groups.

the level a method. It includes decisions about: the particular skills to be taught, the roles of the teacher and the learner in language teaching and learning, the appropriate procedures and techniques, the content to be taught, and the order in which the content will be presented. It also involves a specific syllabus organization, choices of the materials that will boost learning, and the means to assess learners and evaluate teaching and learning. It is a sort of an organizing plan that relies on the philosophical premises of an approach. (Richard & Rodgers)

traditional or classical method of translation: students will learn and memorize the grammatical rules of both the target language and their native language. The one used for the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek.

also 'natural method', that consists in establishing an immediate and audiovisual association between experience and expression words and phrases, idioms and meanings, rules and performances through the teachers' body and mental skills, without any help of the learners' mother tongue.

• exclusive use of the foreign language

• inductive learning of grammar and vocabulary (usefulness)

• fostering oral production and comprehension skills

• use of realia

• perfecting of pronunciation

the emphasis is on learning grammatical and phonological structure, especially for oral production and comprehension. It is based on behaviourism and so relies on formation as a basis for learning, through a great deal of mechanical repetition.

• error correction

• drilling

• active listening

it is based on the idea that teachers should be as silent as possible during a class but learners should be encouraged to speak as much as possible

• learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned

• learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects

• learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned

Examples:

• Simon says

• Head, shoulders, knees and toes

a method of teaching a foreign language in which students learn quickly by being made to feel relaxed, interested and positive. The method is developed because of the argument that students naturally face psychological barriers to learning. The psychological barriers here refer to a variety of internal distractions (worry, anxiety, fatigue, boredom, fear, etc.). Suggestopedia uses four main stages as follows: presentation, active concert, passive concert, and practice. The design of suggestopedic instruction has positive cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social effects on the learners.

it is based on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language.

Examples

• opinion sharing: debates

• scavenger hunt: students go around the classroom asking and answering question about each other

• adopts an action-oriented approach, describing language learning outcomes in terms of language use

• divides language activities into four kinds: reception (listening and reading), production (spoken and written), interaction (spoken and written), and mediation (translating and interpreting)

• for reception, production, interaction, and some competences the CEFR defines six common reference levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), using “can do” descriptors to define the learner/user’s proficiency at each level.

• the common reference levels provide a basis for comparing second/foreign language curricula, textbooks, courses and exams. Together with the rest of the CEFR’s descriptive apparatus, they can also be used to support the design of curricula, teaching programmes, learning materials, and assessment instruments.

  
  

where learners are given interactive tasks to complete. In order to do this, they need to communicate. Once the task is complete, then the teacher discusses the language used.

Tasks can provide an organisational structure for a teacher who believes in the Communicative Approach. Tasks provide meaningful communication and an opportunity to acquire language through real language use. Task-based learning may become more appropriate at higher levels.

one derived from the belief that the building blocks of language learning and communication are not grammar, functions, notions, or some other unit of planning and teaching but lexis, that is, words and word combinations.

it is based on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language. Classroom activities guided by the communicative approach are characterised by trying to produce meaningful and real communication, at all levels. As a result there may be more emphasis on skills than systems, lessons are more learner-centred, and there may be use of authentic materials.

advocates defining educational goals in terms of precise measurable descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors students should possess at the end of a course of study.

demonstrate their learning.

Example:

Students' infographics on mental health resources for the youth displayed in the high school walls.

(Task-based Language Teaching)

• repetition drilling

• substitution drilling

• question and answer drilling

However, I felt like the sessions were unplanned and mostly chaotic. Most of the sessions during the module felt unnecessarily unclear and poorly coherent. I hope nothing for this specific module of the MUFPS but to improve for the sake of future students (and hopefully, colleagues).

-Beatriz Espín Hernández

Inductive approaches to presenting new language are commonly found in course books, and form part of a general strategy to engage learners in what they learn.

On the other hand, with a deductive approach, learners are given rules first, then examples, then practice.