ú By the middle of the 20th century cognitive psychologists like Vygotsky and Piaget brought up theories that helped to explain the limited effectiveness of the traditional perspective to language teaching.

ú Beginning in the 1950s, Noam Chomsky and his followers challenged previous assumptions about language structure and language learning, taking the position that language is creative (not memorized), and rule governed (not based on habit), and that universal phenomena of the human mind underlie all language.

ú This "Chomskian revolution" initially gave rise to eclecticism in teaching, but it has more recently led to two main branches of teaching approaches:

            ² the humanistic approaches based on the charismatic/charming teaching of one person, and

² content-based communicative approaches, which try to incorporate what has been learned in               recent years about the need for active learner participation, about appropriate language input, and about communication as a human activity.

ú There have been developments such as a great emphasis on more humanistic approaches to language learning, a greater focus on the learner, and greater emphasis on the development of communicative, as opposed to merely linguistic, competence.

ú Four methods, developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s, have had a considerable impact upon language teaching even if they are rarely used exclusively in mainstream teaching.

ú They are described as humanistic approaches because they are primarily concerned to lower the students’ affective filters, and so remove a psychological barrier to learning.

ú Nevertheless, there are elements in the Silent Way or Total Physical Response which seem entirely teacher-centred and may, indeed, cause exactly the kind of anxiety which humanist theories aim to prevent.

Community Language Learning

ú In the classic form of Community Language Learning (CLL henceforth) students sit in a circle.

ú Students decide what they want to talk about.

ú A counsellor or a knower stands outside the circle (i.e. the teacher).

ú The knower provides or corrects TL statements è if a student says something in their own language, the knower can then give them the English equivalent for them to use.

ú A student says what s/he wants to say either in English or in his/her L1. è in the latter case the knower translates it into English, in effect ‘teaching’ the student how to make the utterance.

ú The student, then, can say what s/he wants to the circle.

ú Later, when students are more confident with the language, they can be put in lines facing each other for pair work discussion.

            ² In some CLL lessons the students’ utterances – helped or provided by the knower – are recorded onto tape to be analysed later.

² There is often a period for reflection in which students comment frankly on how they felt about the activity.  

ú In all of these cases teachers help students achieve what they want, offering help and counsel to the community of the class.

ú The teacher’s job is to ‘facilitate’ rather than to ‘teach’.

è The influence of CLL in mainstream teaching has been fairly pronounced.

² The idea that students should reflect upon their learning experiences is now widely accepted[1]. 

The Silent Way

ú The behaviour of the teacher in the Silent Way is most notable, indeed, rather than entering into conversation with the students, s/he says as little as possible.

ú This is because Caleb Cattegno, the founder of the method, believed that learning is best facilitated if the learner discovers and creates language rather than just remembering and repeating what has been taught. è learner-centred.

ú In the Silent Way learners interact with physical objects too, especially Cuisenaire rods. There is a problem-solving element involved too, since students have to resolve language construction problems for themselves.

ú A Silent Way procedure:

            ú teacher models sounds while pointing to a phonemic chart.

            ú a student imitates the teacher and the teacher indicates (silently) if s/he is correct.

            ú if not, another student is prompted to help the first student.

ú a third or fourth student is prompted if necessary until a correct version of the phoneme is produced.

ú The class continues with the teacher pointing to different phonemes while the students work out what they are – and then how to combine them.

ú Later, students can point to elements on the chart in such a way that they have provided a stimulus for the language in the same way as the teacher did.

ú they and their colleagues have to work out what the correct language is.

ú Through all this procedure the teacher indicates by gesture or expression what the students should do and whether or not they are correct.

ú Examples and corrections are only given verbally if no student can do it first time round. è it is up to the students – under the controlling but indirect influence of the teacher – to solve problems and learn the language.

² To some, the Silent Way has seemed somewhat inhuman, with the teacher’s silence acting as a barrier rather than an incentive. But to others, the reliance students are forced to place upon themselves and upon each other is exciting and liberating. è it is students who should take responsibility for their learning; it is the teacher’s job to organize this.

² The silent way has had a direct influence on mainstream teaching by promoting the use of phonemic charts and pointing to objects and sounds, and Cuisenaire rods, and an indirect one in the use of discovery techniques[2].

Suggestopaedia

ú Developed by Georgi Lozanov, Suggestopaedia sees the physical surroundings and atmosphere of the classroom as of vital importance.

ú By ensuring that the students are comfortable, confident and relaxed, the affective filter is lowered, thus enhancing learning.

ú A feature of Suggestopaedia is referred to as ‘infantilisation’; that is the teacher and students exist in a parent-children relationship where, to remove barriers to learning, students are given different names from their outside real ones.

ú Traumatic themes are avoided, and the sympathy with which the teacher treats the students is vitally important.

ú A suggestopaedic lesson has three main parts:

            ² There is an oral review section in which previously learnt material is used for discussion.

² This is followed by the presentation and discussion of new dialogue material and its native language equivalent.

² Finally, in the ‘séance’ or ‘concert’ session, students listen to relaxing music while the teacher reads the new dialogue material in a way which synchronises with the taped music. During this phase, there are several minutes of ‘solemn’ silence and the students leave the room silently.

ú The emphasis on lowering the affective filter is now accepted as an important part of all teaching. Music is frequently used in classes too, though not necessarily in the ways and the type that Lozanov recommended.

Total Physical Response (TPR)

ú The originator of TPR, James Asher, worked from the premise that adult SL learning could have similar patterns of development to that of child language acquisition.

ú If children learn much of their language from speech directed at them in the form of commands to perform actions, then adults will learn best in that way too.

ú Accordingly, TPR asks students to respond physically to the language they hear.

ú Language processing is thus matched with physical action.

ú Asher alike sees the need to lower the affective filter and finds that organising physical actions in the classroom helps to do this.

ú A typical TPR class might involve the teacher telling students to ‘pick up the triangle from the table and give it to me’ or ‘walk quickly to the door and hit it’.

ú When the students can all respond to commands correctly, one of them can then start giving instructions to other classmates.

² Critics of TPR point out that this kind of teaching may only be appropriate for beginner learners and question how TPR goes with any real-world needs.

² Asher himself says it should be included together with other methods.

² Yet, certain features of TPR have had an influence. In TPR students do not have to give instructions themselves until they are ready.