The Grammar Translation Method and the Communicative Approach have both played important roles in grammar teaching. Which is better, the Grammar Translation Method or the Communicative Approach? This paper aims to compare the controllability and feasibility of these two approaches and find out which one is more suitable for grammar teaching in Taiwan. Two classes were selected and taught by the Grammar Translation Method and the Communicative Approach respectively. The college admission test showed that they share a similar level of the overall English proficiency before the intervention. The pre-test demonstrated that there wasn’t any distinction between the two classes in their grammatical competence. The post-test embodied that there was significant difference in their grammatical competence between the two classes. The scores of the students in the Experimental Class were higher than that in the Control Class. The result showed that grammar teaching in the framework of the Grammar Translation Method is better than the Communicative Approach. Nevertheless, the Communicative Approach emphasizes fluency and the Grammar Translation Method is concerned with accuracy. Fluency and accuracy are the target for English learning. So the best way to improve the situation is to combine both methods in teaching English Grammar.
H Douglas Brown – Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
PDF #58 – H Douglas Brown – Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
Since its first publication in 1980, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, here in its fifth edition, has served a number of purposes for many audiences around the world. For graduates or advanced undergraduates in language-teacher education programs, it is a textbook on the theoretical foundations of language teaching, a survey of what research has revealed about how human beings acquire a second language. For a surprising number of people it has become a book that Master’s degree candidates pore over in preparation for the SLA section of their comprehensive examinations or for references for their thesis research. For experienced teachers, it has become a handbook that provides an overview of current issues in the field with an index and bibliographic entries to aid in that overview.
The Asian EFL Journal Quartely
PDF #57 – The Asian EFL Journal Quartely September 2011
The Asian EFL Journal‘s quarterly September issue continues the tradition of providing EFL professionals throughout the world with insight into some of the most pertinent issues affecting language learning. Readers will be able to explore the work of researchers investigating a variety of perplexing topics of interest in an Asian context. Enriched with diversity, the world‘s largest continent provides scholars with a vast resource of distinct and varied language learning environments readily available for analysis. The articles presented in this issue are a true reflection from the heart of Asia with research originating from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Colin G DeYoung, Jordan B Peterson, Daniel M Higgins – Sources of Openness Intellect Cognitive and Neuropsychological
We characterize Openness/Intellect as motivated cognitive
flexibility, or cognitive exploration, and develop a neuropsychological
model relating it to dopaminergic function and to the functions of the
prefrontal cortex (PFC). Evidence is reviewed for sources of Openness/
Intellect shared with Extraversion and sources unique to Openness/Intellect.
The hypothesis that the cognitive functions of the dorsolateral PFC
are among the latter was tested using standard measures of cognitive
ability and a battery of tasks associated with dorsolateral PFC function
Influence of American English on British
PDF #55 – Katerina Pauliuc – Influence of American English on British
Although linguists admit that the change in the British English language comes, nowadays, from the American continent, there are some questions that constantly trouble the minds of those interested: how great this influence is, what areas of vocabulary it affects, whether this influence is perceived as a kind of corruption or it is a normal change, and what predictions could be made for the future of the English language in the given circumstances. Consequently, I state that this thesis is an attempt to find answers to all the above questions, given my interest in the two main varieties of the English language, British English and American English.
In the first chapter begins with a short history of the English language expansion, followed by a description of the geographical, social, and functional varieties of the English language. In the geographical varieties section, varieties of English worldwide are described, beginning in the United Kingdom and continuing on the American continent, then in Australia and New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific, ending on the African Continent. The last varieties on focus are hybrid languages, the pidgins and creoles based on the English language. In the United Kingdom, British English is described first, with careful attention paid to Received Pronunciation (RP), the basis for comparison between varieties of English spoken worldwide. Then Irish, Scottish and Welsh English are analyzed from both phonetic and lexical points of view. On the American Continent, I point out the features of English in the United States with its standard variety General American, through its relationships to British Received Pronunciation.
Learn more about this topic by reading DivaPortal.
After reading “ESL classes are improving the workplace” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.
Muhammad Natsir, Dedi Sanjaya – Grammar Translation Method (GTM) Versus Communicative Language Teaching
Methodology is one of the important elements to implement he objective of education in teaching learning process particularly in English classes. To give the information about two phenomenal methods namely GTM and CLT is the main purpose of this scientific writing since GTM is commonly used previously and CLT is very famous nowadays. In so doing, the strength of this paper is to improve the knowledge of educational practitioners especially in method of teaching English. The comparison between the two methods is elaborated clearly in terms of the principles. The principles are characteristic of teaching learning process, nature of instruction, handling the students’ feelings and emotions, the role of native language of students, the language skills that are emphasized, and the way of teacher’s response to students’ errors. The more beneficial method nowadays is CLT but GTM also still has some positive things offer.
Geoffrey Broughton, Christopher Brumfit, Roger Flavell, Peter Hill Anita Pincas – Teaching English As A Foreign Language
This book is written for teachers of all backgrounds. Our
aim is to discuss a wide range of teaching problems—from
classroom techniques to school organisation—in order to
help practising teachers in their daily tasks. We have adopted
an eclectic approach, recognising that the teaching of English
must be principled without being dogmatic, and systematic
without being inflexible. We have tried to show how the
underlying principles of successful foreign language teaching
can provide teachers in a wide range of EFL situations with a
basic level of competence which can be a springboard for
their subsequent professional development.
Teaching for Cross-Language Transfer in Dual Language Education
Bilingual education and second language immersion programs have operated on the premise that the bilingual student’s two languages should be kept rigidly separate. Although it is appropriate to maintain a separate space for each language, it is also important to teach for transfer across languages. In other words, it is useful to explore bilingual instructional strategies for teaching bilingual students rather than assuming that monolingual instructional strategies are inherently superior. The paper explores the interplay between bilingual and monolingual instructional strategies within dual language programs and suggests concrete strategies for optimizing students’ bilingual development.
Access to Meaning The Anatomy of the Language Learning Connection
PDF #51 – Access to Meaning The Anatomy of the Language Learning Connection – David Skinner
In this Part II the author examines the most common assumptions about second language acquisition by means of the anatomical model created in Part I. The examination includes a review of the most widely-used second language acquisition methods, and shows how they owe their basic assumptions to those embodied in the Direct Method — a century-old approach to teaching second languages.
After reading “Joe Gilliland’s ‘A Teacher’s Memoir’ ” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition
PDF #50 – Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition Jenny X Montano-Gonzalez
Learning strategies refer to a set of tactics that people use in order to gain control over their own learning process. Nowadays, enhancing strategies in second or foreign language classrooms is one of the teachers’ roles, since their mission is to facilitate the learning among their students and make their thinking process visible. In order to teach a second language (L2) effectively, educators must take into consideration the needs and biographies of each learner, as a result, they are able to employ methodologies that guide students in using strategies which enhance their L2 learning process. This paper helps readers understand the concept of such strategies and its importance in terms of accelerating and facilitating English learning by putting forth a number of the definitions of the concept as posited by different authors. Then, it discusses three differing approaches to L2 instruction such as Grammatical, Communicative, and Cognitive in order to identify which of these approaches promote useful learning strategies in the classroom. And finally, based on the Biography Driven Instruction (BDI) model, this paper analyzes on how four learning strategies were put into practice in settings of English as a Foreign Language (EFL).