THEORETICAL GROUNDS TO TEACH ENGLISH

The following lines are an attempt to reflect on what i regard as important grounds to teach languages especially English. In them, I will refer to basic methodological concepts such as approaches, methods, techniques professional labels and language and learning theories. These concepts are important because they will light the practice of language teaching of those teachers who read them. My objective is to make English language teachers aware of the importance of knowing them for language teaching practice.

The first basic concept I want to start with is approach as an important theory for English language teachers and approach as a level of teaching at educational settings. On the one hand, theorists refer to the term approach as a set of correlative assumptions or beliefs of how language is best learnt and taught. On the other hand, they do it to show the different ways teachers approach the language at the educational settings.

An approach to language teaching has key components which make it necessary to be understood and handled by teachers. These components are as follows: Approach, method and techniques. As stated some lines above the approach is the set of correlative assumptions or beliefs about how language is best learnt and taught. The method is the way teachers organize the language content material (syllabus) and the techniques are activities teacher do in the language room.

On referring to the term approach as ways teachers have to approach the language at educational settings, it can be said that most of the times they do it in the same way as any other subject in the curriculum. This evident in the memorization tasks they give the students to do, the language instruction focused on the forms of the language and the absence of communicative techniques. Sadly few teachers have grounded their teaching practice on the theories of language and learning and as result we see more silent and bored language rooms than dynamic and alive ones where the learners use the language all the time of the instruction.

The second important component of the term approach is METHOD. This speaks about the freedom the teacher has to organize the syllabus when teaching. Knowing this principle will set teachers free from teaching the contents as they are lined on the book grid.

And the third component of the term approach is TECHNIQUES. This term actually deals with the activities teachers bring to the language room and the nature of them.

Secondly, the need of holding a professional label is the great importance for English language teachers. This will tell them how to name the subject matter according to the educational context. The professional labels which give teacher a professional name are as follows:

TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) TESL (Teaching English as a second language) TESOL (Teaching English to students of other languages) TEAL (Teaching English as additional language) ELT (English Language teaching)

On the third place we have language theories as another strong theoretical ground for English language teaching. They are the structural view of language, the functional view of language and the interactional view. Each of these theories focus on particular aspects of the language. The structural view is the most traditional of the three language theories. It sees the language as set of well arrangedstructured units of language for conveying meaning. This view of language focuses the language instruction on grammatical operations (adding, shifting and transforming), grammatical units (morphemes phrases and sentences), and Phonological units (Phonemes). It is my knowledge that this view alone does not foster communicative competence.

The second language theory is the functional one. In contrast to the structural views, this sees language as vehicle to convey meaning and therefore it organizes the language by categories of functional meaning. The functional view covers the structural one and promotes a more significant learning of the forms of the language.

The third theory of language is the interactional. This view is a cover all- term that fosters the use of language as an opportunity for making interpersonal relationships.

As regards language learning theories they are six and match each language theory in particular. See the chapter below.

STRUCTURAL VIEW OF LANGUAGE

FUNCTIONAL AND INTERACTIONAL VIEWS OF LANGUAGE

Deductive learning Analytic learning Habit formation

inductive learning Experiencial learning Naturalistic acquisition

Behaviourist theory Foster language learning by studying the rules and the structures

Language use or language competence Focused on making the students aware of how language works, is that to say by the use of language

To close I hope to have demonstrated the importance of these theories in English language teaching and the great and urgent necessity that English teachers practices are grounded on each of these theoretical grounds.