Page 35 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Approaches to Language Teaching

tivities involve a variety of drills in the form of commands directed at the
learner by the teacher. The learners listen attentively and physically respond
to them so the primary role of the learner is that of listener and performer.
On the other hand, the teacher plays a central and active role, controlling
the language exposure and modelling the language to be learnt. The main
objective of this method is to develop listening and speaking skills so few
materials are used (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
A procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. For example, a typical
procedure for introducing new vocabulary in the YLs’ classroom is to show
children flashcards with a set of vocabulary items, say the English words
aloud and ask the children to repeat the new words a few times. Then, when
the pupils recognize the new words, the teacher reads a story to them which
contains the new vocabulary. A technique, on the other hand, is a single activ-
ity rather than a sequence. For example, ‘shadowing,’ a listening and speak-
ing activity which requires learners to ‘shadow’ or repeat after a listening
text as quickly as they hear it, or ‘miming,’ a technique commonly used in
the young learners’ classroom for vocabulary development and revision.
Harmer (2007, p. 79) illustrates the difference between the three terms
using a cooking metaphor: ‘The approach is our belief about cooking, the
method is the recipe book, the procedures are actions such as mixing, chop-
ping, cutting etc. And the techniques are how we mix and chop.’
Another term often used in the area of FLT is teaching strategy which
broadly refers to the actions of a teacher designed to reach a particular goal
or, quoting Mangal and Mangal (2019, p. 335) ‘may stand for the plans, means
and specific ways especially devised and employed by the teachers for guid-
ing, directing and showing path to the learners for the realisation of the set
of instructional or teaching-oriented objectives.’
For a long time, the area of FLT has been characterised by the quest for
the one most effective method of teaching a second or foreign language.
It was believed that when such a method was found, it could be used with
all types of learners, regardless of their individual characteristics or cultural
background.Researchersandpractitionersaretodaylargelyawareofthelim-
itations of a one-method approach and there is a strong tendency to com-
bine different approaches and methods, taking into account what works best
for specific types of learners.
In addition, Harmer (2007) points out that it is not always clear which ap-
proach embodies a particular method nor is it clear whether a proposed
teaching method can be defined as such. For example, CLIL has been referred
to with a variety of names, from approach and method to didactic concept

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