English Teaching Methods

Monday, 21 February 2011

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Learning another language apart from the mother tongue has always been important for people, because of the reasons such as knowing other cultures, travelling, trade, religion and even need of being a spy in the others. If we examine where and when second language education started, we cannot give a precise answer; however, it is a fact that bilingualism has always been the norm instead of monolingualism. Another point is that this second language education has changed through languages. Romans were trying to learn Greek, and then Latin became popular. Finally, English has the importance now. So, we know why people want to learn other languages, but the question is this. How can they learn these languages? This question has always got the attention of pedagogues, linguists and scientists. The answer to this question has also changed according to reasons why people want to learn languages and what the pedagogues, linguists and scientists understand from teaching language. For example, we can see a trend from written language to oral language. Furthermore, many approaches methods, and techniques have been developed for the needs of language teaching. When we look at them, we can divide the second language teaching to four periods. Although there are not exact names of these periods, we will call them as Classical Period, Alternative Period, Current Communicative Period, and Post-method Era.

The first era is the Classical Period as we mentioned above. If we want to understand what happened in the Classical Period, we must look at the historical background of it. While Latin was the popular language in Europe in the 16^th century, main objectives of learning it were to understand the classical text, grammar of Latin and translation. In addition, Latin was believed to develop intellectual abilities. Then Latin turned into a “dead” language from a spoken language and English got the popularity. Although it got the popularity, the same way to teach Latin was used to teach English. This is how the Grammar Translation Method emerged. It is not true to say when it was used, because it can be still used somewhere. However, we can say it was the trend between 1840s and 1940s. As it emerged from the teaching of Latin, it focused on the teaching of the grammar of English, too. Reading and writing were more important than listening and speaking. Maybe the only listening-speaking activity was reading sentences aloud that would be translated. Memorization of the words was very important. The aim is to learn a language to learn its literature or to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development which result from foreign language study. It was not a method to teach the language, as William H.D. Rouse said it was “to know everything about something rather than itself ¹. As it is the first method of the language teaching, it has many inefficient sides. For example, it doesn’t give importance to oral communication. However, oral communication is as important as written language. Even it can be said that oral communication is more important than written language communication. So, classical period passed with its only method which was very inadequate.

Because of the failure in educational system in public schools and some other factors, validity of the Grammar Translation Method was started to be questioned. Moreover, interest in language teaching started to move toward oral proficiency. Some individual specialists such as C. Marcel, T. Prendergast, and F. Gouin tried to find some ways of language teaching. The Frenchman C. Marcel focused on the connection between child learning his/her language and foreign language. He emphasized the importance of reading and believed reading must be taught before other skills. The Englishman T. Prendergast made the observation that children use contextual and situational cues to interpret utterances and he proposed the first “structural syllabus”. The Frenchman F. Gouin emphasized that teaching new items in a context that made meaning clear is important. Because of the fact that there was no organizational structure in language teaching, their attempts couldn’t be successful.

This situation began to change toward the end of the 19^th century. Linguistics was revitalized as a branch of science. Linguists such as Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Viëtor and Paul Passy led reformist ideas. There were some common beliefs that all reformers defend like spoken language is primary, translation should be avoided, help of phonetics can be taken and grammar should be taught inductively. But apart from these beliefs put forward by reformists, there was an interest in developing principles for language teaching out of the naturalistic principles of language learning such as which are seen in the first language acquisition. This was the beginning of the Natural Approach and Direct Method. This method was introduced in the United States by Savuer and Maximilian Berlitz and they became very successful in their commercial schools. Direct method has some opposite ideas to Grammar Translation Method apart from its new ideas. For example, grammar is taught inductively, target language is the medium of classroom interaction, and accuracy in grammar and pronunciation is emphasized. Direct Method is, of course, better than Grammar
Translation Method. At least, it gives more importance to oral communication, and the usage of objects and realia in the class was a good progress for language teaching. However, obsession with the accuracy of pronunciation is seemed to be a handicap for learners, because learning process must be natural and fluent. It can be said that Alternative Period was like a passage from Grammar Translation to more influential approaches and methods.

