Introduction

Language teaching is sometimes discussed as if it existed independently of the teach-ing of other subjects and of trends in teaching generally. However, like teachers in other areas of a school curriculum, language teachers too have to to create a posi-tive environment for learning in the classroom. They have to find ways of engaging students in their lessons, to use learning arrangements that encourage active student participation in lessons, to acknowledge the diversity of motivations and interests learners bring to the classroom, and to use strategies that enable the class to function as a cohesive group that collaborates to help make the lesson a positive learning expe-rience. In dealing with issues such as these, language teachers can learn much from considering approaches that have been used in mainstream education. Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) is one such example. CLL is part of a more general instruc-tional approach, known as Collaborative or Cooperative Learning (CL), which origi-nated in mainstream education and emphasizes peer support and coaching. CL is an approach to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom. It has been defined as follows:

Cooperative Learning has antecedents in proposals for peer-tutoring and peer-monitoring that go back hundreds of years and longer. The early-twentieth-century US educator John Dewey is usually credited with promoting the idea of building cooperation in learning into regu-lar classrooms on a regular and systematic basis (Rodgers 1988). It was more generally promoted and developed in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s as a response to the forced integration of public schools and has been substantially refined and developed since then. Educators were concerned that traditional models of classroom learning were teacher-fronted, fostered com-petition rather than cooperation, and favored majority students.

Introduction

Text-Based Instruction (TBI) is an approach that is based on the following principles:

• • Teaching explicitly about the structures and grammatical features of spoken and written texts

• • Linking spoken and written texts to the social and cultural contexts of their use

• • Designing units of work which focus on developing skills in relation to whole texts

• • Providing students with guided practice as they develop language skills for mean-ingful communication through whole texts.

(Feez 1998: v)

While developed originally in Australia through the work of educationalists and applied linguists working in the area of literacy and drawing on the work of Halliday (1989), Derewianka (1990), Christie (2002), and others, it has also been influential in developing approaches to language teaching at all levels in countries such as New Zealand, Singapore, and Canada, as well as in a number of European countries, such as Sweden. The Common European Framework of Reference (Chapter 8) also specifies outcomes for what students can do with texts. TBI shares many assumptions with a genre-based approach to course design, often used in the development of courses in English for Academic Purposes (Paltridge 2006). Unlike Task-Based Language Teaching (Chapter 9), which is motivated by a creative-construction theory of second language learning, TBI, while compatible with theories of learning, derives from a genre theory of the nature of language (see below) and the role that texts play in social contexts. Communicative competence is seen to involve the mastery of different types of texts, or genres. Text here is used in a special sense to refer to structured sequences of language that are used in specific contexts in specific ways. For example, in the course of a day a speaker of English may use spoken English in many different ways including the following:

• • Casual conversational exchange with a friend

• • Conversational exchange with a stranger in an elevator

• • Telephone call to arrange an appointment at a hair salonllAn account to friends of an unusual experience

• • Discussion of a personal problem with a friend to seek advice.

Each of these uses of language can be regarded as a text in that it exists as a unified whole with a beginning, middle, and end, it conforms to norms of organization and content, and it draws on appropriate grammar and vocabulary.

The chapters in Part II bring the description of approaches and methods up to the present time and describe some of the directions mainstream language teaching has followed since the emergence of communicative methodologies in the 1980s.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which we examine in Chapter 5, marks the beginning of a major paradigm shift within language teaching in the twentieth century, one whose ramifications continue to be felt today. The general principles of CLT are still widely accepted in language teaching today, although as we demonstrate in this chapter, these principles have been open to various interpretations, and those favoring the approach may weigh the value of fluency and accuracy in different ways. Aspects of CLT may also be used to support other approaches and methods. In Chapter 6, we consider Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The first (CBI) can be regarded as a logical development of some of the core principles of CLT, particu-larly those that relate to the role of meaning in language learning. Because CBI provides an approach that is particularly suited to prepare ESL students to enter elementary, secondary, or tertiary education, it is widely used in English-speaking countries around the world, particularly in the United States. CLIL, a related approach, has become popular in Europe; both approaches involve a merging of content and language. In Chapter 7, we look at the Whole Language movement that developed in the 1980s as a response to teaching the lan-guage arts. As an approach aimed at younger learners, it may be contrasted with the more modern-day CBI and CLIL.

