Techniques and principles in language teaching

Diane Larsen-Freeman SECOND EDITION 1/1//1 Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching D IA NE LA RSEN -FREEMAN Second Edition OXFORD UNIV ERSI TY I'R ESS OXFORD UN1"~"SlTY I'R"ss Gr.a' CJar.~don 511""', Oxford OU GoP Oxford Un;wNiry Pr " i a depa rtment orlb UnlVand ye n tn,,,t Intpo.ethl"Jme cond ition on onyacquin'r "",P[...]... actions in your teaching and how, in turn , your teaching leads to learn ing in your st udents (Prabhu 1992) Ultim ately, the choice am ong techniques and prin ciples depends on learning o utcom es, a theme to which I will return in the final chapter of this book DOUBTING GAME AND BELIEVING GAME Some of wh at yo u encounter here will no doubt con firm what you do or believe alr ead y; other things you... e Tibetan Book o f Livi ng and Dyin g New York: Ha rperColl ins Stevick, Ea rl W 1980 Teaching Languages: A Way and Ways Row ley, MA: Newb ur y House Stevick, Earl W 1993 'Social meanings for how we teach' in Alaris, J (ed.) Georgetown University Roun d Tahle all Languages and Linguistics Washin gto n, DC: Georgetown University Press Stevick, Earl W 1998 Working with Teaching Methods: W hat 's at Stake?... ive languages, t hen yOll ma y be missing o ut on so mething valuable You shou ld first as k what th e pu rpose o f t ra nslat ing is: Is t here a pr inciple behind its use in wh ich you believe? If so, ca n yo u a pply it another way, say by inviting a bilingual spea ker to come to your class now and again or by having your stu dents act om or paraph rase what they want to be able to say in the language. .. transpirin g in th e classroom We will observe the techniqu es th e teacher is using a nd his or her behav ior In th e even-num bered chapters, the teacher is fema le; in the odd-numbered cha pters, the teacher is ma le After observ ing a lesson, we will infer the principles on which the teacher's behavior and techniques a re based Although in most cases, we w ill observe only th e one beginning o r intermediate-level... the teaching/ learning process, beliefs based upon your experience and your professiona l tra ining, the research you know about, and even your social values It is not a question of choosing between intact methods; nor should the presence of any method in this boo k be construed as an endorsement by me Further, this book is not a substitute for actual trainin g in a particular method, and specific training... and specific training is adv ised for some of them Final ly, Tdid not set o ut to be comprehensive and deal with all la nguage teaching methods Th e rncrhods - included in this book represent methods whi ch are pract iced tod ay an d w hich reflect a diversity of views on the reaching and learn ing pro cesses By co nfro nt ing such diversity, an d by viewing the thought-inaction link s that ot hers... their mean ing Reading comprehension questions Student s answer questions in the target language based on their understanding of the readi ng passage O ften the questions arc seque nced so that the first group of questions asks for info rmation contained within the reading passage In order to answe r the second group of questions, students wi II have to ma ke inferences based on their understanding of... exa mine the pr inciples and so me of the techniques of the Gra mma r-Tra nslat ion M ethod Try ro make a co nnection between what you have understood and your own teaching situatio n and beliefs Do you believe th at a fundam ental reason for learning a foreign language is to be ab le ro read the literature written in the ta rget language? Do yo u think it is important to learn about the target language. .. teacher and the students are more like par tners in the teaching/ lea rn ing process 7 What areas of langu age are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized? Vocabulary is emphasized over gramma r Although work on all four skills (reading, wri ting, speak ing, and listening) occurs from the start, 30 Th e Direct Method ora l com m unication is seen as ba sic T hu s the reading and writing exerc... correctly to stimuli thro ugh shaping an d reinforc ement Learn ers co uld ove rco me the habits of their nat ive language and form the new ha bits required rc be target language speakers In order to come to a n understand ing of th is merhod Icr us now enrer a classr oo m w here the Audio-Lingual Method is being used We will sit in on a beginning level English class in M ali There arc thirty-four students,