As we started to our essay, we mentioned that learning a language has many purposes. When the U.S. entered to World War II, they needed to have personnel who had fluency and accuracy in other languages than English. It was necessary to establish special language training programs. So the Audio-Lingual Method came into being. We can say for ALM that it requires drill, drill and drill and only vocabulary to make such drills possible.²It was affected by behaviorism. For example, structural patterns were taught by using drills and successful responses were reinforced. Then, for some reasons like students’ being unable to transfer skills acquired to real communication outside the classroom and procedure’s being boring and unsatisfying, ALM lost its reputation. In addition to ALM, we have Communicative Language Teaching in the current communicative period. It takes its origin from the British language teaching tradition. It has some principles such as language is for expression of meaning and its primary function is interaction and communication. Although we can count principles of it, there are many interpretations of what CLT actually means and involves. In communicative period, there has been development in various ways such as emphasis on individualized instruction, humanistic approaches to language learning, greater focus on the communication, in contrast to linguistic and competence. The silent way is the method devised by Caleb Cattegno. In this method, sounds are coded to colors. Maybe, the most important feature of this method is the teacher’s silence. Although it can be useful sometimes, teacher’s silence is not always an effective way. It can be disturbing or confusing for learners. Another method in this period is community language learning. It uses the counseling-learning theory to teach English. Teacher is more like a guide-counselor than authority to students.

Furthermore, we have the method of Bulgarian psychiatrist-educator Georgi Lozanov’s Suggestopedia. The decoration of the class, furniture, the use of music and the authoritative behaviors of teacher are the main characteristics of Suggestopedia. Peripheral learning is a very original idea in the language teaching. While approaching to post method era, we have Task-Based Language Teaching and Content-based Instruction. In TB language teaching, aim is to teach language by giving a task that will urge students to communicate in the target language while dealing with it. As for the CBI, it is the main goal that teaching something in the target language rather than teaching the language. However, this method can only be used with learners who have high level of proficiency in the target language. Another method that we mustn’t forget is the Multiple Intelligence method. It has a very different way of looking to human intelligence. It aims to teach language by using every person’s dominant intelligence. As you see, most of the methods and approaches is in the current communicative period. We can say that there was a fight of showing who has the best way of teaching language. It was like a brain-storming of language teaching history.

After all of these searches for best method, some questions like why we are always bound to only a method have aroused. Then a scientist called Kumaravadivelu came up with the idea that “as long as we caught up in the web of method, we will continue to get entangled in an unending search for an unavailable solution.” He suggests that we must find “an alternative to method, rather than finding and alternative method.” If we think in the same way with Kumaravadivelu eclecticism may be the answer or result of these ideas. It claims that we must use every useful element of the methods and approach rather than obsession with one of them. So, the post method era is a very different way in language teaching in terms of its looking to methods.

In conclusion, we tried to give a brief history of English language teaching. Each of the methods we examine above is another step in language teaching. Even though some of them are less important than others, each of them is important to understand the difficulties and problems of teaching another language. It can be said that it is better to benefit from every method, approach and technique when it is necessary rather than being stuck on one of them. More flexible you are, more efficient is your teaching.

REFERENCES

¹ Approach and Methods in Language Teaching” by Jack Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers

² Hockett, 1959

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by Md Ataul Wahid Rupak

Transportation Problems of Dhaka City:

Findings From an Opinion Survey

A. Introduction

Over the last few years the transportation problem of Dhaka City has visibly been deteriorating steadily. Citizens constantly complain about the unbearable twin problems of traffic jam and air pollution. Democracy watch decided to address this problem through an opinion poll covering around eight hundred households randomly selected from several purposefully selected neighborhoods of the city, representatives of middle and lower income areas.

The questions asked focused mainly on three issues: (a) the nature of the problem as perceived by the surveyed residents, (b) their understanding about the causes of these problems and (c) their recommendations on solutions to these perceived problems.

Some preliminary results from this survey were presented at a workshop, which was participated by persons associated with the formulation and implementation of traffic policies, rules and programs. This Draft Final Report benefits from valuable discussion and comments received at the workshop.

The methodology of this survey is explained below in brief. It is easy to see that the study extended beyond a standard opinion poll and entered the arena of investigative research in seeking some explanations to perceptions as well as behavior.

