Blog Post 2: There Is No Best Method? Why?

Blog Post 2

August 27, 2012

Article: There Is No Best Method-Why?

In this article, Prabhu discusses the controversies over the concept of the “best” method of teaching a second language.  Prabhu makes it pretty clear that he does not believe that there is a best method, but he wants to get past that and discuss why there is no best method for teaching a second language.

Prabhu discusses something at the beginning of his paper that I think is very important. He discusses the term method and what he means when he uses it. “I use the term inclusively, to refer both to a set of activities to be carried out in a classroom and to the theory, belief, or plausible concept that informs those activities (162).”  This is an important thing to do when writing a paper that uses terms that may not globally have the same meaning, especially when it depends on the context in which the word is used.

Prabhu then lists and describes the “three general lines of argument that can be advanced in support of the statement to be discussed (162).”  These are: a.) that different methods are best for different teaching contexts; b.) that all methods are partially true or valid; c.) that the notion of good and bad methods is itself misguided.

I believe that his argument is pretty straight forward but his general lines are vague at first but then he goes on to unpack and explain what is meant by each.  The first statement, it depends on the teaching context, is explained first.

This, in a nutshell, means that there is no best method because no single method is best for everyone because of certain variations that will always exist.  Some of these variations that Prabhu lists are social situation (language policy, environment, linguistic/cultural attitudes), educational organization, teacher related factors (status, training, belief, autonomy, skill), and learner related factors (age, aspirations, schema).

These are all pretty much self explanatory. I think that the majority of readers would agree with what he states because it is so true.  For example, the variation that I think is important to look at is the variation that we as teachers can alter, teacher related factors.  Let’s say there is a specific method. Teacher A and Teacher B both subscribe to this method and decide on employing it.  This one method can be so very different depending on which teacher is teaching it.  This does not just have to do with the success of the teacher either.  This can just come down to different styles, neither of which being wrong.  However, there is something to be said about this.  That is that we must look at how the method is being employed and realize that there is human error.  Maybe finding the best method is impossible because no two teachers can teach the method exactly the same, which cannot be thought of as a reliable study.

The next general line that Prabhu lists is that all methods are partially true or valid.  This, as stated by Prabhu, is not an argument that different contexts should use different methods, but it is rather an argument that the same context should use a number of different methods.  This statement needs to be seen as an eclectic blending of all or several methods. It is a method within itself, I believe, that is like any other method but it overlaps the understanding of other methods.

The last general line is important, just how it was important to define what the term method means.  It is: we need to rethink what “best” might mean.  This is simple, but when you try to make sense of it, you realize that this is a daunting task.  We may assume that the best method is the method that yields the best results, but as I stated with the first general line, there are variations that will undoubtedly alter these results.  We then must question ourselves with whether we should observe the quality of knowledge obtained or the quantity of knowledge obtained.  This is another argument within itself that then calls more variations such as the context into account.

In summary, the question of what is the best method is a loaded question.  The question of why is an even more loaded question.  In general, I believe we need to keep in mind the context in which we are teaching, such as the learners we have and their aspirations, and the quality or quantity of knowledge that we wish for them to obtain.