Literature review.
The search for better ways to teach languages has been underway for centuries and with some historical perspective we can analyses that each development should be assessed individually. Traditional forms of teaching and syllabus design concentrated more on the teacher playing a central role in the classroom, teaching also focused much more on form rather than meaning and there was a great importance given to testing and assessments. Nowadays teaching and syllabus design concentrates on both a balance of learner centeredness, communication and teacher playing the role of facilitator or guide rather than instructor.During the 19th century, grammar translation was the dominant methodology. There was a lack of focus on meaning, and little or no attention was usually paid to speaking and pronunciation.
It entailed rote memorization of long lists of vocabulary, systematic translation of texts, and lectures involving detailed grammar explanations which were usually in their mother tongue (Knight, 2001). In this type of teaching methodology the emphasis was placed on translation and not on communication or an exchange of information in the target language (Cz-Training, 2007).There was an excess of importance given to studying Greek and Latin in public schools and these studies focused on assessing literature. These techniques of learning were not only taught in order to help learning but to implement 'mental discipline' (Stern 1983).
By the end of the 19th century the reform movement came about and was the first scientific approach to language learning and an important step in the development of disciplines of linguistics and applied linguistics. The first few decades of the 20th century involved the emergence of the Audio-Linguini's in United States and in theI-J the Oral Approach proposed by Horny, Palmer and others. By the sass the standard British approach was Audio-Linguini's and Situational Language Teaching (Knight, 2001). The Audiologists method was based mainly on the work of a psychologist B.
F. Skinner. In this method acquisition was viewed in terms of stimulus and response. Classes consisted of drills, dialogue memorization, and cue and response activities. Pronunciation was taught to learners both implicitly and explicitly (Cz-Training, 2007).
Currently (CLC) Communicative Language Teaching is said to be the dominant methodology. The fundamental goal of language in CLC is to communicate. Classroom activities are "communicative" in nature, and designed to facilitate the use of language through genuine exchanges of information (Cz-Training, 2007). Countries such as Banana need to adopt such methods in order to allow the learners to successfully communicate in real life situations rather than Just consciously understanding the rules of the language in order to pass examinations and assessments.However, traditional methods of teaching such as Grammar-translation have often been compared and criticized with newer methods such as CLC. The criticisms are aid to be because of the incorporation of technological advances in modern teaching methods; but it is impossible to rule out traditional methods completely in order to achieve an effective curriculum (Pearson, n.
D. ) In 'Are Traditional Teaching Methods Still Effective? (2013) it says that students and teachers benefit more if both traditional and modern methods are fused together in order to create a more effective, fun and interactive learning experience.Modern syllabus and curriculum designs help students achieve goals in their learning through self-discovery, where they are encouraged to set up their own goals ND decide their own paths. Methods such as the CLC approach allow students to have the ability to seek out information and learning opportunities for themselves.
The teacher plays the role as the guide and is required to facilitate learners allowing them to gain a sort of automated learning ability.For the curriculum in Banana to move away from a teacher centered approach, more secondary schools need to adopt a stronger learner centered approach where students they are encouraged to learn grammar and lexicon of the target language through exercises and tasks that include communication, interactions, information gaps and so forth. Such as with the case of Banana, in the Peoples Republic of China (PRE) there has been a reform in LET in order to import CLC into the curriculum. However there are many constraints when adopting CLC into the classroom environment, namely because of the learning culture of the students.It is argued that CLC and the Chinese culture of learning are in conflict in several important respects, including philosophical assumptions about the nature of teaching and learning (Guanine, 2002) In countries such as Canada and China it has traditionally always been the role of the teacher to command students in their learning, however, with more modern placements and the new proposed learner-centered syllabus there is more demand on the learners to take control of their learning and this may cause problems.
Perceptions of the respective roles and responsibilities of teachers and students, learning strategies encouraged, and qualities valued in teachers and students are different when viewed from a traditional and modern teaching approach, thus creating issues for everyone affected by the new curriculum in Banana. This is why there needs to be a Just balance between traditional teacher-centered approaches and modern much more learner-centered communicative approaches.
