Approaches Theory of Learning
Situational Language Language is a set of structures
related to situations.
Teaching
Audiolingual Method Language is a system of rule-
governed structures
hierarchically arranged.
Total Physical Response A structuralist grammar based
view of language.
The Silent Way Each language is composed of
elements that give it a unique
rhythm and spirit. Functional
vocabulary and core structure
are the key to the spirit of the
language.
Community Language Language is more than a system
for communication. It involves
Learning whole person; cultural,
educational, developmental
communicative processes.
Suggestopedia Rather conventional, although
memorisation of whole
meaningful texts is
recommended.
Whole Language Language is a vehicle for human
communication in which there is
an interactional relationship
between readers and writers.
Views language
psycholinguistically. Language is
always seen as something that is
used for carrying out meaningful
purposes.
Multiple Intelligences Looks at the language of an
individual, including one or more
second languages, not as a
peripheral skill but as central to
the whole life of the language
learner and user. A multisensory
view of the language is
necessary.
Neurolinguistic Neuro refers to brain and how it
functions. Linguistic refers to a
Programming theory of communication.
Programming refers to
observable patterns. Theory
believes that a person can be
programmed like a computer to
acquire language skills.
The Lexical Approach Only a minority of spoken
sentences are novel creations
and multiword units functioning
as memorised patterns form a
Theory of Language
Learning involves memorization
and habit formation.
Language is learnt through habit
formation. Skills are learnt more
effectively if oral precedes
written. Focuses on analogy, not
analysis.
Second language learning is the
same as first language learning
i.e., comprehension before
production. It is imprinted
through carrying out commands
and reduction of stress.
Processes of learning a second
language are fundamentally
different from first language
learning. Second language
learning is an intellectual and
cognitive process.
Learning involves the whole
person. It is a social process of
growth from child like
dependence to self direction and
independence.
Learning occurs through
suggestion, when learners are in
a deeply relaxed state. Music is
used to induce this state.
Learning involves focus on the
learners' experience, needs,
interests and aspirations.
Learners create meaning and
learn by doing.
Learning is possible with an
effective design based upon the
intelligence level of the learner.
E.g., if a language learner has
high musical intelligence, he/she
will learn more quickly when
content is embedded in a
musical frame.
Modelling skills.
Language production consists of
piecing together the ready made
units appropriate for a particular
situation and comprehension
Objectives
Teaching a practical command of
the four basic skills. Automatic
and accurate control of basic
sentence patterns. Oral mastery
before written mastery.
Control of the structures of
sound, form and order, mastery
over symbols of the language.
Mastery at the level of native
speaking.
Teach oral proficiency to produce
learners who can communicate
uninhibitedly and intelligibly with
native speakers.
Near –native fluency, correct
pronunciation, basic practical
knowledge of the grammar of
the second language. Learner
learns how to learn a language.
Near native mastery is the goal.
No other specific objectives.
To deliver advanced
conversational competence
quickly. Learners are required to
master prodigious lists of
vocabulary pairs, although the
goal is understanding not
memorisation.
Promoting fluency and ability to
communicate with others in a
sociolinguistic environment.
No goals as such. MI pedagogy
focuses on language class as a
setting for educational support
systems aimed at making the
language learner a better
designer according to his own
needs.
Inculcating four key things,
knowing what a person wants,
establishing a rapport with
oneself and others, using senses
to look, hear and feel what's
happening and being flexible till
one gets what one wants.
Help learners notice for
themselves how language is
typically used so that they will
notice the gaps and achieve
 high proportion of fluent
stretches of speech heard in
everyday conversation. Role of
collocation is also important.
Competency-Based Functional and interactional
perspective on the nature of
Language Teaching language. Language occurs in
relation to social contexts in
which it is used.
Communicative Language is a system for the
expression of meaning. Primary
Language Teaching function is interaction and
communication.
The Natural Approach The essence of language is
meaning. Vocabulary, not
grammar is the heart of the
language.
Cooperative Language Supports both functional,
structural as well as interactional
Learning models of language.
