Kuma and Murcia

Alright, let's just start with the first article I read, the Celce-Murcia article, which was an overview of methods and how each method compares, or is in reaction to, previous method.

The first thing that caught my eye was on page 3 of the article where they discuss the differences between approach, method, and technique. I thought this was important because all three sound so similar and to define each gives us a better understanding of how each idea works within teaching. That was fairly confusing for me at the beginning, differentiating between the three and a working definition which separates the three is definitely helpful.


I also thought it was helpful that the authors summarized their ideas about choosing methodology by creating three rules by which to choose and use a method. Their rules were based off of valid criteria, such as classroom size, student diversity in learning, time constraint, etc. Though these 'rules' may not help in all cases, they bring up an important guideline for those who may be searching for a good method for their teaching.


And finally, on a more random note, I liked the quote they placed at the end, on page 8:
Adapt; don't adopt -Clifford Prator
I feel it holds a certain significance in how we should teach and how sometimes in teaching, or many times, we have to learn to think on our feet and adapt to the situations we find in the classroom where methodology won't give us all the answers. This idea of adapting, and knowing how to adapt, is important than for teaching because adopting a method won't always be the answer while teaching.

Second article I'll briefly touch on is the article by Kuma. The article mainly discussed three transitions which teaching has undergone:

    1. communicative language teaching to task based language teaching
    2. method based pedagogy to post method pedagogy
    3. systemic discovery to critical discourse




The article made it clear that the advances made in the study of teaching and method has transitioned us to change the way we feel about using any one method at all. Instead Kuma sees the method changing into Task Based learning, which in many instances covers a multitude of methods, giving the classroom and teacher a more rounded way of teaching.

I see this as important as an observation because it means we, as teachers, no longer have to confine ourselves to choosing one method over another, and instead we can teach to students of many backgrounds and learning proficiencies. (Not that we couldn't do this before, this article merely shows a more broad acceptance of this kind of teaching).