Method history of foreign language teaching

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Teaching methods for foreign language teaching or learning describe the complex of teaching and learning processes (including lesson planning and the use of teaching material) by means of which a foreign language is taught in modern foreign language teaching (as opposed to teaching "old" languages ​​such as Greek and Latin). In a broader sense, the “method” also includes the selection, grading and arrangement of the teaching content .

The history of foreign language teaching methods ranges from early grammars and language textbooks without methodological definition (16th to early 19th century) to explicit methodological specifications in appropriately designed language textbooks and our own methodological manuals (mid-19th to mid-20th century) to scientific derivation and research into method concepts in the context of developing foreign language didactics and foreign language teaching and learning research , often simply “language teaching research” (since the 2nd half of the 20th century).

On the institutional background of the development of foreign language teaching methods

The history of foreign language teaching methods from the Middle Ages to the 19th century is determined by a series of grammars, and later also language textbooks, which were primarily designed for self-taught learning and learning with the help of a private tutor. From the middle of the 19th century, certain methodological concepts for French and English teaching in schools were increasingly propagated in explicit language teaching and methodological manuals by experienced school practitioners. Since the second half of the 20th century, the development of teaching methods has increasingly shifted from the school sector to the institutions of teacher training and further education at the teacher training colleges , later also at a growing number of universities , and at seminars for practical training in schools . This led to the development of foreign language didactics, especially for English and French classes, but also for other second and third languages ​​and for teaching German as a foreign language . (For the difference between methodology and didactics, see also the sections "Didactics" and "Methodology" .) However, such new developments did not always find their way into foreign language teaching . In many cases, the individual teachers have been and are teaching according to a self-developed, often ad hoc mixed methodology, which is only partly based on their own training and further education, but also on their own experience as a student (and thus also on the example of the teachers at the time) as well as on one's own practical teaching experience.

From a political point of view, fundamental aspects of the design of foreign language teaching were regulated by the " Hamburg Agreement for the Unification of Schools" from 1964 in the 1971 version. They were updated by later pronouncements by the secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs in the Federal Republic of Germany (e.g. from 1994).

Foreign language learning until the 19th century

Before and in addition to the spread of modern language teaching in public and private schools (from the middle of the 19th century), the usual way of learning a foreign language was either employing a foreign-language nanny or tutor or a longer stay in a foreign-language country.

Systematic thought was given to learning the language of a neighboring country only from around the 16th century, when the "new" national languages ​​became more and more important not only as lingua franca and trade, but also gradually as the "old" languages ​​Latin and Greek Educational languages ​​began to replace. From then on, the history of changing teaching / learning methods can be characterized - very simply - as a back and forth between the two poles "activation" and "formalization".

  • "Activation" (= linguistic usage, "synthetic" or " inductive method"): In selected sentences, texts and dialogues, the learners (with or without the help of the teacher) recognize certain regularities that are ultimately formulated or can be formulated as rules , but not necessarily formulated need . Systematic exercises and active language use follow. The primary goal of language teaching is the learner's ability to speak fluently.
  • "Formalization" (= rule learning , "analytical" or " deductive method"): Based on a given grammatical rule, the teachers present sentences to exemplify this rule (sometimes the learners find such example sentences themselves, with or without the help of the teacher), followed by Systematic exercises with variations of example sentences and translations of corresponding German example sentences into the foreign language, before finally moving on to the whole language (dialogues and reading pieces with frequent occurrences of the corresponding grammatical phenomena). The focus of the text work is the linguistic analysis, i.e. the cognitive penetration of the language material with regard to grammatical phenomena. Questions are asked about grammatical knowledge, in particular about knowledge, i.e. H. reciting grammatical rules. The deliberate contrasting with the corresponding native language structures is also considered helpful. The primary goal is to have a correct command of the language.

At all times since ancient times, these two method concepts as well as different mixed forms have existed side by side - but never with the same weighting. Inductive methods prevailed in antiquity, in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century and then again in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before (quite often mixed with deductive procedures), deductive methods in the late Middle Ages and then again in the 18th and 19th centuries. Century to (mixed with inductive approach) into the 20th century.