Chapters 8 through 11 examine, like CBI, CLIL, and Whole Language, a number of other special-purpose approaches, in the sense that they have specific goals in mind or reflect principles of language learning that have a more limited application. In Chapter 8, we describe Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT), standards, and the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), all reflecting the outcomes movement that has become increasingly important in recent years as programs strive for accountability and a focus on standards in teaching and learning. In Chapter 9, we look at Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), an approach that aims to replace a conventional language-focused syl-labus with one organized around communicative tasks as units of teaching and learning.

The period from the 1970s to the 1980s witnessed a major paradigm shift in language teaching. The quest for alternatives to grammar-based approaches and methods led in several different directions. Mainstream language teaching embraced the growing interest in communicative approaches to language teaching, as we saw in Part II. The communica-tive movement sought to move the focus away from grammar as the core component of language, to a different view of language, of language learning, of teachers, and of learners, one that focused on language as communication. Other directions in language teaching, also quests for alternatives, appeared during this period and are the focus of this part of the book.

Whereas Audiolingualism and Situational Language Teaching were mainstream teaching methods developed by linguists and applied linguists, the approaches and meth-ods described in this section were either developed outside of mainstream language teach-ing or represent an application in language teaching of educational principles developed elsewhere. They are represented by such innovative methods of the 1970s as the Natural Approach (Chapter 14), Total Physical Response (Chapter 15), the Silent Way (Chapter 16), Community Language Learning (Chapter 17), and Suggestopedia (Chapter 18). Rather than starting from a theory of language and drawing on research and theory in applied lin-guistics, the majority of these methods are developed around particular theories of learn-ers and learning, sometimes the theories of a single theorizer or educator. Many of these methods are consequently relatively underdeveloped in the domain of language theory, and the learning principles they reflect are generally different from theories found in sec-ond language acquisition (SLA) textbooks. The one exception in this group is the Natural Approach, as explained below.

Alternative approaches and methods of the 1970s and 1980s have had a somewhat varied history. Although Total Physical Response, the Silent Way, Community Language Learning, and Suggestopedia did not succeed in attracting the support of mainstream language teaching, each can be seen as expressing important dimensions of the teaching/learning process. They can be seen as offering particular insights that have attracted the attention and/or allegiance of some teachers and educators, but they have each seen their popularity rise and fall since the 1970s.

Introduction

Community Language Learning (CLL) is the name of a method developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates. Curran was a specialist in counseling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago. His application of psychological counsel-ing techniques to learning is known as Counseling-Learning. CLL represents the use of Counseling-Learning theory to teach languages. As the name indicates, CLL derives its primary insights, and indeed its organizing rationale, from Rogerian counseling. Counseling, as Rogerians see it, consists of one individual (the counselor) assuming, inso-far as he or she is able, the internal frame of reference of the client, perceiving the world as that person sees it and communicating something of this empathetic understanding (Rogers 1951). In lay terms, counseling is one person giving advice, assistance, and support to another who has a problem or is in some way in need. CLL draws on the counseling metaphor to redefine the roles of the teacher (the counselor) and learners (the clients) in the language classroom.

Within the language teaching tradition, CLL is sometimes cited as an example of a “humanistic approach.” The content of the language class stems from topics learners want to talk about, and the teacher translates their requests into an appropriate syllabus. Links can also be made between CLL procedures and those of bilingual education, particularly the set of bilingual procedures referred to as language alternation or code switching. Let us discuss briefly the debt of CLL to these two traditions.

Because of the humanistic approach of CLL, the basic procedures can thus be seen as derived from the counselor–client relationship. Consider the following CLL proce-dures: A group of learners sit in a circle with the teacher standing outside the circle: a student whispers a message in the native language (L1); the teacher translates it into the foreign language (L2); the student repeats the message in the foreign language into an audio recorder; students compose further messages in the foreign language with the teacher's help; students reflect about their feelings. We can compare the client–counselor relationship in psychological counseling with the learner–knower relationship in CLL (Table 17.1).

