APPROACHES, METHODS, PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES

APPROACH
It is a conjunction of ideas related It is the level in which a whole

to the nature and teaching of a given language.

It refers to theories about the

nature of language and language learning.

It describes how people acquire

theory and its beliefs are reflected regarding a language and its learning. It is a much wider concept than a method and technique.
It is the source of the principles

their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote succesful language learning.
It offers a model of language

and practices of language teaching.

It describes how a language is

used and how its constituent parts interlock.

competence.

METHOD
It is considered the practical

realization of an approach.

When a method has fixed

It is understood as a group of

procedures, a system that clearly explains how to teach a language (syllabus organization -contents & skills to be taught-, roles of teachers and learners, kinds of materials to use). procedures, a system that clearly explains how to teach a language (contents and skills to be taught) approach. The approach is axiomatic whereas the method is procedural.

It is understood as a group of

The method is based on a specific

procedures, informed by a clearly articulated approach, it is easy to describe. However, if a method takes procedures and techniques from a wide variety of sources, that is that they are used in other methods or are mentioned by other beliefs, it will be very hard to continue describing it as a method. How should it be categorized then?

TECHNIQUE
Its each specific strategy that
These techniques must be

we use in the classroom.

It is a tool that is used to

coherent with the method, and therefore, they must be in harmony with the approach.
Some techniques can be found

obtain an immediate result.

Its what really happens in the

classroom, in the actual teaching.

in different methods whereas other ones are specific to a given method.

PROCEDURE
It is an ordered sequence of It can be understood as a

techniques.
A procedure can be

described in terms such as First you do this, then you do that Its a lot smaller than a method, but its a sequence of techniques.

set of actions, operations and strategies which have to be executed accordingly to a perception on how to obtain a expected result, in our case on how to increase competition in a foreign language.

Lets think about this

If we mention the following concepts, can we clearly

determine if were talking about an approach, a method, a technique or a procedure? PPP // Suggestopedia // Role-plays // CLT // TPR // Grammar translation // Silent viewing // Task-based learning // The Silent Way // Audiolingualism // Dictation // Community language learning // Lexical approach //