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Aims are long-term goals, described in very generał terms:

•    practical aims - leamers acquire habits and skills in using a foreign languagc. i.c. communicative competcnce

•    cducational aims - leamers devclop thcir mental abililics and intclligcncc in thc process of Icaming the foreign language

•    cultural aims - leamers extend Iheir knowledge of the world in which they live, and thus they acquire cultural competence

Specific objectives. or simply objectives. are descriptions of what is to be achieved in a course. They are morę detailed descriptions of exactly what a leamer is expccted to be able to do at the end of a period of instruction.

Approach - a set of correlativc assumptions dcaling with the naturę of languagc teaching and Icaming. An approach is axiomatic: it describes the naturę of subject matter to be taught; it States a point of view, a philosophy. and a bclief.

Mcthod - an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language materiał, no part of which contradicts. and all parts are based on the selected approach. A mcthod is procedural. Within one approach. there can be many methods.

Technigue - a particular strategy, trick, or device used to accomplish an imnicdiatc objective. A tcchniquc is implementational - that which actually takes place in aclassroom. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in h ar mony with an approach as well. Tcchniques dcpcnd on thc tcacher. his/hcr individual artistry. and on the composition of the class. A technique takes place in the classroom.

The arrangement of the above trio of terms is hierarchical. The organizational key is that techniques carry out a method which is consistent with an approach.