Tesol Theories

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Learning, which has always been a controversial issue, is perhaps one of the most significant characteristics of the human race. The earliest learning theory was proposed by the world-renowned Greek philosopher Plato (428 BC- 347 BC), who simply questioned the knowledge acquisition ability in terms of encountering a thoroughly new topic and answered this question in order to hypothesize the theory of recollection.Table of Contents Behaviorism Cognitive psychology Constructivism Conclusion Are you ready to teach English abroad or online? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! According to Plato's answer to the question of how individuals learn new topics, the soul is fully aware of the knowledge...  [Read more]

 Table of Contents Understanding Language Acquisition Theories Behaviorism: The Foundation of Language Learning Innatism: The Role of Nature in Language Acquisition Constructivism: Building Knowledge Through Experience Sociocultural Theory: Language in Social Contexts Cognitive Theory: Mental Processes in Learning Critical Period Hypothesis: The Window of Opportunity Multiple Intelligences: Diverse Approaches to Learning Practical Applications in Teaching English Abroad ITTT: Leading TEFL and TESOL Provider Worldwide Language acquisition theories provide frameworks for understanding how individuals acquire and develop language skills. These theories encompass various perspectives, including behaviorism, innatism, constructivism, sociocultural theory, cognitive theory, and more. By...  [Read more]

1. Understanding Language Acquisition Theories 2. How Language Acquisition Theories Impact TEFL Teaching 3. Popular TESOL Programs with Language Acquisition Theories 4. Choosing the Right TESOL Program for You Language acquisition theories are essential for understanding how individuals learn a new language. These theories provide insight into the cognitive processes involved in acquiring language skills, whether it be grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation. Some popular language acquisition theories include behaviorism, innatism, and constructivism. Each theory offers a unique perspective on how language learning occurs and can help inform teaching practices in the TEFL classroom. In the field of TEFL, understanding language acquisition theories is crucial for effective teaching. By...  [Read more]

  This presentation is going to focus on the theories, methods and techniques of teaching and we're going to start with a quote. This is an interesting quotation because it contains within it a philosophical argument and it's a philosophical argument in the way in which we learn. Basically, this one is saying that the intelligence of their own children comes about due to a natural process. So this one could be said to be due to nature. This is exactly the opposite of this one, which is saying that they're teaching the environment that we create, creates that intelligence. So this one can be said to be due to nurture and this argument 'nature versus nurture' has been going on for thousands of years. These two viewpoints are two ends of a scale, or a continuum if you like, and every...  [Read more]

Home / Location / Manuel Antonio / Gallery Manuel Antonio / Gallery Teacher Trainer explaining teaching theories Our teacher trainers are dedicated to giving every trainee the opportunity to reach their maximum during the training. The in-class program is intensive but also fun and rewarding. After only four weeks, each trainee learned everything they need to know to teach English as a foreign language not only in Costa Rica, but around the world. Our staff in Manuel Antonio is ready to welcome you to our in-class TEFL/TESOL training program.  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences There are many learning techniques and the course covered four major groups – constructivists, maturationists, environmentalists, and others.Table of Contents Maturationist, Environmentalist and Constructivist and Other Theories Discovery Learning Native Language Learning Discovery Learning and EFL Students Downsides of Discovery Learning Are you ready to start teaching English abroad? Listen to this blog post Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kathi Z. The fundamentals of the maturation theory is the natural biological process humans go through. There is a natural sequence of events that take place despite external stimuli. The fundamentals of the environmental theory is the environment in which we...  [Read more]

1. Introduction to English Language Acquisition Theories 2. Behaviorist Theories of Language Acquisition 3. Innatist Theories of Language Acquisition 4. Interactionist Theories of Language Acquisition Behaviorist theories of language acquisition, such as those proposed by B.F. Skinner, focus on the role of environmental factors in shaping language development. According to behaviorists, language is learned through imitation, reinforcement, and repetition. For example, children learn language by mimicking the speech patterns of those around them and being rewarded for using correct language. Behaviorist theories emphasize the importance of practice and habit formation in language learning. Innatist theories of language acquisition, championed by Noam Chomsky, posit that humans are born...  [Read more]

