ABSTRACT
Method' in language teaching is a multiplying ambiguous term. Any principled choice of techniques can be termed 'being methodical'; its antithesis can only be randomness or caprice. It also implies time management, for a sense of method is given by the teacher's choice of how to distribute the available time over the various activities, and to end sensibly within the time agreed. It entails time management on a larger scale, since learning a language is usually counted in years rather than hours. This chapter discusses the four aspects of method, general principles, brand name, skills, and learner group, that serve only to underline how wide-ranging the study of language teaching methods. In short, methodology, has become, since the probably mythical days in which the aim of argument and development was to find the 'best method'.
