Bridging Theory and Practice in TESOL: A Critical Review of the Book Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching by Richards & Rodgers
Keywords:
TESOL, Language Teaching Approaches, Critical ReviewAbstract
This article provides a critical review of Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, a seminal work in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Focusing on the book’s three-tier conceptual framework; approaches, methods, and techniques, this review evaluates its theoretical contributions to bridging linguistic theory with pedagogical practice. Employing a qualitative literature-based analysis, the study systematically examines the book’s content and compares it with contemporary perspectives in applied linguistics and language pedagogy. The findings indicate that while the book remains a valuable conceptual foundation for designing language teaching strategies, it requires supplementation through the integration of educational technology, contextual adaptability, and post-method perspectives. Consequently, this article recommends that the book be applied reflectively and adapted to the evolving demands of language teaching in today’s globalized and digitalized contexts
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