10 Useful Takeaways from a Variety of ELT Methods

Methods were all the rage in the TESOL world in the past, from the hoary Grammar Translation method that goes all the way back as far as one can go in linguistic history to Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL and the not-quite-a-full-method Lexical Approach. The venerable Diane Larson Freeman (whom you should know about if you’re reading this) says we are in the ‘post-methods era’ as do other luminaries in our field such as Jack Richards. All well and good, our profession has evolved enough to accept that learners are quite individual and unique and no one-size-fits all method will work for everyone. Yet all these methods offer some takeaways and ideas for practices in the communicative ESOL classroom and there is no sense tossing out the baby with the bathwater! Here are some useful takeaways from several current and past language learning methods and ‘approaches.’

Grammar Translation

Primarily self directed, it is more or less what it sounds like. I took Latin for years this way and, as a dead language, it made sense. Not so much for, say, French. Yet an activity now and then that focus on GT will connect with many students prior experiences (it is still used a lot abroad) and it helps reinforce writing, reading and dictionary work with a clear focus on form and structure. Having students jigsaw an article, then translate it in small groups and then put it back together in English also adds oral and aural skills and a lot of useful vocabulary work. It can be fun. Make it so.

Direct Method (Situationalist)

This classic in-your-face method,is a great example of output based methodology. It’s a repeat-after-me-and-get-it-RIGHT procedure for language memorization and pronunciation accuracy. It offers little or no overt writing, reading or explicit grammar instruction. I suffered, I mean studied under this method in Japan for three years. It is terribly stressful for many but others liked the immediate phonemic correction modeled by the teacher with lots of individual practice. It can, however, be a bit boring for the rest of the class who has to watch the other struggling students. Takeaway? While the theory is somewhat discredited, it works well for short reinforcing activities within a more varied class. It works well when teaching pronunciation, especially with minimal pairs, and, if done with some relaxed compassion, offers a formal minimal conversation practice structure that some students, especially beginners, may find familiar and supportive.

Cognitive Code

I'd like to pull this one off the dustheap of discarded methods for a minute. Everything has some sort of use, right? This method tried to bridge the gap between grammar-centered methodology, which data showed wasn't getting our students to fluency in the 1970s. CC moved forward without quite knowing what the next paradigm would be in terms of fluency objectives, such as Notional/Functional competencies. Instead, these curriculum designers chose ‘themes’ with a rather disjointed grammar assessments thrown in. However, this integration of language tasks, whether they are grammatical or functional, continues to this day in Task Based Methodology and CLT. It reminds us that when teaching students who don't have a lot of time, choosing a theme like ‘traveling’ and offering discourses and work with those themes and the language they offer can be integrated. To sum up the takeaway, students really don't need to know what is functional and what is grammatical all the time. Such activities like out-of-class research, posters, interviews, free-form discussions can generate all kinds of interesting language that might not be part of the set curriculum, grammar objectives or functional objectives. If the teacher pivots to the grammar used in context of the theme, then it works as such.

Audio Lingual Method

OK, truth in advertising here. I took French in high school with this and hated it so much even writing about it could be considered therapy. That being said, my universal condemnation of ALM was tempered by a night-class student who challenged me on its utility. He led a demonstration in class using it for Chinese and he convinced me. Why? Forget the behavioralist origins of this rather Brave New World-ish method that tries to mass indoctrinate whole classes. It originally put students in Skinner Boxes (that’s what a listening lab is, folks) and offered rote repetition and substitution drills until all are brain dead. So why continue this torture? The takeaway is all about  tonal languages. Thai, Chinese, Lao and other languages are tonal. This means the same ‘word’ pronounced are actually different words. This means that the pronunciation = a different word = a different meaning. Focusing on rote repetition in this context makes sense so you don’t call a HORSE your MOM (MA and MA). In your English classroom, the issue is more on fixing intonation. Students get confused between ‘Get out here!’ and Get OUT of here!’ English is a hyper-contextual language and intonation can make the difference between a compliment and a complaint. Add slang and idiomatic phrases and non verbals into the mix and we have a lot of confusion. Focusing on these things in the class using some ALM techniques helps the students acquire the right intonation for the right meaning.

