Langauge teaching method contents introduction

2.2 WHAT IS BEST METHOD FOR LEARNING/TEACHING EFL?
The question of what is the best methodology for teaching/learning EFL is asked on the internet millions of times. It is impossible to answer such a question in a way that will satisfy all educators, teachers, and learners. Some teachers follow the Communicative method and claim it is the best method; others say the Total Immersion method is the best; those who teach using Total Physical Response claim it is the best method; the followers of the Acquisition approach state that it is the only method of subconscious training and therefore, it is the most natural and efficient way of learning a foreign language. All the above methods of teaching/learning English have one common feature: they all suffer a very high failure rate.
Teachers and educators continue teaching what isn't true anymore or what works for some but not for all. Discussions of different methods of teaching EFL would never produce a common opinion about the best methodology. You may respond, "But there is no best methodology!" You are right. Now we don’t have the best methodology but for sure we can create a methodology that will work for all adults, not only for those who are language-capable.
Every big construction or creation of new technology always starts with designing technical specifications that the new method should satisfy.
To start creating the best method for teaching/learning EFL, we need to create a completely different method for the acquisition of English skills that should answer the fundamental questions and meet certain requirements.

3 Fundamental Questions

1. 
   Should the best method be based on conscious learning and memorization or on subconscious training in English skills?
   
2. 
   Should we learn grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, and writing skills separately or should we subconsciously train all language skills concurrently?
   
3. 
   Should we turn our teachers into coaches and trainers who will be able to introduce the new technology and add a human touch to using self-training applications in a class or at home or at work?
   

Now I would like to elaborate on the fundamental questions and help the reader make the correct choice in answering them. Can you consciously learn how to drive a car? Nope. Can you consciously learn how to play basketball or guitar or piano? Nope. Then, why do we try learning EFL consciously? Conscious learning EFL is characterized by the appalling forgetting curve; moreover, it can't stop cross-translation, and adults continue thinking in the native language when trying to speak in a foreign language. It explains why so many adults struggle with the acquisition of English skills.
The correct answer to the first fundamental question is: The best methodology should be based on subconscious training in English skills.
The second question is similar to the first question. If we focus our attention on separate aspects of English, such as grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, and writing skills, we consciously select a slow system of our mind, called System Two. When System Two is activated, our brains' capacity of finding language patterns and rules of Intuitive Grammar is turned off.
Let me remind you about System One and System Two in our minds. Thanks to the work of the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and others, we now increasingly view our cognitive processes as being divided into two systems. We think slowly and fast because our cognitive capacity involves two different systems. System One operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control. System Two allocates attention to the effortful mental activity and therefore is slow. For example, conscious learning belongs to System Two, whereas the expression of our feelings and thoughts (i.e., speech) belongs to System One. Therefore, the answer to the second question should be: Subconsciously train all language skills concurrently.
The third question should be answered: Yes, we should turn our teachers into coaches and trainers because the old belief that a teacher could transfer their knowledge to students is obsolete. There is also another reason why we need coaches and trainers, to implement subconscious training in English skills that we need to use an application that would introduce a comprehensible multimedia input. A teacher technically can’t create a comprehensible multimedia input that is necessary for subconscious training.
The best methodology is student-centered and, most importantly, it offers self-training capability under the guidance of a coach or trainer. A coach or trainer will need an application that should meet the requirements outlined below.