English Language Teaching: Comparison and Contrast between Methods and Post Methods

Running head: ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
Introduction
Teaching of English language can be challenging for those who have English as their
second language. Education in English is currently under threat and English comes to be seen of
increasing importance for the economic wellbeing of the country (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). In
Srilanka, English is presently taught as an oral program in grades 1 and 2 and as a subject
beginning from standard 3. This calls for a greater emphasis on the English teaching. There are
not enough trained teachers of English in the primary schools. Another reason implementing
English teaching in schools is to promote social cohesion between the different ethnic groups in
Srilanka. English has always been considered as a tool for an upward social mobility and hence it
is necessary to follow robust guidelines for English teaching.
Comparison and contrasting between Methods and Post methods of teaching
Method teaching marginalizes the duty of the teacher by providing them with a little
scope to make their personal judgments and the teaching methods. Although methods can be
considered as the core ethics of learning English language, starting from designing of the
curriculum to material presentation, the method is not sufficient to explain the complexity of the
language teaching. The scope for innovation is restricted (Boumová, 2018). More exaggeration
has been given on the theoretical perspective than the practical requirement. Hence the method is
considered as unrealistic by the modern educationist or the theorists. On the contrary, the attempt
to design a post method for language teaching is motivated by the desire to challenge the
debilitating effect of the method as the way of marginality. According to a classroom study by
(Liu, 2004), involving 39 elementary teachers, the way of teaching in each of the classrooms
were so different and the variations were so authentic that the sample resulted in the discovery of
39 totally distinct methods, which proves that one way of teaching that fits a particular scenario

2ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
might not perfectly fit to other situations. According to the reports, in most of the cases the
elementary teachers do not have any knowledge the principles that guide a student centered
learning. In that there is a requirement of a systematic method of learning.
Due to the widespread dissatisfaction with the conventional concept of method, post
method concept was developed. The post method concept of teaching is different than the
conventional method teaching as the post method teachers adapt their approach in accordance
with the contextual factors (Chan, 2015). The post method concept of teaching is guided by a
number of strategies. Adoption of the post method is mainly a bottom up process in which the
local language teachers take the initiative for constructing the pedagogy that is sensitive to the
local needs, situations and their requirement. In order to do that an operational frame work was
needed.
In order to understand the differences between the Method and the Post method concept
of teaching it is necessary to have a clear concept of the methods and the post methods. Method
consists of particular sets of instructions or theoretical principles derived from the feeder
disciplines and single set of classroom instructions directed by the classroom teachers or the
experts who make the curriculum (McDonough & Shaw, 2012). On the other hand the post
method of teaching involves the designing of the classroom principles by the teachers based on
the experience or knowledge and as per the demand of the situation. The method involves the
construction of knowledge oriented theories of the pedagogy. The post method of teaching on the
other hand involves the development of practice that is more “classroom oriented". In this way
the post methods are different from the methods.