Collections of Professor Dr David Ngin Sian Pau

2.4. Teaching Methods

Briefly speaking, there are seven methods which are being used in any kind of teaching English class according to the textbook of Graduate Diploma in TESOL. Approaches and methods in English language teaching seeks to provide a comprehensive and comprehensible account of major and minor trends in language teaching methods from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. The teaching of any subject matter is usually based on an analysis of the nature of the subject itself and the application of teaching and learning principles drawn from research and theory in education psychology. The result is generally referred to as a teaching method or approach, by which we refer to a set of core teaching and learning principles together with a body of classroom practices that are derived from them. The same is true in language teaching, and the field of teaching methods has been a very active one in language teaching since the 1900s.

New approaches and methods proliferated throughout the twentieth century. Some achieved wide levels of acceptance and popularity at different times but were then places by methods based on fewer or more appealing ideas and theories. Examples of this kind include the Direct Method, Audiolingualism, and the Situational Approach. Some, such as Comunicative Language Teaching, were adopted almost universally and achieved the status of methodological orthodoxy. At the same time, alternatives to mainstream approaches have always found some level of support within language teaching, though often this has not led to wider acceptance or use. Methods in this category include those from the 1970s such as the Silent Way, Counseling Learning, Suggestopedia, and Total Physical Response, as well as more recent alternative methods and approaches such as Multiple Intelligences, Neurolinguistic Programming, and the Lexical Approach.

3. English For Special Purposes

English for Special Purposes (ESP) involves teaching English with particular attention to a certain area, for example, business, tourism, medicine, law, engineering, etc. ESP teacher should find appropriate materials and design tasks that require students to think rather than to memorize, thus creating an intellectual atmosphere in the classroom. This approach to learning English could help future ESP learners such as engineers, managers, etc. develop thinking skills and use them to make prompt right decisions in their everyday activity. To prove that a person is qualified to be an ESP student, needs analysis will show the teacher how appropriate he or she is.

3.1. Linguistic Approach

The linguistic model , the functions of language are to persuade, to report, to express, to judge, to move and so on. The linguistic model stresses that all language is valid. It means that the student may bring into the classroom any part of his language resources, not just the bits that pass the teacher’s tests. What can be discovered depends on what the teacher can bring to the language that is used in his or her classroom.