Introduction and History of ELT

This is what we covered in the session

Think about
I want to do DELTA Module One because ...
I think I will succeed in this because ...
I expect this course will ...

The Module One syllabus covers

Units:1. theoretical perspectives on language acquisition and language teaching2. different approaches and
methodologies including current developments3. language systems and learners’ linguistic problems4. language skills
and learners’ problems5. knowledge of resources, materials and reference sources for language learning6. key concepts
and terminology related to assessment
For more detail look in the syllabus document at the top of the Moodle.

How do we learn?
Individually, make a list of 10 things (large or small) you have learnt in the last five years.
Loosely speaking can you look at all the things you wrote down and divide them into two large groups that
reflect how people learn?
Now go to H/O 2 and try that (answer key at the end of this document)

How do we learn our first language ? Think about it and come up with half a dozen comments on the
learning process that are common to learning L1. Then compare your ideas with the ideas at the end of this
document in Key 3

How does that differ from how we learn second (or third) languages ?

You may think this is all too theoretical, what has it got to do with what you do in the classroom everyday ?
Lots – you have a lot of unconscious beliefs and they shape your methodology
Scroll down and do the What is your teaching style H/O

People study languages (linguistics), learning (psychology, second language acquisition research) and come
up with ideas about what we should be doing in classrooms.

In the session we did a jigsaw reading

1. Grammar translation
2. Direct method
3. Cognitive code
4. Communicative language teaching

One of the biggest names running through that last part on CLT is Krashen.
You should be able to talk comfortably about his main ideas (his hypotheses).

Match the explanations to the names on handout

Learning
Sort these ideas into the two groups

experiential unconscious learning by being told

learning learning rules / principles and
applying them

instructed conscious / learning by

learning problem solving doing and
observation

INDUCTIVE LEARNING DEDUCTIVE LEARNING

 *
 *
 *
 What is your Style of Language Teaching?

Talk about each question, then tick the answer that suits your own style of language teaching best (even if it
is not the one you are supposed to be using). Try to tick only one answer for each question.

1. What is the chief goal of language teaching?

(a) the students should know the rules of the language
(b) they should be able to behave in ordinary situations
(c) they should be able to communicate with other people by understanding and transmitting information
(d) they should be able to carry out a range of tasks in the L2
(e) they should both know the rules and be able to behave and to communicate
(f) they should become better people, emotionally and socially

2. Which of these teaching techniques do you value most highly?

(a) explaining grammatical rules
(b) mechanical drills
(c) communicative tasks
(d) meaning-based goal oriented tasks
(e) presentation and practice of functions, structures, etc.
(f) discussion of controversial topics

3. How would you describe the language you are teaching the students in the classroom?
(a) rules about the language
(b) grammatical patterns
(c) language functions for communicating and solving tasks
(d) ability to carry out tasks
(e) grammatical structures and functional elements
(f) a way of unveiling the student’s own personality

4. Do you think the students are learning language chiefly by:

(a) consciously understanding the language rules
(b) forming habits of using the language
(c) communicating in the classroom
(d) achieving tasks in the classroom
(e) understanding rules, forming habits and communicating

Now transfer your answers into this chart

Answer Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Teaching style

A academic
B audiolingual
C communicative
D task based learning
E main stream EFL
F other

What result did you get ? Does it sound right to you ?

This activity is from

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLLandLT/StylesQuest.htm
Which is part of Vivian Cooks web site
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Vivian%20Cook.htm
Which is packed with useful pages on second language acquisition research.
 Reading one

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION

(1840 – 1940)

1. Development and theoretical assumptions.

The method was based on the procedures used to teach the ‘dead’ languages of Latin and Ancient
Greek. These languages were studied more as a tool to explore the cultures of these classical
civilisations than to learn the language per se. Scholars believed that the study of these languages
was valid as an educational discipline but little else, and therefore other languages were taught as
Latin and Greek were. It reached its height in the period between 1880 and 1920 although it still
forms the basis of much English teaching in schools throughout the world. It was only when travel
possibilities meant that more people needed English for conversational purposes that the method
came under criticism. The method of language learning was not based on a psychology of learning
but there were a number of assumptions implicit in the method. These are that language learning
involves:

