INTRODUCTION
The Audio-Lingual Method, like the Direct Method we have just examined, is also an oral-based approach. It is very different in that rather than emphasizing vocabulary acquisition through exposure to its use in situations, the Audio-Lingual Method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. Later in its development, principles from behavioral psychology (skinner 1957) were incorporated. It was thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the target language was through conditioning-helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. Learners could overcome the habits of their native language and from the news habits required to be target language speakers.
EXPERIENCE
as we enter the classroom, the first thing we notice is that the students are attentively listening as the teacher is presenting a new dialog, a conversation between two people. The students know they will be expected to eventually memorize the dialog the teacher is introducing. All of the teacher’s instructions are in English. Sometimes she uses actions to convey meaning, but not one word of the students native language is uttered. After she acts out the dialog, she says:
‘ All right, class. I am going to repeat the dialog now. Listen carefully, but no talking please. Listen to the conversation:
SALLY Good morning, Bill
BILL Good morning, Sally
SALLY How are you?
BILL Fine, thanks. And you?
SALLY Fine. Where are you going?
BILL I’m going to the post office
SALLY I am too. Shall we go together?
BILL Sure. Let’s go
Listen one more time. Now she has the whole class repeat each of the lines of the dialog after her model. The teacher, at this point, stops the repetition and uses a backward build-up drill (expansion drill). The teacher starts with the end of the sentence and has the class repeat just the last two words. Little by little the teacher builds up the phrases until the entire sentence is being repeated.
TEACHER Repeat after me: post office
CLASS Post office
TEACHER To the post office
CLASS To the post office
TEACHER Going to the post office
CLASS Going to the post office
TEACHER I’m going to the post office
CLASS I’m going to the post office
Through this step-by-step procedure, the teacher is able to give the students help in producing the troublesome line. Having worked on the line in small pieces, the students are also able to take note of where each word or phrase begins and ends in the sentence. Finally, the teacher selects two students to perform the entire dialog for the rest of the class. Not everyone has a chance to say the dialog in a pair today, but perhaps they will some time this week.
The teacher moves next to the second major phase of the lesson. She continues to drill the students with language from the dialog, but these drills require more than simple repetition. The first drill the teacher leads is a single-slot substitution drill in which the students will repeat a sentence from the dialog and replace a word or phrase in the sentence with the word or phrase the teacher gives them. This word or phrase is called the cue.
A similar procedure is followed for another sentence in the dialog, ‘ How are you? ‘ The subject pronouns ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘they’, and ‘you’ are used as cue words. This substitution drill is slightly more difficult for the students since they have to change the form of the verb ‘be’ to ‘is’ or ‘are’, depending on which subject pronouns since the teacher gives them.
Finally, the teacher increases the complexity of the task by leading the students in a multiple-slot substitution drill. However with this drill, students must recognize what part of speech the cue word is and where it fits into the sentence.
The substitution drills are followed by a transformation drill. This type of drill asks students to change one type of sentence into another – an affirmative sentence into a negative or an active sentence into passive, for example. In this class, the teacher uses a substitution drill that requires the students to change a statement into a yes/no- question. The teacher offers an example, ‘I say, “She going to the post office.” You make a question by saying, “Is she going to the post office.
The teacher holds up one of the pictures she used earlier, the picture of a football field, and asks the class, ‘Yes, I’m going to the football field.’ She poses the next question while holding up a picture of a park, ‘Are you going to the park?’ And again answers herself, ‘Yes, I’m going to the park.’ She holds up a third picture, the one of a library. She poses a question to the class, ‘Are you going to the library?’ They respond together, ‘Yes, I am going to the library.
The teacher drills them with this pattern for the next few minutes. Since the students can handle it, she poses the question to selected individuals rapidly, one after another. The students are expected to respond very quickly, without pausing.
The lesson ends for the day. Both the teacher and the students have worked hard. The students have listened to and spoken only English for the period. The teacher is tired from all her action, but she is pleased for she feels the lesson has gone well. The students have learned the lines of the dialog and to respond without hesitation to her cues in the drill pattern.
In lessons later this week the teacher will do the following :
1. Review the dialog.
2. Expand upon the dialog by adding a few more lines, such as ‘I am going to the post office. I need a few stamps.’
3. Drill the new lines and introduce some new vocabulary items through the new lines, for example:
‘I am going to the supermarket. I need a little butter.’
‘… library. … few books,’
‘drugstore. … little medicine.’
4. Work on the difference between mass and count nouns, contrasting ‘a little/a few’ with mass and count nouns respectively. No grammar rule will ever be given to the students. The students will be led to figure out the rules from their work with the examples the teacher provides.
