The place and role of

English Language Teaching

Methodology
Lecture 1
 Short overview on language teaching
 Various concepts used in ELT
 Teaching foreign languages in Romania – a
brief history
 CEFR
 Self – assessment grid in the CEFR
 Terms widely used in the field of ELT are:

 ESL
 EFL
 TEFL
 TESL
Two kinds of approaches between which
methods shifted:

 1. using the language, which involves

speaking and understanding it;

 2. analyzing the language (knowing about the

language: its grammar, the rules etc.).
 TFL: Greek and Latin = “lingua francas”

 There are no records of how the teaching was

done, but we assume that there were no
textbooks;

 Teachers used the direct approach, an

informal way of teaching, and oral
techniques;

 During the Renaissance, the study of the

grammars of the classical languages and the
methods used became popular.
 The European vernacular started to gain
utility because people started to travel and to
understand how useful it may be to be able to
speak the language of the region you are
going to travel to

 the orientation of the teaching of foreign

languages shifted again from the formal
analysis of the language towards the
emphasis placed on using the language.
 Jan Comenius - influential contribution to
language teaching
 the inductive approach to the learning of a
foreign language (from the particular to
general, to the rule).
 Beginning of the 19th century - the systematic
study of the grammar of classical texts was
done as part of the academic practice in
universities throughout Europe
 the grammar translation approach/method
 Approach refers to theories about the nature
of language and language learning that serve
as the source of the practices and principles
in language teaching.
 it describes how language is used and how its
constituent parts interlock (a model of
language competence);
 it describes how people acquire their
knowledge of the language and makes
statements about the condition which will
promote successful language learning.
 A method is the practical realisation of an
approach.
 Methods include various procedures and
techniques as part of their standard fare. The
more all-embracing they become, however,
the more difficult it is to categorise them as
real methods in their own right.
 The originators of a method have arrived at
decisions about types of activities, roles of
teachers and learners, the kinds of material
which will be helpful, and some model of
syllabus organisation.
 A procedure is an ordered sequence of
techniques.

 A procedure is a sequence which can be

described in terms such as first you do this,
then you do that …

 Smaller than a method, it is bigger than a

technique.
 A technique is a single activity rather than a
sequence.

 For example, the ‘finger technique’ is used by

some teachers who hold up their hands and
give each of their five fingers a word, e.g. He
is not playing tennis, and then by bringing
the is and the not fingers together, show how
the verb is contracted into isn’t.
 The 19th century is marked by the study of
French, native speakers were used.

 The 20th and 21st centuries can be divided

into:
 1.1918-1948
 2.1948-1989:
 2a. 1948-1965
 2b. 1966-1978
 2c. 1979-1989
 3. 1990-present
 1. attempts to build up a national system of
education;
 The foreign languages taught: French,
German and English in this order of
preference.
 2.a. Romania was behind what was called “the
Iron curtain”;
 The target - introduce Russian as ‘the lingua
franca’. Initially, there was no teaching of
French, German or English at all. However,
the teaching of these languages continued
underground.
 2.b. - a fruitful period for foreign languages
as they were studied at a very early age, in
primary schools; bilingual schools were set
up: German, French, English.
 2.c. - the ruin of the educational system
because of the compulsory Communist
ideology that had to be implemented
everywhere;
 the main aim of teaching English in the
syllabus was to teach students to speak and
write about the achievements of the
Communist system
 3 - foreign languages regained prestige as
people began to travel freely and among the
foreign languages studied in Romania,
English is in the leading position;

 A major breakthrough in the destiny of

teaching foreign languages in Romania
resided in decentralizing the educational
system, leading to the replacement of an
only, unique textbook with alternative
textbooks.
 This state of affairs resulted from the change
of paradigms, which was intrinsic to modern
society; language was no longer viewed as a
system of rules and structures, but as
perpetual communication integrated in what
Gianni Vattimo calls ‘the society of
generalized communication and plurality of
cultures’ that means a process of interaction
among cultures, ‘liberation of differences and
local elements’ and ‘the chance of a new
mode of being’. (Homo videns)
 Common European Framework of Reference
for Language: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment. It is a guideline used to describe
achievements of learners of foreign
languages across Europe and, increasingly, in
other countries;

 Its main aim is to provide a method of

learning, teaching and assessing which
applies to all languages in Europe.
The CEFR divides learners into three broad divisions
which can be divided into six levels:
 A Basic Speaker

 A1 Breakthrough or beginner

 A2 Waystage or elementary

 B Independent Speaker
 B1 Threshold or intermediate
 B2 Vantage or upper intermediate

 C Proficient Speaker
 C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or advanced
 C2 Mastery or proficiency
 The language skills assessed by the CEFR refer
to:

 reception (listening and reading);

 interaction (spoken and written interaction);

 production (spoken and written production).

 Reception Interaction Production

Listening Reading Spoken Written Spoken Written

Interaction Interaction Production Production