Methodology is a system of practices and procedures that a teacher uses to teach.

It
will be based on beliefs about the nature of language, and how it is learnt (known as Approach).

EXAMPLE: Grammar Translation, the Audiolingual Method and the Direct Method are clear
methodologies, with associated practices and procedures, and are each based on
different interpretations of the nature of language and language learning.
Many teachers base their lessons on a mixture of methods and approaches to meet the
different needs of learners and the different aims of lessons or courses.

Method vs. methodology:

While “method” and “methodology” are closely intertwined, they serve different roles in the research process
and should be treated accordingly.
What is the difference between
method and methodology in
teaching?
Method
A method is simply the tool used to answer your research questions — how, in short, you will go about
collecting your data.
It is the plan for organizing the presentation of language material. It is a plan whose parts do not contradict and
which relies on an approach.
Examples: Interview – Survey - Diary study

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.

A language teaching method is a single set of procedures which teachers are to follow in the classroom.
Methodology
A methodology is the rationale for the research approach, and the lens through which the
analysis occurs. The methodology should impact which method(s) for a research method. In
language teaching, methodology means the study of pedagogical practices.  It includes what is
involved in how to teach.

Examples
Phenomenology: describes the “lived experience” of a particular phenomenon
Ethnography: explores the social world or culture, shared beliefs and behaviors
Grounding theory*: assumes a blank slate and uses an inductive approach to develop a new
theory
If you wanted to know about the lived experiences purchasing food in the United States, for
instance, you would be using the phenomenology methodology.
Ask yourself whether you are describing how you will collect your data (method), or if it’s the
broader strategy for your research approach (methodology). With one methodology, you can
apply several different methods to support or reject the research hypothesis. 

Methodology informs teachers about different ways to organize teaching practices. Harmer
(2001), for example, suggests that there are four levels of organization at the level of
methodology, namely, approach, method, procedure, and techniques. The

Approach
Approach is “the level at which assumptions and beliefs about language and language learning are specified.” It
also includes ways to apply these assumptions and beliefs to language teaching.
In other words, an approach to language teaching describes:
1. The nature of language,
2. How knowledge of a language is acquired,
3. And the conditions that promote language acquisition.

Syllabus
Simply put syllabus is a language program. This includes objectives of linguistic materials and how they are
sequenced to meet the needs of learners.

Procedures
- It is “an ordered set of techniques.”
They are the step-by-step measures to execute a method. A common procedure in the grammar-translation
method, for example, is to start by explaining the grammar rules and exemplifying these rules through
sentences that the students then had to translate into their mother tongue.
- It is smaller than a method and larger than a technique

Technique
Techniques are part and parcel of procedures. They are the actual moment-to-moment classroom steps that lead
to a specified outcome. They could take the form of an exercise or just any activity that you have to do to
complete a task. For instance, when using videos, teachers often use a technique called “silent viewing” which
consists of playing the video without sound and asking students to figure out what the characters were saying.
 Language teaching methodologies
1. The Direct Method In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target
language. The learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar
rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good pronunciation.
2. Grammar-translation
Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules
are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or
no emphasis placed on developing oral ability.
3. Audio-lingual
The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits.
There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first
heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form.
4. The structural approach
This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be
learned one at a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced
and practised before the present continuous tense which uses "to be" as an
auxiliary.
5. Total Physical Response (TPR)
TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up",
"Close your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the
importance of aural comprehension.
6. Communicative language teaching (CLT)
The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and
appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The
content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or
notions such as the expression of time, quantity, location.
7. The Silent Way
This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in
order that the learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of
the mother tongue.
8. Community Language Learning
In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the
teacher and student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in
the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher for repetition by the student.
9. Immersion
This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL
students are immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and
expected to learn math, science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target
language, English. Immigrant students who attend local schools find themselves in
an immersion situation; for example refugee children from Bosnia attending
German schools, or Puerto Ricans in American schools. .
Task-based language learning
Theories of language learning and teaching

1. Individual differences in foreign language learning. 11. Define rote learning as

opposed to meaningful learning.
2. Affective factors in language learning:
12. Specify the most important
3. Age as a factor determining success in second/foreign language learning.
principles of humanistic
4. Discuss child-adult differences in the process of second language learning. psychology.

5. Discuss the notion LAD. 13. Select 3 language teaching

methods and explain the role of L1
6. Krashen’s theory of SLA: list and describe the five hypotheses. in those methods.
7. Discuss the Critical Period Hypothesis. 14. Define motivation and provide
8. What is Contrastive Analysis? its basic classifications.

9. Behaviourist views on first language acquisition: 15. Input vs. interaction.

10. How do children acquire their mother tongue?

Language Acquisition
Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. Whereas other species do communicate with an innate
ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations (e.g. bonobos), or even with partially learned
systems (e.g. bird songs). Infants as young as 12 months are reported to have sensitivity to the
grammar needed to understand causative sentences (who did what to whom; e.g. the bunny
pushed the frog.

After more than 60 years of research into child language development, the mechanism that
enables children to segment syllables and words out of the strings of sounds they hear, and to
acquire grammar to understand and produce language is still quite an enigma.