5. A contrastive analysis (the comparison of two languages, in this case, the students native language and the target language, English) has led the teacher to expect that the students will have special trouble with the pronunciation words such as ‘little,’ which contain /i/. the students do indeed say the word as if it contained /iy/. Then, when she feels they are ready, she drills them in saying the two sounds – first by themselves, and later in words, phrases, and sentence.
6. Sometimes towards the end of the week the teacher writes the dialog on the blackboard. She asks the students to give her the lines and she writes them out as the students say them. In another exercise, the students are given sequences of words such as I, go, supermarket and be, need, butter and they are asked to write complete sentences like the ones they have been drilling orally.
7. On Friday the teacher leads the class in the ‘supermarket alphabet game.’ The game starts with a student who needs a food item beginning with the letter ‘A.’ The student says, ‘I am going to the supermarket. I need a few apples.’ The next student says, ‘I am going to the supermarket. He needs a few apples. I need a little bread (or “a few bananas” or any other food item you could find in the supermarket beginning with the letter “B”).’ The third student continues, ‘I am going to the supermarket. He needs a few apples. She needs a little bread. I need a little cheese.’ The game continues with each player adding an item that begins with the next letter in the alphabet. Before adding his own item, however, each player must mention the items of the other students before him. If the student has difficult thinking of an item, the other students or the teacher helps.
8. A presentation by the teacher on supermarket in the united States follows the game. The teacher tries very hard to get meaning across in English. The teacher answers the students questions about the differences between supermarkets in the United States and open – air markets in Mail. They also discuss briefly the differences between American and Malian football. The students seem very interested in the discussion. The teacher promise to continue the discussion of popular American sports next week.
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
Although it is true that this was a very brief experience with the Audio Lingual method, let’s see if we can make some observations about the behavior of the teacher and the techniques she used. From these we should be able to figure out the principles underlying the method. We will make out observations in order, following the lesson plan of the class we observed.
Observation Principles
1. The teacher introduces a new dialog Language forms do not occur by themselves; they occur most naturally within a context
2. The language teacher uses only the target language in the classroom. Actions, pictures, or realia are used to give meaning otherwise. The native language and the target language have separate linguistic systems.
3. The language teacher introduces the dialog by modeling it two times; at other times, she corrects mispronunciation by modeling the proper sounds in the target language. One of the language teacher’s major roles is that of a model of the target language. Teachers should provide students with a good model. By listening to how it is supposed to sound.
4. The students repeat each line of the new dialog several times. Language learning is a process of habit formation. The more often something is repeated.
5. The students stumble over one of the lines of the dialog. The teacher uses a backward build up drill with this line. It is important to prevent learners from making errors. Errors lead to the formation of bad habits.
6. The teacher initiates a chain drill in which each student greets another. The purpose of language learning is to learn how to use the language to communicate.
7. The teacher uses single-slot and multiple slot substitution drills. Particular parts of speech occupy particular ‘ slots ‘ in sentences.
8. The teacher says, ‘ very good ‘, when the students answer correctly. Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits.
9. The teacher uses spoken cues and pictures Students should learn to respond to both verbal and nonverbal
10. The teacher conducts transformation and question-and-answer drills. Each language has a finite number of patterns. Pattern practice helps students to form habits which enable the students to use the patterns.
11. When the students can handle it, the teacher poses the questions to them rapidly. Students should ‘ overlearn ’, i.e. learn to anwer automatically without stopping to think.
12. The teacher provides the students with cues; she calls on individuals; she smiles encouragement; she holds up pictures one after another. The teacher should be like an orcherstra leader-conducting, guilding, and controlling the students behavior in the target language.
13. New vocabulary is introduced through lines of the dialog; vocabulary is limited. The major objective of language teaching should be for students to acquire the structural patterns.
14. Students are given no grammar rules; grammatical points are taught through examples and drills. The learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the native language. The rules necessary to use the target language will be figured out or induced from examples.
15. The teacher does a contrastive analysis of the target language and the students native language in order to locate the places where she anticipates her students will have trouble. The major challenge of foreign language teaching is getting students to overcome the habits of their native language.
16. The teacher writes the dialog on the blackboard toward the end of the week. Speech is more basic to language than the written form. The ‘ natural order ‘- the order children follow when learning their native language-skill acquisition is listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
17. The supermarket alphabet game and a discussion of American supermarkets and football are included. Language cannot be separated from culture. Culture is not only literature and the arts; but also the everyday behavior of the people who use the target language.
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
At this point we should turn to the ten questions we have answered for each method we have considered so for.
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the Audio-Lingual Method?
Teachers want their students to be able to use the target language communicatively. In order to do this, they believe students need to overlearn the target language, to learn to use it automatically without stopping to think.
