A Five-Feature Language Teaching Proposal

Abstract

Which language teaching methodology brings the most benefits to learners in terms of communicative and linguistic competences? This is a question linguists, educational researchers, and teachers continuously ask without reaching a concrete consensus. Perhaps the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach is the preferred response of educators and practitioners. However, do our communicative teaching methods really foster communication practice in the classroom? Is it important to label our teaching approach with a specific name? In this article, I intend to move beyond this label and suggest instead five methodological elements that can be easily implemented in diverse socio-educational contexts. These teaching features correspond to five of the thirty components of the Sheltered Instruction and Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model, which has been adopted in many schools around the world. Because a thirty-component teaching model may become quite overwhelming for teachers and students, a five-feature teaching proposal is herein suggested.