Unit 1: Language teaching methodology

These are the notes from TESOL Certificate video - Lecture 1.

Subcomponents of a curriculum

Curriculum component	Focus	Defining Questions
Syllabus design	Content	What content should we teach? In what order should we teach this content? What is the justification for selecting this content?
Methodology	Classroom techniques and procedures	What exercises, tasks, and activities should we use in the classroom? How should we sequence and integrate these?
Evaluation	Learning outcomes	How well have our students done? How well has our program served our students’ needs?

Defining methodology

... the study of the practices and procedures used in teaching, and the principles and beliefs that underlie them. Methodology includes:

study of the nature of language skills (e.g. reading, writing, speaking, listening and procedures for teaching them)
study of the preparation of lesson plans, materials and textbooks for teaching language skills
the evaluation and comparison of language teaching methods (e.g. the Audiolingual method)

such practices, procedures, principles and beliefs themselves. (Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics)

The Methods Debate

Principle 1: Focus on the learner

Make instructional goals clear to the learner
Help learners to create their own goals
Encourage learners to use their second language outside of the classroom
Help learners to become more aware of learning processes and strategies
Help learners to identify their own preferred styles and strategies
Give learners opportunities to make choices between different options in the classroom
Teach learners how to create their own learning tasks
Provide learners with opportunities to master some aspects of their second language and then teach it to others
Create contexts in which learners investigate language and become their own researchers of language

Principle 2: Develop your own personal methodology
Identify your own preferred teaching style

Principle 3: Build instructional sequences

The pre-task, task, follow-up cycle

Pre-task: creates interest, helps build students’ schema, introduce key vocabulary, revise grammar.
Task: activating language in the classroom
Follow-up: teacher feedback on the task, student reflection on what they achieved and how well they are doing