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
The teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior of her students. Students are imitators of the teacher’s model or the tapes she supplies of model speakers.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs. Grammar is induced from the examples given: explicit grammar rules are not provided. Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogs or presented by the teacher.
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?
There is student-to-student interaction in chain drills or when students take different roles in dialogs, but this interaction is teacher-directed. Most of the interaction is between teacher and students and is initiated by the teacher.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method that relate to this area.
6. How is the language viewed? How is the culture viewed?
The view of language in the Audio-Lingual Method has been influenced by descriptive linguists. The system is comprised of several different levels: phonological, morphological, and syntactic. Culture consists of the everyday behavior and lifestyle of the target language speakers.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the students are mastering the sound system and grammatical patterns. A grammatical pattern is not the same as a sentence. The natural order of skills presentation is adhered to: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The oral/aural skills receive most of the attention. Pronunciation is taught from the beginning, often by students working in language laboratories on discriminating between members of minimal pairs.
8. What is the role of the students’ native language?
The habits of the students’ native language are thought to interfere with the students attempts to master the target language. A contrastive analysis between the students native language and the target language will reveal where a teacher should expect the most interference.
9. How is evaluation accomplished?
The answer to this question is not obvious because we did not actually observe the students in this class taking a formal test. Students might be asked to distinguish between words In a minimal pair, for example, or to supply an appropriate verb form in a sentence.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Student errors are to be avoided if at all possible through the teacher’s awareness of where the students will have difficulty and restriction of what they are taught to say.
REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
If you are agree with the above answers, you may wish to implement the following techniques; of course, even if you do not agree, there are may be techniques described below that you are already using or can adapt to your approach.
Dialog memorization
Dialogs or short conversation between two people are often used to begin a new lesson. Students memorize the dialog through mimicry; students usually take the role of one person in the dialog, and the teacher the other. After the dialog has been memorized, pairs of individual students might perform the dialog for the rest of the class.
In the Audio-Lingual Method, certain sentence patterns and grammar points are included within the dialog. This patterns and points are later practiced in drills based on the lines of the dialog.
Backward build-up (expansion) drill
This drill is used when a long line of a dialog is giving students trouble. The teacher breaks down the line into several parts. Then, following the teacher’s cue, the students expand what they are repeating part by part until they are able to repeat the entire line.
Repetition drill
Students are asked to repeat the teacher’s model as accurately and as quickly as possible. This drill is often used to teach the lines of the dialog.
Chain drill
A chain drill gets its name from the chain of conversation that from around the room as students, one-by-one, ask and answer questions of each other. The first student greets or asks a question of the second student and the chain continues. A chain drill also gives the teacher an opportunity to check each student’s speech.
Single-slot substitution drill
The teacher says a line, usually from the dialog. Next, the teacher says a word or a phrase-called the cue. The students repeat the line the teacher has given them, substituting the cue into the line in its proper place. The major purpose of this drill is to give the students practice in finding and filling in the slots of a sentence.
Multiple-slot substitution drill
This drill is similar to the single-slot substitution drill. The difference is that the teacher gives cue phrase, one at a time, that fit into different slots in the dialog line. The students must recognize what part of speech each cue is, or at least, where it fits into the sentence, and make any other changes, such as subject-verb agreement.
Transformation drill
The teacher gives students a certain kind of sentence pattern, an affirmative sentence for example. Other examples of transformations to ask of students are changing a statement into a question, an active sentence into a passive one, or direct speech into reported speech.
Question-and-answer drill
This drill gives students practice with answering questions. The students should answer the teacher’s questions very quickly. Although we did not see it in our leson here, it is also possible for the teacher to cue the students to ask questions as well.
Use of minimal pairs
The teacher woks with pairs of words which differ in only one sound; for example, ‘ship/sheep’. Students are first asked to perceive the difference between the two words and later to be able to say the two words. The teacher selects the sounds to work on after she has done a contrastive analysis, a comparison between the students’ native language and the language they are studying.
Complete the dialog
Selected words are erased from a dialog students have learned. Students complete the dialog by filling the blanks with the missing words.
Grammar game
Games like the supermarket alphabet game described in this chapter are used in the A udio-Lingual Method. Students are able to express themselves, although it is rather limited in this game. Notice there is also a lot of repetition in this game.
CONCLUSION
We’ve looked at both the techniques and the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method. Try now to make the bridge between this book and your teaching situation.
Good luck..
hohohohohoo
The Direct Method
Introduction
The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students native language ( Diller 1978 ).
We will now try to come to an understanding of the Direct Method by observing an English teacher using it in a scuola media ( lower secondary school ) class in Italy. The class we observe is at the end of its first year of English language instruction in a Scuola media.
