments in language teaching Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  Introduction ❑ By the beginning of the twentieth century, language teachin...

A Brief history of early developments in language teaching Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  Introduction ❑ By the beginning of the twentieth century, language teaching was emerging as an active area of educational debate and innovation. ❑ Although language teaching has a very long history, the foundations of contemporary approaches to language teaching were developed during the early part of the twentieth century, as applied linguists and others sought to develop principles and procedures for the design of teaching methods and materials, drawing on the developing fields of linguistics and psychology. ❑ This led to a succession of proposals for what were thought to be more effective and theoretically sound language teaching methods. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  Introduction ❑ Language teaching in the twentieth century was characterized at different times by change and innovation and by the development of competing language teaching ideologies. World War II, for example, prompted the need for new ways of teaching oral skills in foreign languages. Large-scale movement of people through immigration as well as the internationalization of education since the 1950s also created a demand for new types of language programs. In more recent times, globalization, the rise of the Internet, and the global spread of English has also prompted a reassessment of language teaching policies and practices. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Emergence of Methods ❑ Efforts to improve the effectiveness of language teaching have often focused on changes in teaching methods. ❑ Throughout history such changes have reflected changes in the goals of language teaching, such as a move toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study; they have also reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and of language learning. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Emergence of Methods ❑ The method concept in teaching - the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning - is a powerful though controversial one, and the quest for better methods was a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists throughout the twentieth century. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  The Influence of Latin ❑Whereas today English is the worlds most widely studied foreign or second language, 500 years ago it was Latin, for it was the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in the Western world. ❑As the status of Latin diminished from that of a living language to that of an “occasional” subject in the school curriculum, the study of Latin took on a different function. ❑The study of classical Latin and an analysis of its grammar and rhetoric became the model for foreign language study from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  The Influence of Latin ❑There were occasional attempts to promote alternative approaches to education; Roger Ascham and Montaigne in the sixteenth century and Comenius and John Locke in the seventeenth century suggesting curriculum reform and changes in the way Latin was taught but Latin was regarded for a long time as the ideal form of language, so these ideas were not acceptable. ❑As “ modern” languages began to enter the curriculum of European schools in the eighteenth century, they were taught using the same basic procedures that were used for teaching Latin. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  The Influence of Latin Textbooks consisted of statements of abstract grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and sentences for translation. Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. This was the approach to language teaching by the nineteenth century. This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the Grammar-Translation Method Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Grammar-Translation Method ❑It was the offspring of German Scholarship. ❑The principal characteristics of this method are: 1. Grammar Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language. It hence views language learning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Grammar-Translation Method ❑The principal characteristics of this method are: 2. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening. 3. Vocabulary selection is based solely on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary study, and memorization. In a typical Grammar- Translation text, the grammar rules are presented and illustrated, a list of vocabulary items is presented with their translation equivalents, and translation exercises are prescribed. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Grammar-Translation Method ❑The principal characteristics of this method are: 4. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. Much of the lesson is devoted to translating sentences into and out of the target language, and it is this focus on the sentence that is a distinctive feature of the method. 5. Accuracy is emphasized. Students are expected to attain high standards in translation, because of “ the high priority attached to meticulous standards of accuracy which, as well as having an intrinsic moral value, was a prerequisite for passing the increasing number of formal written examinations that grew up during the century.” Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Grammar-Translation Method ❑The principal characteristics of this method are: 6. Grammar is taught deductively - that is, by presentation and study of grammar rules, which are then practiced through translation exercises. 7. The student’s native language is the medium of instruction. It is used to explain new items and to enable comparisons to be made between the foreign language and the students native language. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Grammar-Translation Method ❑Grammar Translation dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s, and in modified form it continues to be widely used in some parts of the world today. ❑In Europe, in the mid and late nineteenth century, opposition to the Grammar-Translation Method gradually developed in several countries. ❑This Reform Movement, as it was referred to, laid the foundations for the development of new ways of teaching languages and raised controversies that have continued to the present day. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad Language Teaching Innovations in the nineteenth century Several factors contributed to a questioning and rejection of the Grammar-Translation Method. 1. Increased opportunities for communication among Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages. 2. Initially, this created a market for conversation books and phrase books intended for private study, but language teaching specialists also turned their attention to the way English and modern European languages were being taught in secondary schools. Increasingly, the public education system was seen to be failing in its responsibilities. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad Language Teaching Innovations in the nineteenth century Several factors contributed to a questioning and rejection of the Grammar-Translation Method. 3. Increasingly, the public education system was seen to be failing in its responsibilities. 4. In Germany, England, France, and other parts of Europe, new approaches to language teaching were developed by individual language teaching specialists, each with a specific method for reforming the teaching of modern languages. Some of these specialists, such as C. Marcel, T. Prendergast, and E. Gouin, did not manage to achieve any lasting impact, though their ideas are of historical interest. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad Language Teaching Innovations in the nineteenth century ❑The work of individual language specialists like these reflects the changing climate of the times in which they worked. ❑Educators recognized the need for speaking proficiency rather than reading comprehension, grammar, or literary appreciation as the goal for foreign language programs. ❑The ideas and methods of Marcel, Prendergast, Gouin, and other innovators were developed outside the context of established circles of education and hence lacked the means for wider dissemination, acceptance, and implementation. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad Language Teaching Innovations in the nineteenth century ❑This began to change toward the end of the nineteenth century, however, when a more concerted effort arose in which the interests of reform -minded language teachers and linguists coincided. ❑Teachers and linguists began to write about the need for new approaches to language teaching, and through their pamphlets, books, speeches, and articles, the foundation for more widespread pedagogical reforms was laid. ❑This effort became known as the Reform Movement in language teaching. