Unit 1: Teaching Trends through History, University Languages Notes

The Evolution of Teaching

Teaching has evolved throughout history, influenced by economic, legal, technological, cultural, and historical factors. Language teaching has undergone significant evolution, driven by changes in linguistics, psychology, and sociology.

Literacy Worldwide

Finland is a highly literate country due to qualified teachers, innovation, and political stability. Sweden has a long history of prioritizing education for its entire population. Least literate countries, such as Chad and Guinea, show lower literacy rates but some positive progression. Countries such as Somalia and Afghanistan face significant challenges in education due to famine, war, and gender inequality. The progression of literacy worldwide is happening because of many reasons: innovation, methodologies have changed, the teachers are more qualified for the job, it is given more importance to reasoning skills ...

The Cornerstones of Teaching

Teaching is considered an art since the teacher can design and use the teaching process as an expression of the gifts and skills the teachers are endowed. It is also considered a science since the steps of teaching follow a path, continuity and they are used to be taught. The cornerstones of teaching are the following:

• Linguistics: it is the science that deals with the nature of language itself.
• Psychology: it is the science that studies the human mind and its functions in a given context, in this case the students in class.
• The aims of instruction: depend on the needs felt by the society and the induvial at a given time.

LINGUISTICS + PSYCHOLOGY + AIMS OF INSTRUCTION SUCCESSFUL TEACHING

Language Teaching and Linguistics

There are multiple disciplines and the one that affects teachers more directly is synchronic or descriptive linguistics since this discipline provides a method for analysing living languages as they are used nowadays.

• Descriptive linguistics studies a language at a specific point in time and explains how language is used.

1. Diachronic or Historical linguistics deals with the development of languages and the discovery of the genetic relationship between them over long periods of time.

• Prescriptive linguistics explains how speakers should use language.

Language Teaching and Psychology

Psychology plays an important role in teaching. Some aspects to bear in mind:

• Psychology helps teachers comprehend how learners acquire and process new information, which is crucial for tailoring teaching methods.
• Psychologically informed teaching can enhance motivation and engagement among language learners.
• Psychology allows for a personalized approach to language teaching, recognizing that learners have unique learning styles, preferences, and abilities.
• Language learning often involves the development of communication skills and understanding psychological factors like interpersonal dynamics or social anxiety.
• Psychology can inform the way feedback and assessment are delivered to students.

Aims of Language Instruction

The aims of instruction are to be considered the most important element in the teaching process. These are the methods used.

Approach, Method and Technique

• Approach: It is an idea or theory being applied. It encompasses the fundamental principles and beliefs about education and learning. In other words: theory or philosophy underlying how a language should be taught. Example: "Communicative Language Teaching" (CLT). It emphasizes real-life communication and interaction, prioritizing the use of language for practical purposes over memorization and grammar rules.
• Method: It is a set of procedures which are included in this approach. It is a systematic and organized way of delivering instruction. In other words: It describes, in general terms, a way of implementing the approach (syllabus, progression, and kinds of material). Example: "Direct Method ". It focuses on teaching language through immersion, avoiding the use of the learners' native language and relying on visual aids, demonstrations, and practical exercises.

1. Technique: It is the specific actions, tools, and strategies employed by the instructor to facilitate learning; the tactics or tools used to implement a method. In other words: the specific practical classroom tasks and activities. Example within the "Direct Method" might be the use of flashcards or role-playing activities to teach vocabulary and encourage spoken interaction in the target language.

TECHNIQUE A METHOD 1 TECHNIQUE B APPROACH TECHNIQUE A METHOD 2 TECHNIQUE B Edward Anthony's model presents a hierarchical arrangement where techniques support methods, consistent with an approach . Richards and Rodgers expanded Anthony's model to include design (objectives, syllabus) and procedure (classroom practices) .

Pre-20th Century Teaching Trends

In Ancient Greece, language teaching was mainly done as follows:

• Direct approaches characterised by teaching outside a proper classroom or teaching centre. Probably in the countryside, squares and patios during those times. (The direct method of teaching was developed as a response to the Grammar-Translation method. It sought to immerse the learner in the same way as when a first language is learnt. All teaching is done in the target language, grammar is taught inductively, there is a focus on speaking and listening, and only useful 'everyday' language is taught)
• Aural-Oral techniques where repetition of words and correct pronunciation was encouraged.
• Hand-copied written manuscripts which served as the only sources of written language to learn from.
• Crude dictionaries with listed words in two or more languages. During the 18th Century, Latin deceased as an used language in daily life. However, this decline in the use of Latin encouraged the study of this language only as a way of enrichment of knowledge. Hence, Latin language was studied as a read and written language in order to acquire a more enlightened and cultured mind. According to Richards and Rodgers, textbooks started to appear in order to spread the knowledge of such a classical language. Those textbooks were the beginning of modern textbooks nowadays.
• They described and developed abstract grammar rules with examples.
• Contained lists of vocabulary.