Experience
The teacher is calling the class to order as we find seats toward the back of the room. He has placed a big map of the United States in the front of the classroom. The teacher points to the part of the map the sentence describes after each has read his sentence. The passage begins:
We are looking at a map of the United States. Canada is the country to the north of the United States, and Mexico is the country to the south of the United States. Between Canada and the United States are the Great Lakes. Between Mexico and United States is the Rio Grande River. On the East Coast is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the West Coast is the Pacific Ocean. In the East is a mountain range called the Appalachian Mountains. In the West are the Rocky Mountains.
A students ask what a mountain range is. The teacher turns to the blackboard and draws a series of inverted cones to illustrate a mountain range. The student nods and says, ‘ I understand ‘. Another student asks what another ‘ between ‘ means. The teacher replies, ‘ you are sitting between Maria Pia and Giovanni. Paolo is sitting between Gabriella and Cettina. Now do you understand the meaning of ‘ between ‘? The student answers, ‘ yes, i understand ‘.
The question and answer session continues for a few more minutes. Finally, the teacher invites the students to ask question. Hands go up, and the teacher calls on students to pose questions one at a time to which the class replies. Later another student asks, ‘ what is the ocean in the West Coast? ‘. The teacher again interrupts before the clas ha a chance to reply, saying, ‘ What is the Ocean in the West Coast?..or on the West Coast? ‘. The student hesitates, then says, ‘ On the West Coast ‘.
‘ Correct ‘, says the teacher. ‘ Now repeat your question ‘.
‘ What is the ocean on the West Coast? ‘
The class replies in chorus, ‘ The ocean on the West Coast is the Pacific ‘.
After the students have asked about ten questions, the teacher begins asking questions and making statements again. The teacher next instructs the students to turn to an exercise in the lesson which asks them to fill in the blank. They read a sentence out loud and supply the missing word as they are reading. Finally, the teacher asks the students to take out their notebooks, and he gives them a dictation. The passage he dictates is one paragraph long and is about the geography of the United States.
During the remaining two classes this week, the class will :
1. Review the features of United States geography
2. Following the teacher’s directions, label blank maps with these geographical features. After this, the students will give directions to the teacher, who will complete a map on the blackboard
3. Practice the pronunciation of ‘ river ‘, paying particular attention to the / I / in the first syllable ( and contrasting it with / iy / ) and to the pronunciation of /r /
4. Write a paragraph about the major geographical features of the United States.
5. Discuss the proverb ‘ time is money ‘. Students will talk about this is in order to understand that people in the United States value punctuality. They will compare this attitude with their own view of time.
Thinking about the experience
Let us make some observations on our experience. These will be in the column on the left. The principles of the Direct Method that can be inferred from our observations will be listed in column on the right.
Observations Principles
1. The student read aloud a passage about United States geography. Reading in the target language should be taught from the beginning of language instruction; however, the reading skill will be developed through practice with speaking. Culture consists of more than the fine arts.
2. The teacher points to a part of the map after each sentence is read. Objects present in the immediate classroom environment should be used to help students understand the meaning.
3. The teacher uses the target language to ask the students if they have a question. The native language should not be used in the classroom.
4. The teacher answers the students questions by drawing on the blackboard or giving examples. The teacher should demonstrate, not explain or translate. It is desirable that students make a direct association between the target language and meaning.
5. The teacher asks questions about the map in the target language, to which the students reply in a complete sentence in the target language. Students should learn to think in the target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentence, rather than memorizing word lists.
6. Students ask questions about the map. The purpose of language learning is communication
7. The teacher works with the students on the pronunciation of ‘ Appalachian ‘. Pronunciation should be worked on right from the beginning of language instruction.
8. The teacher corrects a grammar error by asking the students to make a choice. Self-correction facilitates language learning.
9. The tacher asks questions about the students; students ask each other questions. Lesson should contain some conversational activity-some opportunity for students to use language in real contexts.
10. The students fill in blanks with prepositions practiced in the lesson. Grammar should be taught inductively. There may never be an explicit grammar rule given.
11. The teacher dictates a paragraph about United States geography. Writing is an important skill, to be developed from the beginning of language instruction.
12. All of the lessons of the week involve United States geography. The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually on linguistic structures.
13. A proverb is used to discuss how people in the U. S view punctually. Learning another language also involves learning how speakers of that language live.
Reviewing the principles
Now let us consider the principles of the Direct Method as they are arranged in answer to the ten question posed earlier:
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the Direct Method?
Teachers who use the Direct Method intend that students learn how to communicate in the target language.
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
Although the teacher directs the class activities the student role is less passive than in the Grammar-Translation Method. The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching/learning process.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
Teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations or topics. Grammar is taught inductively, that is, the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences.
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?