Content-Based Addresses role of language as a
vehicle of learning content, views
Instruction language as involving several
skills together and that language
is used for specific purposes.
Task-Based Language Language is primarily a means of
making meaning. Lexical units
Teaching are central in language use and
language learning. Conversation
is the central focus of language
and the keystone of language
acquisition.
relies on knowing which of these
patterns to predict in these
situations. Teaching centres on
these patterns and the ways they
can be pieced together, along
with the ways they vary and the
situations in which they occur.
Language can be functionally
analysed into appropriate parts
and sub parts which can be
taught incrementally. Mosaic
approach to language learning in
that whole is constructed from
smaller components correctly
assembled.
Activities involving real
communication, carrying out
meaningful tasks and using
language which is meaningful to
the learner promote learning.
There are two ways of second
language development
‘acquisition’ – a natural
subconscious process and
‘learning’ – a conscious process.
Learning cannot lead to
acquisition.
Learners develop communicative
competence in a language by
conversing in socially or
pedagogically structured
situations. Seeks to develop
classrooms that foster
cooperation rather than
competition.
A second language is learnt most
successfully when the
information learners are
acquiring is perceived as
interesting, useful and leading to
a desired goal. Students learn
best when instructions addresses
students' needs.
Shares its basic principles with
communicative language
teaching. Additionally, tasks
provide both input and output
processing necessary for
language acquisition. Task
activity and achievement are
motivational. Learning difficulty
can be negotiated and fine-tuned
for particular pedagogical
purposes.
learning readiness.
Objectives have little role in the
teaching or assessing of the
subject. Focus moves from what
students know about language to
what they can do with it.
Objectives reflect the needs of
the learner and will include
functional skills as well as
linguistic objectives.
Designed to give beginners and
intermediate learners basic
communicative skills. Four broad
areas; basic personal
communicative skills and
academic learning skills, both
oral and written.
Fosters cooperation rather than
competition, develop critical
thinking skills, develop
communicative competence
through socially structures
interactional activities.
To activate and develop existing
English language skills, to acquire
learning skills and strategies that
could be applied in future
language development
opportunities, to develop general
academic skills and to broaden
students' understanding of
English speaking people.
Goals are ideally to be
determined by specific needs of
the individual learners. Selection
of tasks should be based on a
careful analysis of the real world
needs of learners.
Approaches Syllabus
Situational Language A list of structures and
vocabulary graded according to
Teaching grammar difficulty.
Audiolingual Method Graded syllabus of phonology,
morphology and syntax.
Contrastive analysis.
Total Physical Response Sentence based syllabus with
grammatical and lexical criteria
being primary, but focus on
meaning, not form.
The Silent Way Structural lessons planned
around grammatical items and
related vocabulary. Items are
introduced according to their
grammatical complexity.
Community Language No set syllabus. Course
progression is topic based and
Learning learners provide the topics.
Syllabus emerges from learners’
intention and the teacher’s
reformulations.
Suggestopedia Ten unit courses consisting of
1200 word dialogues graded by
vocabulary and grammar.
Whole Language No set syllabus. It depends on
the needs and interests of the
learner.
Multiple Intelligences No syllabus prescribed or
recommended. Basic
developmental sequence as an
alternative consisting of four
steps: I - Awaken the
Intelligence, II - Amplify the
Intelligence, III - Teach with/for
the Intelligence, IV - Transfer of
the Intelligence.
Neurolinguistic No set syllabus. It is more of a
humanistic philosophy and a set
Programming of beliefs and suggestions.
The Lexical Approach A large vocabulary, useful lexical
items, particularly
institutionalized utterances, a
balance between words catering
considerable meanings and
patterns with low meaning
content, and different kinds of
lexical items may be reidentified.
Competency-Based Consists of functional topics that
have subparts, criterion based
Language Teaching assessment done through
student demonstration.
Activity Types
Repetition, substitution drills,
avoid translation and
grammatical explanation;
learners should not be allowed
to make a mistake.
Dialogues and drills, repetition
and memorisation pattern
practice.
Imperative drills to elicit physical
actions.
Learner responses to commands,
questions and visual cues.
