TEFL

APPROACH,
METHOD AND
TECHNIQUE
Elih Sutisna Yanto- FKIP PBI Unsika
West-Java Indonesia

Edward Anthony (1965)

An approach is a set of
correlative assumptions dealing
with the nature of language and
the nature of language learning
and teaching.

According to Edward Anthonys model

(1965)
approach
is
the
level
at
which
assumptions and beliefs about language
and language learning are specified;
method is the level at which theory is put
into practice and at which choices are
made about the particular skills to be
taught, the content to be taught, and the
order in which the content will be
presented; technique is the level at which
classroom procedures are described.

Summary and elements and sub elements

that constitute method (Richards &
Rodgers:33)

Metho
d
Approac
h
a. A theory of the
nature of language
b. A theory of the
nature of language
learning

Design

a. The general and specific

objectives of the method
b. A syllabus model
c. Types of learning and
teaching activities.
d. Learner roles
e. Teachers roles
f. The role of instructional
materials

Procedur
e
a. Classroom techniques,
practices, and behaviors when
the method is used.
b. Resources in term of time,
space, and equipment used by
the teacher.
c. Interactional patterns
observed in lessons.
d. Tactics and strategies used
by teachers and learners
when the method is being use.

Three different views of

The nature of language

1. Structural view: It views language as a

system of structurally related element.
2. Functional view: It regards language as
a
vehicle for the expression of functional
meaning.
3. Interactional view: It sees language as
a
vehicle for the realization of

The common assumptions

about the nature of the
1. Language is language
a group of sounds with
2.

3.

4.

specific meaning and organized by

grammatical rules (The Silent Way).
Language is the everyday spoken
utterance of the average person at
normal speed (Audio Lingual Method).
Language is a system for the expression
of meaning (Communicative Language
Teaching).
Language is a set of grammatical rules
and language consists of language
chunks (Total Physical Responses)

Definitions of learning
1. A change in behaviour as a result of
experience or practice.
2. The acquisition of knowledge.
3. Knowledge gained through study.
4. To gain knowledge of , or skill in, through
study, teaching, instruction or experience.
5. The process of gaining knowledge.
6. A process by which behavious is changed,
shaped, or controlled.
7. The individual process of constructing
understanding based on experience from a
wide range of sources.

The nature of language

learning:
1. Behaviorism: Stimulus- ResponseReinforcement.- Drilling,
exercise, repetition.
2. Nativism: A child naturally has a
language acquisition device.
(Kodrati).
3. Constructivism: A child acquired a
language through interaction
between the child and

The nature of learning:

1. Behaviorism is a theory of learning
focusing on observable behaviour
and discounting any mental
activity. Learning is defined simply
as the acquisition of new
behaviour. (Alan Prichard 2009:6)

Cognitive, constructivist
learning
Constructivists view learning as the
result of mental construction. That
is, learning take place when new
information is built into and added
onto an individuals current structure
of knowledge, understanding and
skills. We learn best when we
actively construct our own
understanding (Alan Prichard

The following assumptions relate to theories of

learning and teaching
1. Learning is facilitated if language learners
discover rather than repeat and remember
without understanding what is to be learned
(Silent Way).
2. Learning involves the unconscious functions,
as well as the conscious functions
(Suggestopedia).
3. The norms of the society often block the
process of learning (Suggestopedia)
4. Language learning will take place if language
learners maintain their feeling of security
(Community Language Learning).

Assumption about learning and

teaching, which have been
developed from theories in
psychology, seem to develop
faster than those about the
nature of language.

Method
The plan of language teaching which
consistent with the theories. (Edward
Anthony-1963)
Method may mean different things to
different people (Mackey, 1975:155) For
some , it means a set of teaching
procedures; for others, the avoidance of
teaching procedures. For some, it is the
primary of a language skill; for others, it
is the type and amount of vocabulary
and stucture.

Method cont...
The term method in the Direct
Method may refer to a single aspect of
language teaching: presentation of
material.
Method in the Reading Method refers to
the emphasis of a single language skill:
reading, while
In the Grammar Translation Method,
method refers to the emphasis of the
teaching material.

Method cont...
According to Mackey (1975:157), all
teaching, whether good or bad, must
include some sort of selection, some
sort of gradation, some sort of
presentation, and some sort of
repetition.
Therefore, all methods should include
the four steps of teaching a language.
Any method should include the four
steps: selection, gradation,
presentation, and repetition.

Method
According to Richards and Rodgers
(2001), a method is theoretically
related to an approach, organized by
the design, and practically realized in
procedure.