The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from student to teacher, although the latter is often teacher directed. Students converse with one another as well.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.
6. How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?
Language is primarily spoken, not written. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students practice orally first. Pronunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of a course.
8. What is the role of the student native language?
The students’ native language should not be used in the classroom.
9. How is evaluation accomplished?
In the Direct Method, students are asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do so using both oral and written skills.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible.
Reviewing the techniques
are there answers to the ten questions with which you agreed? Then the following techniques may also be useful. Of course, even if you did not agree with all the answers, there may be some techniques of the Direct Method you can adapt to your own approach to teaching.
Reading aloud
Students take turns reading sections of passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn, teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.
Question and answer exercise
This exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice new words and grammatical structures.
Getting students to self-correct
The teacher of this class has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternative answer supplied. Another possibility is for the teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student knows that the next word was wrong.
Fill-in-the-blank exercise
This technique has already been discussed in the Grammar-Translation Method, but differs in its application in the Direct Method. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill in the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.
Dictation
The teacher reads the passage tree times. The first time the teacher reads it t normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by pharase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.
Map drawing
The class included one example of a technique used to give listening comprehension practice. The students were given a map with the geographical features unnamed. The student then instructed the teacher to do the same thing with a map he had drawn on the blackboard. Each student could have a turn giving the teacher instructions for finding and labeling one geographical feature.
Paragraph writing
The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major geographical features of the United States. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.
Conclusion
Now that you have considered the principles and the techniques of the Direct Method somewhat, see what you can find of use for your own teaching situation.
Aulia latifa
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The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students native language ( Diller 1978 ).
We will now try to come to an understanding of the Direct Method by observing an English teacher using it in a scuola media ( lower secondary school ) class in Italy. The class we observe is at the end of its first year of English language instruction in a Scuola media.
Experience
The teacher is calling the class to order as we find seats toward the back of the room. He has placed a big map of the United States in the front of the classroom. The teacher points to the part of the map the sentence describes after each has read his sentence. The passage begins:
We are looking at a map of the United States. Canada is the country to the north of the United States, and Mexico is the country to the south of the United States. Between Canada and the United States are the Great Lakes. Between Mexico and United States is the Rio Grande River. On the East Coast is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the West Coast is the Pacific Ocean. In the East is a mountain range called the Appalachian Mountains. In the West are the Rocky Mountains.
A students ask what a mountain range is. The teacher turns to the blackboard and draws a series of inverted cones to illustrate a mountain range. The student nods and says, ‘ I understand ‘. Another student asks what another ‘ between ‘ means. The teacher replies, ‘ you are sitting between Maria Pia and Giovanni. Paolo is sitting between Gabriella and Cettina. Now do you understand the meaning of ‘ between ‘? The student answers, ‘ yes, i understand ‘.
The question and answer session continues for a few more minutes. Finally, the teacher invites the students to ask question. Hands go up, and the teacher calls on students to pose questions one at a time to which the class replies. Later another student asks, ‘ what is the ocean in the West Coast? ‘. The teacher again interrupts before the clas ha a chance to reply, saying, ‘ What is the Ocean in the West Coast?..or on the West Coast? ‘. The student hesitates, then says, ‘ On the West Coast ‘.
‘ Correct ‘, says the teacher. ‘ Now repeat your question ‘.
‘ What is the ocean on the West Coast? ‘
The class replies in chorus, ‘ The ocean on the West Coast is the Pacific ‘.
After the students have asked about ten questions, the teacher begins asking questions and making statements again. The teacher next instructs the students to turn to an exercise in the lesson which asks them to fill in the blank. They read a sentence out loud and supply the missing word as they are reading. Finally, the teacher asks the students to take out their notebooks, and he gives them a dictation. The passage he dictates is one paragraph long and is about the geography of the United States.
During the remaining two classes this week, the class will :
1. Review the features of United States geography
2. Following the teacher’s directions, label blank maps with these geographical features. After this, the students will give directions to the teacher, who will complete a map on the blackboard
3. Practice the pronunciation of ‘ river ‘, paying particular attention to the / I / in the first syllable ( and contrasting it with / iy / ) and to the pronunciation of /r /
4. Write a paragraph about the major geographical features of the United States.
5. Discuss the proverb ‘ time is money ‘. Students will talk about this is in order to understand that people in the United States value punctuality. They will compare this attitude with their own view of time.
Thinking about the experience
Let us make some observations on our experience. These will be in the column on the left. The principles of the Direct Method that can be inferred from our observations will be listed in column on the right.
Observations Principles
1. The student read aloud a passage about United States geography. Reading in the target language should be taught from the beginning of language instruction; however, the reading skill will be developed through practice with speaking. Culture consists of more than the fine arts.
