METHOD: procedures, approch, and design.

According to Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning. Within one approach, there can be many methods. As result, an approach is a way of looking at teaching and learning. Underlying any language teaching approach is a theoretical view of what language is, and of how it can be learnt. An approach gives rise to methods, the way of teaching something, which use classroom activities or techniques to help learners learn. Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural. In the other hand, design is the level of the method analysis in which we consider (a) what the objectives of method are; (b) how language content is selected and organized within the method, that is, the syllabus model the method incorporates; (c) the types of learning tasks and teaching activities the method advocates; (d) the roles of learners; (e ) the roles of teachers; and (f) the role of instructional materials. Finally, the procedure focuses on the way a method handles the presentation, practice, and feedback phases of teaching. Here, for example, it is a description of the procedural aspects of a beginning Silent Way course based on Stevick (1980: 44–45):

1. The teacher points at meaningless symbols on a wall chart. The symbols represent the syllables of the spoken language. The students read the sounds aloud, first in chorus and then individually.

2. After the students can pronounce the sounds, the teacher moves to a second set of charts containing words frequently used in the language, including numbers. The teacher leads the students to pronounce long numbers.

3. The teacher uses coloured rods together with charts and gestures to lead the students into producing the words and basic grammatical structures needed.