ABSTRACT
The choice of teaching and learning methods significantly influences the outcomes that communication programmes or individual sessions are likely to achieve. This chapter explores how to choose between the available teaching methods. It examines the use of didactic knowledge-based teaching methods. The chapter discusses the use and relative merits of the following sources of experiential material: audio and video recordings; real patients; simulated patients; and role play. It also explores the use of methods from both sides of the continuum in communication skills programmes. The methods continuum is a way to keep the breadth of approaches in mind and assist programme directors and facilitators in choosing appropriate methods for each component of the communication curriculum. Didactic methods can illuminate experiential learning, augmenting learners' understanding of the skills that they are developing and helping them to see the logical connections between them.
