H. Douglas Brown Teaching by Principles
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapter one deals with a brief observational study in a private language classroom in Seoul, Korea. The author describes the setting and the lesson while providing other pertinent background information. Brown then goes on to analyze the lesson, asking questions regarding why the teacher would choose to do something a certain way or another. He writes "For every tiny moment of that classroom hour, certain choices were made, choices that can for the most part be justified by our collective knowledge of second language acquisition and teaching." (pg 8). Brown asks the final question too, "As you look back over the lesson you've just observed, do you think the initial objectives were accomplished?" (pg 10). I think this is a very important question to ask. It encourages teachers to consider and reflect upon their own methods and their usefulness.
Chapter two deals with a bunch of different methodologies that have been used in second language acquisition since teaching a second language became a thing. Brown provides some definitions of some words that may be useful going forward.
As defined by a number of scholars (pg 15):
Methodology - Pedagogical practices in general.
Approach - Theoretically well-informed positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings.
Method - A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives.
Curriculum/syllabus - Specifications for carrying out a particular language program.
Technique - Any wide variety of exercises, activities, or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives.
Brown then goes on to explain a number of different methods used historically. I will not pass judgment on all of them here, in this section. They are : Grammar translation method, the series method, the direct method, the audiolingual method, cognitive code learning, community language learning, suggestopedia, the silent way, total physical response, the natural approach, functional syllabuses. A detailed explanation of these methods can be found on pages 36 & 37 in Brown's book.
N.S. Prabhu - There Is No Best Method -- Why? pub. TESOL Quarterly, Vol 24, No.2 (161-176)
In this article the author discusses the current state of the discussion involving methods in TESOL and whether or not there is an objectively best method. The author notes that what often ends scholarly discussions about what is the best method is the comment that each context will require a slightly different method. But the author counters :
"If the theories of language teaching (that is to say, methods) that we have at present fail to account sufficiently for the diversity in teaching contexts, we ought to try to develop a more general or comprehensive (and probably more abstract) theory to account for more of the diversity, not reject the notion of a single system of ideas and seek to be guided instead by diversity itself. Pointing to a bewildering variety of contextual factors as a means of denying the possibility of a single theory can only be a contribution to bewilderment, not understanding."
The author then goes on to argue for the truth in each individual method contributing to a larger, more theoretical truth, and then argues for a re-envisioning of not only the arguments for the theoretical underpinnings of TESOL methods, but also the validity of the methods themselves.
