Think! Evidence

The old an the new: reconsidering eclecticism in language teaching

Show simple item record

dc.creator Albert Weidemann
dc.date 2008-08-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned 2015-07-20T22:21:33Z
dc.date.available 2015-07-20T22:21:33Z
dc.identifier 10.5785/17-1-131
dc.identifier 0259-2312
dc.identifier 2224-0012
dc.identifier https://doaj.org/article/b9b00144666b4d189660ea60e9141b73
dc.identifier.uri http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/20439
dc.description <p>A method of language teaching is a style of instruction that expresses the professionalcommitment of the teacher in support of an assumption of how language is learned. After theideological excesses of the audio-lingual method, it is understandable that teachers adopteda 'once bitten, twice shy' approach, which for many amounted to adopting eclecticism. Thisarticle considers five arguments against eclecticism, the inevitable continuities with the oldin what are paraded as innovative methodologies, and how one may handle professionallythe truly new in language teaching methods. Turning to arguments for eclecticism, the articlesuggests two main conditions for adopting it as professional stance, and gives three exampleswhere combinations of language teaching methods have in fact enriched our practice. Thearticle concludes with a set of explanations, with two examples from other African countries(Eritrea and Namibia) that have emerged from recent studies (Tesfamariam 2000;Shaalukeni 2000), as to why the communicative approach to language teaching, even thoughit is regarded by teachers as the reigning orthodoxy in language teaching, has not beenadopted by teachers on our continent.</p><p>'n Taalonderrigmetode is 'n onderrigstyl waarin uitdrukking gegee word aan die professionele toegewydheid van die opvoeder ter ondersteuning van 'n aanname oor hoe taal aangeleer word. Nil die ideologiese buitensporighede van die oudio-linguistiese metode, is dit verstaanbaar dat opvoeders 'n houding sal inneem van "n esel stamp nie sy kop twee maal teen dieselfde klip nie', wat vir baie op 'n aanvaarding van die eklektisisme gedui het. Hierdie artikel bekyk vyf argumente teen die eklektisisme, die onvermydelike verbintenisse van die oue met wat as vernuwende metodologiee voorgehou word, en hoe 'n mens die ware nuwighede in taalonderrigmetodes sou kon hanteer. Aan die ander kant bied die artikel in argumente ten gunste van die eklektisisme twee hoofvoorwaardes aan vir die aanvaarding daarvan as professionele standpunt, en gee drie voorbeelde van waar kombinasies van taalonderrigmetodes in werklikheid ons praktyk verryk het. Die artikel word afgesluit met 'n reeks verklarings, met twee voorbeelde van ander Afrika-lande (Eritrea en Namibie) wat na aanleiding van onlangse navorsing (Tesfamariam 2000; Shaalukeni 2000) aan die lig gekom het, en wat handel oor die redes waarom die kommunikatiewe benadering tot taalonderrig, selfs al word dit deur opvoeders as die heersende ortodoksie in taalonderrig gereken, nog nie deur opvoeders op ons vasteland aanvaar word nie.</p>
dc.language English
dc.publisher Stellenbosch University
dc.relation http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/131
dc.relation https://doaj.org/toc/0259-2312
dc.relation https://doaj.org/toc/2224-0012
dc.source Per Linguam : A Journal of Language Learning, Vol 17, Iss 1 (2008)
dc.subject Education (General)
dc.subject L7-991
dc.subject Education
dc.subject L
dc.subject DOAJ:Education
dc.subject DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject Education (General)
dc.subject L7-991
dc.subject Education
dc.subject L
dc.subject DOAJ:Education
dc.subject DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject Education (General)
dc.subject L7-991
dc.subject Education
dc.subject L
dc.subject Education (General)
dc.subject L7-991
dc.subject Education
dc.subject L
dc.subject Education (General)
dc.subject L7-991
dc.subject Education
dc.subject L
dc.title The old an the new: reconsidering eclecticism in language teaching
dc.type article


Files in this item

Files Size Format View

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search Think! Evidence


Browse

My Account