The Most Ideal L2 Teaching Method

Abstract

Though it is possible to see numerous researches on the so-called language teaching methods, there is still a pressing need to study them comparatively and from different angles. The article studies some specific methods with regard to covering language skills, mother tongue usage, usage of cutting-edge technological devices, comprehensibility gain. Besides, there is a strong focus on the conduction of the lesson regarding whether the lesson is student-centered, teacher-centered or self-centered. The aim of the article is to reveal the best language learning method combining the positive features of all language learning criteria. In the study, 20 local and foreign non-English speaking students with B1 level were involved in the experiment. They were divided into four groups which learnt English through a specific method. Most of the participants were locals except 6 who were of Turkish and Iranian origins. Speaking skill of the Iranian students was relatively better in comparison with others. At the end of the experiment, the comprehensibility gain of each group was graded accordingly. The Uniskills method proved to be the most effective and qualitative method compared to other methods in terms of coverage of language skills. The second effective method was CLT which also encompassed all four skills. It was revealed that the usage of mother tongue in English language learning is better than not using it. Since language input makes progress while using native language. Comparing the source and target languages makes a clear picture of language structure in the brain. Operation function is activated and cognitive skills develop significantly. It turned out that the usage of mother tongue in language learning is more effective and the students find the meanings of some unknown words obscure when they don’t use the native language. It became obvious that teacher-centered lesson is more efficient than the student-centered education.