Tema 1 Definitivo

8/3/2019 Tema 1 Definitivo

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1. INTRODUCTION

2. EVOLUTION OF DIDACTICS

3. CLASSIFICATION OF THE DIFFERENTMETHODOLOGICAL TRENDS

3.1 Classical Tradition: A. Grammar-Translation MethodB. The Direct Method

C. The Reform Movement

3.2 Psychological Tradition: A. Audio-LingualismB. Cognitive-Code learning

3.3 The Humanistic Approach: A. Community LanguageLearning

B. The Silent Way

C. Suggestopedia

3.4 Language Acquisition Tradition: A. Natural Approach

3.5 Communicative Approaches: A. Functional-NotionalApproach

B. Communicative Method


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Topic 1: Methodological Trends (13 pages)

4. CONCLUSION

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The learning of foreign languages is not a consequence of our modern society;

it dates back to ancient times. Unfortunately, we do not know very much about the

learning process itself. Besides, this is not just a linguistic matter; there are other

disciplines involved such as psychology, anthropology, sociology and the like.

Although we will discuss a lot of methods and approaches to Second Language

Acquisition (2LA), it is difficult to find a method valid for all communities, ages,

purposes and so forth. All in all, there are more than fifty theories on 2LA different in

form, type, scope and source, and most of them are mutually exclusive.

How we describe a language is essential for the ulterior teaching of it. For a

long time grammar has been the main concern of language teaching courses,

following the classical methodology for studying dead languages such as Greek and

Latin. But things are nowadays different, as we will see below.

Some methods try to reproduce the conditions that favour the acquisition of the

first or native language. For instance: some methods stress the imitation, repetition

and reproduction of native-like production. They are based on rote memory, analogy

and so on. Some methods should not be properly called methods because they lack

conceptual or theoretical framework. They are just collections of empirical lessons

done by the teacher. There is a lack of analysis of language.

2. EVOLUTION OF DIDACTICS

There have always been reasons for learning a second language, for example

cultural, economical, political, military and the like. We will have a brief look at how

didactics have evolved all through history.

The different ages of humanity have been characterised by having different

conceptions of the same universe, so each epoch proposed a different method in

consonance with the main linguistic and psychological theory.

In foreign language teaching, grammatical theories and methods appear and

disappear with a regularity that we could describe as monotonous. However, some

researchers recently have observe and pointed out the idea of the non-existence of a

perfect method. Researchers are concentrating on the study of learning processes,

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social influences, and individual factors (motivation, age, attitude, aptitude) I mean

all those factors that determine academic success. In fact many theoretical principles

of ancient methods are being reviewed and sometimes rescued for teaching practice

again.

2.1 ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES

We have reliable data showing that in Egypt, Babylon, Rome and Greece

foreign languages were also learnt. For instance, the Romans had Greek tutors and

slaves that taught them Greek. Then, when the Roman Empire spread all over

Europe, the Middle East and North of Africa, Latin expanded as well and was

considered the language of the Church, Politics, Education and so on. It remained so

until many centuries later when national languages appeared, and even then, Latin

was kept written in specific circles such as Law, Religion and Education.

2.2 THE RENAISSANCE

At that time the print introduced massively a lot of classical authors and texts

that acquired the category of perfect and pure regarding the use of the language.

They were taken as modern and stopped the development and study of national

languages. Latin grammar and methods were the main concern. What was just a

step ended as a target in itself. From that moment until not long ago grammar was

the dictatorship of most language teaching courses.

2.3. THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

Comenius, Locke and Montaigne favoured the consideration of oral language

as well. But, in fact, the trend was the translation of languages according to the

theories of Meidinger, and it was kept so until the last quarter of the 18th century. At

that time few modern languages were taught, and if so, they followed the classical

methodology.

3. CLASSIFICATION OF METHODOLOGICAL TRENDS

Before going on, it is convenient to

clarify what is understood by different

terms that on occasions are used

indiscriminately:

Approach or strategy:

Approach:Theories about the nature

of language learning that serve as

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the source of practices and principles in language teaching.refers to the

linguistic, psycho- and sociolinguistic

principles underlying methods and

techniques. Technique: is a single

procedure (...[it] comprises theclassroom techniques and practices

that are consequences of particular

approaches and designs.) for use in

the classroom.