The findings are presented mainly in the form of self-explanatory tables with some introductory highlights and conclusions.

A further extension of the survey is currently being completed to cover the very poor and the rich categories of residents as was recommended by several participants at the workshop mentioned earlier.

B. Methodology

During the round of the opinion poll the main focus was on the middle and lower income population of Dhaka city. Therefore, the sample was drawn from 30 purposefully selected neighborhoods which are generally recognized as middle and lower income areas. In each of these areas a systematic random sample of about 26 households were selected, giving a total sample of 775 households. In the event of any household’s refusal to give interview which happened on average in one in four cases, the nearest household willing to be interviewed was chosen. Usually the household head responded. In case of his absence any other responsible adult capable of responding to the questions was interviewed. Interviews were conducted on the basis of a pre-tested questionnaire.

C. Selected Findings

I. Perceptions on major problems

· Altogether 37 problems were mentioned. They were given a score on a scale of 1-5 to indicate their perceived seriousness. Each of these problems was then ranked according to the total score given to it by the analytical group under consideration.

· Not surprisingly, traffic jam topped the list, followed by hijacking/terrorism as no. 2, load shedding as no. 3, environmental pollution as no. 4 and water crisis as no. 5.

· Surprisingly, strikes were way down among the bottom 5 (at no. 33), reflecting possibly both a shortness of public memory as well as a lack of concern or an acquired immunity at the mass level in respect of strikes.

· Changes in public perception about the seriousness of problems in civic life was also evidenced by the placement of load shedding at no. 3, which would undoubtedly have been put as the no. 1 problem about 2 years ago.

· Except for problems no. 1 and no. 2 there was variation in the rank order of the perceived problems based on income, occupation, education and gender. For example, environmental pollution was given more importance by the richer people compared to load shedding. Likewise, unemployment was more of a problem for the poorer categories.

· Interestingly, poor drainage was not mentioned in the list of 5 most important problems in the city. Clearly, for all the sampled respondents, there were far too many other problems to enter the list of 5.

II. Opinion about recent trend in the traffic situation in Dhaka city

· About 10 per cent of the respondents had no definite opinion.

· Of those with definite opinions, about a quarter (24 per cent) thought there was some improvement (reference period November 2000), while over three fourths (76 per cent) thought there was a definite deterioration over the last few years.

· All professionals and laborers surveyed had definite opinions. While among professionals the proportion believing in a drastic deterioration was the highest (46 per cent) and definite deterioration fairly high (39 per cent), among laborers the opinion was more polarized between drastic deterioration (44 per cent) and marginal improvement (33 per cent).

III. Frequency and Purpose of Trips

· On average a household reportedly made about two and a half trips on a normal working day. This figure is believed to have been underrepresented and the true figure is likely to be about 50 per cent higher.

· There is variation in the frequency of daily trips among the different neighborhoods of Dhaka city. The residents of Farmgate-Tejgaon and Motijheel-Kamalapur areas seem to make more frequent trips per day (2.8 and 2.7 ) compared to the residents of Rampura-Badda area (2.0).

· The office is the main destination of daily trips (about a third of all trips) followed by the business place (about a fifth). The variation in the relative frequency of the destination conform to the well acknowledged predominance of office goers or business people in different areas of Dhaka city. For example, old Dhaka neighborhoods like Nawabpur etc, are strongholds of business people, while areas like Azimpur, Mirpur etc are the ‘ghettos’ of office goers.

IV. Mode of travel

· More than half (54 per cent) the daily trips by sampled respondents were non-motorized, i.e by walking, bicycling or on a rickshaw which was the single most used (46 per cent) mode of transport.

· Of the remaining 46 per cent trips, the dominant (25 per cent) mode was bus (public or office).

· The much polluting 2-stroke engine scooter/tempos accounted for 13 per cent of the total daily trips.

· There was not much gender variation in the choice of travel mode. Variation among the occupational categories was more distinct. For example, professionals seemed to travel by rickshaws and private cars, while completely avoiding scooter/tempos.

· Purpose-wise: office travel is least non-motorized (49 per cent) while non-grocery shopping is most so (63 per cent).

· Rickshaws are most preferred for school trips (52 per cent), shopping (47 per cent), and college trips (46 per cent).