Introduction

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) refers to the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching. It has been defined as “an approach to language edu-cation in which students are given functional tasks that invite them to focus primarily on meaning exchange and to use language for real-world, non-linguistic purposes” (Van den Branden 2006). Some of its proponents (e.g., Willis 1996; Willis and Willis 2007) present it as a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching (Chapter 5) since it draws on several principles that formed part of the CLT movement from the 1980s. For example:

• • Activities that involve real communication are essential for language learning.

• • Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning.

• • Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process.

TBLT is usually characterized as an approach, rather than a method. According to Leaver and Willis (2004: 3), “TBI [task-based instruction] is not monolithic; it does not consti-tute one single methodology. It is a multifaced approach, which can be used creatively with different syllabus types and for different purposes.” Thus, it can be linked with other approaches and methods, such as content-based and text-based teaching (Leaver and Willis 2004). Proponents of TBLT contrast it with earlier grammar-focused approaches to teach-ing, such as Audiolingualism, that they characterize as “teacher-dominated, form-oriented classroom practice” (Van den Branden 2006).

Introduction

We have seen several instances in this book of language teaching methods that have been developed by educators from outside mainstream language teaching, such as the Silent Way (Chapter 16), and Community Language Learning (Chapter 17). Methods such as these sometimes interest teachers who may be attracted by their novelty and the results they are said to deliver. Many of the “innovative” methods of the 1980s and 1990s are mainly of historical interest today, although they may still have some practitioners in different parts of the world. Suggestopedia is another method of this type and was developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist-educator Georgi Lozanov. Suggestopedia is a specific set of learning recommendations derived from Suggestology, which Lozanov describes as a “science … concerned with the systematic study of the nonrational and/or nonconscious influences” that human beings are constantly responding to (Stevick 1976: 42). Suggestopedia tries to harness these influences and redirect them so as to optimize learning. The most con-spicuous characteristics of Suggestopedia are the decoration, furniture, and arrangement of the classroom, the use of music, and the authoritative behavior of the teacher. Music is an especially important element of Suggestopedia, and both intonation and rhythm are coordinated with a musical background, which helps to induce a relaxed attitude. The method has a somewhat mystical air about it, partially because it has few direct links with established learning or educational theory in the West, and partially because of its arcane terminology and neologisms, which one critic has unkindly called a “package of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook” (Scovel 1979: 258).

Hansen (2011: 403), a current advocate of Suggestopedia, provides this commentary:

Introduction

By the beginning of the twentieth century, language teaching was emerging as an active area of educational debate and innovation. Although language teaching has a very long history, the foundations of contemporary approaches to language teaching were developed during the early part of the twentieth century, as applied linguists and others sought to develop principles and procedures for the design of teaching methods and materials, drawing on the developing fields of linguistics and psychology. This led to a succession of proposals for what were thought to be more effective and theoretically sound language teaching methods. Language teaching in the twentieth century was characterized at different times by change and innovation and by the development of competing language teaching ideologies. The impetus for change in approaches to lan-guage teaching is generally a response to increased demand for speakers of second and foreign languages. World War II, for example, prompted the need for new ways of teach-ing oral skills in foreign languages, as we discuss in Chapter 4. Large-scale movement of people through immigration as well as the internationalization of education since the 1950s also created a demand for new types of language programs. And in more recent times, globalization, the rise of the Internet, and the global spread of English has also prompted a reassessment of language teaching policies and practices. This chapter, in briefly reviewing the history of language teaching methods, provides a background for the discussion of past and present methods and suggests the issues we will refer to in analyzing these methods.

The emergence of methods

Efforts to improve the effectiveness of language teaching have often focused on changes in teaching methods. Throughout history such changes have reflected changes in the goals of language teaching, such as a move toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study; they have also reflected changes in theo-ries of the nature of language and of language learning. The method concept in teach-ing – the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning – is a powerful though controversial one, and the quest for better methods was a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists throughout the twentieth century.

