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Teaching Techniques in English as a Second Language

Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching by Diane Larsen-Freeman Marti Anderson

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Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching (2nd, 00) by Larsen-Freeman, Diane [Paperback (2000)]

Unknown Binding

First published February 1, 1986

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About the author

Diane Larsen-Freeman

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Diane Larsen-Freeman is a Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics, and a Research Scientist at the English Language Institute of Michigan. She is also a Distinguished Senior Faculty Fellow at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. A teacher educator for over 30 years, Professor Larsen-Freeman has published numerous books and articles about second language acquisition research, English grammar, and language teaching methods.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
Profile Image for Exina.
1,269 reviews411 followers
November 21, 2018
Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching was a required reading for my methodology classes. A great and practical overview of teaching methods.
Profile Image for Brad.
Author3 books1,857 followers
February 3, 2010
A decent overview of ten teaching styles for second language teachers, Techniques and Principles of Language Teaching is best used as a hub for additional reading.
Profile Image for Amir Mojiry.
233 reviews81 followers
June 3, 2013
یک کتاب فوق العاده جذاب، خواندنی و در عین حال دقیق و علمی.
در فصل اول -مقدمه- به مبانی نظری کتاب و این که چگونه باید از کتاب استفاده شود پرداخته می شود.
سیزده فصل بعدی، سیزده روش آموزش زبان خارجی را شرح می دهد. در مورد هر روش، ابتدا یک مقدمه می آید که در آن مبانی نظری روش گفته می شود. نکته این که نویسندگان سعی داشته اند این بخش را تا حد ممکن کوتاه و مختصر کنند. بعد از آن به بخش «تجربه» می رسیم. در این بخش یک کلاس درس که با روش آن فصل اداره می شود، توصیف می شود. بخش تجربه به شکل جزئی و با مثال دقیق پیش می رود. مثلن کلاس درسی در کشور مالزی، چهل نفره، سه بار در هفته.
بعد از بخش تجربه، بخش «بررسی تجربه» است که در آن جدولی آمده. یک ستون مختص «مشاهده ها از کلاس درس» و یک ستون مختص «اصولی که از این مشاهده ها استخراج می شود». پس از آن در بخش «مروری بر اصول» به ده سوال طراحی شده از سوی نویسندگان، پاسخ داده می شود. سوال هایی مثل این که: نقش معلم و زبان آموز در این طرح درسی چیست؟، نحوه ی برخورد معلم با خطاهای زبان آموزان چیست؟، به احساسات زبان آموزان چگونه توجه می شود؟، نگاه این طرح به فرهنگ زبان مقصد چگونه است؟ و...
بعد از این بخش، به بخش «بررسی فنون» می رسیم که در آن، فن هایی که در روش مورد بررسی استفاده شده است و معلم ها می توانند از این فن ها الگو برداری کنند بررسی می شوند. در پایان بخش «نتیجه» است که در آن سوال هایی در مورد روش و چگونگی استفاده از آن در کلاس درس پرسیده می شود.
نکته ی مثبت کتاب، قضاوت نکردن در مورد هر روش است. تقریبن هیچ جا، نقطه ضعف های روش به شکل مشخص و مثلن به این شکل که «اشکال این روش آن است که...» بیان نمی شود. خواننده خود با مقایسه ی روش ها و بررسی اصول و فنون هر روش می تواند به نقطه ضعف های احتمالی هر روش پی ببرد.
دیگر این که کتاب، پرحرفی نکرده و مرتب و منظم به بررسی پرداخته است.
در پایان نیز، در بخش «نتیجه» سعی شده به این که چگونه پس از یاد گرفتن کلیاتی در مورد هر روش بتوانیم از آن ها استفاده کنیم یا الگو بگیریم، حرف زده شده است.
در مورد ترجمه ی کتاب هم باید بگویم گرچه به نظر می رسد ترجمه تنها به عنوان «راهنمای کتاب اصلی» کار شده است (زبان اصلی کتاب هم توسط نشر رهنما، منتشر شده است) با این حال، تقریبن ترجمه ی خوبی است با این که غلط های فراوانی از همان ابتدا تا صفحه های پایانی کتاب می توان پیدا کرد. ضمن این که گرچه در کتاب، نام منابع ترجمه شده است ولی در پایان ترجمه، فهرست منابع آورده نشده! و عملن استفاده ی فنی از کتاب ترجمه را بی داشتن کتاب زبان اصلی، ناممکن کرده است.
Profile Image for Mika.
15 reviews5 followers
January 23, 2024
I had to study this book in half a day and I got to say that it's really easy to read. The part entitled "experience" in each chapter sets your mind ready for the rest of the material. The material is presented in an organized way which was just so helpful.(I'm not good at memorizing stuff, but this sequence of the material helped me learn much faster than I thought.)
The edition I was reading was the 3rd one, but still it needs updating. Especially the chapter regarding technology.
There are also videos on YouTube to help you with understanding the techniques.
Profile Image for Bình  Lê.
18 reviews1 follower
February 16, 2018
I always wonder and ask myself that "How to be a good English teacher in the future". Fortunately, this book (also a very important subject in my syllabus) and what I have learnt about teaching methodology in university help me to apprehend this point in the process of practising teaching English through demo lessons. It's more than some teaching techniques I have learnt in the first "Teaching Methodology" (a course) , because It is generalized some teaching techniques/approaches in another degree (Maybe a superlative degree of teaching approaches) which could facilitate the teachers in adapting the techniques in this book into teaching the students in languages effectively. I would say thank you to the author of this book for bringing me some other views on "Teaching" .
Profile Image for Leonard Joseph.
1 review4 followers
Read
December 2, 2012
This book from freeman has really got me to realize what teaching Language really means!
Profile Image for Zeynep.
38 reviews2 followers
February 7, 2018
So - for the course Approaches to English Language Teaching, we were following Larsen-Freeman and Richards and Rodgers, both of which I actually read, instead of treat them like coursebooks. I did not read them as thoroughly as I would like to - the last chapter, for example, I skipped some parts but I actually find both books very, very helpful and understandable. Especially this one makes a great work by actually showing the application of the techniques & principles. I enjoyed reading it even though I was anxiously counting down hours to my final. Which does not really... happen.
Quick note: Most of the reading was done in 2017 actually, so I'll set the read date to 2017. The review is late and inadequate.
Profile Image for Billie Pritchett.
1,155 reviews114 followers
October 23, 2015
Authors Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson in the most recent edition of this boom survey the various language teaching methods and also some innovations in teaching methods. These methods include the Grammar Translation Method, Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Silent Way, Desuggestopedia, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, and Communicative Language Teaching. The innovations include Content-Based Instruction, Task-Based Language Teaching, the Participatory Approach, and Cooperative Learning, as well as the role of technology in language learning.