These two categories cannot always be clearly distinguished from one another. If one considers the changing method concepts in the context of their respective socio-political and socio-cultural environment (political, economic and cultural relations with other countries, the role of written or oral communication, current educational goals including the role of the classical languages), one arrives at more differentiated, but also less clear categorizations.

Teaching works mostly for autodidactic , but also for teacher-assisted learning of a foreign language (French, English, German and others) emerged especially from the 16th century. Between 1521 and 1699, over 150 textbooks for French, at that time the language of the royal court, the nobility and the judiciary, were published in England alone (while the language of scholars was of course still Latin). In addition to the nobility, the merchants began to use French more and more as the lingua franca for communication with foreigners.

"The purely intellectual-formal educational ideal of the earlier centuries gave way to more practical considerations, which the time of the beginning of modern natural science favored. ... The foreign language masters first accustomed their students to the sound of the foreign language, then put questions to them , initially mixed in with many German words, and they got used to French answers. The texts were also explained in the foreign language, without translation into the pupils' mother tongue. "

As for English, the situation was different:

"Up to the end of the 17th century we cannot speak of any significant occupation with the English language in Germany. ... English school lessons only existed since 1745, and even then only occasionally where there were special facilities and resources for optional operation were available; for example at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig , the Pädagogium zu Bützow, the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin and in a number of other schools. Even the new Realschulen did not usually have it as a compulsory subject. .. So it went to an increasing extent up to the important year for the history of English teaching in Prussia, in which the Realanstalten were placed under state supervision and influence and in the "Preliminary Instruction on the Higher Middle Schools and Realschulen" Exams to be arranged "a permanent place in the curriculum was created for English as an optional subject European states soon followed, so that by 1850 English had found its way into grammar schools and secondary schools almost everywhere. "

Synthetic or inductive method

Between the 16th and 19th centuries, a number of philosophers and educators recommended active use of a foreign language as the best way to learn that language. Conscious grammar work, insofar as it was carried out at all, was done inductively , i.e. H. Rules were derived from previously collected language material. The main representatives:

  • Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592): various passages of his essays (1580–88), collected in M. de Montaigne: Essays. The Education of Children (ed. LE Rector). New York: Appleton, 1899.
  • Johann Amos Comenius (1592–1670): Orbis sensualium pictus (1654), in which the corresponding vocabulary is presented in four languages ​​(Latin, German, Hungarian and Czech) using images, as well as Didactica Magna (originally written in Czech; Latin print version from 1657). Comenius did not, however, clearly advocate learning through language use (for which he is nowadays often used as a key witness); He also recognized the supporting function of insights into the language structure: "All languages ​​are easier to learn by practice than from rules. ... But rules assist and strengthen the knowledge derived from practice."
  • John Locke (1632-1704): various passages in Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693), in which he argued, among other things, for the use of " interlinear " translation aids, a method that was later adopted by Jacotot and Hamilton (see below).

Soon a number of language teachers emerged as authors of practical language textbooks:

"It is evident that the rules of Grammar cannot convey the art of language. ... How then is language to be acquired? I answer by adopting the mode by which nature teaches children their mother tongue."
  • James Hamilton (1769-1831): Essay on the Usual Mode of Teaching Languages (1816); History, Principles and Practice and Results of the Hamilton System for the Last Twelve Years (1829)
  • Jean Joseph Jacotot (1770-1840): Méthode d'enseignement universel (1820); Enseignement universel des langues étrangères " (1830); Manuel de la méthode Jacotot (1841); see also JA Payne: A Compendious Exposition of the Principles and Practice of Professor Jacotot's Celebrated System of Education (1830).

Hamilton and Jacotot (and later August Bolz , 1819–1907), among other things, use the method of the interlinear version to familiarize the student with the individual elements of the language based on a difficult source text. The reading text used by Jacotot in his Enseignement universel, Langue maternelle is the Bildungsroman Les Aventures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse (written 1694–96, German 1733 as The Strange Events of Telemach ) by François Fénelon . Hamilton uses the Gospel of John . A famous user of Jacotot's method is Heinrich Schliemann , who self-taught himself the Russian language using a corresponding translation of the Fénelon text.

