Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching: CLT, TPR

Teaching a foreign language can be a challenging but rewarding job
that opens up entirely new paths of communication to students. It’s
beneficial for teachers to have knowledge of the many different
language learning techniques  including ESL teaching methods so
they can be flexible in their instruction methods, adapting them when
needed.

Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about the most
popular foreign language teaching methods. Some of the ones
covered are the communicative approach, total physical response,
the direct method, task-based language learning, suggestopedia,
grammar-translation, the audio-lingual approach and more.
 Language teaching methods

Most Popular Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching

TPR (Total Physical Response) |

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TPR (Total Physical Response) | Approaches and Methods in

Language Teaching
Here’s a helpful rundown of the most common language teaching
methods and ESL teaching methods. You may also want to take a
look at this: Foreign language teaching philosophies .

#1: The Direct Method

In the direct method, all teaching occurs in the target language,

encouraging the learner to think in that language. The learner does
not practice translation or use their native language in the
classroom. Practitioners of this method believe that learners should
experience a second language without any interference from their
native tongue.

Instructors do not stress rigid grammar rules but teach it indirectly

through induction. This means that learners figure out grammar rules
on their own by practicing the language. The goal for students is to
develop connections between experience and language. They do
this by concentrating on good pronunciation  and the development of
oral skills.

This method improves understanding, fluency , reading, and listening

skills in our students. Standard techniques are question and answer,
conversation, reading aloud, writing, and student self-correction for
this language learning method.

What is the Direct Method of Teaching ESL/EFL? | Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching
#2: Grammar-Translation

With this method, the student learns primarily by translating to and

from the target language. Instructors encourage the learner to
memorize grammar rules and vocabulary lists.  There is little or no
focus on speaking and listening. Teachers conduct classes in the
student’s native language with this ESL teaching method.

This method’s two primary goals are to progress the learner’s

reading ability to understand literature in the second language and
promote the learner’s overall intellectual development. Grammar
drills are a common approach. Another popular activity is translation
exercises that emphasize the form of the writing instead of the
content.

Although the grammar-translation approach was one of the most

popular language teaching methods in the past, it has significant
drawbacks that have caused it to fall out of favour in modern
schools. Principally, students often have trouble conversing in the
second language because they receive no instruction in oral skills.

What is the Grammar-Translation Method of Teaching ESL/EFL?: Learn

about this old-school approach!
#3: Audio-Lingual

The audio-lingual approach encourages students to develop habits

that support language learning. Students learn primarily through
pattern drills, particularly dialogues, which the teacher uses to help
students practice and memorize the language. These dialogues
follow standard configurations of communication.
There are four types of dialogues utilized in this method:

 Repetition, in which the student repeats the teacher’s statement

exactly
 Inflection, where one of the words appears in a different form
from the previous sentence (for example, a word may change
from the singular to the plural)
 Replacement, which involves one word being replaced with
another while the sentence construction remains the same
 Restatement, where the learner rephrases the teacher’s
statement

What is the Audio Lingual Method of Teaching English? | Approaches

and Methods in Language Teaching
This technique’s name comes from the order it uses to teach
language skills. It starts with listening and speaking, followed by
reading and writing, meaning that it emphasizes hearing and
speaking the language before experiencing its written form. Because
of this, teachers use only the target language in the classroom with
this TESOL method.

Many of the current online language learning apps and programs

closely follow the audio-lingual language teaching approach. It is a
nice option for language learning remotely and/or alone, even
though it’s an older ESL teaching method.

#4: Structural Approach

What is the structural approach to teaching language? | Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching
Proponents of the structural approach understand language as a set
of grammatical rules that should be learned one at a time in a
specific order. It focuses on mastering these structures, building one
skill on top of another, instead of memorizing vocabulary. This is
similar to how young children learn a new language naturally.
An example of the structural approach is teaching the present tense
of a verb, like “to be,” before progressing to more advanced verb
tenses, like the present continuous tense that uses “to be” as an
auxiliary.

The structural approach teaches all four central language skills:

listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It’s a technique that
teachers can implement with many other language teaching
methods.

