Ben Smith

09/02/15

LING 106

Dr. André Zampaulo

There are various strategies in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL),

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and Teaching English to Speakers of

Other Languages (TESOL) that teachers would use to approach a multilingual classroom.

This can include the general approaches when it comes to teaching English or the

methods that are carried out in the classroom itself. The first would be the

structural/linguistic approach that is more focused on the grammatical elements of the

language. Secondly, the cognitive approach ensures to use familiar concepts within the

target language’s culture. Thirdly, the affective/interpersonal provides a learning

environment for the student, boosts conversation while increasing motivation amongst

other students. The final approach is functional/communicative, which enables the actual

practice of the language. Teaching English is an ongoing process where the

communication either verbally or non-verbally can create a way for the student to begin

understanding and applying the language.

The most traditional method would be the grammar-translation method where the

students would be taught English through their mother tongue. Evidently, this would be

less effective since there is no practice of the target language. To oppose this method,

there is the direct method where communication in the classroom is mostly in English.

By directly approaching the target language, students are able to learn the culture behind

doing oral exercises and are very encouraged to think in the language. A more

psychological-based method is the audiolingual method, where a student is dependent on

repetitiveness, mimicry and memorization to acquire the target language. Another method

is the communicative language teaching method, which places students in their classroom

to begin and practice using the target language with classmates. Students are just

accompanied by a counselor to aid the student with the language in social situations they

might find themselves in.

With these methods, a teacher will find themselves running into new ways to

adapt to teaching in a multilingual classroom. Primarily, communicating in the target

language serves as the best way to force the learner out of their native language. There is

no best method for anyone since each student is a different learner. An ESL, TESL or

TESOL classroom is a challenging environment so a teacher will most likely approach

what fits the learner best with the goal of motivating and encouraging the learner to be

independent in grasping the target language.