Methodologies in Hindi Teaching as Foreign Language : Prof Ram Lakhan Meena, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer

Methodologies in Hindi Teaching as Foreign Language

Prof Ram Lakhan Meena, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer 

                      In this attitude, I have considered the main FLT methods still in use at schools and presented the theory of language and leaming underlying them, their main features, activities and techniques, their foundation and decline, as well as a general assessment of them. The following methods have been analysed: the Grammar-Translation Method, the Structuralist Methods, and the Communicative Approach. After paying some attention to innovations in education, the Task-Based and Process models are offered as an alternative. Finally, a relationship is established between curriculum innovation and change and teacher development. The main purpose of this attitude is to provide a critical assessment of the role played by methods in the educational process, though there is also an account of the main different methods of foreign language teaching (FLT) that are in use today.

            Knowledge of the different methods gives foreign language teachers a good background reference to their own stand on pedagogical matters and classroom practice, and in addition helps them understand the process that FLT has undergone, particularly through this century. To consider FLT as a process means that teaching is not static but changing to respond to new needs and demands as teachers, applied linguists and educationists can prove. This article deals with the differences between approaches, methods and techniques, as well as the three major issues which are recurrent in FLT. Then, the main characteristics, the psychological bases and the pedagogical features of the principal FLT methods are considered chronologically, presenting the contributions and imitations of the different approaches and methods. Finally, as a conclusion, a connection is established between FLT methods, innovation and classroom research, as a way of teacher development and of leaming improvement.

            It seems worthwhile, first of all, to clarify briefly the concepts of approach or principles, method and technique, which are mutually and hierarchically related. They represent, in fact, three levels of analysis and teacher's decision making for teaching and leaming English in the classroom. An approach or strategy is the most abstract of all three concepts and refers to the linguistic, psycho- and sociolinguistic principles underlying methods and techniques. Actually, every teacher has some kind of theoretical principles which function as a frame for their ideas of methods and techniques. A technique is, on the other hand, the narrowest of all three; it is just one single procedure to use in the classroom. Methods are between approaches and techniques, just the mediator between theory (the approach) and classroom practico. Some methods can share a number of techniques and, though some techniques have developed autonomously, the most important ones start from the main methods (Hubbard et al. 1983: 31).

1. Grammar-Translation Method (1890s-1930s): Around the turn-of-the-century, language students often translated cumbersome volumes from Classical Greek or Latin into English via this approach. It consisted mainly of exhaustive use of dictionaries, explanations of grammatical rules (in English), some sample sentences, and exercise drills to practice the new structures. Little opportunity for real second-language acquisition existed then.

The most relevant principles of this method can be summarised as follows (based on Larsen-Freeman 1986, and Richards and Rodgers 1986): 1) It emphasises the study and translation of the written language, as it is considered superior to spoken language. 2) Successful learners are those who translate each language into the other, though they cannot communicate orally. 3) Reading and writing are the main language skills. 4) Teachers play an authoritarian role in the classroom and the predominant interaction is between teacher-student. 5) Students must learn grammatical rules overtly and deduce their applications to exercises. 6) Students have to know verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms. 7) The basic unit of teaching is the sentence. 8) The student's native language is the medium of instruction and used as well to compare with the language studied.

The Grammar-Translation Method focuses on the teaching of the foreign language grammar through the presentation of rules together with some exceptions and lists of vocabulary translated into the mother tongue. Translation is considered its most important classroom activity. The main procedure of an ordinary lesson followed this plan: a presentation of a grammatical rule, followed by a list of vocabulary and, finally, translation exercises from selected texts (Stern 1983: 453). Other activities and procedures can be the following: -reading comprehension questions about the text; -students find antonyms and synonyms from words in the text; -vocabulary is selected from the reading texts and it is memorised; sentences are formed with the new words; -students recognise and memorise cognates and false cognates; -fill-in-the-blank exercises; -writing compositions from a given topic.

