Diane Larsen-Freeman

1 Introduction
GOALS OF THIS BOOK
One of the goals of this book is for you to learn about many different language
teaching meth ods. I will use th e term 'langua ge teaching meth od'
to mean a coherent set of links between actions and thoughts in language
teaching . The actions are the techniques and the thoughts are the principles
in the title of this book: Techniq ues and Principles in Language
Teaching.
A second goal is to help you uncover t he t houghts that guide your own
actions as a teac her. Th ey may not be ones of which you arc a ware.
Seeking to deter mine wh ich principles of the methods you rea d a bout
here are most [dis jha rmonious with your own thinking will help you to
uncover some of your imp licit thoughts an d beliefs about reaching.
A third goa l is to introduce you to a variety of techniques, some of
which wil l be new. Although certain tech niques may require furt her tra ining,
orhers ca n be immediately implemented . Feel free to experiment and
adapt those techniques to your teaching context.
THOUGHT-iN-ACTION LINKS
It is important to recogni ze th at methods link thoughts and act ions
beca use teaching is not entirely a bou t on e or the other. Ofcourse t his is as
tru e a bou t your own teachin g as it is ab out any meth od you will read
about in this book . As a teac her of langua ge, you have rhoughts ' about
your subject matter-what la nguage is, what culture is- and ab out your
stu dents-who they are as learners and how it is they learn . You also have
thoughts nbour yourself as a teac her and what you can do to help your
stu dents learn. lt is very important for you to become aware of the
thoughts that guide your actions in the classroom. With this awareness,
you will be able to examine why you do what you do and perhaps choose
to think about or do things differentl y.
I I will usc the term lllOlIghl> for the sake of simplicity; howl'vrr, I mean for thoughts to inrllll.le
helief" ;ltt;tllde" v.,I1,es, and awarene" as well.