Method: is between approaches

and techniques, as a mediator between

theory (the approach) and classroom

practice. Richards and Rogers consider it

to be composed of approach or principles, design and procedure, as an interrelatedsystem. Design refers here to objectives, linguistic content and its selection, the

types of learning tasks, the roles of teachers and the role of instructional materials.

Finally procedure includes techniques

and classroom management ...[it]

specifies the relationship of

theories of language and learning

to both the form and function of

instructional materials and

activities in instructional settings..

Before dealing with the

exposition of the main methods and

approaches, it is necessary to

comment that following Nunam (1990)

we have divided the main methods

into five groups:

1. Classical Tradition. In this group, we include those first methods:

Translation method, Direct method, and the Reform Movement.

2.Psychological Tradition. Here are included those methods that are based

on psychological theories of learning that, in a first step, were not conceived to

explain a foreign language learning/teaching.

3. Humanistic Tradition. They are those methods which put emphasis on

affective and emotional factors. Followers of these methods believe that if studentsare encouraged to adopt the right attitudes, interest and motivation, learning will be,

without any doubt, a success. Curran proposes: Community Language Learning,

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Cattegno: Silent Way and Lozanov: Suggestopedia.

4. Second Language Acquisition Tradition. Methods which draw directly on

research and theory into first and second language acquisition an attempt to apply

this theory and research to second language classroom.

5. Communicative Approach. It was developed starting from the work

developed by the Council of Europe: functional/notional method, communicative

method and task based approach.

3.1. CLASSICAL TRADITION

A. Grammar Translation Method.

It was first known in the United States as the Prussian Method. As the names of

some of its leading exponents suggest (Karl Pltz, Ollendorf and Meidinger)

Grammar Translation was the offspring of German scholarship. We inherited this

method from the teaching of Latin, a language that was not usefully taught for active use

in any language community. The grammar

translation method ignores authentic spoken

communication and the social variation of

language that goes with it, and concerns itselfprimarily with the written language of classical

literature.

It was attacked, because the grammar used

was inappropriate to English, and it was felt that

too much emphasis on grammar led to learning

about the language rather than learning to use

the language.

The grammar translation method had thefollowing characteristics:

a. Translation was a way of studying a language through detailed analysis of its

grammar rules, followed by the application of this knowledge to the task of translating

sentences and texts. Students had learned the language if they could translate well. It

used literary and very difficult texts.

b. Vocabulary was taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary study and

memorization.

c. Reading and writing were the major focus; little or no systematic attention was

paid to speaking or listening, in fact, there was oblivion of pronunciation.

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d. There was no connection with the real world.

B. The Direct Method (Also called Reform Method / Natural Method /

Phonetical Method / Anti-grammatical Method)

Second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning, as

this is the natural way humans learn any language, and so mother tongue has no

place in a foreign language lesson. (Baby never relies on another language to learn

its first language).

Gouin had been one of the first of nineteenth-century reformers to attempt to build

a methodology around observation of child language learning. Other reformers likewise

turned their attention to naturalistic principles of language learning. These natural

language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as theDirect Method. The Direct Method is perhaps the best known and also the most

controversial one. Here we have some of its most outstanding features:

a. This method emphasized aural/oral skills and rejected the use of the

students mother tongue at all. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in

the target language.

b. Grammar was taught inductively. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences

were taught. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, with objects

and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.

c. Students do extensive listening and imitation.

d. Reading and writing were deferred for months in the fear that the sight of the

written symbols would confuse the learners in their use of the sounds. It begins with

ear training and pronunciation and also uses phonetic notation.

e. Prominence is given to the sentence instead of to the word.

f. Gradation and sequence of materials were not based on realistic spoken speech.

All the statements used were related to the classroom. Teachers did not generally think of

the students using language beyond the classroom. Any connection with real life was

expected to come later and was not the business of the school.

C. The Reform Movement.

Towards the end of the 19th century, linguists began to write about the need for

a new approach to language teaching. This became known as the Reform Method,

The Phonetic Method or Oral Method in language teaching.

From the 1880s linguistics like Wilhelm Vitor in Germany, Henry Sweet inEnglandorPaulRassyin France began to provide the intellectual leadership needed

to give reformist ideas greater credibility and acceptance. The discipline of linguistics

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was revitalized. Phonetics, -the scientific analysis and description of the sound

systems of languages - was established and linguists emphasised that the speech,

rather than the written word was the primary form of language.

