LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS THROUGHOUT HISTORY Eight Approaches to Language Teaching         Where there was once consensus on the "right" way to teach foreign languages, many teachers now share the belief that a single right way does not exist. It is certainly true that no comparative study has consistently demonstrated the superiority of one method over another for all teachers, all students and all settings.         Presented here is a summary of eight language teaching methods in practice today:              the Grammar-Translation Method              the Direct Method              the Audio-Lingual Method              the Silent Way              Suggestopedia              Community Language Learning              the Total Physical Response Method              the Communicative Approach         Of course, what is described here is only an abstraction. How a method is manifest in the classroom will depend heavily on the individual teacher's interpretation of its principles. Some teachers prefer to practice one of the methods to the exclusion of the others. Other teachers prefer to pick and choose in a principled way among the methodological options that exist, creating their own unique blend.             The Grammar-Translation Method         The Grammar-Translation Method focuses on developing students' appreciation of the target language's literature as well as teaching the language. Students are presented with target language reading passages and answer questions that follow. Other activities include translating literary passages from one language into the other, memorizing grammar rules, and memorizing native language equivalents of target language vocabulary. Class work is highly structured, with the teacher controlling all activities.       Direct Method         The Direct Method allows students to perceive meaning directly through the target language because no translation is allowed. Visual aids and pantomime are used to clarify the meaning of vocabulary items and concepts. Students speak a great deal in the target language and communicate as if in real situations. Reading and writing are taught from the beginning, though speaking and listening skills are emphasized. Grammar is learned inductively.         Audio-Lingual Method         The Audio-Lingual Method is based on the behaviorist belief that language learning is the acquisition of a set of correct language habits. The learner repeats patterns until able to produce them spontaneously. Once a given pattern -- for example, subject-verb-prepositional phrase - is learned, the speaker can substitute words to make novel sentences. The teacher directs and controls students' behavior, provides a model,  and reinforces correct responses.        The Silent Way         The theoretical basis of Gattegno's Silent Way is the idea that teaching must be subordinated to learning and thus students must develop their own inner criteria for correctness. All four skills - reading, writing, speaking, and listening - are taught from the beginning. Students' errors are expected as a normal part of learning, the teacher's silence helps foster self-reliance and student initiative. The teacher is active in setting up situations, while the students do most of the talking and interacting.        Suggestopedia         Lozanov's method seeks to help learners eliminate psychological barriers to learning. The learning environment is relaxed and subdued, with low lighting and soft music in the background. Students choose a name and character in the target language and culture, and imagine being that person. Dialogs are presented to the accompaniment of music. Students just relax and listen to them being read and later playfully practice the language during an "activation" phase.         Community Language Learning         In Curren's method, teachers consider students as "whole persons," with intellect, feelings instincts, physical responses, and desire to learn. Teachers also recognize that learning can be threatening. By understanding and accepting students' fears, teachers help students feel secure and overcome their fears, and thus help them harness positive energy for learning. The syllabus used is learner-generated, in that students choose what they want to learn to say in the target language.         Total Physical Response Method         Asher's approach begins by placing primary importance on listening comprehension, emulating the early stages of mother tongue acquisition, and then moving to speaking, reading, and writing. Students demonstrate their comprehension by acting out commands issued by the teacher; teacher provides novel and often humorous variations of the commands. Activities are designed to be fun and to allow students to assume active learning roles. Activities eventually include games and skits.       The Communicative Approach         The communicative Approach stresses the need to teach communicative competence as opposed to linguistic competence; thus, functions are emphasized over forms. Students usually work with authentic materials in small groups on communicative activities, during which they receive practice in negotiating meaning.