2. Cognitive Approach (1940s-1950s): This approach introduced the four principle language skills for the first time: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Oral communicative competence became the focus. Comprehensible auditory input became important and speaking in the target language began to occur. Learning about the language was overemphasized.
3. Audio-Lingual Method (1950s-1960s): With the advent and popularity of audio tapes, this approach ushered in the first recordings wherein the language learner could actually hear and mimic native speakers on reel-to-reel audio tapes, often used with earphones in a language lab setting. Lessons often began with a sample dialogue to be recited and memorized. This was followed up with substitution pattern and saturation drills in which the grammatical structure previously introduced was reinforced, with emphasis given to rapid fire student response. Repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation became the order of the day. This method was strongly influenced by B.F. Skinner's behaviourist view toward learning which favoured habit-forming drill techniques. Unfortunately, most students couldn’t transfer these dialogues into their own real-life experiences.

The Audiolingual Method corresponds with the USA structuralist tradition of FLT, which became the dominant orthodoxy after World War II. Its origin can go back to the seminal work of Bloomfield, who set up the bases of structural linguistics segmenting and classifying utterances into their phonological and grammatical constituents. Fries, Brooks, Rivers, and Lado went on applying these principles up to the 1970s with a close relationship with behaviourism. Bloomfield (1942) became a basic source for the Army Method, which was a response to the need of army personnel after the USA entry into the Second World War.

Its main procedure was imitation and repetition. The theory behind audio-lingualism is that language learning requires learning habits. Repetition is the mother of all learning. This methodology emphasizes drill work in order to make answers to questions instinctive and automatic. New forms are first heard by students, with written forms coming only after extensive drilling. The language used for these drills is based on what is required for practicing the specific form; it might or might not be natural.

4. The Direct Method (1970s):  The direct method, also known as the natural approach, is in many ways the opposite of the grammar-translation method. In this classroom, the native language is strictly forbidden, and grammar (grammatical explanation) is de-emphasized in favor of induction, where students are supposed to figure out rules for themselves. Students are encouraged to speak at all times, making this the ultimate in student-centered classrooms. In theory, students would learn the foreign language naturally, as they learned their native language as a child, and automatic responses to questions would become instinctive. The focus would always be on natural language, and habit formation was the key to learning. When students made mistakes, teachers would gently correct them. When they used the language correctly, they were praised. In this way, students were supposed to be able to determine a grammatical rule for themselves.

This method presented discussion in the target language as the major priority. Reference to English equivalents became discouraged. Grammar learning became inductive in nature without overt explanations given the pupil. Teacher/student interaction became fuller, guessing of context or content, completing fill-ins, and doing “cloze” exercises were the order of the day. Accuracy in pronunciation and oral expression became vital. Examples to be followed became the main intention.

While the ideas were interesting, in practice this was a short-lived theory due to the proven lack of success of teaching L2 grammar through induction and schools not being able to provide a fully immersed environment. What might a direct method or natural approach activity be? It could be as simple as a teacher asking questions, with the students answering, either followed by correction or praise. It could be an instructor reading a passage aloud, giving it to her students, and then having them read it aloud, so that through repetition and correction, students would understand in the same way that children learn patterns through having their parents read to them. Or it could be asking students to write a paragraph in their own words, again with correction or praise to follow.

5. The Natural / Communicative Approach (1960s-2000s): Originally developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, this acquisition-focused approach sees communicative competence progressing through three stages: (a) aural comprehension, (b) early speech production, and (c) speech activities, all fostering "natural" language acquisition, much as a child would learn his/her native tongue. Following an initial "silent period", comprehension should precede production in speech, as the latter should be allowed to emerge in natural stages or progressions. Lowering of the Affective Filter is of paramount importance. Only the target language is used in class now, introducing the "total immersion" concept for the very first time, with auditory input for the student becoming paramount. Errors in speech are not corrected aloud. Now enters the era of glossy textbooks, replete with cultural vignettes, glossaries, vocabulary lists, and glazed photographs.