Analytical or deductive method

In contrast to the synthetic-inductive method approaches mentioned above, which were based on the practical use of the foreign language, books became popular in the wake of neo-humanist pedagogy from the late 18th century onwards, which exemplified grammatical rules for foreign language learning by means of isolated example sentences and - for demonstration of the acquired knowledge of the language - recommended the translation of German sentences into the foreign language (see Deduction ). The inductive methods criticized the fact that they placed too little emphasis on active language proficiency and instead emphasized one-sided competence in translating from a foreign language. Analytical methods therefore gained a clear preference in conversation classes for women, while language classes for men continued to be often inductive.

A selection of deductive textbooks:

  • Johann König: The faithful English guide, or short but thorough guide to the English language for the Germans (6th edition 1755)
  • Johann Valentin Meidinger (1756–1822): Practical French grammar through which one can learn this language thoroughly in a completely new and very easy way in a short time (1783), one of the most popular textbooks of its time, published in 37 editions by 1857.
“He (= Meidinger) built up his system as it appeared to be right for the gradual progression and the interest of the student. His basic belief is that learning the rules is the easiest way to introduce the language. ... The paradigm and the rule with German explanations are in front of the individual lessons . Then the translation material follows to practice the rule. The essential and new thing about Meidinger is that he uses the translation of German sentences into the foreign language as the most important exercise, whereas up to now the main focus has been on the forward translation and the additional translation only occasionally happened on the side. "
“In a French elementary book (1811), JHP Seidenstücker successfully continued Meidinger's methodical endeavors by first memorizing vocabulary and sentence forms in simple but always complete sentences following the pupil's circle of ideas and using them the previously given grammatical rules practicing. A carefully constructed system of expanding vocabulary and grammar is the main thing for him. "
  • Johann Franz Ahn (1796–1865): Practical course for quick and easy learning of the French language (1st course 1834, 206th edition 1883; 2nd course 1840, 47th edition 1881)
  • J. Seyerlen : Elementary book of the French language according to Seidenstücker (Ahn) 's principles as a preschool to the French Chrestomathie by Gruner and Wildermuth
  • Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff (1803–1865): Method of learning to read, write and speak a language in six months (after 1840; many later editions in different languages). Oriented towards Meidinger's analytical method, Ollendorf provided a rule and appropriate vocabulary and on this basis had sentences, and later longer prose texts, translated into the foreign language (French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc.). In addition, she strived for a progressive expansion of practical language skills using simple question-and-answer schemes.

In summary, the analytical-deductive method approach can be characterized as follows:

“The grammar representation in all language teachings of the time is based on the traditional parts of speech of Latin grammar; the rules are formulated in German and explained using example sentences, which are often taken from well-known literary works. The attached conversations and letters cover frequent communication situations such as shopping or table conversations in oral form as well as responses to invitations and acknowledgments in writing. "

Out-of-school conversation methods

In the course of the 19th century, language learning methods were also developed in connection with the establishment of a publishing house or a language school, which tried to secure as exclusive a right to use as possible the experience gained over several years of teaching experience:

Championship system

The league system of Richard S. Rosenthal promised to mediate in daily half-hour exercise in basic skills of three months for travelers and businessmen from.

Gaspey-Otto-Sauer method

This system is related to the conversation method of Thomas Gaspey , Emil Otto and Carl Marquard Sauer , who, in cooperation with the Julius Groos publishing house in Heidelberg, published a wide range of language textbooks for many languages ​​in the world, which are based on great emphasis on speaking exercises as well as large ones Simplicity and reliability.

Booch-Árkossy method

Friedrich Booch-Árkossy from Leipzig undertook a synthesis between the mastery system and Robertson's method with several textbooks for ancient and modern languages, which were intended for both school and self-instruction.

Method Thum

The Thum method , on the other hand, was aimed specifically at merchants and traders in order to introduce them to the commercial style using vocabulary, idioms and exercises.

