Toryanik L.A., Kolyada I.V., Zhurkina S.V., Kolyada V.V.

The National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv

The National Technical University (Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute)

THE Humanistic LANGUAGE TEACHning APPROACHES

The primary task of the English teacher is to develop students’ linguistic skills so that they can communicate effectively and get in touch with English speakers, and the competent teachers most important tool is a success. Teaching results depend on organization of interesting and exciting lessons. It makes you work harder and find new ways of teaching. It is very important for the teacher to organize different out of class activities to improve pupils speaking skills and to make learning English joyful and more interesting.

An explosion of new and radical approaches to learning a language came to light in the 1970s. These approaches are often grouped under the title of Humanistic Approaches due to their method of concentration, touching on the innate ability and capacity that all learners are presumed to possess. A humanistic approach to language teaching tends to be associated with the ‘Designer’ methodologies from the1970s such as The Silent Way (Gattegno,1978), Community Language Learning (Curran,1976) and Suggestopedia (Lozanov,1979). Some new approaches have been scrutinized below.

The method of Suggestopedia is based on the idea that the mind has great potential and can retain information by the power of suggestion. This teaching method uses relaxation as a means of retaining new knowledge.

In their initial lessons learners receive large quantities of information in the new language. The text is translated and then read aloud with classical music in the background. The scope is to supply an atmosphere of total relaxation where understanding is purely accidental and subliminal. Using large quantities of linguistic material introduces the idea that language understanding is easy and natural. In the following lesson, learners use the material in a variety of communication activities.

The method of Total Physical Response (TPR) draws on the basic principles of how young children learn their first language. Developed by James Asher, this teaching method involves a wide range of physical activities and a lot of listening and comprehension, as well as an emphasis on learning as fun and stimulating. Total Physical Response has limitations, especially when teaching abstract language and tasks, but is widely considered to be effective for beginners and is still the standard approach for young learners.

The Silent Way is another example of a method categorized under the Humanistic Approaches, with this technique the teacher is supposed to be practically silent - hence the name of the method - and avoids explaining everything to the students. This method is based on a problem-solving approach to learning, whereby the students' learning becomes autonomous and co-operative. The scope is to help students select the appropriate phrases and know how to control them, with good intonation and rhythm. The teacher does not repeat the material nor supplies the phrases that the student has to imitate, and there is no use of the learner's native language. Patterns contain vocabulary, and coloured guides for pronunciation are used to assist the teacher in guiding the students' understanding while saying the least amount possible.

Also sharing many of the same principles as the Silent Way, the method of Community Language Learning (CLL) was relatively short-lived. Seeing the student as a 'whole' person, the method involved students sitting in a circle and encouraging them to use their feelings, intellect, relationships and reactions.

CLL differs from other methods by which languages are taught. It’s based on an approach modeled on counseling techniques that alleviate anxiety, threat and the personal and language problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages. The method was originally developed by Charles Curran who was inspired by Carl Rogers view of education. In this “Counseling-learning” model of education, learners in a classroom are seen as a group rather than as a class, a group in dire need of certain therapy and counseling. The social dynamics occurring in the group are very important and a number of conditions are needed for learning to take place:

• Members should interact in an interpersonal relationship.
• Students and teachers work together to facilitate learning by
• valuing each other,
• lowering the defense that prevent interpersonal interaction
• reducing anxiety
• and constituting a supportive community.
• Teachers role is that of a true counselor.
• They are not perceived as a threat
• They don’t impose boundaries and limits
• They concentrate on the learners needs

The thrust of humanism seems to be the ability to advance as a species through understanding and co-operation. This means that humanistic language teachers need to have a thorough grasp of both how people learn and what motivates them to learn. They need to shed the old image of the teacher being the fount of wisdom and replace it with the teacher as facilitator.

Although it could not be said that humanistic approach is the best one to language learning, it is the way to help language learners to improve their competence in language and to develop their personality. The best thing is we, as teachers, try to be humane to the language learners. And mainly, it is our attitude as human beings, not the technique or methods, which makes us humanistic teachers.