Approches

Approaches are general in nature. They involve the belief and principle underlying our methods, but are less about proscribing the specific methods. Methods are the way we teach, approaches explain why we teach that way.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Replaced the Situational Approach. It was originally promoted by Howatt, at al., and more fully developed in the 1980s. CLT comes in both "strong" and "weak" forms. The intent is to capitalize on the collective intelligence of the group and give everyone a chance to grow in appreciation of diversity.
Teacher's role: needs analyst and task designer.
Student role: improviser and negotiator.
CLT advocates avoided prescribing a set of practices through which these principles could best be realized, thus putting CLT clearly on the approach rather than the method end of the spectrum. The assumptions are that (a) learners learn a language through using it to communicate, (b) authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities, (c) fluency is an important dimension of communication, (d) communication involves the integration of different language skills, and (e) learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error. Spin-offs from Communicative language teaching include the Natural Approach, Cooperative Language Learning, Content-based Teaching, and Task-based Teaching.

Competency-based Language Teaching

Competency-based Language Teaching is still a very popular outcome-based approach. The focus is on measurable and usable knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). It was promoted in the 1970s by Scheck.

Multiple Intelligences

This learner-based approach was brought to popularity by Gardner (1993). It stresses that all dimensions of intelligence should be developed and not just those measured by IQ tests, i.e., language and logic. Gardner states that pedagogy is most successful when learner differences are acknowledged and factored into the process.

Natural Approach

Brought to us first by Terrell (1977) and then jointly by Krashen and Terrell (1983). Their book (with classroom procedures) titled Natural Approach should not be confused with the older Natural Method also called the #Direct Method. The focus is on "input" rather than practice. Language is its lexicon, not its grammar. Teacher role: actor and props user. Student role: guesser and immerser.

Neurolinguistic programming

Invented in the 1970s by Grindler and Bandler it was intended to be a generalised self-help system. Subsequently widely regarded as a pseudoscience it found a home in English language teaching.

Task-based language teaching

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) was said to be a logical development of communicative language teaching (Willis, 1996). It uses real communication activities to carry out meaningful tasks, and stresses the importance of targeting these tasks to the individual student as much as possible.