I began to read about several of these methods with a skeptical mind, but I now look at them more charitably knowing the principles that inform them. After reading this book, I also have a clearer more self-conscious sense about my own ideas regarding language teaching and learning and some of the techniques that I would use to implement them.
Profile Image for Black Bones.
114 reviews24 followers
March 19, 2017
It seems the teaching theories and methods have been oscillating through the time. For example, one time it says that correcting students' mistakes or errors is right, another time it says it's bad (according to behaviorism) and again after a decade another theory comes to prove it's good to correct students' errors. It's as if every time certain people said something and made it into a theory without considering the previous ones. :/
Profile Image for Kelly.
46 reviews3 followers
March 17, 2015
Great reference for language teaching techniques. The related youtube videos are also very helpful to visualize what's actually happening in the classroom.
Profile Image for Aliah.
24 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2015
Very concise overview of language teaching approaches. Each chapter contains a lesson description, followed by discussion and outlining the principles.
Profile Image for Keith Hunt.
6 reviews
September 13, 2019
As an ESOL teacher, I think this is an important read for anyone in my profession.

To argue why I think so, I will use a quick sports analogy: Mixed Martial Arts or MMA.

In MMA, the athletes combine many different combat sports--boxing, jiu jitsu, wrestling, etc. As language teachers, I feel we should also be able to combine many different methods and to choose the best one when appropriate.

For example, some language-learning situations may call for some Audiolingual Method. Some language-learning situations may call for Task-Based Instruction. Some may call for Communicative Language Teaching. Sometimes a combination of multiple methods is appropriate.

This book acts as a great introduction to some of the most popular methods and trends in Language Teaching over the years. It asks the reader to play the "believing game" with each method, and try to find the good in each method, even if we don't agree with everything in said method. I think this is a great approach, as I feel there are things we can learn and take from every method, even ones that are now considered "outdated."

My only criticism is sometimes the book got a bit repetitive and redundant in its breakdown of the principles of each method.

However, overall, it is a must-read for any language teacher. Just as a good MMA fighter must have knowledge of and competence in all the different combat sports, a good ESOL teacher should have knowledge of and competence in the various teaching methods that are available. This book is great training camp for Language Teachers before they step into the octagon, nay, the classroom.
258 reviews
July 26, 2023
Excellent quality. To clarify, this book aims to show the varying methods of learning second languages. I attempted to learn Spanish in highschool and Greek on college and Hebrew in grad school. It has always fascinated me how people across the world can speak so many languages, but people in the United States struggle to speak one. So I decided to read this book to see if it had any helpful information on teaching and learning second languages.

Each section started with a new method and an introduction. Then the researchers give a narrative of an actual classroom using the method--what the teacher is doing--what the students are doing etc.

