Assignment on Applied Linguistics Language teaching has been around for many centuries, and over the centuries, it has undergone a lot of changes as a result of various influences. The methods of teaching mentioned below have been developed, applied and debated but it seems that there is no best method indeed. I- The Grammar-Translation Method: Dated from the 19 century, the Grammar-Translation Method that emphasized the transmission of structural rules and forms served as the principal method of teaching modern and classical languages in school. As the name suggests, the method was characterized by an emphasis on memorization of verb paradigms, grammar rules, vocabulary, and translation of literary texts. It was based on the written word and texts, since ability to read literature is considered to be the goal of studying a foreign language. In a typical Grammar - Translation lesson, the rules of a particular item of grammar are presented and the use of the item is illustrated several times in a text. Then learners are given opportunity to practise using the item through writing sentences and translating it into the mother tongue. The text is often accompanied by a vocabulary list consisting of new lexical items used in the text together with the mother tongue translation. Reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of study with little emphasis on speaking, listening and pronunciation. The medium of instruction is the mother tongue, which is used to explain conceptual problems and to discuss the use of a particular grammatical structure. Central to this method is accurate use of language items. However, many experts have criticized this method. Richards and Rodger (1986) noted that it is a method without theory or without any literature, which might offer a rationale or justification for it. Stern (1983:454) also stated that this method was a cold and lifeless approach to language teaching and that it was blamed for the failure of foreign language teaching. Despite the attacks, the success of Grammar -Translation is undeniable. Millions of people have successfully learned foreign languages to a high degree of proficiency and, in many cases, without any contact whatsoever with native speakers or the target language in real life. It is probably due to the fact that the Grammar - Translation Method, regardless of critiques against it, is still widely employed today in many parts of the world. II- The Direct Method: The German educator Wihelm Vicktor introduced the Direct Method in the early 1800s as a reaction to the Grammar-Translation method in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction. In this method, meaningful contexts for learning, inductive teaching of grammar and Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics avoidance of translation are main principles, which have provided the foundation for the Direct Method. Essentially, this method was based on the way children learn their native language (i.e. through the direct association of words and phrases with objects and actions). Lessons begin with a dialogue in the target language. The language item to be learned is first presented orally with actions or pictures without any translation. From the beginning of the lesson, learners listen to complete meaningful sentences in simple discourse, which often takes the form of question - answer exchanges. Grammar is taught inductively with rules being generalised from the practice and experience with the target language. Emphasis is placed upon the development of accurate pronunciation right from the onset of the lesson as correct pronunciation is considered to be important in this method. The Direct Method enjoyed popularity in Europe in the early 20 century. However, it proved less effective in public education in North America opportunities for oral practice and native - speaking teachers were less common. A study carried out in America in 1923 concluded that teaching conversation skills was impractical given time restrictions in schools and given the perceived irrelevance of foreign conversation skills in America. III- The Reading Method: The Reading Method was a reaction to the impracticality of the Direct Method. In this method, reading is considered the most usable skill to have in a foreign language. The priority in studying a foreign language, according to this method, is first, reading ability and second, current and historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension is taught while minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or conversation skills in the target language. The acquisition of vocabulary is considered to be more important than grammatical knowledge and translation is respected again as a classroom technique. Stern (1983: 461462) made a comment that the Reading Method grew out of practical educational considerations in America in the 1920s, not from a shift in linguistics or psychological theory. However, the Reading Method has gained interest in the teaching of languages for specific purposes such as reading scientific literature. IV- Audio-lingual Method: Audio-lingualism had its roots in America by the end of World War II. Unlike other methods preceding it, the Audio-Lingual Method was claimed to be ''scientific'' and ''new''. Based on the principle that language learning is habit formation, the method fosters dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and over-learning. Structures are sequenced and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills and grammar is taught Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics inductively. Listening and speaking are given priority and precede reading and writing in the teaching sequence. Teaching points are determined by contrastive analysis between the learner's mother tongue and the foreign language. There is abundant use of language laboratories tapes and visual aids since great importance is attached to precise native - like pronunciation. Great care is taken to prevent learner errors. The overemphasis on manipulation of the target language tends to disregard content and meaning. V- Cognitive - code Learning The marriage between transformational grammar and cognitive psychology gave birth to cognitive - code learning theories in the 1960s which emphasized the role of the mind in actively acquiring new knowledge. Based on meaningful acquisition of grammar structures followed by meaningful practice, cognitive teaching aimed to develop in learners the same types of abilities that native speakers have. Teachers must move from the known to the unknown, that is to encourage learners to link their existing knowledge to new knowledge. Cognitive teaching de-emphasized the role of rote learning as well as that of mimicry and memorization. Instead, learning was viewed as meaningful. Activities should be personalized to make them relatable to learners' existing cognitive structure, thereby promoting creative use of the language. Text materials are introduced in situations and errors are seen as an important part of the learning process. Cognitive teaching treated the learners as thinking beings and place them at the center of the learning process, by