The statement “They are informed by their own experience, t...

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    A number of writers in our field have criticized the concept of language teaching methods. Some say that methods are prescriptions for classroom behavior (Pennycook 1989); others that teachers do not think about methods when planning their lessons (Long 1991), and that methodological labels tell us little about what really occurs in classrooms (Katz 1996).

    A particular method can be imposed on teachers by others. However, we also know that teaching is more than following a recipe. Any method is going to be shaped by a teacher’s own understanding, beliefs, style, and level of experience. After all, teachers are professionals who can, in the best of all worlds, make their own decisions. They are informed by their own experience, the findings from research, and the wisdom of practice accumulated by the profession (see, for example, Kumaravadivelu 1994).

    Furthermore, a method is decontextualized. How a method is implemented in the classroom is going to be affected not only by who the teacher is, but also by who the students are, the institutional constraints and demands, and factors connected to the wider sociocultural context where the instruction takes place. In addition, decisions that teachers make are often affected by exigencies in the classroom rather than by methodological considerations. Saying that a particular method is practiced certainly does not give us the whole picture of what is happening in the classroom. Then, too, since a method is more abstract than a teaching activity, it is not surprising that teachers think in terms of activities rather than methodological choices when they plan their lessons.

    [...] Some language teaching methods share the view that language can best be learned when it is taught through communication, rather than for it; and second, that language acquisition can be enhanced by working not only on language, but also on the process of learning (learnng strategies, cooperative learning and multiple intelligences).

(LARSEN FREEMAN, D. Techniques and principles in language teaching. 2th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. pp. xi-xii. Adaptado)