The terms “method” and “approach” are mistakenly used as synonyms in the literature about the subject referring to a group of activities conducted in the classroom as well as to the theory supporting these activities.

The Direct methodology, which appeared in opposition to the Traditional method, is based upon the idea that learning a new language comes from the help and comparison with the mother language, which should also be used by the teacher in class.

From a semantic-pragmatic perspective, both the spoken and the written texts should be the focus of the class, including the grammatical elements and the meanings that these elements help produce.

The socio-interactionist is one of the approaches criticized by the 1998 “PCNs” (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais) for the teaching of foreign languages.