Toussaint-Langenscheidt method

A resumption of the analytical method on a new level takes place in the Toussaint-Langenscheidt method based on "learning letters" . In addition to an interlinear version and detailed explanations, a separate pronunciation alphabet is systematically introduced here, which is intended to familiarize self-learners with the phonetics of the target language. The novella " Atala " by Chateaubriand was chosen as the introductory text in French, and " A Christmas Carol " by Charles Dickens for the English version . The method was criticized because of its too high standard, which threatens to overwhelm the students.

Berlitz method

Another innovation was the method of Maximilian Delphinius Berlitz (1852–1921), who was one of the earliest forerunners of the immersion method from 1878 with his insistence on pure monolingualism .

Foreign language teaching as a school subject from the middle of the 19th century

In the first half of the 19th century, the old Latin school in Prussia was gradually replaced by the humanistic grammar school with a focus on the ancient languages ​​Greek and Latin, to which, from the middle of the 19th century, the Realgymnasium (later: modern language grammar school ) with a focus on in the "newer languages" French and English as well as, a little later, the upper secondary school , which focused on the natural sciences, was added. In all these types of schools until well into the second half of the 19th century, French and English were largely taught according to the same grammar-translation method that had been used in the centuries before the ancient languages ​​Greek and Latin were taught, and according to which the Most language textbooks were designed from the late 18th century (see above). (See also the article on foreign language teaching .)

Grammar translation method

The methodology of the newer foreign languages was initially based on the deductive- oriented grammar-translation method of ancient language teaching, in which sentences in the foreign language were "constructed" from words and grammar rules (demonstration of "language knowledge"). The aim of the language lessons was an intellectual-formal (insight into the language laws of the foreign language) and cultural (regional and literary) education of the students, which manifested itself in particular in the ability to translate literary texts from the foreign language and to interpret them in terms of their educational content. (See also the main article, grammar translation method and foreign language teaching .)

One of the most important exponents of the grammar translation method, which continued the direction started by Meidinger, Seidenstücker, Ahn and Ollendorff (see above) in a more stringent form

  • Karl Julius Ploetz (1819–1881): Elementary book of the French language (1848) and school grammar of the French language (1849), in which the analytical teaching of language was taken to extremes.
"In his [= Ploetz '] system, which was basically that of Ollendorf, the disciplinary and analytical value of language study was paramount, and the linguistic [= linguistic] aims quite secondary. The growing exactness of philological studies was reflected in the increased formalism of his grammatical description. ... Language skill was equated with ability to conjugate and decline. "
"Ploetz (1819-1881) proceeds in the structure of his lessons essentially like Meidinger and Seidenstücker. However, he strives for a more equal consideration of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar and tries to bring more systematics into the sequence of grammatical subjects. Paradigmata and conjugation tables appear in clear completeness, the wording of the rules is given in more solid forms, the reading material - preferably taken from the history and geography of the foreign country - more substantial. Translation into the foreign language has become the most important and almost the only means of practicing the rules whose knowledge is the primary goal of the lesson. "

Reform movement or direct method

Wilhelm Viëtor , in particular, turned against the distant nature of the grammar translation method, which is still dominant in the school system, with the pamphlet “Language teaching must reverse!” He published it under the Latin pseudonym “Quousque Tandem” (= “How long then?”). With it began the so-called "reform movement", which was oriented towards the goals of the increasingly emerging " (upper) secondary schools " and called for the methodological advances achieved outside of school to be included in school lessons. In an inductive way (the rule is derived from a series of examples) as well as avoiding the use of the mother tongue as far as possible (so-called "monolingualism") and thus also largely avoiding translation, this so-called "direct method" aimed at the Mastery of the spoken language depends on the demonstration of "language skills". In addition, however, educational and cultural aspects were still important. The methods were often based on the principles of the work school . Examples:

  • Otto, E .: Methodology and didactics of modern language teaching. Attempt at a scientific lesson. Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1921.
  • Aronstein, Ph .: Methodology of Modern Language Teaching . Vol. 1: The Basics . Vol. 2: The English Lessons. Leipzig, 1921.
  • Hübner, W .: Didactics of Modern Languages . Frankfurt am Main, 1929. Facsimile reprint (2nd edition 1933): Frankfurt am Main: Diesterweg, 1965.
  • Bohlen, A .: Modern language teaching. Leipzig, 1930.
  • Popp, W .: The method of foreign language teaching . Leipzig, 1932.