1. Oral skills were not the goal.
2. Listed sentences were ready for translation

Mid-20th Century Teaching Trends

Grammar-Translation Approach

The traditional or classical method of translation. Its main objective was that both the target language as well as the native language are translated in the best way possible. Students must learn and memorize the grammatical rules of both the target language and their native language. Principles of this method:

• Students should know that literature is more important than spoken language.
• It is therefore important to focus more on accuracy than on fluency in the language.
• Any language translation needs a large vocabulary. How does this method work?
• Students must be able to translate literary documents, articles, and extracts into their own mother tongue (L1).
• They must be able to read comprehensively.
• They should learn how to use dictionaries of all types.
• The goal of this approach was to be able to apply the grammar structures which had been previously translated to produce other similar sentences in the target language.
• Oral skills are not important at this time. The focus is on reading and writing.
• Vocabulary lists with words translated into different languages were used to memorize and acquire the necessary vocabulary to use in the creation of new sentences.

Deductive and Inductive Approaches

When teaching gramar, we can adopt either the deductive approach or the inductive approach.

• Deductive approach It begins with a theory, developing hypotheses from that theory, and then collecting and analyzing data to test those hypotheses. It is rule-driven. It starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied.
• Inductive approach It involves the learners detecting, or noticing, patterns and working out a 'rule' for themselves before they practise the language. It starts with some examples from which a rule is inferred.

4Inductive vs. deductive reasoning Inductive Specific observation Pattern recognition General conclusion Deductive Existing theory Formulate hypothesis Collect data Analyze data Do/don't reject hypothesis

The Direct Method

It appeared as a response to the Grammar-Translation Method. Linguists believed that more emphasis on oral skills was fundamental in the language teaching.

• Student's mother tongue is not permitted in lessons.
• Dialogues and modern-styled conversations are the start of the lesson.
• The use of pictures and actions is basic for understanding.
• The fact of reading literature is no longer for grammar analysis.
• What we now know as cross-cutting themes such as cultural awareness was already present in lessons.
• Native teachers or proficient-leveled teachers were required for this duty.
• Inductive learning is used for grammar.

The Natural Method

It is a branch of the Direct Method. The target language was used intensively in language lessons using questions as an eliciting language. Meaning was conveyed when presenting the actions. Some of the main characteristics of the use of this method in classroom were:

• Attention to pronunciation.
• Active use of language.
• Replacement of textbooks in early years.
• Use of gestures and mime to convey meaning.

The Reading Approach

The Reading Approach was a reaction to the Direct Method. Some linguists and scholars already proved the Direct Method to be inefficient, thus, reading became the new skill to be focused on. 5These are its main characteristics:

• Student's mother tongue is not permitted in lessons.
• The grammar used in reading comprehension is the only object of study.
• There is a general to specific use of vocabulary based on frequency and usefulness.
• As in previous methods, translation is used as a procedure.
• Sole emphasis is on the reading skill.
• The teacher does not need to be completely fluent in the target language. Students were asked to develop their reading skills which indirectly produced an increase in the mastery of other skills such as guessing, describing, imagining, inferencing, predicting, etc. However, there was an important advantage in reading books. The more the students read the more curious they became, hence, learning was being successful.

The Audiolingualism

It appeared in the USA at the beginning of WWII. The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was created, and intensive 6-week courses took place to have men ready to join the army as soldiers fluent in a foreign language. Foreigners had the need to learn the English language since the ally countries included United Kingdom and the United States. Its main characteristics are the following ones:

• Dialogues are presented at the beginning of lessons.
• The use of mimicry and memorization.
• Grammar structures are inductively taught and are sequenced.
• Skills are sequenced: first listening, then speaking, and reading and writing are postponed.
• Drilling pronunciation is stressed.
• In initial stages, vocabulary is impressively reduced.
• Learner errors are prevented.
• The teacher must be proficient only in the structures, vocabulary, etc.
• Learning materials and activities are carefully controlled.

Situational Language Teaching (STL)

Aka Oral Approach. Its main characteristics are the following ones:

• There was a vocabulary selection of around 2,000 words which would facilitate the reading in English language. 6