TKT REFLECTIONS LÓPEZ-VERÓNICA: UNIT 15 APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING

In this unit I learnt about the approaches to language teaching, I concluded that an approach is a way of looking at teaching and learning. An approach gives rise to methods, the way of teaching something, which use classroom activities or techniques to help learners learn. In addition, the communicative approach is the best-known current approach to language teaching. For example, in the classroom teachers select authentic materials and techniques from various approaches according to the different learning styles and needs of their learners. Most coursebooks mix methods and techniques in this way.

The Grammar Translation method embraces a wide range of approaches but, broadly speaking, foreign language study is seen as a mental discipline .The basic approach is to analyze and study the grammatical rules of the language, usually in an order roughly matching the traditional order of the grammar of Latin, and then to practise manipulating grammatical structures through the means of translation both into and from the mother tongue. The method is based on the written word and texts are widely in evidence. This approach has particular rules of grammar, illustrate its use by including the item several times in a text, and working out through writing sentences and translating from L1 to L2.

Furthermore, short Total Physical Response (TPR) activities, used judiciously and integrated with other activities can be both highly motivating and linguistically purposeful. Careful choice of useful and communicative language at beginner level can make TPR activities entirely valid. Many learners respond well to kinesthetic activities and they can genuinely serve as a memory aid. Finally, a lot of classroom warmers and games are based, consciously or unconsciously, on TPR principles because learners learn by exposed to the language.