A Review of Dogme Approach: Principles and Practices

Abstract

As an emerging teaching approach, Dogme is proposed to protest against the over-reliance on coursebooks and technologies in language teaching and is compatible with a conglomerate of contemporary teaching approaches. According to Dogme, language teaching should not rely too much on teaching materials but should focus on communicative activities that could satisfy students’ actual needs and interests. In this paper, the theoretical principles of Dogme are briefly summarized by discussing the similarities and differences between Dogme and several contemporary teaching approaches, and then major studies on Dogme are reviewed and summarized by discussing its suitability. The findings are that (a) Dogme is more suitable for high-level second language learners, but findings about its suitability for low-level learners are inconclusive; (b) inexperienced teachers are unable to use Dogme exclusively, and it is more suitable for them to integrate Dogme’s principles into the traditional materials-based lessons; (c) the combination of Dogme and mainstream teaching methods in different educational environments is comparatively effective and is widely welcomed by teachers and students, and (d) studies on the suitability of Dogme in the technological era are still in its infancy, with limited research results. The previous studies on the universality of Dogme have failed to support each other. Therefore, further research is needed.