1. Learning grammatical rules

2. Applying the rules
3. rote learning (memorising)
4. connections and contrasts between L1 and L2

The first phrase books started to appear toward the end of the last century and their publication
continued and spread throughout the early decades of this century. Marcel, Prendergast and Gouin
all influenced changing attitudes to Grammar Translation and as the IPA (International Phonetic
Association) gained in prestige Sweet and others found a platform from which they could attack a
method of teaching they saw as out-dated and failing to meet the needs of the times.

2. Language Aims

The English language was viewed in the same way as the classical languages. Rules, conjugations
and parts of speech were the cornerstones and its primary form was written, expressed most
eloquently in the literature of the great English authors. Grammar rules could be written out in
technically obtuse terminology and long lists of vocabulary should be committed to memory. Many
of the problems we have in the classroom today with grammar try to undo age old grammatical
myths which were caused by the imposition of a Latin style grammar on the Anglo-Saxon English
language. This mix was clearly incompatible, and yet we still hear people tell us that a sentence
should not end in a preposition. There was little aural / oral work, as the aim of studying the
language was to understand the literature.
3. Teaching and Learning procedures

Meaning was conveyed through translation so the language of the classroom was the L1 of the
teacher and students. Translation of texts (often obscure classical texts) and word lists through
extensive use of dictionaries was common. Grammatical terminology was used extensively and
acquiring an understanding of grammatical terminology was considered one of the essential aims of
the method. The grammar was taught deductively - from rules to examples - and the vocabulary
introduced in long word lists which were memorised by rote learning. These lists of structure and
vocabulary formed the basis of any syllabus. The methodology was restricted to grammar exercises,
translation and dictation. The written essay was the most communicative activity and it must be
admitted that it is indeed a lot more communicative than many of the L2 activities that were to
follow in the next hundred years. The theory of learning could be best summarised as 'what is
taught is learnt.'

4. Procedures

Classes were essentially teacher-centred with the teacher as the ‘knower of rules’. Everyone
speaks in L1 and speaking and listening are subordinated to reading and writing. The
comprehension and application of rules encourages a kind of problem solving approach (similar to
mathematics). Students were encouraged to learn the rules and apply them accurately. The amount
of memorisation required is daunting Despite the fact that Grammar Translation has received a
century's worth of bad press it is notable how many of its techniques are still applicable to our
classrooms today. This is especially true when we consider our students here in Turkey and their
educational background. We need to tap into their phenomenal powers of memory which have been
honed by years of rote learning other school subjects. The English language's irregular past tenses
spring to mind. It is the way we test what has been rote learned that needs to be communicative, not
necessarily the learning.
Dictation is another example of an activity which has been handed down, although hopefully our
dictations bear little resemblance to those of the Grammar Translation Method. However, it is
interesting to note that the purpose and aims of a dictation have not changed significantly. Board
dictations, picture dictations and article grouping are just three communicative forms of this
activity which come to hand quickly.
 Reading Two

DIRECT METHOD / STRUCTURAL SITUATIONAL

1. Development and theoretical assumptions

The Direct Method was a reaction against Grammar Translation and totally avoided the use of L1. It
was strongly linked to the IPA (International Phonetic Association founded 1886) and dealt with
phonetics as it emphasised oral communication. It looked at every day language rather than
literature and focused on narratives and question / answer techniques. Its most famous followers
were Sauveur and Berlitz whose schools today follow an almost identical methodology using lots of
realia and stressing accurate pronunciation. The Direct Method stressed the importance of speech
and believed that second language acquisition is a similar process to learning your first language. In
other words a great deal of exposure to the language is important. The aim was to develop oral
skills and develop listening comprehension. The procedures used consisted of lots of visuals to
convey meaning and total use of the target language at all times. Language input was done
primarily through dialogues.