· Office travel is still mainly on rickshaws (42 per cent), followed by buses (31 per cent) and scooter/tempo (14 per cent).

V. Time and cost of travel

· An average daily trip (one way) during the work-day reportedly took about 35 minutes., while an average daily trip over the week-end took around 41 minutes (subject to further verification).

· Variation in the time taken for an average trip was marginal between the income groups. The richer residents took longer (approx 39 minutes) compared to the poorer residents (approx 27 minutes). The average trip time for the professional women was reported to be the highest (approx 55 minutes).

· The reported expense incurred by an average household for daily travel was reported to be approx 22 taka. It was lower during the week-day (approx 19 taka) and significantly higher over the week-end (approx 35 taka), indicating more distant trips, possibly for leisure related activities.

· Differences in expenditure on daily travel exist. Higher costs are incurred by the professionals (30 taka approx) and the higher income households (28 taka approx).

· The recent oil price hike has had a direct impact on the cost of travel. The reported overall increase have been

§ approx 36 per cent on BRTC bus fares;

§ approx 23 per cent on private bus fares;

§ approx 36 per cent on taxi cab fares;

§ approx 32 per cent for other motorized vehicles.

· Overall, about 73 per cent of the respondents think another 15 per cent increase in oil prices would be unreasonable, while about 19 per cent thought it would be reasonable.

VI. Most severe problems while traveling

· The respondents identified, overwhelmingly, traffic jam as the # 1 problems (93 per cent) their daily travels. It was followed by pollution (62 per cent), higher fares (46 per cent), frequent accidents (26 per cent) and hijacking (26 per cent). Non-availability of enough vehicles was reported as a problem by only 16 per cent.

VII. Causes of traffic jam

· Narrow roads, broken roads and unplanned repairs appeared as the 3 main causes of traffic jam. This again is the result of asking the respondents to name only 3 main causes.

· When asked about the contribution of different road users to the traffic jam problem, the rickshaw pullers were pointed out as a major culprit: 66 per cent thought they made very high contribution, while another 5 per cent thought they made moderate contribution.

· The truck drivers were next in line with about 50 per cent considering their contribution as moderate to very high.

· There were no significant variations in respect of the above findings between genders, incomes and occupations.

VIII. Recommended Measures For Traffic Jam

· There were more recommendations on the software (i.e. legal framework, planning, management, etc) than on the hardware side (i.e. brick and mortar stuff).

· The single most recommended measure was one way roads (28 per cent). Interestingly, the richer and the professional households were less vocal about it, while the laborers did not mention it at all. The demand came mainly from the businessmen and lower income households.

· The next most recommended (22 per cent) measure was to improve and enforce the traffic law. If one adds to that the recommendation of establishment and enforcement of sound parking rules (11 per cent), legal reform and enforcement emerges as the most recommended (33 per cent) measure.

· There was broad unanimity in this regards between the genders, incomes and most occupations except the professionals for whom flyovers were the second most mentioned remedy.

IX. Comments of the sampled residents of Dhaka city on the traffic police

and recommendations for their improvement

· Two fifths (40 per cent) of the surveyed residents thought the traffic police did not have enough authority over the control of traffic. There was variation on this among occupational and income categories. The professionals and the richer households on the hold thought the traffic police had enough authority.

· A large majority of the respondents (71 per cent) felt they had very little effectiveness in controlling the traffic. This view was comparatively stronger among the richer households, while it was universal among the professionals and the laborers.

· A larger majority of the respondents (78 per cent) felt the traffic police of Dhaka city were highly corrupt. This view was more pronounced among the professionals and the laborers.

· Most respondents (53 per cent) did not have any definite idea about how to improve the condition of the traffic police establishment as a whole; comparatively higher proportions of housewives and laborers fall into this category.

· Definite recommendations included improvement of administration and management (20 per cent), better training (13 per cent), increased salaries and facilities (8 per cent), increases in the number of traffic police (3 per cent) and better public awareness (1 per cent). A small minority (2 per cent) expressed complete exasperation (no hope). A smaller minority recommended the army to be brought in. Improved management was mentioned proportionately more often by the professionals.

( The information is collected from the Daily Star. )

- Written by Md. Ataul Wahid Rupak.