2. The teacher points to a part of the map after each sentence is read. Objects present in the immediate classroom environment should be used to help students understand the meaning.
3. The teacher uses the target language to ask the students if they have a question. The native language should not be used in the classroom.
4. The teacher answers the students questions by drawing on the blackboard or giving examples. The teacher should demonstrate, not explain or translate. It is desirable that students make a direct association between the target language and meaning.
5. The teacher asks questions about the map in the target language, to which the students reply in a complete sentence in the target language. Students should learn to think in the target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentence, rather than memorizing word lists.
6. Students ask questions about the map. The purpose of language learning is communication
7. The teacher works with the students on the pronunciation of ‘ Appalachian ‘. Pronunciation should be worked on right from the beginning of language instruction.
8. The teacher corrects a grammar error by asking the students to make a choice. Self-correction facilitates language learning.
9. The tacher asks questions about the students; students ask each other questions. Lesson should contain some conversational activity-some opportunity for students to use language in real contexts.
10. The students fill in blanks with prepositions practiced in the lesson. Grammar should be taught inductively. There may never be an explicit grammar rule given.
11. The teacher dictates a paragraph about United States geography. Writing is an important skill, to be developed from the beginning of language instruction.
12. All of the lessons of the week involve United States geography. The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually on linguistic structures.
13. A proverb is used to discuss how people in the U. S view punctually. Learning another language also involves learning how speakers of that language live.
Reviewing the principles
Now let us consider the principles of the Direct Method as they are arranged in answer to the ten question posed earlier:
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the Direct Method?
Teachers who use the Direct Method intend that students learn how to communicate in the target language.
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
Although the teacher directs the class activities the student role is less passive than in the Grammar-Translation Method. The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching/learning process.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
Teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations or topics. Grammar is taught inductively, that is, the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences.
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?
The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from student to teacher, although the latter is often teacher directed. Students converse with one another as well.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.
6. How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?
Language is primarily spoken, not written. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students practice orally first. Pronunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of a course.
8. What is the role of the student native language?
The students’ native language should not be used in the classroom.
9. How is evaluation accomplished?
In the Direct Method, students are asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do so using both oral and written skills.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible.
Reviewing the techniques
are there answers to the ten questions with which you agreed? Then the following techniques may also be useful. Of course, even if you did not agree with all the answers, there may be some techniques of the Direct Method you can adapt to your own approach to teaching.
Reading aloud
Students take turns reading sections of passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn, teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.
Question and answer exercise
This exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice new words and grammatical structures.
Getting students to self-correct
The teacher of this class has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternative answer supplied. Another possibility is for the teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student knows that the next word was wrong.
Fill-in-the-blank exercise
This technique has already been discussed in the Grammar-Translation Method, but differs in its application in the Direct Method. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill in the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.
Dictation
The teacher reads the passage tree times. The first time the teacher reads it t normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by pharase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.
Map drawing
The class included one example of a technique used to give listening comprehension practice. The students were given a map with the geographical features unnamed. The student then instructed the teacher to do the same thing with a map he had drawn on the blackboard. Each student could have a turn giving the teacher instructions for finding and labeling one geographical feature.
Paragraph writing
The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major geographical features of the United States. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.
Conclusion
Now that you have considered the principles and the techniques of the Direct Method somewhat, see what you can find of use for your own teaching situation.
Aulia latifa
3 SA03
10607015
The Grammar – Translation Method
INTRODUCTION
The Grammar – Translation Method is not new. At one time it was called the Classical Method since it was first used in the teaching of the classical language, Latin and Greek ( Chastain 1988 ). This method was used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature. Finally, foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial anyway.
EXPERIENCE
As we enter the classroom, the class is in the middle of reading a passage in their textbook. The passage is an excerpt entitled ‘The Boys’Ambition’ from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. After they have finished reading, they are asked to translate into Spanish the few lines they have just read. The teacher helps them with new vocabulary items. The teacher asks them in Spanish if they have any questions. One girl raises her hand and says, ‘ what is paddle wheel ? ‘ The teacher replies, ‘ Es una rueda de paletas ‘. Another student says, ‘ No understand “ gorgeous. “ The teacher translate, ‘ Primoroso ‘. A student reads out loud, ‘ When did Mark Twain live ? ‘ Another student replies, ‘Mark Twain lived from 1835 to 1910 ‘. ‘ Bueno, ‘ says the teacher, and the students begin working quietly by themselves.
After one-half hour, the teacher, speaking in Spanish, asks the students to stop and check their work. If it is correct, the teacher calls on another students to read the next question. If the answer is incorrect, the teacher selects a different student to supply the correct answer, or the teacher herself gives the right answers.