The theoretical assumptions of the Structural Situational method were essentially a more scientific
application of the Direct Method. Vocabulary was given attention and there were attempts to grade
and select vocabulary according to level. Grammatical items were also controlled and introduced in
a graded order. Meaning was essentially conveyed through context and language introduced in
situations. This essentially European movement took their language theory from the works of Firth
and Halliday who linked structure to situation and argued that meaning came from context. These
beliefs were shared by some of the biggest names in EFL including West, Palmer and Hornby.

Language Aims and Procedure.

The aim of the approach was to develop oral skills and accuracy of grammar and pronunciation.
Langauge was practised in situations through a series of drills. Many of the techniques are widely
practised today – especially the PPP lesson format of presenting language and the value given to
context.

AUDIO-LINGUAL APROACH.

Development and theoretical Assumptions.

The AL method was enthusiastically followed in the US where it started to be used in 1943 as part
of the US army training program and remained at the forefront of language teaching until the sixties
when Chomsky, Hymes and Austen attacked its language and learning precepts in a way that can
only be described as violent.
Language

AL's theory of language was based on the school of American Structuralism which placed form
above meaning and showed that the language could be broken down into lists of structural patterns.
Within each structural pattern there could be only one paradigmatic element of change which would
come from one word class. These ideas were influenced by the anthropologist Leo Bloomfield who
gained notoriety through his attempts to document the language of the native American Indians. A
second more potent influence was Behaviourist psychology and the concept of learning as habit
formation.

Teaching and Learning Aims

In reaction to Grammar Translation this method was totally inductive in its approach to teaching
grammar. In other words, they let students figure out the rules for themselves from the myriad of
examples they were presented with. In fact, it was preferred if the students did not think about
grammar at all and the theories clearly stated that no grammar rule should be explicitly stated by the
teacher. When we look at some of the EFL rules of today (e.g. some = positive, any = negative and
questions), we have to wonder if this was not a very wise approach after all.
For methods which refused to teach any explicit grammar rules, it is extraordinary that their
syllabuses were grammar based, with the least complex structural patterns coming first and then the
order of structure dependent on complexity. These structural patterns were drilled using
substitution tables. The method treated the learners as empty vessels whose heads should be filled
with language as a jug would be filled with water and drew heavily on the Behaviourist learning
theories a la Pavlov's dog which Skinner and others had applied to human learning. Personally I am
not sure I like the idea of being a jug, although it has been proven that repeated drilling is necessary
in the formation of some sounds which require unaccustomed muscle movement (e.g. /r/ and /l/ for
Chinese speakers).
Repeated mistakes were viewed as worse than sin and teachers were encouraged to correct every
false utterance immediately. Errors had to be avoided at all costs. Both methods separated the four
skills and determined that they should be learnt in the following order with no exceptions; listening,
speaking, reading, writing. Finally, no L1 would be permitted and it was somewhat facetiously
assumed that once the learner knew all the patterns they would know the language.

Procedure.
The aim of an Al lesson was to produce an automatic speech habit through constant drilling and
reinforcement. Language laboratories where drills could be conducted became popular. Reading
and writing were subordinate to speaking and listening. Errors were avoided and corrected so as not
to provide negative reinforcement. The student was not expected to analyse the language or work
outside the classroom. It is extraordinary that we still use so many activities from this method
considering its totally uncommunicative nature. Substitution tables and drilling are both common in
classes world-wide and have been well adapted to communicative methodology. AL was the first
method based on a psychological theory of learning and it offered the possibilities of language
learning to non-academics.
 Reading Three

COGNITIVE CODE

Development and theoretical assumptions.

