This document provides an overview of the historical methodologies used in English as a second language instruction. It defines key terms related to approaches, methods, techniques, curriculum, and methodology. It then summarizes several prominent methods throughout history, including the Grammar Translation Method, Direct Method, Audiolingual Method, Cognitive Code Learning, designer methods of the 1970s like Community Language Learning and Suggestopedia, as well as the Silent Way, Total Physical Response, and Krashen's theories. It concludes with a discussion of the "post-method era" and debates around the concept of methods.

1. Historical
Overview of
Methodologies
in ESL

2. Key Terms

3. Approach
 a well informed set of assumptions and beliefs
about the nature of teaching and learning

4. Method
 a generalized set of rules that should be followed
when teaching language
 primarily concerned with the teacher and the
students’ roles as opposed to subject-matter
objectives

5. Technique
 specific activities manifested in the classroom
 consistent with a method and therefore in
harmony with an approach as well

6. Curriculum/syllabus
 a design for carrying out a particular language
program
 consists of specification of linguistic and subject-
matter objectives, sequencing, and materials to
meet the needs of a designated group of learners
in a defined context

7. Methodology
 a theoretical framework
 pedagogical practices in general and
considerations involved in “how to teach”
 based on an epistemological stance (how do we
learn)

8. Overview of
Methods

9. The Grammar Translation
Method
 Vocabulary is taught in the form of lists or isolation
 Long explanations of grammar rules
 Readings of classical difficult texts
 Grammatical analysis
 Little or no attention to pronunciation

10. The Direct Method
 Classroom instruction exclusively in
the target language
 Grammar was taught inductively
(teacher is a facilitator)
 New teaching points were taught
through modeling and practice
 Both speech and listening
comprehension were taught
 Correct pronunciation and
grammar were emphasized

11. The Audiolingual Method
 New material is presented in dialogue form
 Memorization
 Set phrases
 Drills
 Tapes, language lab, visual aids
 Successful responses immediately reinforced

12. Cognitive code learning
 Deep structure of language
 Chomsky LAD (language acquisition device)
 Deductive
 Conscious awareness of rules
 Generative transformational grammar

13. “Designer” Methods of the
Spirited 1970s
 Separation of ESL and linguistics as a field of study
 Language acquisition studies based on language
learning inside and outside of the classroom
 Innovative methods were conceived

14. Community Language
Learning
 Language learning was visualized as a counseling
session
 Rogers’s views on language learning
 Avoids threatening environment
 Deductive learning (when A then B, knowledge is
“transferred” from the teacher to the learner,
information according to established knowledge)

15. Suggestopedia
 Language learning occurs under the right
conditions
 Students are asked to be “child like”
 Business enterprise

16. The Silent Way
 Learning is facilitated by physical objects
 Problem solving involving the material to be
learned
 Rods to introduce vocabulary
 Charts to introduce pronunciation models,
grammatical paradigms

17. Total Physical Response
 Commands are given
 Listening and acting
 No verbal response is necessary

18. Krashen
 Acquisition Learning Hypothesis
(learning vs. acquisition)
 The Natural Order (grammatical rules
are learned in a predictable way)
 The Monitor Hypothesis (checks and
monitor output of what has been
learned)
 The Input Hypothesis (I + 1) a little
beyond the comprehension level
 The Affective Filter Hypothesis
(motivation)

19. The Post-
method Era

20. The Pull of Methods
 Teachers want to believe that if they just do X
their students will learn language.
 Students also want to believe that there is some
magic pill that if the teacher would just give it to
them, they would learn.

21. Positivist vs. critical
perspective
 Postivist (or scientist) orientation:
empirical-analytic approach, claims
of objectivity, how we teach is based
on knowledge derived through
experimental research
 Critical theory: all knowledge is social,
cultural, and political; produced in a
particular economic, historical
context; claims to knowledge
represent the interests of certain
individuals or groups

22. But…
 Researchers still do not know exactly how we
learn a second language
 Human learning can’t be reliably studied with
experimental research designs
 So…we cannot produce the “magic bullet”!

23. Discussion
 What is Prabhu’s problem with people saying “There is no
best method”?
 What does Pennycook mean when her says that “all
education is political” and that “all knowledge is ‘interested’”
(p. 590)? Use the example of English education in Puerto
Rico (or language education in another context that you
know well) to illustrate his two claims.
 What is Pennycook’s problem with the concept of Methos as
published by different scholars? (see pp. 599-606)
 Pennycook argues that the concept of Method is patriarchal
(it imposes ideas developed by mostly male linguists on the
mostly female workforce of ESL teachers) and imperialistic (it
assumes that Methods, developed in the West, are the best
way to teach ESL across the world). Do you agree with
Pennycook? Why or why not?
 What do you think is the relationship between method and
what teachers actually are doing (and have been doing) in
the classroom?

24. Prabhu
 Best method varies from context to context
 Still left with search to find the best method for a
particular context.
 There is truth in every method
 But which parts are true?
 Objective method evaluation is impossible