From abroad, the following English works from this period should be noted, which, for political reasons, were not widely used in Germany:

  • Jespersen, O .: How to Teach a Foreign Language. London, 1904 (the widely used English translation of a Danish work).
  • Palmer, HE: The Oral Method of Teaching Languages. Cambridge, 1921.
  • Palmer, HE: The Principles of Language Study. London, 1922. Reprint: London: Oxford University Press, 1964.

20th century

Method Assimil

In 1929 the French founded Sprachautodidakt Alphonse Chérel with the publication of the book L'Anglais Sans Peine the Assimil method . The special feature of this method, which was designed for self-taught learning, is that the learner is offered a bilingual learning text on opposite book pages, which he or she is supposed to work on in daily lessons using an enclosed sound carrier. This method had no influence on foreign language teaching in schools.

Audio-lingual and audio-visual method

The development of audiolingual habit theory based on the descriptive-structuralist description of "set patterns" ( sentence patterns ) and the behaviorist, based on the stimulus-response scheme learning theory led from the 1940s to the development of ( "audiolingual method" also Behavioristic methods ). The aim (especially in the intensive courses of the American Army Specialized Training Program, which started in 1943) was primarily the oral skills of listening and speaking. Central method of this extensive "monolingual", i. H. almost exclusively in the foreign language expiring teaching was the systematic practice of "set patterns" ( patterns ) on situationally embedded on imitation and repetition -based structural patterns exercises ( pattern drills ), paradigmatic Put in in sentence switchboards ( "substitution tables") and forming exercises. The correct use of a structure was confirmed by the immediately following learning reinforcement , i.e. H. confirmed by confirmation that the answer was correct. The aim of this procedure was to develop “ speech habits ”.

A modern variant of this method is the Pimsleur system developed in the 1960s and now very popular and widespread in the United States . The great success of audio-lingual methods, especially in the USA, must also be understood against the background that learning programs like the one from Pimsleur can also be heard and used there during the long car journeys between home and work that are typical of the country.

The best known representative of this method in Germany was Robert Lado (see below). One of his central statements makes the basics of the audiolingual method clear:

“To know a language means to be able to master its complicated mechanism with the help of many automatically reacting habits, while the attention is only turned to the train of thought and a few questions about the choice and the correspondence of individual elements. This degree of language mastery is gradually achieved, namely by consolidating the fluency in the use of individual parts through repeated practice, so that the attention no longer needs to be focused on the mechanical processes of language use ”(Lado, 1967, 67) .

From the 1950s (in the USA) and 1960s (in Germany) the language laboratory became the preferred practice location. The skills of reading and writing, on the other hand, were only practiced secondarily (but then again played a disproportionately large role in class work in Germany). Conscious grammar work - if carried out at all - was done inductively .

In particular, the work of the Center d'Étude du français Élémentaire in Saint-Cloud (from 1951), since 1959 under the name Center de Recherche et d'Étude pour la Diffusion du Français (CREDIF), led to the connection of the audiolingual method conception with the integrative Use of audiovisual teaching aids / media:

  • P. Guberina: La méthode audio-visual structuro-global. In: Revue de phonétique appliquée , 1965, 35-64.
  • Jean Firges : The CREDIF method. Attempt to take a critical inventory. In: The Newer Languages , 74, 1975, 224-237.

The purpose of using auditory and / or visual teaching materials (media) was primarily to trigger stereotypical linguistic reactions by presenting clear situations (stimuli) and thus to contribute to the development of speaking habits:

  • Auditory media (which also provided native language models) were primarily records, tape and cassette recorders, and later also the language laboratory .
  • Visual media were (besides realities) blackboard pictures (with keywords or line drawings), flash cards, sticky boards, wall pictures, pictures / series of images, slides / series of slides, and later also foils for the overhead projector, film and television.