Silent Way

Cult or not a cult? Discuss. Let’s just say that there were a lot of true believers who could be rather...intense about the importance of this method. Created by Dr. Gattegno, an Egyptian mathematician, it is very regimented but offers some important aspects of language learning. I have sat through a number of demonstrations in this method. It IS intense and a bit stressful. No low affective filter here. The basic idea is that we need to minimize transfer errors when someone moves from L1 to the L2 they are studying. This is caused by students trying to use the linguistic schema of their L1 to use the L2. So, for example, since Japanese has no plural forms, a Japanese student would keep missing this when using English. The solution was to break the target language into the smallest units, phonemes, and assign each a color. Students were then directed to recreate the new language from scratch using color codes to memorize and apply the new phonemes without the mental block of ascribing the sounds to something familiar. Why? Because the whole system, phonetics and so on of the target language was utterly different. By giving students nothing to ‘hang on to’ we avoid transfer errors. In practice, the goal is for the teacher to elicit the target language from the students while remaining silent using the color chart, props and so on with repetitive drills. Takeaways? Teachers can and should be silent more. This forces the students to cognate more, to work harder, to create the right target language. I used to drive my class crazy when teaching ‘giving instructions’ by putting a CD player in front of them and having them give me clear instructions on how to use it with no prompts. Not as easy as it sounds! Using color coded rods for syntax grammar teaching while eliciting the changes is an activity derived from SW as is the use of colored markers to write discourses (red= verbs, blue= nouns, purple = adverbs etc.) and so implicitly teach such forms to beginner ELLs. This is practiced by the GLAD program.  When teaching pronunciation, simply using colored paper to represent troublesome phonemes (L/R for example) often bypasses the stress students feel when seeing those dreaded letters as well. Try it!

*Silent Way Diagram at top of page

Total Physical Response

Laid out by Dr. Asher in the 70’s, this method still works well in helping beginning students acquire lexis and some basic grammar through ‘body memory’ (somatic memory) by linking actions and language. It works. I joke that every good ESOL teacher uses TPR every day, and Im not wrong. When teaching beginners, TPR reminds teachers, especially shy non-kinesthetic teachers,  to loosen up and MOVE! If Im teaching long and short, big and small, body parts, directions and so on I can't imagine not moving my hands, arms, body, and having my students do the same and so on to make it all comprehensible! If this is not natural to you, write ‘TPR stage directions’ into your lesson plans. TPR also shows us that with meaningful linked gestures connected with teacher generated commands and vocabulary, students can understand the messages through actions, they can receive the new language in context and this aids SLA as any of us who have traveled and watch carefully to grasp meaning know. Teaching prepositions is a snap using TPR by having the students actually moving their pen above, below, under, on, in, infront of their book several times. SHOWING is always more effective that telling, and if students DO it, they'll remember it.

NLP

Neuro Linguistic Programming is neither neuro nor linguistic, but aside from that, and the fact that it has been all but forgotten, it has some valuable takeaways for teachers in the  opinion of Richards and Rodgers and myself. I was somewhat trained in NLP when working at a group home for incarcerated juveniles in 1981, some of whom had ‘anger issues.’ The goal was to diffuse issues and tempers without violence and to subliminally manipulate interactions to create a better situation. It also has techniques for understanding when someone is stressed, lying, upset, not listening and so on. Sounds like weird culty stuff, right? So I thought, until the techniques actually stopped clients from punching me several times. Without sending you to the library, what are the takeaways for you?  First, NLP reminds us that you get back what you give in terms of non-verbal signals. As a teacher you need to become a lot more self-aware of the unconscious signals, tones, gestures and so on you present to your class. A good NLP exercise is to take a minute or two before class to ‘reset’ yourself, consciously eliminate the irritating drive, daily squabbles, worry about a bill or the impending dentist visit. Push. it. aside. Reset yourself mentally, emotionally and physically. Then enter the class wholly focused on your tasks and on the well being of your students. ALL your unconscious signals influence others, from your face, especially eyes, to how you walk, talk and so on. If your class is bored or crabby, NLP asks; What signals are you sending out unconsciously that may be eliciting this negative behavior? How can you your non-verbals to change the mood? A big part of NLP is called ‘mirroring’ meaning how you act, look at someone, gesture, raise or lower your tone, all directly affect the subliminal behaviors of others. Using this lens to monitor my students, I am often aware that they are becoming bored, confused, excited, or upset even before they are aware of it. Do that and you can shift things. Something to think about.

The Natural Approach

Yea, yea, I know. Krashen. He has become a favorite scapegoat and yet let us honor him for a few things while taking a pinch of salt. Without his and Tyrell’s work, we likely would not be using the term SLA as we do and even the biggest Krashen-hater admits to the importance of acquisition and it’s preeminence. After all, we Americans acquired almost all of our grammar, right? Think about it. No one taught you adjective order or gerunds. His focus on reception, comprehensible input, before forced output, has stood the test of time and is a cornerstone of most ESOL programs. So is his focus on authentic or real language communication and low affect, meaning students who enjoy the lessons and so are motivated and so learn a language better and faster. I could go on, but if you haven't read his simple, easy-to-grasp book THE NATURAL APPROACH do so, it is a seminal work all should know.  

So, takeaways?