Activities encourage and shape
oral responses without
grammatical explanation or
modeling by teacher.
It is a combination of innovative
and conventional. Translation,
group work, recording,
transcription, reflection and
observation, listening and free
conversation.
Initiatives, question and answer,
role-play, listening exercises
under deep relaxation.
Individual and small group
reading and writing. Ungraded
dialogue journals, writing
portfolios, writing conferences,
personal journals, story writing.
Self-access activity corners each
built around one of the
intelligences. Students work
alone or in pairs on intelligence
foci of their own choosing.
Rapport building between
teacher and students.
Activities that draw students'
attention to lexical collocations,
enhance use of those
collocations, and also that enable
learners to discover collocations
themselves, both in the
classroom and in the language
they encounter outside the
classroom.
Activites may be related to any
domain of life, though they have
to be linked to the field of work
and to social survival in a new
environment. E.g., task
Learner Roles
To listen and repeat, respond to
questions and commands,
learner has no control over
content. They are later allowed
to initiate statements and ask
questions.
Organisms that can be directed
by training techniques to
produce correct responses.
Listener and performer, little
influence over the content of
learning.
Learning is a process of personal
growth. Learners are responsible
for their own learning and must
develop independence,
autonomy and responsibility.
Learners are members of a
community. Learning is not
viewed as an individual
accomplishment but something
that is achieved collaboratively.
Must maintain a passive state
and allow the materials to work
on them rather than take active
participation.
Collaborating with fellow
students, teacher and writer of
the written text. They also
evaluate their own and others'
learning. Also selects learning
material and activities.
Learners need to see themselves
engaged in a process of
personality development. They
need to reflect on their own
learning and should focus on
development of 'whole person.'
Expected to find successful
models for that person they
themselves are trying to become.
Make use of computer to analyse
text data previously collected or
made available on the Internet.
Learner assumes the role of data
analyst.
Judge the relevancy and
usefulness of activities and
should demonstrate the learnt
behaviour.
 performance, safety, work
schedules, social language, job
application, job interview.

Communicative Will include some or all of the

following: structures, functions,
Language Teaching notions, themes and tasks.
Ordering will be guided by
learner needs.
The Natural Approach Based on a selection of
communicative activities and
topics derived from learner
needs.
Cooperative Language Does not assume any particular
form of syllabus since teaching is
Learning primarily through activities.
Activities allowing Should not try and learn
comprehensible input, about language in the usual sense, but
things in the here and now. should try and lose themselves in
Focus on meaning and not form. activities involving meaningful
communication.
Structured programs so that Primary role is to work in
learners interact with each other collaboration on tasks with other
and are motivated to increase group members. Also learn
each others' learning. There is teamwork skills, plan, monitor
group formation. There are also and evaluate their own learning.
three major types of cooperative
learning tasks; I)Team practise
from a common input - skills
development and mastery of
facts, II) Jigsaw: differentiated
but premeditated input -
evaluation and synthesis of facts
and opinions. III) Cooperative
projects: topics/resources
selected by students - discovery
learning.

Content-Based Follows theme-based model in
which content and instructional
Instruction sequence is chosen according to
language learning goals. At the
macro-level, a sequence of
modules selected to reflect
student interests and
multidisciplinary perspective.
Task-Based Language Specifies content and learning
outcomes and is a document
Teaching that can be used as a basis for
classroom teaching and the
design of teaching materials.
Focused on language skills
improvement, vocabulary
building, discourse organisation,
communicative interaction,
study skills and synthesis of
content materials and grammar.
Comprise of tasks which can be
defined as an activity which
requires learners to arrive at an
outcome from given information
through some process of thought
and which allows teachers to
control and regulate that
process. E.g., listing, ordering
and sorting, comparing, problem
solving, sharing personal
experiences and creative tasks.
Should become autonomous.
Expected to be active
interpreters of input, willing to
tolerate uncertainty along the
path of learning, willing to
explore alternative learning
strategies and willing to seek
multiple interpretations of oral
and written texts.
Primary roles that are implied by
task work are group participant,
monitor, risk-taker and
innovator.