The most important exponents of the audiolingual / audiovisual method (which in Germany, in contrast to the USA, was only rarely practiced in its pure form) were:

  • CC Fries: Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language. Ann Arbor, 1945.
  • N. Brooks: Language and Language learning. New York, 1960 (2nd edition 1964)
  • EM Stack: The Language Laboratory and Modern Language Teaching. New York, 1960 (3rd edition 1971).
  • A. Bohlen: Image and sound in modern language teaching. Dortmund, 1962.
  • R. Lado: Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach. New York, 1964; German: Modern language teaching. An introduction on a scientific basis. Munich: Hueber, 1967 (particularly influential!).

Mediating method

In the aftermath of the Second World War , there was a strong return to traditional educational goals and content that had been decisive in foreign language teaching of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition, however, the audio-lingual / audio-visual method became more and more popular. In the course of time something like a "mediating method" (a term that was not particularly widespread) developed, but in many cases it was characterized by great uncertainty among teachers and method clashes:

  • The principle of "monolingualism" as well as the demand for inductive grammar work contradicted the educational efforts aimed at intellectual-formal training to clarify the peculiarity of target-language grammar structures as well as lexical, idiomatic and stylistic peculiarities on the background of the corresponding German equivalents and also in foreign language lessons, as in German lessons To convey “values”.
  • The stereotypical, situationally often only weakly embedded systematic structural pattern exercises collided with the effort to develop practical speaking skills in real communication situations.
  • The primacy of the oral in class clashed with the primacy of the written in class work.

The consequence of this uncertainty was a return to the old grammar translation method that was often observed .

The mediating method was consistently represented, especially in the so-called "secondary school-like working method" of the Berlin didacticist Harald Gutschow :

  • H. Gutschow: English at secondary schools. Problems and forms of work. Berlin: Cornelsen, 1964.
  • H. Gutschow: A methodology of elementary English teaching. Berlin, Cornelsen, 1978.

Other distinctive representatives:

  • A. Bohlen: Methodology of modern language teaching . Heidelberg, 1952.
  • F. Schubel: Methodology of English teaching. Frankfurt am Main, 1958.

Communicative method

The communicative method spread in Germany particularly under the influence of

  • Piepho, H.-E. : Communicative competence as an overarching learning objective in English lessons. Dornburg / Frickhofen, 1974.

This much-discussed book changed the situation of foreign language didactics and thus also the training of foreign language teachers in Germany (see Communicative Turnaround ). In the reception and development of the communicative method, a number of other contemporary publications, above all from speech act theory and pragmalinguistics, played a decisive role; z. B .:

  • Austin, JL : How to Do Things With Words. London, 1962, (Paperback 1971).
  • Hymes, D .: “On Communicative Competence” (Lecture at Ferkauf Graduate School, Yeshiva University, 1966). Partly reprinted in: Pride, JB & Holmes, J. (Ed.): Sociolinguistics. Selected readings. Harmondsworth, 1972, 269-293.
  • Searle, JR : Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge, 1969.
  • Habermas, J .: “Preparatory remarks on a theory of communicative competence”. In: Habermas, J. & Luhmann, N. (Ed.): Theory of society or social technology. What is systems research doing? . Frankfurt am Main, 1971, 101-141.
  • Brumfit, CJ & Johnson, K. (Eds.): The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Oxford, 1972.
  • Hüllen, W .: "Pragmatics - the third linguistic dimension." In: Hüllen, W. (Ed.): Neuss lectures on foreign language didactics. Berlin, Bielefeld, 1973, 84-98.

With this communicative method approach , the technologized stereotypes of the audiolingual / audiovisual and the uncertainties of the mediating method were broken up. Teachers and students increasingly acted as “communication partners”, whereby the learning objective “emancipation” also came into play, at least to some extent. Above all, however, the communicative approach was also based on the social requirements of foreign language use (foreign language requirements, ability to communicate in specific contexts of use in specific roles to pursue certain speech intentions). Various publications by the Council of Europe were decisive, in particular

  • Council of Europe (ed.): Systems Development in Adult Language learning. A European Unit / Credit System for Modern Language Learning by Adults. Strasbourg, 1973.
  • van Ek, JA: Threshold Level. Strasbourg, 1975.