A deliberate, conscious approach to the study of grammar is considered to have only modest value in the language learning process. Pairing off of students into small groups to practice newly acquired structures becomes the major focus. Visualization activities that often times make use of a picture file, slide presentations, word games, dialogues, contests, recreational activities, empirical utterances, and realia provide situations with problem-solving tasks which might include the use of charts, maps, graphs, and advertisements, all to be performed on the spot in class. Now the classroom becomes more student-centered with the teacher allowing for students to output the language more often on their own. Formal sequencing of grammatical concepts is kept to a minimum.

6. Total Physical Response/TPR (1960s-2000s): This approach, also known as TPR, was founded by James Asher. In this method, both language and body movement are synchronized through action responses and use of the imperative (direct commands). TPR may be used in conjunction with some other methods involving psychoneuro kinetic techniques wherein the teacher gives a host of commands with the students then responding by “acting out” the command: “Stand up”, “Go to the door”, "Sit down", etc. Kinetic movement of the hands and arms is incorporated in lieu of rote memorization. Student speech is delayed until they feel comfortable enough to give other students commands too. TPR is very effective in teaching temporal states, personal pronouns, and other deep grammatical structures.
7. The Silent Way (1960s-2000s):  Dr.Caleb Gattegno, originally out of Alexandria, Egypt, introduced this classroom technique wherein the teacher remains silent while pupils output the language on cue through perpetual prompting. This is the production before meaning school of thought and practice. A color-coded phonics (sound) chart called a fidel, with both vowel and consonant clusters on it, is projected onto a screen to be used simultaneously with a pointer, thus permitting the pupil to produce orally on a continuous basis in the target language, vía a sequence of phonemes or sound units. Brightly colored Cuisenaire rods, which are also used in Mathematics, are integrated into this method (used as manipulatives) for pupils to learn spatial relationships, prepositions, colors, gender and number concepts, and to create multiple artificial settings through their physical placement.

Lines or blank spaces on a chalkboard represent syllables, devoid of letters in them, for a subliminal, collective memory experience in recall for the students. Students are encouraged to self-correct their pronunciation errors through manual gesticulation on the part of the instructor. Modeling of correct pronunciation for students is discouraged. The greatest strength of this method lies in its ability to draw students out orally, while the teacher "takes a back seat". This method works most effectively with round tables being used to promote small group discussion and for ample student rotation. In general, reliance on and the use of a structured textbook or an outlined syllabus is much discouraged during the initial phases of learning. The Silent Way truly gives students a spoken facility.

8. Suggestopedia (1960s-2000s): This extremely esoteric, avant-garde method is subconsciously subliminal in texture. It is based on the pioneering efforts in 1967 of Bulgarian medical doctor, hypnotist, and psychology professor Georgi Lozanov and on his techniques into super learning. Classes are small and intensive, with a low-stress focus.  Material is presented in an especially melodic and artistic way. By activating the right "creative side" of the brain, a much larger portion of the intellectual potential can be tapped, thus drawing out long-term memory.  This innovative approach to language pedagogy maximizes the learners' natural holistic talents.  Background classical or baroque chamber music, oftentimes accompanied with soft lights, pillows or cushions on the floor for relaxation, accentuate active and passive meditations, séances, yoga, breathing exercises leading into the "alpha state", songs for memorization purposes, therapy sessions and stream-of-consciousness catharsis in the target language with little reliance on English. Little emphasis on grammar is given.