Then they listed their observations on the left and on the right gave the principles they think you can get from those observations of the narrative. Then they reviewed the principles and the techniques used to get out those principles and then had some learning activities to help you digest the material.

It felt like a textbook.but in a good way. Organized. Thorough. Repetitive.

The section of technology was outdated but that was to be expected. I was hoping to see some more about the learning side of things but they really stuck just to classroom settings, which is interesting because you can teach another person a language outside a formal teaching setting.

I'd recommend this only to someone who teaches a language. To everyone else, it will probably feel too pedantic.

B. Grizenko
Profile Image for Wendy L.
29 reviews1 follower
July 10, 2021
I think I just read a textbook and enjoyed it. The words “techniques and principles� might scream boring, but this textbook surprisingly manages to engage the reader if one has an inkling of interest in how people learn and teach language.

This book describes ten different methods of language teaching, each chapter devoted to a method. While it is a nonfiction textbook, the language is clear and comprehensible. Each method is explained through a narrated lesson given in a classroom where the method is practiced.

I enjoyed learning about methods I’ve never heard of, like the Silent Way, and methods that I’d like to see more of in my own foreign language learning experience, like Communicative Language Teaching. It was exciting to recognize what method I had been using as an EFL teacher, as well as the methods my foreign language teachers used on me! This book allowed me to reflect on my own experiences as a language learner and a teacher. Great read for teachers and learners of language.
Profile Image for Katie.
548 reviews34 followers
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September 26, 2021
I read this one for a class on language learning and teaching. Although I am by no means an expert, I feel like Larsen-Freeman and Anderson provide a good introduction to a variety of different teaching methods. I do not think many of them are going to be for me, simply because I do not think they are a good fit for the classes I am currently teaching, but I am still glad to have received this concise overview. Moreover, the authors emphasise that the book's most important aim is not to teach us new methods but to make us genuinely think about the ones we are currently using. In that, it was very successful.

[I know far too little about the topic to actually give this book an accurate rating, which is why I decided not to rate it at all.]
Profile Image for غنية.
129 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2021
This book served as one of the main materials in my didactics class under Mr. khadroun (3rd year lmd/ MA1). It tackles the main methods of language teaching.
This is only a beginners� introduction, basic and easy to comprehend/ navigate; and a further reading is required. Each method is presented in real settings with concrete examples and applications of it. The writer summarize the core/ components of each method in form of answered main questions.
Profile Image for Hosius Mr.
154 reviews33 followers
December 12, 2022
این کتاب رو تحت نام "اصول و روش تدریس" در دانشگا درس میدن. کلیت کتاب به این صصورت هست که روش های مختلف آموزش زبان انگلیسی رو در کشور های مختلف توضیح میده و سپس نقد و بررسی میکنه. در پایان هر درس سوالاتی یکسان پرسیده و پاسخ داده شده. مثل اینکه، نقش زبان مادری در یادگیری زبان انگلیسی چقدر است؟ و سوالاتی از این دست.
برای آشنایی مقدماتی با روش های تدریس میتونه کتاب مفیدی باشه، بخصوص که نویسنده در قسمت آخر جمع بندی کلی روش های گفته شده رو هم انجام داده.
Profile Image for Elaheh.
20 reviews8 followers
January 8, 2021
Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching was a textbook that I first got acquainted with when I took a TTC course and then it was a compulsory textbook for my methodology course at the university. I find it practical and a suitable book which I will surely take a glimpse for a re-read later on.
Profile Image for Hadil Dahia.
104 reviews16 followers
May 4, 2021
Has all the methods and approaches except for CBA, it has activities and plenty of examples and experiences that show the use of each method or approach along with its principles and answers very important questions related to the method (what is the role of the teacher? What is the of Mother Tongue? How is culture viewed?...etc)

Profile Image for Toofan.
976 reviews17 followers
May 22, 2017
The most important foreign language teaching methods are introduced in a fun and easy to understand way. Each chapter is well structured, easy to read, comprehend and remember, and at the same time rich in information.
Profile Image for Aya Hmaida.
112 reviews1 follower
March 4, 2024
I had to study this book as a part of a teaching methods course. This book was easy to understand, easy to follow and straight to the point. Every method or approach have an experience and whatever techniques it follows with the principles as a form of ten questions and answers.
Profile Image for Terez.
38 reviews
April 27, 2025
Třetí edice za mě skvělá pro studenty učitelství AJ-pro ujasnění si různých metod, které jdou při učení využít, a také nahlédnutí na aplikovaní těchto metod v reálných třídách. Plno skvělých tipů a druhů nejrůznějších aktivit.
Profile Image for Rim Khiari.
9 reviews5 followers
October 11, 2018
Informative and easy to browse. The content is clear and organized in a way anyone can understand the different approaches, methods and concepts mentioned.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews

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