Best Language Teaching Methods
Go back 75 years, and people will tell you about verb drills, vocabulary quizzes, hours and hours of grammar drudgery, and translation-based level tests. But language tuition has come a long way since then. Scientific research has helped to develop the most effective and transformative teaching methodologies by studying language acquisition, testing methods, and documenting learner experiences. This post explores the best language teaching methods, probing into language teaching history and introducing the latest technological and non-technological innovations.
If you learned a foreign language in the 1960s or 1970s, your teacher would have spent most of your lessons explaining core grammar principles, running vocab drills, and handing out verb tables. At that time, language learning was all about memorising. Your native language would have lain at the centre of your learning experience, meaning anything you learned was through translation. But language teaching has moved on since then. Conversational skills emerged as champions, with some language experts relegating grammar mastery to the lowest priority. Let’s scout over key developments in language teaching history.
Language Teaching History in Brief
Language teaching has seen numerous trends and fads over the centuries, with scientists and language tutors indulging in much experimentation. The eternal pursuit of the best language teaching methods continues but one has to recognise several core development principles.
Between the 17th and 20th language learning was an academic exercise reserved for the wealthy or the highly educated. The focus was on mastering grammar with little effort invested in acquiring conversational skills. In the early 1900s, language scholars moved away from the Grammar Translation Method toward the Direct Method, using concepts and images when teaching a language.
The first move toward conversation occurred in the 1920s with the emergence of the Oral Method. Here, students had to listen and repeat everyday phrases. During the war when speedy language acquisition became a matter of life and death, scholars developed the Audiolingual or Army Method, dominated by intensive oral drilling.
From then onwards, language teaching has occupied a far more humanistic sphere. Instead of a scholar imparting complex grammar, the learner takes centre stage, fully engaging through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. During the 1960s, Situational Language Teaching combining the Audiolingual and Oral Methods, emerged. Students learned grammar concepts through everyday conversational materials, with tutors prioritising aural and oral skills over grammatical accuracy.
Ever since the 1970s and 1980s, language scholars have had a fresh approach. After studying how children effortlessly master multiple languages, they shifted their focus toward modern communication and began developing innovative language teaching methods.
Winning Language Tuition Methods
Any experienced language tutor develops teaching methods through experimentation and implementation of well-known methodologies. Language teachers likely tell you that learner needs and capabilities shape outcomes. However, some language tuition methods have stood the test of time, bearing great learning experiences and successes time and again.
Total
Physical
Response
Developed in the 1960s, the TPR teaching method sees language teachers providing students with instructions they must follow. Commands such as ‘lay the red pen on the table’ prompt students to respond holistically, i.e. physically and mentally. The Total Physical Response method has yielded highly positive learning outcomes, notably among children. The initial focus lies on responsive skills before moving toward productive skills, meaning learners first develop comprehension before mastering communication.
The
Silent
Way
The Silent Way flips TPR on its head, meaning tutors using the Silent Way speak as little as possible to provoke a response from their students. This approach shifts the language acquisition onus onto the learners. They must actively explore the new language inspired by silent but lively cues, gestures, and prompts from the teacher.
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Developed in the late 1980s, TBLT involves students implementing and expanding their present language skills while completing a chosen task. All TBLT lessons feature three stages namely, pre-task discussion, task execution, and task review.
Students may, for example, be asked to prepare a presentation or drama script. During the pre-task phase, they likely expand their language skills, while the execution phase allows them to demonstrate their new capabilities. Regardless of the task, learners must take ownership, not only of the task but also of the language necessary to complete it. Thus the TBLT manages to motivate and inspire learner-driven language acquisition.
Content and Language Integrated Learning
CLIL sees students learning about a subject, be that history, geography, business or another topic, through a foreign language. The first subject takes centre stage, however, experience has shown that CLIL course participants significantly sharpen their language skills during CLIL programmes.
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
The most popular and commonly used language teaching method, CLT see tutors provide students with relevant real-life and work situations to master a foreign language. Fluency is the top priority alongside student-tailored language use. Language teachers identify student learning goals and needs and develop learning plans using the CLT approach. They likely deliver industry-relevant vocabulary and phrases while preparing students for tasks they must perform in the new language.
What Method Yields the Best Results?
The best language teachers combine the above methodologies for the best learning outcomes. The choice hinges much on the educational setting, the student demographic, and the learning objectives determined in advance.
Nevertheless, exploring research findings is worthwhile. On behalf of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of Ireland, scientists researched the best language teaching methods for primary schools, while synthesising existing research results. Irish and international primary teacher experiences contributed to the study.
The extensive research led participating scientists to identify the following language teaching methods for best learning outcomes:
- Content and Language Integrated Learning: as above
- Corrective Feedback: Teachers prompt pupils when they make errors.
- Intensive Language Programmes: Evidence suggests that learning a language in small chunks over a long period of time is less effective than short but intensive courses.
The above methods delivered the best results in primary school settings. Researchers emphasised that other methodologies including analytical, grammatical, and communicative approaches also brought about positive learning experiences, however less decisively.
Innovations in Language Teaching
Technology and online learning have delivered umpteen new language learning tools. Countless apps, online access to native speakers, and student-tailored language programmes are but a few of the latest innovations. Learners can use AI to learn while teachers can share the most relevant content thanks to the internet.
There is no lack of innovative classroom tools either. Teachers use technology alongside immersive methods such as teaching through drama or play. In adult education, teaching soft skills and critical thinking is now a top language teaching methodology.
The latest innovations place learners firmly in the driving seat. Teachers are there to facilitate learning and ensure students acquire the language skills they need the most.