A brief differentiation among these four important concepts of language teaching.

1. APPROACHES,
METHODS,
PROCEDURES
AND TECHNIQUES

2. APPROACH
 It is a conjunction of ideas related  It is the level in which a whole
to the nature and teaching of a theory and its beliefs are reflected
given language. regarding a language and its
learning. It is a much wider
 It refers to theories about the
concept than a method and
nature of language and language technique.
learning.
 It is the source of the principles
 It describes how people acquire
and practices of language
their knowledge of the language teaching.
and makes statements about the
conditions which will promote  It describes how a language is
succesful language learning. used and how its constituent parts
interlock.
 It offers a model of language
competence.

3. METHOD
 It is considered the practical  When a method has fixed
realization of an approach.
procedures, informed by a
 It is understood as a group of clearly articulated approach, it is
procedures, a system that clearly easy to describe. However, if a
explains how to teach a language
(syllabus organization -contents & method takes procedures and
skills to be taught-, roles of teachers techniques from a wide variety
and learners, kinds of materials to
use). of sources, that is that they are
used in other methods or are
 It is understood as a group of mentioned by other beliefs, it
procedures, a system that clearly
explains how to teach a language will be very hard to continue
(contents and skills to be taught) describing it as a method. How
should it be categorized then?
 The method is based on a specific
approach. The approach is axiomatic
whereas the method is procedural.

4. TECHNIQUE
 It’s each specific strategy that  These techniques must be
we use in the classroom. coherent with the method, and
therefore, they must be in
harmony with the approach.
 It is a tool that is used to
obtain an immediate result.  Some techniques can be found
in different methods whereas
 It’s what really happens in the other ones are specific to a given
classroom, in the actual method.
teaching.

5. PROCEDURE
 It is an ordered sequence of  It can be understood as a
techniques. set of actions, operations
and strategies which have
to be executed accordingly
 A procedure can be to a perception on how to
described in terms such as obtain a expected result, in
First you do this, then you our case on how to
do that… It’s a lot smaller increase competition in a
than a method, but it’s a foreign language.
sequence of techniques.

6. Let’s think about this…
 If we mention the following concepts, can we clearly
determine if we’re talking about an approach, a
method, a technique or a procedure?
PPP // Suggestopedia // Role-plays // CLT // TPR //
Grammar translation // Silent viewing // Task-based
learning // The Silent Way // Audiolingualism //
Dictation // Community language learning //
Lexical approach //