Linguists shared many beliefs about the principles on which a new approach toteaching foreign languages should be based. In general the reformers believed that:

1. The spoken language is primary and it should be reflected in an oral based

methodology.

2. The findings of phonetics should be applied to teaching.

3. Learners should hear the language first before seeing it in written form.

4. Words should be presented in sentences, and sentences should be practised

in meaningful contexts and not as isolated, disconnected elements.

5. The rules of grammar should be taught only after the students have practisedthe grammar points in context. Grammar was inductive.

6. Translation should be avoided, though the mother tongue could be used in

order to explain new words or to check comprehension.

3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION

It refers to methods that take, as their point of departure psychological theories of

learning developed specifically to inform language learning and teaching. The methods

we will look at are: audio-lingualism,

and cognitive code learning

A. Audio-lingualism

In the US in the 1950s there

developed a movement based on the

precepts of structural linguistics and

behaviourist psychology and known

variously as the audio-lingual method

(ALM), audio-lingual teaching,

audiolingualism, the structuralist

approach, and structuralism. The British structural approach of Harold E. Palmer and

Michael WEST in the 1920s30s, which augmented the direct method with graded

grammatical structures, word lists, and readers. (2) The French mthode structuro-

globale (in English usually called the audio-visual method), which developed in the

1960s and used a combination of textbooks, tape recordings, filmstrips, slides, and

classroom presentation.They consisted of highly coherent and well-developed classroom pedagogy,

with clear links between theory and practice.

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It was developed as a reaction against more traditional methods. Audio-

lingualism, was based on the principles provided by behaviourist psychology

(Skinner) and structural linguistics (Bloomfield).

Skinner created a new concept with behaviourism called operant

conditioning, which placed more emphasis on the consequences of stimuli than on

the stimuli themselves. He accounted for learning in terms of reinforcement of these

stimulated consequences or responses. To the behaviourist, the human being is an

organism capable of a wide repertoire of behaviours. The occurrence of these

behaviours is dependent on three crucial elements in learning: a stimulus, which

serves to elicit behaviour; a response triggered by a stimulus; and reinforcement,

which serves to mark the response as being appropriate (or inappropriate) and

encourages the repetition of the response in the future.

Parallel to the development of behaviourism in psychology, there was a growing

influence ofstructural linguistics. On this side, Bloomfield and his associates had a

great deal to say about the psychological aspects of language learning. They noted

that while Indians could use their language, they could not describe it. From this they

concluded that the memorising of rules and grammatical paradigms were not useful

for learning second or foreign languages, and in consequence, teachers ought to

teach the language rather than teaching about it.

Classrooms environments were arranged in which there was a maximum

amount of repetition on the part of the learners. The presentation and practice stages

are the heart of audio-lingualism. As the presentations were to be done exclusively in

the target language, it was important that they were as clear and unambiguous as

possible.

Out of these various influences emerged a number of learning principles, which

became the psychological foundations of Audiolingualism:

1. Foreign language learning is basically a process of mechanical habit

formation. Good habits are formed by giving correct responses rather than by making

mistakes. The chance of producing mistakes is minimized by memorizing dialogues

and performing pattern drills. Language is verbal behavior that is, the automatic

production and comprehension of utterances.

2. Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to be learned in the

target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written form.

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3. Analogy provides a better foundation for language learning than analysis.

Analogy involves the processes of generalization and discrimination. Explanation of

rules is not given until students have practice a pattern in a variety of contexts and

are thought to have acquired a perception of the analogies involved. Drills can enable

students to form correct analogies. Hence the approach to the teaching of grammaris essentially inductive.

4. The meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can

be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not in isolation. Teaching a

language thus involves teaching aspects of the cultural system of the people who

speak the language.

There are many similarities between Situational Language Teaching and

Audiolingualism: the order in which the language skills are introduced and the focuson accuracy through drill and practice in the basic structure. However, Situational L.

Teaching was a development of the earlier direct Method and does not have the

strong ties to the linguistics and behavioral psychology that characterize

Audiolingualism.