Most ESL textbooks take this approach into account. The easier-to-
grasp grammatical concepts are taught before the more difficult
ones.
 Most popular methods and approaches and language teaching

#5: Total Physical Response (TPR)

The total physical response method  highlights aural comprehension

by allowing the learner to respond to basic commands, like “open
the door” or “sit down.” It combines language and physical
movements for a comprehensive learning experience.

In an ordinary TPR class, the teacher would give verbal commands

in the target language with a physical movement. The student would
respond by following the command with a physical action of their
own. It helps students actively connect meaning to the language and
passively recognize the language’s structure.

Many instructors use TPR alongside other methods of language

learning. While TPR can help learners of all ages, it is used most
often with young students  and beginners. It’s a nice option for an
English teaching method to use alongside some of the other ones on
this list. 

An example of a game that could fall under TPR is Simon Says. Or,
do the following as a simple review activity. After teaching classroom
vocabulary, or prepositions, instruct students to do the following:

 Pick up your pencil.

 Stand behind someone.
 Put your water bottle under your chair.
 Etc.

Are you on your feet all day teaching young learners? Consider
picking up some of these teacher shoes .

TPR (Total Physical Response) | Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching
#6: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

These days, CLT is by far one of the most popular approaches and
methods in language teaching. Keep reading to find out more about
it.

This method stresses interaction and communication to teach a

second language effectively. Students participate in everyday
situations they are likely to encounter in the target language. For
example, learners may practice introductory conversations, offering
suggestions, making invitations, complaining, or expressing time or
location.

Instructors also incorporate learning topics outside of conventional

grammar so that students develop the ability to respond in diverse
situations.

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CLT teachers focus on being facilitators rather than straightforward

instructors. Doing so helps students achieve CLT’s primary goal,
learning to communicate in the target language instead of
emphasizing the mastery of grammar.

Role-play , interviews, group work, and opinion sharing are popular

activities practiced in communicative language teaching, along with
games like scavenger hunts and information gap exercises  that
promote student interaction.

Most modern-day ESL teaching textbooks  like Four Corners, Smart

Choice, or Touchstone are heavy on communicative activities.

#7: Natural Approach

This approach aims to mimic natural language learning with a focus

on communication and instruction through exposure. It de-
emphasizes formal grammar training. Instead, instructors
concentrate on creating a stress-free environment and avoiding
forced language production from students.
Teachers also do not explicitly correct student mistakes. The goal is
to reduce student anxiety and encourage them to engage with the
second language spontaneously.

Classroom procedures commonly used in the natural approach are

problem-solving activities, learning games, affective-humanistic
tasks that involve the students’ own ideas, and content practices
that synthesize various subject matter, like culture.

#8: Task-Based Language Teaching (TBL)

With this method, students complete real-world tasks using their

target language. This technique encourages fluency by boosting the
learner’s confidence with each task accomplished and reducing
direct mistake correction.

Tasks fall under three categories:

 Information gap, or activities that involve the transfer of

information from one person, place, or form to another.
 Reasoning gap tasks that ask a student to discover new
knowledge from a given set of information using inference,
reasoning, perception, and deduction.
 Opinion gap activities, in which students react to a particular
situation by expressing their feelings or opinions.

Popular classroom tasks practiced in task-based learning  include

presentations on an assigned topic and conducting interviews with
peers or adults in the target language. Or, having students work
together to make a poster and then do a short presentation about a
current event. These are just a couple of examples and there are
literally thousands of things you can do in the classroom.

It’s considered to be a modern method of teaching English. I

personally try to do at least 1-2 task-based projects in all my classes
each semester. It’s a nice change of pace from my usually very
communicative-focused activities.

One huge advantage of TBL is that students have some degree of

freedom to learn the language they want to learn. Also, they can
learn some self-reflection and teamwork skills as well. 

Introduction to Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning | ESL Task

Based Teaching Ideas
#9: Suggestopedia Language Learning Method

This approach and method in language teaching was developed in

the 1970s by psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov. It is sometimes also
known as the positive suggestion method but it later became
sometimes known as desuggestopedia.