The basic premise behind the Mentalist movement is that the relationship drawn by Behaviourists
between language and behaviour is false. Language is a development of an innate faculty of
language principles. We each have a language acquisition device in our brain which enables us to
use language creatively. Language learning is not a process of habit formation and we can not
predict responses from stimulae. Responses are creative and unpredictable and not built by habit.
This was a train of psychological and linguistic thought rejecting Behaviourist ideas and did not
actually lead to any one operational method, but it provided significant influences, not least the re-
emergence of grammar in the classroom and more emphasis on the guided discovery of rules. The
Cognitive Code rejected Behaviourism and put an emphasis on the learning of rules through
meaningful practice and creativity. It came to the fore in the 1960's as Chomsky released his early
works on first languages and universal grammars. Although it did not have an immediate effect in
the classroom, it resulted in liberation for teachers from the strait jackets of the Audio Lingualism
and Structural Situational methods. More than anything else it changed the orientation of teachers
and above all their attitude to errors.

Language

The acquisition of language is meaningful and learning is accomplished through inferring rules. We
have an innate ability to learn. Basically following the ideas of Chomsky, it stated that there are
universals which underlie all languages. These are rules which can generate any sentence from a
universally common deep structure and each language may use different transformations to get to
the surface structure. From a finite set of rules an infinite number of sentences can be created was
Chomsky's claim, and it is difficult to find a more convincing grammar today. The effect on the
classroom was to take language study into the realms of sentence structure and view it as a system
comprised of phonology, grammar and lexis.

Teaching and Learning aims

The aim is to view language as a meaningful system and it is important for students to perceive and
understand structure and rules. We should remember that Chomsky himself said that his work had
nothing to offer to language teachers and we were fools if we took it on. Nevertheless, this did not
discourage many and teachers jumped at his work on language and theories of learning even though
it was not until Krashen that his principles of natural acquisition were applied to L2 learning.
Chomsky's theories of learning were in line with the cognitive and mentalist approaches of the time
and stressed the importance of learners making sense of things for themselves but with the guidance
of a teacher. This reaction to Behaviourism stated that learning was not a habit but required
cognitive processing and mental effort. It meant that teachers became more comfortable about
showing rules, presenting grammar and allowing students to work out rules in class. Most
importantly of all it allowed teachers to treat errors as not only natural but as a positive indication
that learning was taking place.

Procedures

Comprehension is important, unlike in Audio-lingualism where structures were often manipulated

without a focus on their meaning. Reading and writing have equal status with listening and
speaking. Grammar is taught deductively and errors are an inevitable part of the process. Indeed
errors can be exploited as a way of assessing progress. We can also see the distinction between
knowing the grammar (competence / usage) and how you actually use the language when you
speak or write (performance / use) which a distinction was taken up later. The teachers’ role is to
highlight and explain language rules and to encourage learners to be mentally engaged. In a sense
we can see how the Cognitve Code is a throw back to Grammar Translation in its emphasis on
language as rule based.
There are no set examples as such from this period, as the methods which evolved over the next
decade or so all drew on the Cognitive Code. Procedures such as guiding students to discover rules
for themselves are still used in classrooms today and we continue to use what was then called the
guided inductive approach to teaching which is a combination of deductive and inductive
presentation methods.

Functional Approach

An unrelated reaction to the structural situational approach was to view language not as a series of
structures but to classify language by its function. This lead to a view where language was classified
according to its communicative function. This led to course book headings such as – complaining,
apologising, making requests etc and was largely influenced by the Council of Europe’s (1970s)
work attempting to classify language in a functional manner. A number of course books were
produced describing and presenting language as their functional exponents. Ironically these
became to resemble phrase books and lent themselves more to Behaviourist methods than the
demand of communicative language leaning.
 Reading 4

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (PHASE I:1970s)

Development and theoretical assumptions.