B. Cognitive-Code Learning. LearningTheory.

Chomskys Transformational

Grammar and Ausubels Cognitive

Psychology gave rise to their own method:

Cognitive-Code Learning. It was

developed by Carroll and it is also known

as the Cognitive Code Learning. It was

the first reaction against Behaviorism. It

considers learning as a mental process and

not as a habit formation.

It was a strong principle of audio-lingualism that grammar should be learned

unconsciously, andas we have seenthis view was defended by reference to

Skinners theory of learning. In 1959 Chomsky savagely attacked that view of the nature

of language learning, and in the years that followed he set out to produce a linguistic

theory, which would supersede the structuralist model of Bloomfield and his followers.

The resulting development of transformational-generative grammar (did not have a

direct impact on language teaching on any large scale, but an alternative learning

theory, cognitive-code, was developed that placed emphasis more on the consciousunderstanding of the rules which lead to the production of linguistic patterns than on

unconscious learning of the patterns themselves. Once again, as earlier with grammar-

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translation, rules would be learned and then applied to the elements of the language,

and the use of the intellect again became respectable.

3.3. THE HUMANISTIC TRADITION

Proponents of these methods believe that if learners can be encouraged to

adopt the right attitudes, and interests and motivation in the target language and

culture, as well as in the learning environment in which

they find themselves, then successful

learning will occur.

The best-known proponent of

humanism in language learning is E.Stevicwho has been an interpreter of

humanistic methods. 0thers include

Carrol, who developed the Learning

Theory, Curran, who developed

Community Language Learning,

Gattegno who created the Silent

Way and Lozanovwhoproducedthe approach known as Suggestopedia.

Stevick became interested in applying principles of humanistic psychology tolanguage learning and teaching after he became dissatisfied with both audio-lingual

habit theory and cognitive code learning. He came to the conclusion that success or

failure in language teaching depend the learners affective domain, that is to say,

emotional attitude towards the teacher, towards fellow learners, and towards the

target language and culture, which is the single most important variable in language

learning.

It is crucial, not only to take into account this factor, but to give it a central place

in the selection of content, materials and learning activities. In this view of language

development, the emphasis should be on learners not the teacher.

A. Community Language Learning. (Curran)

CLL is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of

a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counsellor and a

paraphraser, while the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role

can be changed.

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

community among the learners and gradually to move them from complete

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dependence on the teacher to complete autonomy. The foreign language learner's

tasks, according to CLL are (1) to apprehend the sound system of the language (2)

assign fundamental meanings to individual lexical units and (3) construct a basic

grammar.

1) It takes its principles from the Counseling Learning Approach developedby Charles A. Curran.

2) It was created especially for Adult Learners who might fear to appearfoolish ; so the teacher becomes a Language Counselor , he understandsthem and leadsthem to overcome their fears .

3) It follows Krashens Monitor Theory ( Affective Filter Hypothesis ) andtheCognitive Theory where the human mind is active .

CLL advocates a holistic approach to language learning, since true human learning

is both cognitive and affective. This is termed whole-person learning. Such learning takes

place in a communicative situation where the teachers and learners are involved in an

interactionin which both experience a sense of their own wholeness. Within this, the

development of the learners relationship with the teacher is central. It begins with the

analysis of the learners feelings and psychological reactions in learning a foreign

language. The student co-operates with the other components of the group exchanging

information. The teacher is just a counsellor and must be nondirective and must be

prepared to accept and even encourage the adolescent aggression of the learner as

he/she strives for independence.

B. The Silent Way.

It was developed by Gattegno and it uses mimicry, visual aids and rods of

different colours and size to represent objects and concepts. The idea is to guide and

stimulate the learners autonomy.

Gattegno emphasises the need to develop in learners autonomy from the

teaching situation. He also claims that the method is learner-centred in that teaching

is subordinated to learning.

The learners are placed in a situation in which their attention is focused on a

limited amount of language. The teacher provides the minimum number of target

language models, and the learners from the very beginning are required to work

things out for themselves.

The classroom techniques are in many ways not so different from more

traditional methods, such as Situational Language Teaching and Audiolingualism,

focusing on the accurate repetition of sentences modelled initially by the teacher and

moving through a guided elicitation exercises to freer communication. The innovationin Gattegnos method derives primarily in the way in which classroom activities are

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organised, the indirect role of the teacher is require to assume in directing and

monitoring learner performance, the responsibility placed upon learners to figure out

and test their hypotheses about how the language works, and the materials used to

elicit and practice language.