When they have finished this exercise, the teacher reminds them that English words that look like Spanish words are called ‘ cognates ‘. The English ‘ –ty ’, she says for example, often, corresponds to the Spanish endings –dad and –tad. She calls the students attention to the word ‘ possibility ‘ in the passage and tells them that this word is the same as the Spanish possibilidad.
The next section of the chapter deals with grammar. This is a review for them as they have encountered phrasal verbs before. These are listed following the description, and the students are asked to translate them into Spanish. Then they are given the rule for use of a direct object with two-word verbs :
If the two-word verb is separable, the direct object may come between the verb and its particle. However, separation is necessary when the direct object is a pronoun. If the verb is inseparable, then there is no separation of the verb and particle by the object. For example :
John put away his book
Or
John put his book away/John put it away.
But not
John put away it.
(Because ‘put away ‘is a separable two-word verb )
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
this has been just a brief introduction to the Grammar – Translation Method, but it is a probably true that this method is not new to many of you. Whether this is true or not, let us see what we have learned about the Grammar – Translation Method. Our observations will be listed in the left column; the principles will be listed in the right column. We will make our observations in order, following the lesson plan of the class we observed.
Observation Principles
1. The class is reading an excerpt from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in it. Literary language I superior to spoken language.
2. Students translate the passage from English to Spanish An important goal is for students to be able to translate each language into the order. If they can they are considered successful language learners.
3. The teacher asks students in their native language if they have any question The ability to communicate in the target language is not a goal of foreign language instruction.
4. Students write out the answers to reading comprehension questions. The primary skills to be developed are reading and writing. Little attention is given to speaking and listening, and almost none to pronunciation
5. The teacher decides whether an answer is correct or not The teacher is authority the classroom
6. Students translate new words from English into Spanish It is possible to find native language equivalents for all target language words
7. Students learn that English ‘ –Ty ‘ corresponds to –dad and –tad in Spanish Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language.
8. Students are given a grammar rule for the use of a direct object with two-word verbs. It is important for students to learn about the form of the target language.
9. Students apply a rule to examples they are given Deductive application of an explicit grammar rule is a useful pedagogical technique.
10. Students memorize vocabulary Language learning provides good mental exercise.
11. The teacher asks students to state the grammar rule Students should be conscious of the grammatical rules of the target language
12. Students memorize present tense, past tense, and past participle forms of one act of irregular verbs Wherever possible, verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms should be committed to memory.
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
The principles of the Grammar – Translation Method are organized below by answering the ten questions posed in Chapter 1. Not all the questions are addressed by the Grammar – Translation Method; we will list all the questions, however, so that a comparison among the methods we will study will be easier for you to make.
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the Grammar – Translation Method?
According to the teachers who use the Grammar – Translation Method, a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language. In addition, it is believed that studying a foreign language provides students with good mental exercise which helps develop their minds.
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
The roles are very traditional. The teacher is the authority in the classroom.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
Students are taught to translate from one language to another. They also learn grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations. They memorize native-language equivalents for target language vocabulary words.
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?
Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area
6. How is the language viewed? How is culture viewed?
Literary language is considered superior to spoken language and is therefore the language that students study.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized. Reading and writing are the primary skills that the students work on.
8. What is the role of the students native language?
The meaning of the target language is made clear by translating it into the students native language
9. How is evolution accomplished?
Written tests in which students are asked to translate from their native language to the target language or vice verse are often used. Questions about the target culture or questions that ask students to apply grammar rules are also common.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Having the students get the correct answer is considered very important. If the students make errors do not know an answer, the teacher supplies them with the correct answer.
REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
Ask yourself if any of the answer to the above questions make sense to you. If so, you may choose to try some of the techniques of the Grammar – Translation Method from the review that follows.
Translation of a literary passage
Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language. The passage may be excerpted from some work from the target language literature, or a teacher may write a passage carefully designed to include particular grammar rules and vocabulary.
Reading comprehension questions
Students answer questions in the target language based on their understanding of the reading passage. The questions are sequenced so that the first group of questions asks for information contained within the reading passage.
Antonyms/synonyms
Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading passage. A similar exercise could be done by asking students to find synonyms for a particular set of words. Other exercises that ask students to work with the vocabulary of the passage are also possible.
Cognates
Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages.
Deductive application of rule
Grammars rules are presented with examples. Exceptions to each rule are also noted. Once students understand a rule, they are asked to apply it to some different examples.
Fill-in-the-blanks
Students are given a series of sentences with words missing. They fill in the blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of a particular grammar type.
Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them.
Use word in sentences
In order to show that students understand the meaning and use of a new vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words.
Composition
The topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson.