Such non-verbal communication as kinesics, paralanguage, environmental proxemics, and oculesics can be incorporated into the method, along with Robert Rosenthal's Pygmalia used in the classroom. Soviet Hypnopedia (sleep-learning) which was developed by such researchers as A.M. Syvadoshch in Leningrad and by L.A. Bliznitchenko in Kiev, Sophrology (a memory training system), the Tomatis Approach, Schultz-Luthe's autogenic therapy, Suggestology, and the Suzuki Method of learning music are considered to be closely related to this Bulgarian approach. This method has sprung two offshoots or derivatives which include Donald Schuster's Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (or SALT) and Lynn Dhority's Acquisition through Creative Teaching (or ACT). Like other "modern" approaches, language is perceived globally (in chunks or blocks), while attention to fine tuning or to detail comes later.

9. Community Language Learning/CLL: (1960s-2000s): This creative, dynamic, and non-directive approach to language learning was first elaborated by Charles Curran. It is designed to ease the learner into gradual independence and self-confidence in the target language. This is also known as the Counseling-Learning method. Curran's approach is beyond simply a methodical pedagogy, but is rather a veritable philosophy of learning which provides profound, even quasi-theological reflections on humankind! It encourages holistic learning, personal growth, and self-development. Learning a language is not viewed necessarily as an individual accomplishment, but rather as a collective experience, something to be disseminated out into the community at large at a later stage in the second-language acquisition process. Its basic premise can be found in the acronym SARD: S stands for security (to foster the student's self-confidence), A represents attention or aggression (the former an indication of the learner's involvement, the latter their frustration level), R equals retention and reflection (what is retained is internalized and ultimately reflected upon), and D denotes discrimination(the learner can now discriminate through classifying a body of material, seeing how one concept interrelates to another previously presented structure). Student "participants" are thus allowed to register abstracted grammar both peripherally and semi-consciously.
10. "Total immersion technique": This generalized technique in foreign language pedagogy "immerses" or "submerges" the student directly and immediately into the target language from the first opening day or hour of class. There are basically two (2) types of total immersion approaches: (a) effective and (b) ineffective. An effective total immersion  environment begins in hour one wherein the teacher speaks the foreign language slowly, clearly, and uses easily understandable and comprehensible cognates, at least to the best of his or her ability as a foreign language professional educator. These closely and oftentimes immediately recognizable related words may differ only slightly in pronunciation or spelling from the student's native language. Hand gesticulation, appropriate modelling, various realia (such as picture files or photos), and sometimes TPR can facilitate such effectiveness. An ineffective total immersion approach occurs when the teacher opens class by speaking rapidly at native speed as if the students were residing within the target culture, as if they were inputting the attempted language on an hourly, daily basis. In essence, the student is being treated as if they were living in the country where the foreign language is predominant. Thus, the intended language "goes over the heads" of the students from the very first day of class, thus creating a distancing and ultimate loss of the student's attention and cognitive awareness of just what is being communicated in class. Either type of immersion oftentimes overlaps any or all of the above-mentioned methods in second-language (L2) acquisition.

Conclusion We have considered the main approaches and methods of FLT as models or paradigms of theory, research and school practice. Some of them may be considered obsolete from a scientific point of view, some others seem to be more current, but in fact all of them have introduced innovations at a given moment, superimposing on the fomier ones in an eclectic way. However, all methods have at least two things in common: 1) their belief to be the best one, and 2) a set of prescriptions that teachers have to follow necessarily. I do not suggest then -from the assumptions in this article- that teaching should be approached following a particular method as a set of prescriptions, but on the contrary as a dynamic and reflective process, which means a permanent interaction 128 among the curriculum, teachers, students, activities, methcx Jology, and instructional materials. What actually happens in the classroom, alongside careful planning and evaluation, becomes the most important thing teachers have to reflect on and then relate to theory or to other experiences. I propose, therefore, an active role for teachers, who design her or his own content and tasks, classroom interaction, materials, methodology, evaluation, etc., instead of a passive role which means dependence on other people's designs and methods. The expression classroom researcher clearly represents the new role considered above. Then, instead of an uncritical and eclectic way of teaching, teachers should introduce a constant analysis and interpretation of what is happening in the classroom. Certainly it is the best way of curriculum, teacher and leaner development (see Nunan: 1986).