Beyond Methods: Alternative Approaches to Instructional Design in Language Teaching*

Abstract

In this paper I will compare the assumptions and consequences implicit in two different approaches to language teaching. The first is the view of teaching which underlies the use of methods to determine the instructional design of a language programme. This happens when a specific method or approach such as Total Physical Response, The Natural Approach, The Silent Way or Communicative Language Teaching is selected as the basis for instruction in a language programme. I will compare this approach to one which focuses on the nature of effective classroom teaching and learning and derives instructional principles from the study of how effective teachers and learners achieve their goals. I will call the first approach the Follow the Method' philosophy. The second can be referred to as 'Develop a Methodology'.