8.

Comparing and evaluating methods

Comparing methods
Superficially, Total Physical Response and Community Language Learning seem
antithetical;
In TPR, the teacher's role is one of a master, director and motivator;
In CLL, the teacher/ knower is counselor, supporter, and facilitator;
TPR learners are physically active and mobile;
CLL learners are sedentary and in a fixed configuration;
At a level of procedure, we find that TPR language practice is mechanical with much
emphasis on listening;
CLL language practice is innovative, with emphasis on production;
But these two hypothesis have some common elements which can be easily overlooked:
They both see the learners' commitment, attention, and group participation as central
to overcome these barriers;
They both view the stages of adult language learning as recapitulations of the stages
of childhood learning, and both CLL and TPR consider meditation, memory and recall of
linguistic elements to be central issues;

Methods and language curriculum development

Choice of teaching approach ( abordare) or method, materials and learning activities is
usually made within the context of language program design and development; when
the director of a language school or institution announces to the staff that an incoming
client group will consist of 45 Japanese businessmen requiring a six week intensive
course of spoken English the teachers will not leap their feet and exclaim: Let's use
Silent Way! or Let's use Total Physical Response!
Questions of immediate concern will focus on who the learners are, what their current
 level of language proficiency is, what sort of communicative needs they have, the
circumstances in which they will be using English in the future, and so on;
NEEDS ANALYSIS is concerned with identifying general and specific language needs that
can be addressed in developing goals, objectives and content in a language program;
needs analysis focuses on what the learner's present level of proficiency is; its aim is to
identify the type of language skills and level of language proficiency the program
should aim to deliver;
FORMULATION OF OBJECTIVES: without clear statements of objectives,materials and
evaluation cannot be systematically addressed;
SELECTION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES: once decisions have been made
about the kinds and levels of language proficiency the program is designed to bring
about, teaching and learning activities can be chosen;
EVALUATION: evaluation refers to procedures for gathering data on the dynamics,
effectiveness, acceptability, and efficiency of a language program for the purposes of
decision making;
EVALUATING METHODS:
Descriptive data are objective descriptions and accounts, usually made by teachers, of
specific procedures used in teaching according to a particular method; they may take
the form of amplified records of lesson plans, with detailed comments;
Observational data refer to recorded observations of methods as they are being taught;
the observer is typically not the teacher, but a trained observer with a note pad,
tape recorder, video equipment, or some others means of capturing the moment-to-
moment behaviors of teachers and learners in the classroom;
Effectiveness data: our profession will indicate its maturity by means of candor with
which we are able to design, carry out and report measures of effectiveness in
something like normal teaching circumstances.
Comparative data.