Approaches Teacher Roles Roles of Materials

Situational Language Teaching
Audiolingual Method
Total Physical Response
Acts as a model in presenting structures,
orchestrates drill practice, corrects errors and
tests progress.
Central and active teacher dominated
method. Provides model, controls direction
and pace.
Active and direct role. The teacher is like the
director of a stage play with the students as
actors.
Relies on textbook and visual aids, textbook
contains tightly organized, structurally
graded lessons.
Primarily teacher oriented and thus, tapes
and visuals and language laboratories are
often used.
No basic text. Materials and media have an
important role later. Initially, voice, action
and gestures are sufficient.
The Silent Way
Community Language Learning
Suggestopedia
Whole Language
Multiple Intelligences
Neurolinguistic Programming
The Lexical Approach
Competency-Based Language
Teaching
Communicative Language
Teaching
The Natural Approach
Cooperative Language Learning
Content-Based Instruction
Task-based Learning
Teachers must teach, test and get out of the
way. They must remain impassive and resist
the temptation to model, remodel, assist,
direct and exhort.
Counselling or parental analogy. Teacher
provides a safe environment in which
students can learn and grow.
To create situations in which the learner is
the most suggestible and present material in
a way most likely to encourage positive
reception and retention. Must exude
authority and confidence.
Facilitator and active participant in the
learning community rather than an expert on
passing knowledge. Creation of a climate that
will support collaborative learning.
Expected to understand and commit
themselves to the MI model, create their
own MI profiles and use it as a guide for
designing and reflecting on learning
experiences. They become curriculum
developers, lesson designers and analysts,
activity finders or inventors.
Expected to model their teaching on expert
teachers they most admire.
Understand and manage classroom
methodology based on stages composed of
Task, Planning and Report and also creating
an environment in which learners can
operate effectively and then helping learners
manage their own learning.
Corrects students immediately, gives positive
feedback, is aware of the students' needs and
adjusts syllabus accordingly.
Facilitator of the communication process,
participants tasks and texts, needs analyst,
counselor and process manager.
The teacher is the primary source of
comprehensible input. Must create positive
low anxiety climate. Must choose and
orchestrate a rich mixture of classroom
activities.
Create a highly structured and well organised
learning environment in the classroom,
setting goals, planning and structuring tasks,
establishing physical arrangements in the
classroom, assigning students to groups and
roles and selecting materials and time.
Must be knowledgeable in subject matter
and able to elicit knowledge from their
students. Have to keep context and
comprehensibility foremost in their planning
and presentations. Responsible for selecting
and adapting authentic materials for use in
class, become student needs analysts and
create truly learner centred environment.
Based on tasks, teachers can assume the role
of selector and sequencer of tasks, prepares
learners for tasks and raise the consciousness
Unique materials, coloured rods, colour-
coded pronunciation and vocabulary charts.
No textbook, which would inhibit growth.
Materials are developed as the course
progresses.
Consists of texts, tapes, classroom fixtures
and music. Texts should have force, literary
quality and interesting characters.
Authentic works of literature, newspapers,
signs, handbills and printed materials.
Refer Table 1.
Set of beliefs and suggestions based on
popular psychology, designed to convince
people that they have power to control their
own and other people's lives for the better.
Complete course packages including texts,
tapes, teacher's manual, printouts,
collections of vocabulary teaching activities
and computer concordancing programs.
Sample texts related to the competency of
learner.
Primary role of promoting communicative
language use, task based materials,
authentic.
Materials come from realia rather than
textbooks. Primary aim is to promote
comprehension and communication.
Play an important role in creating
opportunities for students to work
cooperatively. May be specifically designed
for CLL learning, modified from existing
materials or borrowed from other disciplines.
Rich variety of materials types be indentified
and used with the central concern that the
materials are authentic. Realia such as tourist
guidebooks, technical journals, railway
timetables, newspaper ads, radio and TV
broadcasts.
Dependent on a sufficient supply of
appropriate classroom tasks, some of which
may require considerable time, ingenuity and
of students. resources to develop. Favours the use of
authentic tasks supported by authentic
materials wherever possible.