Page 45 - Beyond Methods

Understanding postmethod pedagogy 33
rather than an alternative method. While alternative methods are primarily products of top-down processes, alternatives to method are mainly products of bottom-up processes. In practical terms, this means that, as discussed in Chapter 1, we need to refigure the relationship between the theorizer and the practitioner of language teaching. If the conventional concept of method entitles theorizers to construct professional theories of pedagogy, the postmethod con- dition empowers practitioners to construct personal theories of practice. If the concept of method authorizes theorizers to central- ize pedagogic decision-making, the postmethod condition enables practitioners to generate location-specific, classroom-oriented in- novative strategies.
Secondly, the postmethod condition signifies teacher autonomy. The conventional concept of method “overlooks the fund of experi- ence and tacit knowledge about teaching which the teachers already have by virtue of their lives as students” (Freeman, 1991, p. 35). The postmethod condition, however, recognizes the teachers’ potential to know not only how to teach but also how to act autonomously within the academic and administrative constraints imposed by in- stitutions, curricula, and textbooks. It also promotes the ability of teachers to know how to develop a critical approach in order to self- observe, self-analyze, and self-evaluate their own teaching practice with a view to effecting desired changes.
The third attribute of the postmethod condition is principled pragmatism. Unlike eclecticism which is constrained by the con- ventional concept of method, in the sense that one is supposed to put together practices from different established methods, prin- cipled pragmatism is based on the pragmatics of pedagogy where “the relationship between theory and practice, ideas and their ac- tualization, can only be realized within the domain of application, that is, through the immediate activity of teaching” (Widdowson, 1990, p. 30). Principled pragmatism thus focuses on how classroom learning can be shaped and reshaped by teachers as a result of self- observation, self-analysis, and self-evaluation.
One way in which teachers can follow principled pragmatism is by developing what Prabhu (1990) calls “a sense of plausibility.” Teachers’ sense of plausibility is their “subjective understanding of the teaching they do” (Prabhu, 1990, p. 172). This subjective under- standing may arise from their own experience as learners and teach- ers, and through professional education and peer consultation. Since