From the survey of approaches and methods presented in this book, we have seen that the history of language teaching in the last one hundred years has been characterized by a search for more effective ways of teaching second or foreign languages. The most common solution to the “language teaching problem” was often seen to lie in the adoption of a new teaching approach or method. One result of this trend was the era of so-called designer or brand-name methods, that is, packaged solutions that can be described and marketed for use anywhere in the world. Thus, the Direct Method was enthusiastically embraced in the early part of the twentieth century as an improvement on Grammar Translation. In the 1950s the Audiolingual Method was thought to provide a way forward, incorporating the latest insights from the sciences of linguistics and psychology. As the Audiolingual Method began to fade in the 1970s, particularly in the United States, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as well as a variety of guru-led methods emerged to fill the vacuum created by the discrediting of Audiolingualism. While minor methods such as the Silent Way, Total Physical Response, and Suggestopedia had declined substantially by the turn of the century, new proposals for the organization of language teaching and learning have continued to influence language teaching policies and practices in different parts of the world. As noted in this text, these include Task-Based Language Teaching, Text-Based Instruction, CLIL, and the Common European Framework of Reference. And CLT continues to be considered the most plausible basis for language teaching in many contexts today, although, as we saw in Chapter 5, CLT can be applied and interpreted in a variety of ways. As Waters observes (2012), for some, CLT has taken the form of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), for some, it is best reflected in a CLIL approach, while for others it is reflected in Dogme ELT, “a materials-light, conversation-driven philosophy of teaching that, above all, focuses on the learner and emergent language” (Meddings and Thornbury 2009: 103). Reviewing developments in approaches and methods since 1995, Waters (2012) concludes that at the level of classroom practice, since the 1990s methodology has been relatively stable.

Few language teachers today are familiar with the terms Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching, which both refer to an approach to language teaching developed by British applied linguists, the first dating from the 1920s and 1930s and the second from the 1950s and 1960s. Even though neither term is commonly used today, the impact of the Oral Approach has been long-lasting, and it shaped the design of many widely used English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) textbooks and courses, particularly those published in the United Kingdom. Situational Language Teaching, a type of oral approach, continued to be popular well into the 1980s, and some of these textbooks are still used today. One of the most successful ESL courses published, Streamline English (Hartley and Viney 1978), reflected the classic principles of Situational Language Teaching, as did many other series that have been widely used, such as Access to English (Coles and Lord 1975), Kernel Lessons Plus (O’Neill 1973) and many of L. G. Alexander's widely used textbooks, for example, New Concept English (1967). Perhaps the biggest legacy of the Oral Approach was the PPP lesson format: Presentation-Practice-Production, which will be discussed further below. Hundreds of thousands of teachers worldwide have been trained to use this lesson for-mat, and it continues to be seen in language textbooks today. This chapter will explore the development of the Oral Approach in Britain. In the next chapter, we will look at related developments in the United States.

Introduction

The origins of this approach began with the work of British applied linguists in the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning at this time, a number of outstanding applied linguists developed the basis for a principled approach to methodology in language teaching. Two of the lead-ers in this movement were Harold Palmer (1877–1949) and A. S. Hornby (1898–1978), two of the most prominent figures in British twentieth-century language teaching. Both were familiar with the work of such prominent linguists of the time as the Danish grammarian Otto Jespersen and the phonetician Daniel Jones, as well as with the Direct Method. They attempted to develop a more scientific foundation for an oral approach to teaching English than was evidenced in the Direct Method. The result was a systematic study of the princi-ples and procedures that could be applied to the selection and organization of the content of a language course (Palmer 1917, 1921).

Introduction

In describing language teaching approaches and methods in this book, we have focused on the classroom processes that constitute different instructional designs in language teaching and the theories and principles that they are based on. We have seen that approaches and methods reflect different assumptions about what is learned, how it is learned, and what the outcomes of learning are. In educational planning, issues related to the inputs to teaching, to teaching processes, and to the learning outputs that result are elements of the process of curriculum development. The term curriculum refers to the overall plan or design for a course and how the content for a course is transformed into a blueprint for teaching and learning which enables the desired learning outcomes to be achieved.

In this chapter, we will examine how the approaches and methods we have examined reflect different understandings of how the elements of a curriculum are related and the processes by which they are arrived at. We will consider three alternative strategies that are reflected in the approaches and methods we have described in this book. As we noted in Chapter 8, one strategy is to first make decisions about what to teach (input), then to determine how to teach it (process), and finally to assess what was learned (output). We refer to this as forward design. Another strategy is to start with teaching processes or methodology and to let these determine input and output. We refer to this as central design. A third strategy is to start with learning outcomes or output and work backward to determine issues of process and content. This is known as backward design (Wiggins and McTighe 2006).