This was less a method than a collective change in classroom practice world-wide during the
seventies and came as a direct result of the Cognitive Code, especially its linguistic theories. Hymes
(early 1970s) emphasised that rules of use depended on situation and context and that language was
more than grammatical rules but consisted of social rules as well. From this there grew the
distinction between linguistic competence as measured by knowledge of the language to
communicative competence as measured by how effectively language is used in social situations.
Over time the definition of communicative competence became more sophisticated and included
discourse competence and strategic competence as well as linguistic and socio-linguistic
competence. So communicative competence can be defined as:

 Linguistic competence: knowing the grammar, lexis, phonological rules

 Socio-linguistic competence: knowing the social rules of appropriacy of style and register
 Discourse competence: the rules of interaction and ways of organising discourse – such as
turn-taking in conversational discourse and composition layout in written discourse
 Strategic competence: strategies used in conversations such as paraphrasing and guessing
meaning from paralinguistic features.

This was a decade which saw schools of practice breaking away from mainstream EFL and
concentrating on narrower areas of focus. ESP and EAP made their first steps in this period and we
saw the influence of Humanist psychology in such methods as Silent Way, Suggestopedia and
Community Language Learning. Humanism essentially evolved from the encounter groups of Carl
Rogers, a psychologist in the US, which emphasised the importance of the learner in all learning
situations. Humanist psychology believed that affective factors and a learners’ emotional state
were the key influencing factor in any learning encounter. Teaching, they believe is subservient to
learning.

Language aims
Wilkins, van Ek and other European linguists with the Council of Europe were working on theories
of meaning which reflected communicative events. Language was now viewed as a communicative
force with functional exponents used to express a particular communicative need like offering.
Style and register also began to take on importance as more ESP schools opened their doors.

Teaching and Learning

This decade had immense influence on syllabus design but in fact resulted in a step back to the
Behaviourist teaching patterns as old structural lists were replaced by functional ones sequenced
according to their usefulness and complexity. The focus of the decade was on language and syllabus
not on learning and teaching.
Procedures
This decade provided us with a wealth of activities often taken from those approaches away from
the mainstream. We have the cuisinaire rods from Silent Way, the use of background music from
Suggestopedia and the recording of students and negotiated syllabus from CLL. The humanistic
element had entered the classroom.

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (PHASE II: 1980s)

Development and theoretical assumptions

The 1980's heralded a real advance in the quality of learning as the methods of the last hundred
years gelled together and signalled a decade of innovation, imagination and improved practice. The
Natural Approach of Krashen and Tyrell caused huge interest not least because Krashen was
probably the best salesman EFL has ever seen. Krashen made the key distinction between the
acquisition of a language (unconscious learning through exposure) and learning of a language
(conscious knowledge of rules etc). Stevick built on the humanist work of Carl Rogers in the sixties
and Skehan started the individual learning strategies ball rolling. It was an exciting decade and one
in which teacher training became more important in ELT.

Language aims.

Essentially language was viewed as a tool for communication and fluency is developed through use.
Widdowson's influence started debates on interaction, discourse rules, use (the communicative use
of language in natural settings) versus usage (the display language so often used in the classroom),
and value versus signification. However, this was a time which focused on teaching and learning
far more than on the language itself.

Teaching and Learning procedure.

Activities in course books encouraged communication often exploiting an information gap activity
which provided students with an authentic purpose to speak and involved a genuine transfer of
information. Grammatical syllabuses re-emerged and the task based syllabus was born as well.
However, most textbooks were now moving towards a multi-syllabus approach with
methodologies concentrating on student interaction, humanistic values, authentic materials -
starting the great accuracy versus fluency debate which still rages - and individualisation.
Learners began to be viewed as individuals for possibly the first time in the history of EFL and
learning theories reflected this with social and emotional factors coming to the fore. Individual
learning strategies were looked at in depth and teachers began to question academics on the
differences between conscious and unconscious learning as well as learning versus acquisition.
Krashen was at the centre of this new found dialogue between those at the chalkface and the
academics. He had strong support from teachers but was dismissed by many, especially British,
academics for being an unscientific showman. It may well be that the largest contribution Krashen
has made to our profession is the advent of the researching professional teacher who set out to
disprove those ivory tower professors.
The total review of correction in the classroom and how it should be carried out is, perhaps, the
most significant contribution that came from the first years of the 1980's. It allowed us as teachers
to become aware of the effect our use of a variety of correctional techniques would have on learners
and we could, accordingly, adapt and improve those techniques.
Krashen’s Hypotheses

Match these up with the descriptions

The Acquisition / Learning Distinction

The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Monitor Hypothesis

The Input Hypothesis

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety all affect language acquisition, in effect raising or
lowering the "stickiness" or "penetration" of any comprehensible input that is received.
Comprehensible input will be less effective when the affective filter is raised and teachers should
endeavour to lower the affective filter so that the learner can acquire more language.