1. Overview of English Language Learning Theories 2. Behaviorist Approach to Teaching English 3. Cognitive Approach to Teaching English 4. Communicative Approach to Teaching English English Language Learning Theories play a crucial role in shaping the methods and approaches used by teachers in the classroom. These theories provide educators with a framework for understanding how students acquire language skills and how best to facilitate this process. The behaviorist approach to teaching English focuses on the idea that language learning is a habit formation process. This approach emphasizes repetition, reinforcement, and memorization to help students internalize language patterns and structures. Teachers using this approach often rely on drills, exercises, and other repetitive activities...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Second or foreign language learning, which appears to be an ever-present hurdle for many, has constantly been a topical issue with numerous Hypotheses centered around it, including language acquisition theory or monitor model with its sweeping effects on language learning in classrooms around the world. This well-known theory, first presented by Stephen Krashen in the 1970s, is initially based on six Hypotheses ( The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, the Affective Filter Hypothesis, and the Reading Hypothesis) that will be discussed in this article.Table of Contents The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis The Natural Order Hypothesis The Monitor Hypothesis The Input...  [Read more]

  Also in the 1970s la señal came up with a new methodology called "Suggestopedia". As psychological theory was developing, one of the ideas that came up was something called ?the effective filter?. Basically, the effective filter is a barrier to learning. It's the reasons why we inhibit our learning of a particular language. There are two main elements to the effective filter, two sets of factors, if you like, those are known as internal and external factors. The external factors to learning, the reasons why we have barriers to learning, may be just simple things such as external noise. So, people talking to us while we're trying to learn and so on and so forth. Perhaps more important are these internal factors and the internal factors one of the main things here is our previous...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas This blog post focuses on the theories, methods and techniques of teaching, which are the three elements that make up any methodology and we can start with a statement;Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Some teachers believe that the intelligence of their own children is due to their genes, whilst the intelligence shown by their students is due to their teaching. This is an interesting statement because it contains within it a philosophical argument and it's a philosophical argument about the way in which we learn. Basically this first part of the sentence is saying that the intelligence of their own...  [Read more]

  So what we're going to do is to run through a series of methodologies that were created mainly in the 1900s that adopted the idea that language learning should be much more communicative, much more natural. The first one is called audiolingualism and it's also called the army method because of where it was developed. Basically, psychology, during the 1950s and 60s, was building up new theories about behaviorism. Perhaps the most famous experiments that were done in this particular area were by Pavlov, where he was showing that most animals undergo a stimulus response mechanism and he had a series of famous experiments, where by ringing a bell, he could cause a dog to salivate, that would be his response, in the expectation of getting some food. This behaviorist idea of stimulus...  [Read more]

  "In terms of the things that are negative about it, we've already said that it doesn't develop speaking but perhaps the biggest negative point about this particular methodology is that it's very unnatural. Ok, so despite the criticisms of this particular method, and particularly the fact that is unnatural, this particular methodology was in use all the way through the 17th, 18th and 19th century and indeed it's still in use today. However, Gouin in the 1880s and Berlitz in the early 1900s decided that this particular methodology was so unnatural that they wanted to come up with something new. The method that they came up with, they called the direct method. You will also sometimes see it as the natural method. What these two people were saying is that if we wish to learn a language...  [Read more]

  Our final methodology is accredited to Jeremy Harmer and it's known by the letters ESA. Around 1998, Jeremy Harmer produced a book called "How to teach English" and basically what Harmer did, is a background to this book is to do what we have done today and to work through all of the different methodologies that have come about over the last 300 years. He highlighted for each of those methodologies what was good about it, what was positive and what didn't appear to work and then put all of the positive things into a melting pot and came out with this methodology, which he called ESA. It's a three-stage methodology, where each of the letters represents a particular phase of the lesson. The first one being called the engage phase, the second the study phase and the final one the...  [Read more]

Sara Stojanovic TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas During the previous century, there were many different discussions on second language learning. Hence, many theories were formed by different researchers. The most famous hypothesis was proposed by an American linguist Steven Krashen.Table of Contents Nature vs Nurture Krashen's Hypothesis Acquisition or learning Krashen's Natural Approach Conclusion Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Researchers have divided second language acquisition into two categories: nurture and nature. The former proposes that human interaction with the environment leads to experience which results in the acquisition of human knowledge...  [Read more]