C. Suggestopedia.

Suggestopedia is a method developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist Lozanov.

Suggestopedia is a specific set of learning recommendations derived from

Suggestology, which Lozanov describes as a scienceconcerned with the systematic

study of the non-rational and/or non-conscious influences that human beings are

constantly responding to. Suggestopedia tries to use these influences and redirect them

so as to optimise learning. The most outstanding characteristics of Suggestopedia arethe decoration, furniture, and arrangement of the classroom, the use of music, and the

authoritative behaviour of the teacher. To sum up, Lozanov created a new approach

where the teacher is the conductor and the student must adopt a relaxed attitude, that is

why on many occasions music is used. The teacher will create an atmosphere of mutual

confidence with the learner. There is a wide use of psychiatric techniques in order to

avoid inhibition on the part of the learner.

3.4 LANGUAGE ADQUISITION TRADITION

The most pervasive advocate of the acquisitionists tradition is Krashen. Along

with Terrell, he has developed a method based on these principles called the Natural

Approach.

Of the various principles set out by Krashen, the best known and most

controversial is the suggestion that there are two distinct mental processes operating

in L2 development. The first is the acquisition process, while the second is the

learning process. Acquisition is the natural way, paralleling first languagedevelopment in children. Acquisition refers to an unconscious process that involves

the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language

and through using language for meaningful communication. Learning, by contrast,

refers to a process in which conscious rules about a language are developed. It

results in explicit knowledge about the forms of a language and the ability to

verbalize this knowledge. Formal teaching is necessary for learning to occur, and

correction of errors helps with the developments of learned rules. Learning,

according to the theory, cannot lead to acquisition. Therefore, activities which

promote subconscious acquisition rather than conscious learning are central.

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Krashen thought that if second language acquisition operated in exactly the

same way as first language acquisition, then, all second language learners should

develop bilingual competence in the language. This does not occur due to what he

calls the affective filter, which affects positively or negatively the learning.

Therefore, the affective filter must be lowered.

In theNatural Approachthere is an emphasis on input or exposure, rather

than practice; a prolonged period of attention to what the language learners hear

before they try to produce language; and a willingness to use written or other

materials as a source of comprehensible input.

The main goal of the Natural approach is communication skills, but comprehension

always precedes production. Production must emerge spontaneously, that is, learners

must not be force to respond.

SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT

V. COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES

Its origins are many, insofar as one teaching methodology tends to influence thenext. The communicative approachcould be said to be the product ofeducators and linguists who had

grown dissatisfied with theaudiolingual and grammar-translationmethods of foreign languageinstruction.

Communicative language teachingmakes use of real-life situations thatnecessitate communication. Theteacher sets up a situation thatstudents are likely to encounter in reallife. Unlike the audiolingual method of

language teaching, which relies onrepetition and drills, the communicativeapproach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise,

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which will vary according to their reactions and responses. The real-life simulationschange from day to day. Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire tocommunicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics.

A. Functional-Notional Approach.

A notional-functional syllabus is more a way of organizing a language

learning curriculum than a method or an approach to teaching. In a notional-

functional syllabus, instruction is organized not in terms of grammatical structure

as had often been done with the ALM, but in terms of notions and functions.

In this model, a notion is a particular context in which people communicate,

and a function is a specific purpose for a speaker in a given context. As an

example, the notion or context shopping requires numerous language

functions including asking about prices or features of a product and bargaining.

Similarly, the notion party would require numerous functions like introductionsand greetings and discussing interests and hobbies. Proponents of the notional-

functional syllabus claimed that it addressed the deficiencies they found in the

ALM by helping students develop their ability to effectively communicate in a

variety of real-life contexts.

It is this sensitivity to individual needs, which is the major characteristic of the

functional-notional approach to language teaching. The ability to use real, appropriate

language to communicate and interact with others is the primary goal of the F.N.

approach. It arose primarily out of work commissioned by the Council of Europe,which became particularly interested, in the 1960s, in language teaching.

It was suggested, particularly, that language was much more appropriately

classified in terms of what people wanted to do with the language (functions) or in

terms of what meanings people wanted to convey (notions) than in terms of the

grammatical items as in traditional language teaching models.