This answers the question of how a language acquirer develops competency over time. It states that
a language acquirer who is at "level i" must receive comprehensible input that is at "level i+1." "We
acquire, in other words, only when we understand language that contains structure that is 'a little
beyond' where we are now." This understanding is possible due to using the context of the language
we are hearing or reading and our knowledge of the world.

However, instead of aiming to receive input that is exactly at our i+1 level, or instead of having a
teacher aim to teach us grammatical structure that is at our i+1 level, we should instead just focus
on communication that is understandable. If we do this, and if we get enough of that kind of input,
then we will in effect be receiving and thus acquiring out i+1. "Production ability emerges. It is not
taught directly."

Evidences for the input hypothesis can be found in the effectiveness of caretaker speech from an
adult to a child, of teacher-talk from a teacher to a language student, and of foreigner-talk from a
sympathetic conversation partner to a language learner/acquirer.
One result of this hypothesis is that language students should be given a initial "silent period" where
they are building up acquired competence in a language before they begin to produce it.

Whenever language acquirers try to produce language beyond what they have acquired, they tend to
use the rules they have already acquired from their first language, thus allowing them to
communicate but not really progress in the second language.
D

This hypothesis states that "the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable
order." For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early, others late,
regardless of the first language of a speaker. However, as will be discussed later on in the book, this
does not mean that grammar should be taught in this natural order of acquisition.

Adults have two different ways to develop competence in a language: language acquisition and
language learning.

Language acquisition is a subconscious process not unlike the way a child learns language.
Language acquirers are not consciously aware of the grammatical rules of the language, but rather
develop a "feel" for correctness. "In non-technical language, acquisition is 'picking-up' a language."

Language learning, on the other hand, refers to the "conscious knowledge of a second language,
knowing the rules, being aware of them, and being able to talk about them." Thus language learning
can be compared to learning about a language.

The acquisition-learning distinction hypothesis claims that adults do not lose the ability to acquire
languages the way that children do. Just as research shows that error correction has little effect on
children learning a first language, so too error correction has little affect on language acquisition.

The language that one has subconsciously acquired "initiates our utterances in a second language
and is responsible for our fluency," whereas the language that we have consciously learned acts as
an editor in situations where the learner has enough time to edit, is focused on form, and knows the
rule, such as on a grammar test in a language classroom or when carefully writing a composition.
This conscious editor is called the Monitor.

Different individuals use their monitors in different ways, with different degrees of success.
Monitor Over-users try to always use their Monitor, and end up "so concerned with correctness that
they cannot speak with any real fluency." Monitor Under-users either have not consciously learned
or choose to not use their conscious knowledge of the language. Although error correction by others
has little influence on them, they can often correct themselves based on a "feel" for correctness.

Teachers should aim to produce Optimal Monitor users, who "use the Monitor when it is
appropriate and when it does not interfere with communication." They do not use their conscious
knowledge of grammar in normal conversation, but will use it in writing and planned speech.
"Optimal Monitor users can therefore use their learned competence as a supplement to their
acquired competence."
H/O 2 key
Inductive learning is experiential, learning by doing and unconscious
Deductive learning is instructed, involves being told rules and conscious learning / problem
solving

Key 3

–Acquired – t here is no focus on rules

–Rules are internalised
–There is a natural order
–No correction of form only content
–There is a silent period before we speak
–Input is graded (parent talk)
–Language is used to do things