stressing that learning will only take place when learners find the input meaningful, interesting and relevant to their needs. VI- Community Language Learning: Community Language Learning took its principles from the CounselingLearning approach developed by Charles A. Curran (1976). The method was patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to relieve anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language problems a person may encounter in the learning of foreign languages. Consequently, the learner was not thought of as a student but as a client while the teachers were trained in counseling skills and took on the role of language counselors. This method was primarily concerned with converting the classroom into a warm and supportive "community" in which learners were helped to move from complete dependence on the teacher to complete autonomy. With this ultimate goal, community language learning is sometimes referred to as an affectively- based method. Although community language teaching was originally designed for use homogeneous groups of language learners, it has now been modified for heterogeneous group. Clients are seated in a closed circle with the ''counselor'' on the outside. A client expressed in whisper what he wants to say to the Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics counselor, who gives him a translation in the target language and the client turns to the group and presents his ideas in the target language and has his saying audio taped. If the client mispronounces or hesitates over a word or a phrase, the counselor helps. The clients ' audio-taped language is replayed, analyzed and used as the basis of more formal language work in the form of the counselor's correction, added idioms and more elegant phrases. This method of language teaching has been attacked for many reasons, two most important of which are its nondirectiveness, lack of cohesion and over-reliance upon inductive strategy of leaning. However, the valued contributions of this method are its view of leaning as a dynamic and creative process. VII- The Silent Way: The Silent Way originated in the early 1970s and its founder is Caleb Gattegmo, who believed that "teaching should be subordinated to leaning" (Gattegno,1972) .Theoretically, this method was based on the trend towards "discovery learning", a popular educational trend of the 1960s, which advocated less learning through transmission and more learning by discovering for oneself various facts and principles. The method adopted a highly structurally approach, with language taught through sentences in a sequence based on grammatical complexity. The teacher presents the structural patterns of the target language, and the learners learn grammar rules of the language inductively. Learners' errors are expected as a normal part of learning. Gattegno believed that learners should develop independence, autonomy, and responsibility in their learning activity and that the teacher's silence helped to foster self-reliance and learner initiative. However, this method has some major limitations. First, the assumption that ''teaching is subordinated to learning'' should be questioned. Second, '' the teacher is too distant to encourage a communicative atmosphere''. Finally, this method, at best, is used with only highly motivated learners who are willing to generate real communication from the rigid structures illustrated by the rods. VII- Suggestopedia: This approach had its foundation in Georgi Lozanov's condition that the human mind was capable of processing great quantities of material if given the appropriate conditions, for example, if the mind was in a state of relaxation but high concentration. This relaxed and highly focused state could be created by means of music, a comfortable and non-threatening environment, and a good rapport between the teacher and the learner. The most conspicuous characteristics of Suggestopedia are ''the decoration, furniture, and arrangement of the classroom, the use of music, and the authoritative behavior of the teacher'' (Richards and Rodgers 1986:142). Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics Suggestopedia has no theoretical underpinnings and there is nothing scientific about the method. Also, it is a problem to separate memorization from understanding and problem-solving. This method can hardly be used where classes are crowded with learners sitting uncomfortably in rows of unmovable benches. In such contexts, the teacher's reading a long dialogue aloud with exaggerated rhythm and intonation may either lull learners to sleep or give them a good laugh. IX- Total Physical Response This method was developed by James Asher, an American professor of psychology. Physical Response was based on the theory that the memory was enhanced through association with physical movement. It was grounded on the belief that listening comprehension should be developed fully before any active oral participation from learners is expected. This is the how children learn their mother tongue. Like the Direct Method, this method advocates an exclusive use of the target language in the classroom. Teachers are advised to obey the here-and-now principle while learners are required to perform the instructions by doing activities physically. The main assumption that Asher takes is that learners should never be forced to speak before they are ready. This means understanding of the spoken language must be developed in advance of speaking since once the target language has been internalizes. Although this method can be motivating and fun, especially to beginners and elementary learners studying foreign languages in input-poor environments, it has some drawbacks. First, language input is limited to instructions and commands. Second, activities are monotonous and repetitious and fail to satisfy learners' real world needs. Finally, this method is problematic in large classes when moving from the listening stage to the production stage. At best, activities of the Total Physical Response may be used as warm-up activities. X-The Natural Approach: The Natural Approach was based on a number of hypotheses about learning procedures and conditions for learning. Tracey Terrell (1977), a teacher of Spanish in California, proposed a philosophy of language teaching which was based on the principles of meaningful communication, comprehension before production, and indirect error correction. Three dominating types of activities in the classroom are (1) comprehension activities, (2) early speech production activities, and (3) speech emergence activities. Comprehension (pre-production) activities consist of listening comprehension with no requirement for learners to speak in the target language. Comprehension is achieved by contextual guessing. Total Physical Response techniques, the use of gestures and visual aids, and from Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics personalized learner input. For example, learners can act out a physical command, identify a classmate from the teacher description, point to pictures, etc. In the Natural Approach, the teacher is expected to be the provider of comprehensible input in