Other important publications on communicative foreign language teaching:

  • Pelz, M .: Pragmatics and learning objectives in foreign language teaching. Heidelberg, 1977.
  • Widdowson, HG: Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford, 1978.
  • Federal Working Group on English at Comprehensive Schools (ed.): Communicative English lessons. Principles and exercise typology. Munich, 1978.
  • Pauels, W .: Communicative Foreign Language Didactics. Criticism and Perspectives. Frankfurt am Main, 1983.

Expansion of the range of methods: action orientation, holism, learning orientation

On these further developments of communicative teaching / learning methods since the 1980s, to which in Germany Gerhard Bach , Michael K. Legutke, Renate Löffler and Johannes-Peter Timm , in Austria Herbert Puchta and Michael Schratz have contributed, cf. the special items

Important basic works:

"Learning by teaching"

Since the early 1980s, Jean-Pol Martin in particular has been developing the foreign language teaching and learning method

in an ongoing process of action research (see also above ). LdL is an independent and highly successful method. It is also used selectively in many forms of action-oriented foreign language teaching; However, if the method is used only occasionally and unsystematically - without prior training phases with the class - it can hardly develop its full potential.

Basic work:

Notes and sources

  1. ↑ Cf. Neuner: Mediation Methods…. P. 225.
  2. ↑ Cf. Christ, I./de Cillia, R .: "Foreign language teaching in schools in German-speaking countries", in: Bausch, K.-R. et al. (Ed.): Handbook of foreign language teaching . Tübingen, Basel: Francke, 5th edition 2007 (1st edition 1989), pp. 77-86.
  3. ↑ Stern: Fundamental Concepts ... , p. 79 f.
  4. ↑ See Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , pp. 34 and 59.
  5. ↑ Stern: Fundamental Concepts ... , p. 84 f. - Stern reports in more detail on two of these works: Giles C. Duwes (tutor of Mary Stuart): An Introductorie for to lerne to rede, to prononce, and to speke Frenche trewly (1534), and John Palsgrave: L'esclarcissement de la langue françoyse (1530) (p. 86).
  6. ↑ Hübner: Didaktik ... , p. 2 f.
  7. ↑ ibid., P. 6.
  8. ↑ Cf. Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , p. 17 ff.
  9. ↑ according to Stern: Fundamental Concepts ... , p. 78.
  10. ↑ See Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , p. 39.
  11. ↑ cit. Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , p. 40.
  12. ↑ "Joseph Payne, a disciple of Jacotot, denied that explanation was a necessary part of teaching, claiming that the pupil should be made to discover for himself how to handle his new language." (quoted by Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , p. 40).
  13. ^ William M. Calder / Julius Cobet, Heinrich Schliemann after a hundred years , Frankfurt am Main, 1990, ISBN 978-3465022664 p. 195 f.
  14. ↑ "So I threw myself with particular diligence on the study of English and here the need let me find a method that significantly facilitates the learning of every language. This simple method consists in first of all reading a lot aloud, no translations makes, takes an hour a day, always writes down elaborations on subjects of interest to us, corrects them under the supervision of the teacher, learns them by heart and in the next lesson recites what one has corrected the day before. My memory was that I had done it since childhood Had not practiced at all, weak, but I used every moment and even stole time to study.To acquire a good pronunciation as soon as possible, I regularly attended services in the English church twice on Sundays and, while listening to the sermon, said every word of the same quietly for me. Whenever I ran errands, even when it was raining, I carried a book in my hand nd, from which I learned something by heart; I never waited at the post office without reading. In this way I gradually strengthened my memory, and after only three months I was able to read twenty printed pages of English prose verbatim every day to my teachers, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Thompson, with ease, if I had read them carefully three times beforehand. That was how I memorized the entire Vicar of Wakefield from Goldsmith and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. Because of the great excitement I slept little, I spent all my waking hours of the night repeating in my mind what I had read that evening. Since the memory is much more concentrated at night than during the day, I have found these nocturnal repetitions to be