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Reform Movement From the 1880s, however, practical-minded linguists such as Henry Sweet in England, Wilhelm Vietor in Germany, and Paul Passy in France began to provide the intellectual leadership needed to give reformist ideas greater credibility and acceptance. The discipline of linguistics was revitalized. Phonetics - the scientific analysis and description of the sound systems of languages - was established, giving new insights into speech processes. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Reform Movement Linguists emphasized that speech, rather than the written word, was the primary form of language. The International Phonetic Association was founded in 1886, and its International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was designed to enable the sounds of any language to be accurately transcribed. One of the earliest goals of the association was to improve the teaching of modern languages. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Reform Movement It advocated; 1. The study of the spoken language; 2. Phonetic training in order to establish good pronunciation habits; 3. The use of conversation texts and dialogues to introduce conversational phrases and idioms; 4. An inductive approach to the teaching of grammar; 5. Teaching new meanings through establishing associations within the target language rather than by establishing associations with the native language. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Reform Movement The writings of such scholars as Sweet, Victor, and Passy provided suggestions on how these applied linguistic principles could best be put into practice. Parallel to the ideas put forward by members of the Reform Movement was an interest in developing principles for language teaching out of naturalistic principles of language learning, such as are seen in first language acquisition. This led to what have been termed natural methods and then ultimately to the development of what came to be known as the Direct Method. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method Among those who tried to apply natural principles to language classes in the nineteenth century was L. Sauveur (1826-1907), who used intensive oral interaction in the target language, employing questions as a way of presenting and eliciting language. He opened a language school in Boston in the late 1860s, and his method soon came to be referred to as the Natural Method. Sauveur and other believers in the Natural Method argued that a foreign language could be taught without translation or the use of the learner’s native language if meaning was conveyed directly through demonstration and action. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method ❑These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as the Direct Method, which refers to the most widely known of the natural methods. ❑It stood for the following principles and procedures: Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method 1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language. 2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught. 3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and- answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes. 4. Grammar was taught inductively. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method 5. New teaching points were introduced orally. 6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas. 7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught. 8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized. These principles arc seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method These principles are seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language: Never translate: demonstrate Never explain: act Never make a speech: ask questions Never imitate mistakes: correct Never speak with single words: use sentences Never speak too much: make students speak much Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method These principles are seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language: Never use the book: use your lesson plan Never go too fast: keep the pace of the student Never speak too slowly: speak normally Never speak too quickly: speak naturally Never speak too loudly: speak naturally Never be impatient: take it easy Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method ❑The Direct Method was successful in private schools. But it was difficult to be implemented in public secondary schools despite the pressure from proponents of the method. ❑Critics pointed out that strict adherence to Direct Method principles was often counterproductive, since teachers were required to go to great lengths to avoid using the native language, when sometimes a simple, brief explanation in the student’s native language would have been a more efficient route to comprehension. ❑By the 1920s, use of the Direct Method in noncommercial schools in Europe had consequently declined. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method ❑A study begun in 1923 on the state of foreign language teaching concluded that no single method could guarantee successful results. ❑The goal of trying to teach conversation skills was considered impractical in view of (1) the restricted time available for foreign language teaching in schools, (2) the limited skills of teachers, and (3) the perceived irrelevance of conversation skills in a foreign language for the average American college student. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method ❑The study - published as the Coleman Report - argued that a more reasonable goal for a foreign language course would be a reading knowledge of a foreign language, achieved through the gradual introduction of words and grammatical structures in simple reading texts. ❑The main result of this recommendation was that reading became the goal of most foreign language programs in the United States until World War II. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method ❑In the 1920s and 1930s, applied linguists systematized the principles proposed earlier by the Reform Movement and so laid the foundations for what developed into the British, or Oral Approach to teaching English as a foreign language, which emphasized the need to grade language items according to difficulty and to teach language through a focus on its core structures and grammar. ❑Subsequent developments led to Audiolingualism in the United States. ❑Situational Language Teaching in Britain. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Direct Method The Direct Method can be regarded as the first language teaching method to have caught the attention of teachers and language teaching specialists, and it offered a methodology that appeared to move language teaching into a new era. It marked the beginning of what we can refer to as the “methods era.” Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Methods era One of the lasting legacies of the Direct Method was the notion of “ method” itself. The controversy over the Direct Method was the first of many debates over how second and foreign languages should be taught. The history of language teaching throughout much of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century saw the rise and fall of a variety of language teaching approaches and methods. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad The Methods era Common to most approaches and methods arc the following assumptions: An approach or method refers to a theoretically consistent set of teaching procedures that define good practice in language teaching. Particular approaches and methods, if followed precisely, will lead to more effective levels of language learning than alternative ways of teaching. Teacher training should include preparing teachers to understand and use the best available language teaching methods. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad Approaches and methods in teacher preparation programs The study of approaches and methods provides teachers with a view of how the field of language teaching has evolved and forms part of the disciplinary knowledge expected of language teachers today; introduces teachers to the issues and options that are involved in planning and developing a language course; introduces a variety of principles and procedures that teachers can review and evaluate in relation to their own knowledge, beliefs, and practice. Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad  Thank You Applied Linguistics – A brief history of early developments in language teaching - Dr. Mayada F. Elhaddad