Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

ing technique. Thus a structure drill in which students intensively practise a struc-
ture is one technique; dictation is another; information gap exercises another, and
so on. A technique, as Clark (1984) puts it, is a ‘label for what we do as teachers’.
Teachers combine these techniques in various ways within a particular teaching
style. Put a structure drill with a repetition dialogue and a role play and you get the
audio-lingual style, with its dependence on the spoken language, on practice and
on structure. Put a functional drill with an information gap exercise and a role play
and you get the communicative style, with its broad assumptions about the impor-
tance of communication in the classroom. A teaching style is a loosely connected
set of teaching techniques believed to share the same goals of language teaching

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Second language learning and language teaching styles
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and the same views of language and of L2 learning. The word ‘style’ partly reflects
the element of fashion and changeability in teaching; it is not intended as an aca-
demic term with a precise definition, but as a loose overall label that we can use
freely to talk about teaching. A teacher who might feel guilty switching from one
‘method’ to another or mixing ‘methods’ within one lesson has less compunction
about changing ‘styles’; there is no emotional commitment to a ‘style’.
This chapter looks at six main teaching styles: the academic teaching style com-
mon in academic classrooms; the audio-lingual style that emphasizes structured oral
practice; the communicative style that aims at interaction between people both in
the classroom and outside; the task-based learning style that gets students doing
tasks; the mainstream EFL style which combines aspects of the others; and, finally,
other styles that look beyond language itself. These six styles are loose labels for a
wide range of teaching rather than clear-cut divisions. The first four are arranged in
roughly chronological order, with the oldest style first.
The range of styles highlights the idea that no single form of teaching suits all
students and all teachers. Teachers should always remember that, despite the
masses of advice they are given, they have a choice. All these methods, techniques
and styles are still available for people to use, regardless of whether they are in
fashion or not. Indeed, it is doubtless true that never a day goes by when they are
not all being used successfully somewhere in the world.
Before looking at these styles in detail, it is useful to assess one’s own sympa-
thies for particular styles by filling in the following questionnaire. This is intended
as a way in to thinking about teaching styles, not as a scientific psychological test.