The analysis of foreign language teaching methods

кандидат філологічних наук,

Let us introduce you the Direct Approach. Lessons begin with a dialogue using a modern conversational style in the target language. Material is first presented orally with actions or pictures. The mother tongue is never, never used. There is no translation. The preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative. Questions are answered in the target language. Grammar is taught inductively. Verbs are used first and systematically conjugated only much later after some oral mastery of the target language. Advanced students read literature for comprehension and pleasure. The negative aspect of this approach is that mother tongue is not used at all.

The next is Reading Approach. The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension and fluency is taught. Minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or gaining conversational skills in the target language. The vocabulary of the early reading passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as quickly as possible [3].

Pupils and students should communicate more. It is necessary for our nowadays life. Without communication a lot of possibilities are closed.

The Audiolingual Method. New material is presented in a form of a dialogue. Based on a principal that language is habit formation, the method fosters dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and overlearning. Structures are sequenced and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. Little or no grammatical explanations are provided; grammar is taught inductively. Skills are sequenced: Listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed in order. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. There is abundant use of language laboratories, tapes and visual aids. There is an extended pre-reading period at the beginning of the course. Great importance is given to precise native-like pronunciation. Use of the mother tongue by the teacher is permitted, but discouraged among and by the students. Successful responses are reinforced; great care is taken to prevent learner errors. There is a tendency to focus on manipulation of the target language and to disregard content and meaning [3].

The knowledge of grammar is important. You should not know only words without learning grammar material.

We would like to present hints for using audio-lingual drills.

1) The teacher must be careful to ensure that all of the utterances which students will make are actually within the practiced pattern.

2) Drills should be conducted as rapidly as possibly so as to insure automaticity and to establish a system.

3) Ignore all but gross errors of pronunciation when drilling for grammar practice.

4) Use of shortcuts to keep the pace or drills at a maximum. Use hand motions, signal cards, notes, etc. to cue response. You are a choir director.

5) Use normal English stress, intonation, and juncture patterns conscientiously.

6) Drill material should always be meaningful. If the content words are not known, teach their meanings.

7) Intersperse short periods of drill ( about 10 minutes) with very brief alternative activities to avoid fatigue and boredom.

8) Don't stand in one place; move about the room standing next to as many different students as possible to spot check their production. Thus you will know who to give more practice to during individual drilling.

9) Use the «backward buildup» technique for long and difficult patterns.

a) Now.

b) at home now.

c) is working at home now.

d) My grandmother is working at home now.

Community Language Learning. This methodology created by Ch. Curran is not based on the usual methods by which languages are taught. The learner is not thought of as a student but as a client. The native instructors of the language are not considered teachers but rather are trained in counseling skills adapted to their roles as language counselors. The languagecounseling relationship begins with the client's linguistic confusion and conflict.

There are 3 stages of adaptation:

I. The client is completely dependent on the language counselor.

a) First, he expresses only to the counselor and in mother tongue what he wishes to say to the group. Each group member overhears this mother tongue exchange but no other members of the group are involved in the interaction.

b) The counselor then reflects these ideas back to the client in the foreign language in a warm, accepting tone.

c) The client turns to the group and presents his ideas in the foreign language.

II. The client turns and begins to speak the foreign language directly to the group.

a) The client speaks directly to the group in the foreign language.

b) Translation is given only when a group member desires it.

III. The client is speaking freely and complexly in the foreign language.

a) The counselor helps with grammar, pronunciation.

b) The counselor offers elegant constructions and idioms.

The Silent Way is the next method of teaching. The main aim is to achieve the following: to avoid the use of the vernacular; To create simple linguistic situations that remain under the complete control of the teacher; To pass on to the learners the responsibility for the utterances of the descriptions of the objects shown or the actions performed; To let the teacher concentrate on what the students say and how they are saying it; To generate a serious game-like situation in which the rules are agreed upon by giving meaning to the gestures of the teacher and his mime; To provide the support of perception and action to the intellectual guess of what the noises mean, thus bring in the arsenal of the usual criteria of experience already developed and automatic in one's use of the mother tongue; To provide a duration of spontaneous speech upon which the teacher and the students can work to obtain a similarity of melody to the one heard.

The Communicative Approach. We answer such question: what is communicative competence?

a) Communicative competence is the progressive acquisition of the ability to use a language to achieve one's communicative purpose.

b) Communicative competence involves the negotiation of meaning between two or more persons sharing the same symbolic system.

c) CC applies to both spoken and written language.

d) CC is context specific based on the situation and the role of the participants.

e) CC represents a shift in focus from the grammatical to the communicative properties of the language.

Stages of language acquisition in the communicative approach.

I. Comprehension or pre-production: Total physical response; Answer with names - objects, students, pictures.

II. Early speech production: Yes-no questions; Either-or questions; Single/two-word answers; Open-ended questions; Open dialogues; Interviews.

III. Speech emerges: Games and recreational activities; Content activities; Humanistic- affective activities; Information-problem-solving activities [3].

Functional-Notional Approach. Notions are meaning elements that may be expressed through: nouns; pronouns; verbs; prepositions; conjunctions; adjectives; adverbs.

The use of particular notions depends on:

a) the functions;

b) the elements in the situation;

c) the topic being discussed.

A situation may affect variations of language such as the use of dialects, the formality or informality of the language and the mode of expression. Situation includes the following elements:

A. The persons taking part in the speech act.

B. The place where the conversation occurs.

C. The time the speech act is taking place.

D. The topic or activity that is being discussed.

Functional Categories of Language. Personal: clarifying or arranging one's ideas; expressing one's thoughts or feelings: love, joy, pleasure, happiness, surprise, likes, dislikes, pain, anger; the everyday feelings of hunger, thirst, cold or warmth. english communicative teacher language

1) The teacher says the commands as hehimself performs the action.

2) The teacher says the command as both the teacher and the students then perform the action.

3) The teacher says the command but only students perform the action

4) The teacher tells one student at a time to do commands

5) The roles of teacher and student are reversed. Students give commands to teacher and to other students.

6) The teacher and student allow for command expansion or produces new sentences [1, p. 21].

Conclusions and prospects for further researches of direction