Language Teaching Method and Approaches in English

Name of Author : D Ambika

Abstract: The history of language teaching methods provides a background for discussion of contemporary methods and suggests the issues. From this historical perspective the concern that have prompted modern method innovations were similar to those that have always been at the centre of discussions on how to teach foreign languages. Changes in language teaching methods through out history have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of proficiency learners need, such as a move toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study; they have also reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and of language learning. Kelly & Howatt(1984) have demonstrated that many current issues in language teaching are not particularly new. It has been estimated that some 60% of todays world population is multi lingual. Whereas today English is the worlds most widely studied foreign language, 500 years ago, it was Latin. Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated.19th century text book compilers were mainly determined to codify the foreign language into frozen rules of morphology and syntax to be explained and eventually memorized. This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the grammar translation method. Many innovations emerge from the grammar Translation method.This paper elaborates the methods and approaches in English language teaching.

Keywords : Teaching – English – Methods – Approaches - Issues

DOI :