Towards a Synthetization of Teaching Methodologies for TESOL

Abstract

In his keynote address to the TESOL convention in New Orleans (March 1971), John B. Carroll suggested that language teachers should effect a synthesis of methodologies incorporating features of both the audio-lingual habit theory and the cognitive-code learning theory. In this report, the practical implications of such a synthesis are examined in the areas of (1) the manipulation of phonological and grammatical patterns in different kinds of exercises, (2) the mastery of the grammar of the target language by induction or by deduction, (3) the maintenance of the natural order of language learning, i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing, (4) the use of translation in language learning and (5) the contextualization of language practice in various exercises. It is the conclusion of this report that a synthesis of the audio-lingual and cognitive-code theories can be effected in all of these areas with a methodology which is both pedagogically sound and in accord with recent developments in linguistic theory.