the target language, the creator of conducive classroom atmosphere in which there is a low "affective filter'' for learning, and the initiator of diversified classroom activities for every student to participate in. The advantages of the Natural Approach are found in the warm, affective atmosphere in class, opportunities for group communicative practice. Learners learn language in context in personalized activities and they are encouraged to create with the language at all times. However, this approach has been criticized as an old method which bears a new name. In many ways, it is similar to the Direct Method. But the most obvious drawback is the lack of concentration on building towards accuracy, and fossilization is therefore very likely to take place. XI- Communicative Language Teaching: The approach to language teaching that can be broadly labeled as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as the emphasis switched from the mechanical practice of language patterns associated with the Audiolingual Method to activities that engaged the learners in more meaningful and authentic language use. Communicative Language Teaching, from British and American perspectives, is aimed at (1) making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and (2) developing procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication. Communicative Language Teaching is grounded on a theory of language as communication. The goal of Communicative Language Teaching is to create a realistic context for language acquisition in the classroom in order to develop what Hymes (1972) referred to as "communicative competence". The focus of Communicative Language Teaching is on functional language usage and learners' ability to express their own ideas, feelings, attitudes, desires and needs. Open-ended questioning and problem-solving activities and exchanges of personal information are utilized to enable learners to develop learners' communicative competence. In this Communicative Approach, "skill" has become more important than "content". Communicative lessons are characterized by activities where learners communicate and where tasks are completed by means of interaction with other learners. Therefore, Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics learners' completing a task is fore-grounded, and communicating with each other is black-grounded. Communicative Language Teaching with its emphasis on meaning and communication and its learner-centered approach has served as the dominant approach to language teaching since the demise of the Audio-lingual Method. However, Communicative Language Teaching cannot be seen as a panacea for the problems that have been faced by language teachers, nor does it represent the final stage in the process of evolution of language teaching. In fact, although highly acclaimed when it was first introduced in the 1970s, it has lost some of its early appeal. This is because teachers are not really convinced of its superiority. XII- The Lexical Approach: Advances in computer - based studies of language, such as corpus linguistics, have provided huge data bases of language corpora. One of the influences of Corpus Linguistics is the emergence of the Lexical Approach to foreign language teaching, which has received interest since the late 1980s as an alternative to grammar-based approaches. Proponents of the lexical Approach contend that language consists of meaningful chunks that, when combined, produce continuous coherent text, and only a minority of spoken sentences are entirely novel creations. Within the Lexical Approach, special attention is directed to collocations and expressions. The most significant contribution of the Lexical Approach is its underlying assumption that language production is not a syntactic rulegoverned process but is instead the retrieval of larger phrasal units from memory. Also, this approach challenges a traditional view of word boundaries by emphasizing the langue learner's need to perceive and use patterns of lexis and collocation. Nevertheless, this approach does not represent a methodological change and it is necessary to match a lexical syllabus with an instructional methodology that lays stress on language use and classroom techniques. Activities that are consistent with the Lexical Approach must be directed towards raising learners' awareness of the lexical nature of language. Conclusion Methodology in second and foreign language teaching has evolved significantly for several decades. Various methods or approaches to language teaching have been discussed so far. From the presentation and discussion of those methods or approaches, it is obvious that changes in teaching methodology not occur spontaneously or rapidly. Instead, they evolve along Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page Assignment on Applied Linguistics a continuum of progressive change. Nevertheless, not all language classrooms are representative of the shift in methodology described in this assignment. No doubt, many teachers use a combination of approaches that reflect different methodologies, some old, some new. There may still be many teachers who rely on very traditional approaches despite definitive changes in the profession. With new insights into language learning theories, we can say affirmatively that there is no single method or approach that can work for all teachers of for all learners or under all conditions because teaching is a socially constructed activity. We recognize that different learners have different preferred styles of learning, different needs and expectations. Teachers also have different teaching styles, different beliefs and values which affect their teaching styles. It is therefore critical for every teacher to endorse pluralistic teaching strategies and techniques which allow for greater diversity and choice that may be more for individual learners. There are methods or approaches that may be more or less appropriate according to situations, and the selection of a particular model or method of teaching depends on a teacher's knowledge of the contexts, their goals, the characteristics of a specific group of learners, and community values and expectations. In other words, the decisions on what to teach, how to teach it, and why to teach it must be made on the basis of an expanded repertoire of professional knowledge, personal experience and good understanding of the classroom data. In short, the best approach is one which inspires teachers and learners with confidence. Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page . teaching of grammar and Dang Phuong Van - Hai Duong - Page 1 Assignment on Applied Linguistics avoidance of translation are main principles, which have provided the foundation for the Direct Method with the target language. Emphasis is placed upon the development of accurate pronunciation right from the onset of the lesson as correct pronunciation is considered to be important in this method. The. is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension is taught while minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or conversation skills in the target language. The acquisition of vocabulary