Technique

Carry out a method. It is

implementational,
meaning that a
technique is something
that actually takes place
in language teaching or
learning in the

Technique cont...
The following are some examples of techniques in
error correction.
1. The teacher does not praise or criticize so that
language learners learn to rely on themselves
(Silent Way).
2. The teacher often praises when a student has
made a good thing in learning (Audio Lingual
Method).
3. When a student has produced a wrong
expression, the teacher just repeats the right
one (Total Physical Response).
4. The teacher does not care when a student make
an error as long as it does not hinder

The Term of Technique

(H.D. Brown 2007:180)
1. Task. Task usually refers to a
specialized form of technique or
series of techniques closely allied
with communicative curricula, and
as such must minimally have
communicative goals. It is focuses
on the authentic use of language for
meaningful communicative purpose
beyond the language classroom.

The Term of Technique

2. Activity. Activity may refer to virtually anything

that learners do in the classroom.

. We usually refer to a reasonably unified set of
student behaviour, limited in time, preceded by
some direction from the teacher, with a particular
objective.
.Activities include role plays, drills, games, peerediting, small-group information-gap exercise,
and much more.
.Because an activity implies some sort of active
performance on the part of learners, it is
generally not used to refer to certain teacher
behaviours like saying good morning,
maintaining eye contact with students, explaining
a grammar point, or writing a list of words on the

The Term of Technique

3. Procedure. Richards and Rodgers (2001)
used the term procedure to encompass
the actual moment-to-moment
techniques, practices, and behaviour that
operate in teaching a language according
to a particular method (p.26)
.Procedures from this definition, include
techniques. Thus, for Richards and
Rodgers, this appears to be a catchall
term, a thing for holding many small
objects or a group or description that
includes different things and that does not
state clearly what is included or not.

The Term of Technique

4. Practice, behaviour,
exercise, strategy...
In the language-teaching
literature, these terms, and
perhaps some others, all
appear to refer , in varying
degrees of intensity, to what
is defined as technique.

The Term of Technique

5. Technique
.Even before Anthony (1963)
discussed and defined the term, the
language teaching literature
generally accepted technique as a
superordinate term to refer to
various activities that either teachers
or learners perform in the classroom.
.In other words, technique include all
tasks and activities.
.They almost always planned and

The Term of Technique

Cont...
They are the product of a choice made
by the teacher. And they can, for your
purposes as a language teacher,
comfortably refer to the pedagogical
units or components of a classroom
session.
You can think of a lesson as consisting
of a number of techniques, some
teacher-centered, some learnercentered, some production-centered,
some comprehension-centered, some

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Controlled Techniques
1. Warm-up: Mimes, dance, songs, jokes, play. This
activity gets the students stimulated, relaxed,
motivated, attentive, or otherwise engage and
ready for the lesson. It does not necessarily
involves use of the target language.
2. Setting: Focusing on lesson topic. Teacher directs
attention to the topic by verbal or nonverbal
evocation of the context relevant to the lesson
by questioning or miming or picture
presentation, possibly by tape recording of
situations and peole.
3. Organizational: Structuring of lesson or class
activities includes disciplinary action,
organization of class furniture and seating,

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Controlled Techniques
4. Content Explanation: Grammatical, phonological,
lexical (vocabulary), sociolinguistic, pragmatic,
or any other aspect of language.
5. Role-play demonstration: Selected students or
teacher illustrate the procedure(s) to be applied
in the lesson segment to follow. Includes brief
illustration of language or other content to be
incorporated.
6. Dialogue/Narrative presentation: Reading or
listening passage presented for passive
reception. No implication of student production
or other identification of specific target forms or
functions (students may be asked to
understand)

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Controlled Techniques
8. Reading aloud: Reading directly from a given
text.
9. Checking: Teacher either circulating or guiding
the correction of students work, providing
feedback as an activity rather than within
another activity.
10.Question-answer display: Activity involving
prompting of students responses by means of
display questions (i.e. teacher or questioner
already knows the response or has a very
limited set of expectations for the appropriate
response). Distinguished from referential
questions by the likelihood of the questioners
knowledge of the response and the speakers

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Controlled Techniques
11.Drill: Typical language activity involving fixed
patterns of teacher prompting and student
responding, usually with repetition, substitution,
and other mechanical alterations. Typically with
little meaning attached.
12.Translation: Student or teacher provision of L1 or
L2 translation of given text.
13.Dictation: Student writing down orally presented
text.
14.Copying: Student writing down text presented
visually.
15.Identification: Student picking out and
producing/labeling or otherwise identifying a
specific target form, function, definition, or other

