Methods

Methods are the way we teach. Approaches are the why we teach that way.

The 1950s through 1980s were considered the "methods" period.

Audiolingual 

Dominant since the 1950s. Developed in the USA. This method is skills-based, allows no use of L1, and stresses memorization, repetition, tapes, and structure. Teacher role: language modeler & drill leader. Student role: pattern practicer and accuracy enthusiast. 

Counseling Learning 

From Rogerian Counseling (1951). Later by C. Curran (1970s). This method is part of the Humanistic Technique. The teacher is the coach; the students are clients.

Direct Method 

Made popular by Berlitz in the 1950s, it allows only the second language, uses everyday vocabulary, and stresses pronunciation. It is used in Community Language Learning. teacher role: counselor and paraphraser; student role: collaborator and whole person.

Grammar Translation 

Most popular before the 1940s. It started to be slowly replaced by the Direct Method from the early 1900s. It is still popular, however, in countries where reading is more important than communicating. 

Silent Way 

From Bruner (1966) to Gattegno (1990s) and referring to the teacher. Students are encouraged to produce as much as possible, to get the spirit of the language by exploring and practising it. 

Situational Language Teaching 

A classical oral method that gave birth to many of today’s structuralist approaches. (Firth, Halliday, etc.) Language is a purposeful activity toward a goal. Stress is on meaning, content, and situations. First used in the 1930s and further developed in England in the 1950s, it is an oral approach that views language as a purposeful activity toward goals. Teacher role: context setter and error corrector. Student role: memorizer and imitator. 

Total Physical Response (TPR)

Coordinates speech and action and draws on other sciences but its speech theorems are Palmers' (1925). The idea is to repeat during the L2 learning process what was used to learn L1. It is structure-based. Teacher role: commander and action monitor. Student role: order taker and performer.