Year | definition | source | 1917 | "(1) A given means or system of learning or of teaching a language. (2) A given means or system of learning or of teaching a given aspect of language. (3) A book embodying (1) or (2)." [n.b. checked with hardcopy of (1968) version] |
| Palmer, Harold E. (1917, p.313) |
1963 | "Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural." | Anthony, E. M. (1963, p.65) |
1965 | "It should be evident from [the list of methods] that the meaning of 'method' depends on the method. 'Method' means different things to different people. For some, it means a set of teaching procedures; for others, the avoidance of teaching procedures." [n.b. Mackey writes this after listing the 15 "most common" methods still "in use" ] |
| Mackey, W. M. (1965, p.155) |
1965 | "One method can differ from another only in what a method, as a method, must include. ... All language-teaching methods, by their nature, are necessarily made up of a certain selection, gradation, presentation and repetition of the material. It is therefore through these four inherent characteristics that one may discover how one method differes from another." | Mackey, W. M. (1965, p.156) |
1982 | ".. an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and practice .." [n.b. they refer to the distinction they draw between Anthony's (1963) use of the hierarchy approach-method-technique and their own of approach-design-procedure] |
| Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. (1982, p.154) |
2011 | ".. an increasingly problematic concept, but traditionally seen as theoretically consistent set of teaching principles that would leaad to the most effective learning outcomes if followed correctly." | Hall, Graham (2011, p.248) |