4to semestre

When linguists and specialists sought to improve the quality of language teaching at the end of the 19th century, they often did so by referring to general and theoretical principles concerning how languages are learned, how knowledge is represented and organized in memory, or how it is structured in itself. The early specialists in applied linguistics—Henry Sweet (1845-1912), Otto Jespersen (1860-1943), and Harold Palmer (1877-1949) (cited by Richards & Rodgers, 2001a:14)—proposed theoretically justifiable principles and approaches for the design of language programs, courses, and teaching materials. However, many of the specific practical details were left to be developed by others.

These scholars sought a rational response to questions such as the principles for selecting and sequencing vocabulary and grammar. However, none of these specialists saw any existing method as the ideal embodiment of their ideas. In describing methods, the philosophy of language teaching operates at the level of theory and principles, while a set of derived procedures for language instruction is central. In an attempt to clarify this distinction, applied linguistics specialist Edward Anthony proposed a framework in 1963 (cited by Richards & Rodgers, 2001b:16), in which he identified three levels of conceptualization and organization, which he called approach, method, and technique.

For some, however, the wide variety of available methods is more confusing than helpful. Methods seem to be based on vastly different views of what language is and how it is learned. Some methods recommend seemingly strange and unfamiliar techniques and classroom practices; others are described in books that are difficult to find, written in obscure and hard-to-understand language. On top of all this, practitioners often feel bewildered by the lack of a clear theory defining what an approach and a method are. This book was written in response to this situation—it is an attempt to present, organize, and analyze both major and minor approaches and methods in language teaching and to describe their underlying nature. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching is designed to provide a detailed account of the main trends in 20th-century language teaching. To highlight the similarities and differences between approaches and methods, the same descriptive framework is used throughout.