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Controlled Techniques
16.Recognition: Student identifying forms, as in
identification (i.e., checking off items, drawing
symbols, rearranging pictures), but without a
verbal responses.
17.Review: Teacher-led review of previous
week/month/or other period as a formal
summary and type of test of student recall
performance.
18.Testing: Formal testing procedures to evaluate
student progress.
19.Meaningful drill: Drill activity involving responses
with meaningful choices, as in reference to
different information. Distinguished from
information exchange by the regulated sequence

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)
Semicontrolled Techniques
20.Brainstorming: A form of preparation for the
lesson, like Setting, which involves free,
undirected contributions by the students and
teacher on a given topic, to generate multiple
associations without linking them; no explicit
analysis or interpretation by the teacher.
21.Storytelling (especially when studentgenerated): Not necessarily lesson-based, a
lengthy presentation of story by teacher or
student (may overlap with Warm-up or Narrative
recitation), May be used to maintain attention,
motivate, or as lengthy practice.
22.Question-answer, referential: Activity involving
prompting of responses by means of referential

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Semicontrolled Techniques
23.Cued narrative/Dialogue: Student production of
narrative or dialogue following cues from
miming, cue cards, pictures, or other stimuli
related to narrative/dialogue (e.g., metalanguage
requesting functional acts).
24.Information transfer: Application from one mode
(e.g., visual) to another (e.g., writing), which
involves some transformation of the information
(e.g., student fills out diagram while listening to
description). Distinguished from Identification in
that the student is expected to transform and
reinterpret the language or information.
25. Information exchange: Task involving two-way
communication as in information-gap exercise, when one
or both parties (or a larger group) must share information

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Semicontrolled Techniques
26. Wrap-up: Brief teacher- or student-produced
summary of point and/or items that have been
practiced or learned.
27.Narration/Exposition: Presentation of a story or
explanation derived from prior stimuli.
Distinguished from Cued narrative because of
lack of immediate stimulus.
28.Preparation: Student study, silent reading, pair
planning and rehearsing, preparing for later
activity. Usually a student-directed or oriented
project.

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Free Techniques
29.Role play: Relatively free acting out of specified
roles and functions. Distinguished from Cued
dialogues by the fact that cueing is provided only
minimally at the beginning , and not during the
activity.
30.Games: Various kinds of language game activity
not like other previously defined activities (e.g.,
board and dice games making words).
31.Report: Report of student-prepared exposition on
books, experiences, project work, without
immediate stimulus, and elaborated on
according to student interests. Akin to
Composition in writing mode.

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Free Techniques
32.Problem solving: Activity involving specified
problem and limitations of means to resolve it;
requires cooperation on part of participants in
small or large group.
33.Drama: Planned dramatic rendition of play, skit,
story, etc.
34.Simulation: Activity involving complex
interaction between groups and individuals
based on simulation of real-life actions and
experiences.
35.Interview: A student is directed to get
information from another student or students.
36.Discussion: Debate or other form of grouped
discussion of specified topic, with or without

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Free Techniques
37.Composition: As in Report
(verbal), written development of
ideas, story, or other exposition.
38.A propos: Conversation or other
socially oriented
interaction/speech by teacher,
students, or even visitors, on
general real-life topics. Typically
authentic and genuine.

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

Some techniques will fit into more than one

category. Consider the warm-up activity
suggested by Klippel (1984,pp13-14) for beginning
level class:
Step1: Each student writes his/her full name of a
piece of paper.
All the papers are collected and
redistributed so that
everyone receives the name
of a person he/she does not know.
Step 2: Everyone walks around the room and tries
to find the person whose name he/she holds.
Simple questions can be: Is your name......? Are
you......?
Step 3: When everyone has found his/her partner,
he/she introduces him/her to the group.

Taxonomy of language-teaching Techniques

(adapted from Crookes & Chaudron,1991
pp.52-54)

This exercise seems to fit into a number of

possible categories. It involves question-answer,
referential activity; there is some information
exchange as well.; and in some ways either
problem solving or games may fit here.
The purpose in referring to such a taxonomy,
therefore, is not to be able to pinpoint every
technique specifically. Rather, the taxonomy is
more of a help to you as
An aid to raising your awareness of the wide
variety of available techniques
An indicator of how techniques differ according to
a continuum ranging from controlled to free
A resource for your own personal brainstorming
process as you consider types of techniques for

References
Brown, D.H. (2001). Teaching by
Principle.Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and
Principles in Language Teaching. 2nd
ed.Oxford: OUP.
Prichard, Alan.2009. Ways of Learning: Learning
theories and learning styles in the classroom.
New York: Routledge.
Richard, Jack C. , & Rodgers, Theodore S. (2001).
Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
New York: Cambridge University Press