The first two editions of this book were published in the Cambridge Language Teaching Library series, with the first edition produced in 1986 followed by a second edition in 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching has been widely referred to by teachers and teachers in training for an account of the major teaching approaches and methods that have been used in language teaching from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Despite the advances that have been made in our understanding of language teaching and learning in the last few decades, the language teaching profession continues to explore new instruc-tional designs and pedagogies. Language teaching today reflects the changed status of English as an international language, which has accelerated the demand for more effective approaches to language teaching. Innovations in technology, the growing trend to begin teaching English at primary level as well as the use of English as a medium of instruction in many university programs prompt an ongoing review of past and present practices as teach-ers and teacher educators search for effective activities and resources for their classrooms. And despite the belief that contemporary approaches to language teaching rely less on standard approaches and methods and more on post-method conceptions of teaching – new teaching proposals continue to appear (such as Content and Language Integrated Learning, or CLIL, text- and task-based teaching as well as the Common European Framework of Reference). Familiarity with these as well as with earlier traditions in language teaching are important components of the professional knowledge expected of today's language teachers. For these reasons a third edition of Approaches and Methods seemed appropriate. As we prepared the third edition, we were reminded that not everything that is new is nec-essarily better and that today's teachers could continue to benefit from a text that provides a guide to this rich repository of instructional practices in our field.

A number of changes have been incorporated into the third edition.

• • The book is now divided into four parts, with the final part presenting three new chap-ters focusing on approaches and methods in relation to the teaching and learning proc-ess. These chapters seek to show how current views of the roles of learners and teachers in the language teaching process prompt alternative conceptualizations of the status of approaches and methods, and also how approaches and methods can be viewed in rela-tion to the processes of curriculum development.

Introduction

In 1977, Tracy Terrell, a teacher of Spanish in California, outlined “a proposal for a ‘new’ philosophy of language teaching which [he] called the Natural Approach” (1977; 1982: 121). This was an attempt to develop a language teaching proposal that incorporated the “natu-ralistic” principles researchers had identified in studies of second language acquisition. In the Natural Approach there is an emphasis on exposure, or input, rather than practice; optimizing emotional preparedness for learning; a prolonged period of attention to what the language learners hear before they try to produce language; and a willingness to use written and other materials as a source of input.

The Natural Approach grew out of Terrell's experiences of teaching Spanish classes, although it has also been used in elementary to advanced-level classes and with several other languages. At the same time, he joined forces with Stephen Krashen, an applied lin-guist at the University of Southern California, in elaborating a theoretical rationale for the Natural Approach, drawing on Krashen's understanding of the findings of the emerging field of second language acquisition. Krashen and Terrell's combined statement of the prin-ciples and practices of the Natural Approach appeared in their book The Natural Approach, published in 1983. At the time the Natural Approach attracted a wide interest because of the accessibility of the principles on which it was based, the ease with which it confirmed many teachers’ common sense understandings of second language learning, the fact it appeared to be supported by state-of-the-art theory and research, and the fact that Krashen himself is a charismatic presenter and persuasive advocate of his own views – as is evident from the numerous examples of his presentations available on the Internet. Krashen and Terrell's book contains theoretical sections prepared by Krashen that outline his views on second language acquisition (Krashen 1981, 1982), and sections on implementation and classroom procedures, prepared largely by Terrell.

Krashen and Terrell identified the Natural Approach with what they call “traditional” approaches to language teaching. Traditional approaches are defined as “based on the use of language in communicative situations without recourse to the native language” – and, per-haps, needless to say, without reference to grammatical analysis, grammatical drilling, or a particular theory of grammar.