Apart from using physical surroundings and a good classroom

atmosphere to make students feel comfortable, here are some of the
main tenants of this second language teaching method:

 Deciphering, where the teacher introduces new grammar and

vocabulary.
 Concert sessions, where the teacher reads a text and the
students follow along with music in the background. This can be
both active and passive.
 Elaboration where students finish what they’ve learned with
dramas, songs, or games.
 Introduction in which the teacher introduces new things in a
playful manner.
 Production, where students speak and interact without
correction or interruption.
 TESOL methods and approaches

#10: The Silent Way

The silent way is an interesting ESL teaching method that isn’t that
common but it does have some solid footing. After all, the goal in
most language classes is to make them as student-centred as
possible.

In the Silent Way, the teacher talks as little as possible, with the
idea that students learn best when discovering things on their own.
Learners are encouraged to be independent and to discover and
figure out language on their own.

Instead of talking, the teacher uses gestures and facial expressions

to communicate, as well as props, including the famous Cuisenaire
Rods. These are rods of different colours and lengths.

Although it’s not practical to teach an entire course using the silent
way, it does certainly have some value as a language teaching
approach to remind teachers to talk less and get students talking
more!

#11: Functional-Notional Approach

This English teaching method first of all recognizes that language is

purposeful communication. The reason people talk is that they want
to communicate something to someone else.

Parts of speech like nouns and verbs exist to express language

functions  and notions. People speak to inform, agree, question,
persuade, evaluate, and perform various other functions. Language
is also used to talk about concepts or notions like time, events,
places, etc.

The role of the teacher in this second language teaching method is

to evaluate how students will use the language. This will serve as a
guide for what should be taught in class. Teaching specific grammar
patterns or vocabulary sets does play a role but the purpose for
which students need to know these things should always be kept in
mind with the functional-notional Approach to English teaching.

#12: The Bilingual Method

The bilingual method uses two languages in the classroom, the
mother tongue and the target language. The mother tongue is briefly
used for grammar and vocabulary explanations. Then, the rest of the
class is conducted in English. Check out this video for some of the
pros and cons of this method:

What is the Bilingual Method of Teaching English? | Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching
#13: The Test Teach Test Approach (TTT)

This style of language teaching is ideal for directly targeting

students’ needs. It’s best for intermediate and advanced learners.
Definitely don’t use it for total beginners!

There are three stages:

 A test or task of some kind that requires students to use the

target language.
 Explicit teaching or focus on accuracy with controlled practice
exercises.
 Another test or task is to see if students have improved in their
use of the target language.

Want to give it a try? Find out what you need to know here:

Test Teach Test TTT.

What is the Test Teach Test Approach to Teaching ESL/EFL? | Approach

and Method in Language Teaching
#14: The Situational Approach

This approach loosely falls under the behaviourism view of language

as habit formation. The situational approach to teaching English was
popular in England, starting in the 1930s. Find out more about it:
What is the situational approach of teaching English | Approaches and
Methods in Language Teaching
 

Language Teaching Approaches

FAQs
There are a number of common questions that people have about
second or foreign language teaching and learning. Here are the
answers to some of the most popular ones.
What is language teaching approaches?

A language teaching approach is a way of thinking about teaching

and learning. An approach produces methods, which is the way of
teaching something, in this case, a second or foreign language using
techniques or activities.

What are method and approach?

Method and approach are similar but there are some key
differences. An approach is the way of dealing with something while
a method involves the process or steps taken to handle the issue or
task.

What is presentation practice production?

What is the Presentation practice production (PPP)? | Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching
How many approaches are there in language
learning?
Throughout history, there have been just over 30 popular
approaches to language learning. However, there are around 10 that
are most widely known including task-based learning, the
communicative approach, grammar-translation and the audio-lingual
approach. These days, the communicative approach is all the rage.

What is the best method of English language

teaching?

It’s difficult to choose the best single approach or method for English
language teaching as the one used depends on the age and level of
the students as well as the material being taught. Most teachers find
that a mix of the communicative approach, audio-lingual approach
and task-based teaching works well in most cases.

Have your say about Approaches and

Methods in Language Teaching
What’s your top pick for a language teaching method? Is it one  of
the options from this list or do you have another one that you’d like
to mention? Leave a comment below and let us know what you
think. We’d love to hear from you. And whatever approach or
method you use, you’ll want to check out these top 1o tips for new
English teachers .

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