  Before looking at the methods or approaches themselves, there are some terms that we need to define. These are the approach, the method or the technique. Basically, these are hierarchical. The approach is an overriding set of principles that a method can actually make use of, whereas the technique are the things that we actually do in the classroom to approach that method. So, these three words are going to appear during the presentation. Again, for each of either the approaches all the methodologies we're going to ask four questions. So be it an approach or a method for each of those things: Where did it come from? What's its background? What does it involve when we're talking about actually in the classroom, in other words techniques? What is positive about it? What appears to...  [Read more]

  Before we move on to the final methodology for today, let's just recap and see where we are at this point in time. We're looking at different learning methodologies. Each of those methodologies takes its premise from being somewhere on this particular spectrum of ?nature versus nurture? and where we are on this spectrum gives us a starting point for the background or theory to that particular methodology. So, we?ve had a look starting in the 17th century and the classical method and moving on as the ideas of psychology developed to various methods, such as audiolingualism, the silent way, Suggestopedia and TPR. Each of these showing a development as knowledge about learning increased and each of these takes a different starting point on our English spectrum. Below you can read...  [Read more]

  The purpose of grammar translation then is to basically translate between L1 and L2 and vice versa. So, we could take a simple example. Let's imagine that our native language was English and our target language was French and let's assume that we want to translate a document from French into English. Let's take a simple sentence. Here's a sentence in French "Ouvre la fenêtre" and we'll add "s'il vous plaît" at the end. What we want to do is to take this L2 and translate it back into English. Now, if we have a reasonable knowledge of French then we may well know that this particular verb "ouvre" "to open" translates directly and this female form of the and finally the fenêtre "Open the window" and this polite form of "please". This is all very well if the two structures that...  [Read more]

  Our next methodology is called the silent way and it's accredited to Caleb Gattegno and was developed in or around the 1970s. This particular methodology moved on from the behaviorist stimulus response to what's called a theory of constructivism and this constructivist approach was very very different, very radical to anything that had been tried before. The background to this particular methodology was that there was a French mathematics teacher who found that his students were finding it very difficult to understand particular concepts. What he realized was that what they needed was a more visual representation of the information. So he came up with a series of colored rods to help with those concepts in mathematics. He gave his name to those rods and they're called Cuisenaire...  [Read more]

  So let's take an example of what those drills might involve. So here is an example of a repetition drill. I will model the language and then my class will repeat after me. So "This is a cup." "Spoon" ? "This is a spoon." "Knife" - "his is a knife." Thank you. The reason that it's called or also called the army method is that it was the method adopted by the United States military who had personnel stationed around the world at the end of Second World War and they realized that they needed those personnel to pick up the language very quickly and one of the positive things about this particular methodology is that you do very quickly learn vocabulary. Another positive thing about it is that you quickly learn the correct pronunciation of that vocabulary. However, there are some...  [Read more]

  Our next particular methodology is accredited to James Asher around 1965 and is called total physical response. Asher looked at the way in which we learn our native language and he saw that most children, before they even went to school, have picked up a very large percentage of both the grammar and the vocabulary that they would use in their native language before any type of formal schooling. So Asher started to have a look at ideas of how to use the whole of our brain in language learning in the way that we do when we're very young. It's accepted that within our brain there are two hemispheres, one is the left hemisphere the other is the right hemisphere, and one of the functions of the left hemisphere is language learning. One of the major functions of the right hemisphere is...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Which methodology uses music to calm us down before learning? It is called Suggestopedia. How does that work?Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! In the 1970's Georgi Lozanov introduced a new teaching method called Suggestopedia. As psychological theory was developing, one of the ideas that emerged was called the affective filter. The affective filter is a barrier to learning; it's one of the reasons why we are inhibited in our learning of a language. There are two main elements to the affective filter, two sets of factors; these are known as internal and external factors. The external...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas ESA is a three-stage methodology where each of the letters represents a particular phase of the lesson. The first one being called the Engage phase, the second the Study phase and the final one the Activate phase.Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic What are the positive factors in the use of the ESA methodology? Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! In 1998 Jeremy Harmer published a book called, How to teach English and basically what Harmer did as a background to his book was to look through all of the different methodologies that have come about over the last 300 or so years. He highlighted for each of those methodologies,...  [Read more]