Introduction

The development of Communicative Language Teaching

There are two interacting sources of influence that shape the field of language teaching, which have accounted for its recent history and which will no doubt determine the direc-tion it takes in years to come. One comes from outside the profession and reflects the changing status of English in the world. Increasingly, essential features of contemporary societies are an English-proficient workforce in many key sectors of the economy as well as the ability of people from all walks of life to access the educational, technical, and knowl-edge resources that proficiency in English makes available. Consequently, in recent years there has been a dramatic change in the scope of English language teaching worldwide and, as a result, growing demands on those charged with providing an adequate response to the impact of the global spread of English. There is increasing demand worldwide for language programs that deliver the foreign language skills and competencies needed by today's global citizens and a demand from governments for more effective approaches to the preparation of language teachers. At the same time, there has often been a perception that language teaching policies and practices are not providing an adequate response to the problem. Hence, the regular review of language teaching policies, curriculum, and approaches to both teaching and assessment that has been a feature of the field of language teaching for many years.

The second source of change is internally initiated, that is, it reflects the language teaching profession gradually evolving a changed understanding of its own essential knowl-edge base and associated instructional practices through the efforts of applied linguists, specialists, and teachers in the field of second language teaching and teacher education. The language teaching profession undergoes periodic waves of renewal and paradigm shifts as it continually reinvents itself through the impact of new ideas, new educational philoso-phies, advances in technology, and new research paradigms, and as a response to external pressures of the kind noted above. The movement and approach known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a good example of how a paradigm shift in language teaching reflects these two sources of change.

Introduction

While some of the teaching methods that have gained prominence at different times represented the consensus of academics, language teaching specialists, and educational institutions and hence were often widely adopted, others have been the product of indi-vidual educators advocating a personal view of teaching and learning. Such is the case with the Silent Way. The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno (1911–1988). Gattegno's name is well known for his revival of interest in the use of colored wooden sticks called Cuisenaire rods and for his series Words in Color, an approach to the teaching of initial reading in which sounds are coded by specific colors. His reading materials are copyrighted and continue to be marketed through Educational Solutions Inc., in New York. The Silent Way represents Gattegno's venture into the field of foreign language teaching. As applied to language teaching, a Silent Way lesson progresses through a number of stages, beginning in a similar way with pronunciation practice and then moving to practice of simple sentence patterns, structure, and vocabulary. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored Cuisenaire rods, grew out of Gattegno's previous experience as an educational designer of reading and mathematics programs. (Cuisenaire rods were first developed by Georges Cuisenaire, a European educa-tor who used them for the teaching of math. Gattegno had observed Cuisenaire rods and this gave him the idea for their use in language teaching.) Working from what is a rather traditional structural and lexical syllabus, the Silent Way method exemplifies many of the features that characterize more traditional methods, such as Situational Language Teaching (Chapter 3) and Audiolingualism (Chapter 4), with a strong focus on accurate repetition of sentences, modeled initially by the teacher, and a movement through guided elicitation exercises to freer communication.

It is interesting to speculate that one of the reasons for the early popularity of the Silent Way in the United States and its use in official US Foreign Officer and Peace Corps training programs is that silence has been noted to be a stronger inducement to verbalization among Americans than for many other cultural groups.

Introduction

We have seen throughout this book that approaches and methods reflect particular assumptions and beliefs about how learners should learn – assumptions that may need to be reviewed based on the roles of autonomous learning, learning strategies, learning style preferences, and technology-mediated learning. Approaches and methods also prescribe how teachers should teach. They reflect assumptions about the nature of good teaching, the practices and techniques teachers should make use of, the teacher's role in the classroom, the kinds of language and resources they should use, and the kinds of grouping arrange-ments and interactions that should occur in their classrooms. When new approaches or methods are introduced, they are promoted as reflecting sound theory and principles and as being the best solution to the language teaching problem. They are often based on the assumption that the processes of second language learning are fully understood. Many of the books written by method gurus are full of claims and assertions about how people learn languages, few of which are based on second language acquisition research or have been empirically tested. Researchers who study language learning are themselves usu-ally reluctant to dispense prescriptions for teaching based on the results of their research, because they know that current knowledge is tentative, partial, and changing. As Atkinson (2011: xi) comments: “It is increasingly apparent … that SLA is an extremely complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Exactly for this reason, it now appears that no single theoretical perspective will allow us to understand SLA adequately.”

Much of SLA research does not support the often simplistic theories and prescriptions found in the literature supporting some approaches and methods. For example, in making their case for CLIL, Coyle, Hood, and Marsh (2010: 153–4) comment:

Appendix: Comparison of approaches and methods