Skinner argued that children learn language based on behaviorist reinforcement principles by associating words
with meanings. Correct utterances are positively reinforced when the child realizes the communicative value of
words and phrases.

For example, when the child says ‘milk’ and the mother will smile and give her some as a result, the child will
find this outcome rewarding, enhancing the child's language development (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011).

However, Skinner's account was soon heavily criticized by Noam Chomsky, the world's most
famous linguist to date. Chomsky argued that children will never acquire the tools needed for
processing an infinite number of sentences if the language acquisition mechanism was dependent
on language input alone.
Consequently, he proposed the theory of Universal Grammar: an idea of innate, biological
grammatical categories, such as a noun category and a verb category that facilitate the entire
language development in children and overall language processing in adults. Universal Grammar
is considered to contain all the grammatical information needed to combine these categories, e.g.
noun and verb, into phrases. The child’s task is just to learn the words of her language
For example, according to the Universal Grammar account, children instinctively know how to
combine a noun (e.g. a boy) and a verb (to eat) into a meaningful, correct phrase (A boy eats).
A decade or two later some psycho linguists began to question the existence of Universal Grammar.
Researchers started to suggest that instead of having a language-specific mechanism for language
processing, children might utilize general cognitive and learning principles. It is suggested that
children are sensitive to patterns in language which enables the acquisition process.

An example of this gradual pattern learning is morphology acquisition. Morphemes are the smallest
grammatical markers, or units, in language that alter words. In English, regular plurals are marked
with an –s morpheme (e.g. dog+s).

LESS0N PLANNING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Lesson Panning is often viewed as a key aspect of teaching a Successful lesson. During the
planning phase to be teacher makes decision, about goal activities resources, timing, grouping, and
other aspects of the lesson. Planning can be regarded as a process of transformation during which
the teacher creates idea, for a lesson based on understanding of learners needs problems, and
interests; and on the content of the lesson itself.

Lesson planning involves decisions about the pedagogical dimensions of the lesson. But another
important aspect of a lesson concerns the management of learners during the lesson.

This include e1iciting student’s attention maintaining their engagement in the lesson, and
organizing them into pairs or group.

Yearly and term planning usually involve listing the objective for a particular program. A unit plan
is a series of related lessons around a specific theme such as The Family. Planning daily lessons is
the end result of a comp ex planning process that include the yearly term. and unit plans. It
describes the teaching behavior that will result in student learning.

WHY PLAN?

Lesson plans are systematic record· of a teacher" thoughts about what will be covered during a
lesson. Richard· (1998) suggests that lesson plans help the teacher think about the lesson in
advance to '"resolve problems and difficulties, to, provide a structure for a lesson to provide a map
for the teacher to fo1llow; and to provide a record of what has been taught.

Teachers plan for internal reasons in order to feel more confident, to learn the subject matter
bett1er. to enable lessons to run smoothly and to anticipate problems before they happen'" Teachers
plan for external reasons in order to satisfy the expectation of the principal or supervisor and to
guide a substitute teacher in case the class needs one.

 A plan can help, the teacher thinks about content, materials, sequencing, timing and activity.

 A plan provide security in the sometimes unpredictable atmosphere of a classroom.

 MODELS OF LESSON PLANNING

The dominant model of lesson planning ·, Tyler' (1949) rational-linear framework. Tyler'
model has our step· that run sequentially: (1) specify objectives;. (2) select learning activities
; (3) organize learning activities; and (4) specify :method of evaluation.. Tyler s model is still
used widely in spite of evidence that suggests that teachers rarely follow the sequential

Interesting reasons (stated as principles) why teachers deviate from the original lesson plan:

 Serve the Common good: one student raised an issue that the teacher perceives to be
relevant for the other students.

 Reach to the moment.'' Sometimes teacher may completely abandon the lesson plan to
discuss some unplanned event because the teacher thinks it is timely for the class

 'Further the lesson Teachers make a procedural change during the lesson as a mean· of
promoting the progress of the lesson.

 Accommodate students' learning styles.'' Teachers may sometimes depart from their
lesson plan·· in order to accommodate their students" learning styles if the original plan has
not accounted for them.

 Promote students" involvement.'' Teachers sometimes eliminate some steps in their lesson
plans in order to have ·more student involvement; especially if the students are not
responding.

 Distribute the wealth., This last principle has teachers changing lesson plans to encourage
quiet students to participate more and to keep the more active students from dominating the
class time.

How TO PLAN A LESSON?

DEVELOPING THE PLAN

An effective lesson plan starts with appropriate and clearly written objectives. An objective is a
description of a learning outcome.

After writing the lesson objective, teachers must decide the activities and procedures they will use
to ensure the unsuccessful attainment of the objective Planning at this. stage means thinking
through the purposes and structures. of the activities. This step involves planning the shape of the
lesson. lesson plan has five phases:

1. Perspective or opening.

2. Stimulation
 3. Instruction participation

4. Closure

5. Follow-up

IMPLEMENTING THE P AN

Implementing the lesson. plan i· the most important (and difficult) phase of the daily lesson planning
cycle.

When the lesson is not succeeding, teachers should make immediate adjustments to the original plan.
This is difficult for beginning teachers because they may not have the necessary experience to recognize
that. things are going badly