Unlock Your Potential with Our Advanced TESOL Diploma Are you ready to take your teaching career to the next level? Look no further than our Advanced TESOL Diploma program, offered by ITTT (International TEFL and TESOL Training). This comprehensive and intensive course is designed for experienced educators who are looking to enhance their skills, expand their knowledge, and open up new opportunities in the field of English language teaching. In this program, you will delve deep into advanced teaching methodologies, language acquisition theories, and curriculum development strategies. You will learn how to effectively manage diverse classrooms, create engaging lesson plans, and integrate technology into your teaching practice. Our experienced instructors will guide you through the latest...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas It has been noted that the function of the brain is separated into two sides (hemispheres) commonly known as the left and right brain. What specific functions are included in the two sides of the brain and how did this information become incorporated into a mainstream ESL teaching methodology.Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! This particular methodology is accredited to James Asher around 1965 and is called Total Physical Response (TPR). Asher looked at the way in which we learn our native language and he saw that most children, before they even went to school, have picked up a very large percentage of both the grammar and the vocabulary that they would use...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Child development is an extremely complicated process that can be broken down into many different and well-defined stages. When attempting to further examine and analyze these, countless internal and external factors need to be taken into account. Most (evolutionary) psychologists and biologists would agree that child development involves the prenatal period and the life of children that extends all the way to the end of their adolescent years (those being 18 and/or 19).Table of Contents The Main Stages of Child Development The Conflicting Theories of Child Development Piaget the Pioneer Piaget's Main Beliefs Piaget's Four Main Categories of Child Development Criticism of Piaget's Theory Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: Listen to...  [Read more]

TEFL certification can indeed be beneficial for individuals seeking a career in curriculum development. This certification provides a strong foundation in teaching methodologies, language acquisition theories, and classroom management techniques, all of which are essential skills for designing effective curriculum. Employers in the field of curriculum development often value candidates with a background in language teaching, as it demonstrates an understanding of how to create engaging and educational materials for learners. To effectively leverage your TEFL certification in curriculum development, you can highlight relevant coursework and practicum experiences in your resume and cover letter. Emphasize how your training in lesson planning, assessment strategies, and adapting materials for...  [Read more]

 Table of Contents The Importance of Theory in Teaching Applying Language Acquisition Theories Integrating Technology in ESL Teaching Implementing Communicative Language Teaching Utilizing Task-Based Learning Approaches Understanding Different Learning Styles Incorporating Cultural Awareness in Lessons Addressing Classroom Management Strategies Assessing Student Progress Effectively Continuous Professional Development in TEFL In the field of TEFL and TESOL, understanding educational theories is crucial for effective teaching. Theories provide a framework for educators to comprehend how students learn and develop language skills. By applying theoretical knowledge, teachers can create engaging lessons that cater to diverse learning needs. ITTT, as a leading TEFL and TESOL provider,...  [Read more]

As the demand for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers continues to rise globally, the need for professional development and continuing education in this field becomes increasingly important. ESL teachers play a vital role in helping non-native English speakers acquire language skills for academic, professional, and personal growth. To meet the evolving needs of ESL learners, teachers must continually enhance their teaching skills, stay current with best practices, and expand their knowledge of language acquisition theories. This is where continuing education for ESL teachers comes into play, providing opportunities for professional growth and career advancement. Continuing education courses for ESL teachers offer valuable insights and practical strategies to enhance teaching...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy is an ESL teacher and a recent ITTT graduate with more than ten years of experience teaching to students of differing ages and ability levels alongside some professional teams and experienced teachers. Although Shirin enjoys working with various types of learners, she specializes in teaching English to young learners. She can use her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage her students to work hard and succeed. Shirin lives in Iran and is inspired daily by her husband and lovely son. In her free time, Shirin likes to read, bike, and play with her son. Shirin Sophy Destinations Alumni Experiences Are you interested in teaching English in Thailand? ITTT TEFL course graduate Shirin moved to Thailand to teach English and shares her experience in this blog post...  [Read more]