What about TEFL
without Method?
Fachrurrazy?
In EFL settings CLT is now
criticized due to the difficulties in its implementation. Supported by the wide
use of English in science, technology and commerce, the openness of the
language in accepting words or terms from other languages, and the tolerance of
the variety of English dialects, it is no doubt that English will still play an
important role as a means for communication in the globalization era in the 21st
century. Communicative language teaching (CLT) as a method for the teaching of
English as a second or foreign language (TESL/TEFL), has been in fashion for
about a quarter of a century. Its emergence in the mid of the 70’s gave hope
for the replacement of the Audiolingual Method which
was found to have some weaknesses (e.g., the ineffective use of mechanical
drills, discouraging effect of immediate correction, and too much emphasis on
language accuracy). However, as occurring to other methods, CLT also undergoes
a cyclical process of method development, namely, a method emerges as a
reaction to the weakness of the previous method, then accepted, applied, and
criticized. This article presents the criticisms on CLT and suggests
alternative ways for TEFL, especially in
------- ---- ----------
Fachrurrazy. (2001). What about TEFL without method? TEFLIN Journal, 12(2),
242-251.
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email: eltindonesia@yahoo.com