of the greatest use; I recommend this procedure to everyone. In this way I managed to acquire a thorough knowledge of the English language in six months. I then used the same method in studying the French language, which I mastered over the next six months. From French works I learned Fénelon's “Aventures de Télémaque” and “Paul et Virginie” by heart from Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Through this sustained excessive study, my memory strengthened so much over the course of a year that learning Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese became extremely easy for me, and it took me no more than six weeks to be able to speak and write any of these languages ​​fluently . [...] This generosity, for which I will always be grateful to them, should in fact also establish my happiness; because I believed I could make myself more useful by knowing Russian, I began to study this language too. The only Russian books I could get myself were an old grammar, an encyclopedia, and a poor translation of the Aventures de Télémaque. Despite all my efforts, however, I was unable to find a teacher of Russian; for apart from the Russian viceconsul, Mr. Tannenberg, who did not want to give me any lessons, there was no one in Amsterdam at the time who would have understood a word of this language. So I started my new course of study without a teacher, and within a few days, with the help of grammar, I had already memorized the Russian letters and their pronunciation. Then I took up my old method, wrote short essays and stories, and learned them by heart. Since I had no one to improve my work, it was no doubt heartily bad; but I tried to learn to avoid my mistakes through practical exercises, by memorizing the Russian translation of the Aventures de Télémaque. It seemed to me that I would make faster progress if I had someone with me to tell the adventures of Telemach: so I hired a poor Jew who would come to me every evening for four francs a week for two hours and my Russian ones Had to listen to declamations of which he did not understand a single syllable. " From: Heinrich Schliemann, autobiography , about the period 1841-1844 in Amsterdam.
  15. ↑ See Hübner: Didaktik ... , p. 12 ff.
  16. ↑ Stern: Fundamental Concepts ... , p. 453.
  17. ↑ Hübner: Didaktik ... , p. 11.
  18. ↑ Hübner: Didaktik ... , p. 16.
  19. ^ S. Doff, F. Klippel: Englischdidaktik. Practical handbook for secondary level I and II. Berlin: Cornelsen / Scriptor, 2007, p. 18.
  20. ^ Source to "Extra-school conversation methods": Meyers Konversationslexikon , 4th edition (1888-1890), Vol. 15, article "Sprachunterricht", online under Project Gutenberg EBook Meyers Konversationslexikon , pp. 374–376.
  21. ↑ Kelly: 25 Centuries ... , p. 53.
  22. ↑ Hübner: Didaktik ... , p. 16.
  23. ↑ Wilhelm Viëtor : Language teaching must turn around! A contribution to the question of overburdening. By Quousque Tandem , Heilbronn 1882. Reprinted in: Die neueren Sprachen , 81, 1982, pp. 120-148.
  24. ↑ Most influential: Bloomfield, L .: Language. New York, 1933; London, 1935; Fries, CC: The Structure of English: An Introduction to the Construction of English Sentences. New York, 1952.
  25. ↑ Most Influential: Watson, JB : Behaviorism. Chicago, 1924; Skinner, BF : Verbal Behavior. New York, 1957.

Literature on the history of methods

  • W. Edmondson, J. House: Introduction to Language Teaching Research. 3. Edition. Francke (UTB), Tübingen / Basel 2006, pp. 46–54, 112–124.
  • Mark Häberlein, Christian Kuhn (ed.): Foreign languages ​​in early modern cities. Teachers, learners and textbooks. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06192-6 .
  • W. Hübner: Didactics of modern languages. second improved edition. 1933. (Facsimile reprint: Verlag Moritz Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1965)
  • W. Hüllen : Didactics of English Lessons. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1979.
  • W. Hüllen: Brief history of foreign language learning. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2005.
  • LG Kelly: 25 Centuries of Language Teaching. 500 BC - 1969. Rowley, Mass. 1969. (Reprinted: 1976)
  • F. Klippel: Learning English in the 18th and 19th centuries. The history of textbooks and teaching methods. Nodus, Münster 1994.
  • G. Neuner: Mediation Methods: Historical Overview. In: Karl-Richard Bausch et al. (Hrsg.): Handbuch Fremdsprachunterricht. 5th edition. Francke, Tübingen / Basel 2007, pp. 225–234.
  • HH Stern: Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1983.

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