There is nothing wrong with teaching grammar, but work with communicative reception and production tasks first so you can know what grammar to teach! Why teach something, say gerunds, if the students have already acquired it? Communicative work will let you know, then you can target those specific grammar problems that call for explicit grammar instruction. Also, let students practice fluency activities WITHOUT CORRECTING GRAMMAR unless a student can not be understood. Honestly, some teachers simply can't stop nagging! Let accuracy GO at times. The goal is communication, not perfection. Remember, if you are an ESOL teacher, you are either teaching fluency/automaticity or structure, depending on the metaphorical glasses you are wearing. CHOOSE. Do you want them working on speed and real communication or are you building up the monitor focusing on accuracy. When you offer free conversation and then correct, they shut down. Who wouldn't?! Mistakes don't always ossify, usually we shift strategies and often naturally correct errors, relax. Have more fun. And take this into grammar class; let the students figure out the form and structure together from the guiding questions you are asking. Finally, DON'T force your students to produce something you've just introduced without taking time for them to hear and see you model it. Take time to discuss new vocabulary, and letting them read it silently. Give them time to absorb it before moving them to production and they will be more confident and move on faster.

Lexical Approach

Oh how I love you O Lexical Approach. Here are some fun words to to throw around. First, ‘lexis’ is, a fancy way to say ‘words’ and ‘corpus’ or body means a group of words and their collocations, words that ‘stick together’ and which have been compiled by computers analyzing our language. So, this method is based on Corpus Linguistics, the statistical analysis of all the contemporary spoken and written English language that could be grabbed and crunched in massive computers. There are sub-corpii (really) like academic corpus, medical ESOL corpus and so on. It is the most awesome thing since sliced bread to us old-school pre-computer ESOL teachers (whaaaat?!) Why? Because now we know what the most common collocations, phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions and so on ARE and this really helps students. Takeaways? Never again should vocabulary be seen as single words floating in space. All vocabulary should be taught in context to other words and meaning. Students love to learn how to use collocations and patterns for which adjectives tend to link with wanhat nouns and what are appropriate prepositions for each situation. This is not grammar, but lexical patterns we have created. Why do we get ON a bus but IN a car? No logical reason, they collocate, they stick together. The whole thing is so awesome I can hardly stand it.  So, when talking about politics (yes, I know, hush) have students find collocations (Political______; Party, animal, operative, ad etc.…) and link concepts and words and show how words shift in meaning when they collocate. I made it up (lied) is not I made up the bed, right? Making friends is not making a cake. Best purchase recommendation? A good collocation dictionary! And some software! Finally, many new textbooks will be moving solidly into lexical approach so get on board!

Immersion

Well if you are reading this and it is your native tongue, you know all about immersion. It is how you acquired your language in a rich-language environment, yes? The concept is simple, one immerses the students within an environment where the target language is surrounding them. A homestay comes to mind. And, by watching, listening and then accomplishing all the things one must do, to like, shopping, getting directions and so on, one acquires the language. I have met many immigrants who never took a single ESOL class but who were basically fluent, with some accuracy errors. So it works, right? Yes but. Here are some of the rules for this as a method. First, it helps if the instructor is at least somewhat bilingual so that the student can revert to their L1 when they need to even, if the teacher always uses the L2. Message and comprehension are key to making immersion work. Most of us, however, are not bilingual for all of our students if we are teaching in an English speaking country. Another strategy I saw used in Guatemala at an ‘immersion school’ and which I've heard of happening elsewhere, is called ‘supported immersion’ or ‘blended immersion’ and this is the big take away. In this program, students of Spanish studied with the teacher in the morning, focusing mostly on one theme, like shopping or going out to dinner. The teacher teaches some vocabulary and some dialogs in reception first and then has them practice, use realia and so on to prepare the student for the shopping excursion that THEY KNEW is happening that afternoon. Thus they are focused, motivated and excited. In the afternoon, they are taken to the Market to go shopping and they have to do it all themselves, the teacher sits somewhere having a coffee in case the students needed them. This is exactly what I used to do with my ESOL students, I’d wrap lessons or several days of lessons around a ‘real’ field trip to go do something.. It was remarkably effective and retention was phenomenal and the impressions made stuck. If you can't take your students out, assign it for what we call ‘extension’ activities, not homework. Teach them how to order at a restaurant then after school have them go DO it, write down all the language used and bring it back to class. You'll see increased retention, motivation, interest, understanding and they’ll come back with a bunch of new words, idioms and slang for everyone to enjoy.

Task Based Methodology often uses this sort of project as a final evaluation, and it works.

Our goal is to make our students independent language learners. They need to be able to be flexible, acquire new language, use language in difficult situations to accomplish goals and to learn how to self correct and add to their language ability. We are just a springboard. Using all these methods, or more accurately, activities derived from these methods, can help them attain these goals!