During the 1970s, communicative views of language teaching began to be

incorporated into syllabus design. The central question for proponents of this new

view was, -What does the learner want/need to do with the target language? rather

than, What are the linguistic elements which the learner needs to master?

Syllabuses began to appear in which content was specified, not only in terms of the

grammatical elements which the learners were expected to master, but also in terms

of the functional skills they would need to master in order to communicate

successfully. This movement led in part to the development of English for Specific

Purposes (ESP).

Traditionally, linguistically-oriented approaches, along with many so-called

communicative approaches, shared one thing in common: they tended to focus on

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the things that learners should know or be able to do as a result of instruction. But in

communicative approaches content is stated in terms of the outcomes of instruction

as product-oriented.

As we have already seen, a distinction is traditionally drawn between syllabusdesign, which is concerned with outcomes, and methodology, which is concerned with

the process through which these outcomes are to be brought about. Recently,

however, some syllabus designers have suggested that syllabus content might be

specified in terms of learning tasks and activities. They justify this suggestion on the

grounds that communication is a process rather than a set of products.

B. Communicative

Method.

The communicative strategy

promotes a definite learning strategy which

could be defined as attempted

communication in the target language. The

learner, following this way of language

acquisition tries from the very beginning not

only to understand messages produced by

other speakers but also to produce his own

utterances in the L2 expressing his own

meanings and ideas He also has to be meaningfully exposed to the target language

because without a certain amount of meaningful input there cannot be any acquisition at

all, but this exposure need to be as prolonged as within the framework of the receptive

strategy.

Two characteristics of the Communicative Strategy:

1. The learner following this strategy produces utterances which are most often,

at least in the beginning period, highly inaccurate or grammatically ill formed from the

point of view of a L2 native speakers grammar.

2. The other is related to the fact that the learner pursuing the strategy in question

is almost constantly forced, especially in the beginning period to use communications

strategies: problem solving operations that the learner has to resort to whenever he is

faced with a communicative task exceeding his actual competence.

C. Task - Based Approach.

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They try to organise and present what is to be achieved through teaching and

learning in terms of how a learner may encourage his/her own communicative

competence in undertaking successfully a range of tasks, how learners may develop

this competence through learning, how to learn and how to communicate.

Task - based syllabuses then,

present procedures for

communicating, learning. They

must be designed taking into

account:

- The learners capacity

to develop their own initial

communicative competence.- They are process-

focussed

- Focus on the integration

of communicative knowledge and

use of abilities.

- Have the coherence

provided by the communicative

needs of learners and by the

learning / teaching process.

By task is meant the thousand and one things people do in everyday life, at

work, at play and in between.

This is a non-linguistic definition. Breen gives the following definition:A task is

any structural learning endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate

context, and specified working procedure and a range of outcomes for those who

undertake thetask. Task is therefore assumed to refer to a range of workplans,

which have the overall purpose of facilitating language -from simple exercises

to complex activities.

This definition may be labelled as linguistic definition; it involves communicative

language use in which the users attention is focused on meaning and also on linguistic

structures. It is difficult to determine where a task ends and another begins. However,

tasks can be analysed and categorised according, to a great variety of criteria.

CONCLUSION

In this topic we have dealt with the most important language learning methods

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and especially the ultimate trends in 2LA. This overview is essential for any foreign

language teacher in order to have a sound foundation when approaching language

teaching and language learning. So far there seems to be no perfect neither best

approach to teaching languages. There are so many variables included (age, culture,

motivation, etc) that it appears almost impossible to have in the future the idealmethod. However, as long as humans need to speak other languages, apart from the

mother tongue, there will be foreign language learning methods.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brumfit & Johnson (1979) The communicative Approach to Language Teaching.

Oxford: OUP

Brumfit and Mary Finocchiaro (1983) The Functional-Notional Approach. OUP

Ellis, R. (1994) The Study of L2. Oxford: OUPHowatt, A. (1994) A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP

Krashen, s. (1981) 2nd L Acquisition and 2nd L Learning. London: Pergamon

Littlewood, W. (1981) Communicative Language Teaching. An Introduction. CUP

Stern, H.H. (1991) Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP

Stern, H.H. (1992) Issues and Options of Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP

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Tema 1 Definitivo