A foreign language teacher has to not only make his students understand the language, namely the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc., he must also develop their communicative competence so that they can use the language they have learned correctly, appropriately and expressively in real situations. In order to do well this complicated job, the teacher needs to know, apart from a comprehensive knowledge of the language and the ability to use it, as many teaching methods and techniques as possible, and understand the underlying theories and principles, therefore he not only knows what to teach and how to do it, but also why he should do it in a certain way and how to solve problems when they arise. In this way he will have full confidence in doing his job well.
Foreign language teachers understand that knowing a language does not necessarily mean that you can teach the language well. Teaching is an art as well as a science. If you do not know the theories, principles, methods or techniques of teaching, you might be able to teach a foreign language based on your experience, but you cannot hope to achieve good results, nor can you give your or your colleagues’ teaching a rational evaluation or a critical appraisal. There are surely limitations in teaching by drawing only on experience, though experience is important. The theory you learnt from the methodology course can guide, support and conceptualize practice. New insights you get by sharing ideas of other people will bring you great benefit. As the old saying goes: “Travel broadens the mind”. In the same way learning Foreign Language Teaching Methodology will surely broaden the mind of teachers.