Conclusion
You have now had an opportunity to examine the principles and some of the techniques of the Grammar – Translation Method. Try to make a connection between what you have understood and your own teaching situation and beliefs.
The Grammar – Translation Method is not new. At one time it was called the Classical Method since it was first used in the teaching of the classical language, Latin and Greek ( Chastain 1988 ). This method was used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature. Finally, foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial anyway.
EXPERIENCE
As we enter the classroom, the class is in the middle of reading a passage in their textbook. The passage is an excerpt entitled ‘The Boys’Ambition’ from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. After they have finished reading, they are asked to translate into Spanish the few lines they have just read. The teacher helps them with new vocabulary items. The teacher asks them in Spanish if they have any questions. One girl raises her hand and says, ‘ what is paddle wheel ? ‘ The teacher replies, ‘ Es una rueda de paletas ‘. Another student says, ‘ No understand “ gorgeous. “ The teacher translate, ‘ Primoroso ‘. A student reads out loud, ‘ When did Mark Twain live ? ‘ Another student replies, ‘Mark Twain lived from 1835 to 1910 ‘. ‘ Bueno, ‘ says the teacher, and the students begin working quietly by themselves.
After one-half hour, the teacher, speaking in Spanish, asks the students to stop and check their work. If it is correct, the teacher calls on another students to read the next question. If the answer is incorrect, the teacher selects a different student to supply the correct answer, or the teacher herself gives the right answers.
When they have finished this exercise, the teacher reminds them that English words that look like Spanish words are called ‘ cognates ‘. The English ‘ –ty ’, she says for example, often, corresponds to the Spanish endings –dad and –tad. She calls the students attention to the word ‘ possibility ‘ in the passage and tells them that this word is the same as the Spanish possibilidad.
The next section of the chapter deals with grammar. This is a review for them as they have encountered phrasal verbs before. These are listed following the description, and the students are asked to translate them into Spanish. Then they are given the rule for use of a direct object with two-word verbs :
If the two-word verb is separable, the direct object may come between the verb and its particle. However, separation is necessary when the direct object is a pronoun. If the verb is inseparable, then there is no separation of the verb and particle by the object. For example :
John put away his book
Or
John put his book away/John put it away.
But not
John put away it.
(Because ‘put away ‘is a separable two-word verb )
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
this has been just a brief introduction to the Grammar – Translation Method, but it is a probably true that this method is not new to many of you. Whether this is true or not, let us see what we have learned about the Grammar – Translation Method. Our observations will be listed in the left column; the principles will be listed in the right column. We will make our observations in order, following the lesson plan of the class we observed.
Observation Principles
1. The class is reading an excerpt from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in it. Literary language I superior to spoken language.
2. Students translate the passage from English to Spanish An important goal is for students to be able to translate each language into the order. If they can they are considered successful language learners.
3. The teacher asks students in their native language if they have any question The ability to communicate in the target language is not a goal of foreign language instruction.
4. Students write out the answers to reading comprehension questions. The primary skills to be developed are reading and writing. Little attention is given to speaking and listening, and almost none to pronunciation
5. The teacher decides whether an answer is correct or not The teacher is authority the classroom
6. Students translate new words from English into Spanish It is possible to find native language equivalents for all target language words
7. Students learn that English ‘ –Ty ‘ corresponds to –dad and –tad in Spanish Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language.
8. Students are given a grammar rule for the use of a direct object with two-word verbs. It is important for students to learn about the form of the target language.
9. Students apply a rule to examples they are given Deductive application of an explicit grammar rule is a useful pedagogical technique.
10. Students memorize vocabulary Language learning provides good mental exercise.
11. The teacher asks students to state the grammar rule Students should be conscious of the grammatical rules of the target language
12. Students memorize present tense, past tense, and past participle forms of one act of irregular verbs Wherever possible, verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms should be committed to memory.
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
The principles of the Grammar – Translation Method are organized below by answering the ten questions posed in Chapter 1. Not all the questions are addressed by the Grammar – Translation Method; we will list all the questions, however, so that a comparison among the methods we will study will be easier for you to make.
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the Grammar – Translation Method?
According to the teachers who use the Grammar – Translation Method, a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language. In addition, it is believed that studying a foreign language provides students with good mental exercise which helps develop their minds.
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
The roles are very traditional. The teacher is the authority in the classroom.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
Students are taught to translate from one language to another. They also learn grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations. They memorize native-language equivalents for target language vocabulary words.
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?
Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student initiation and little student-student interaction.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method which relate to this area
6. How is the language viewed? How is culture viewed?
Literary language is considered superior to spoken language and is therefore the language that students study.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized. Reading and writing are the primary skills that the students work on.
8. What is the role of the students native language?
The meaning of the target language is made clear by translating it into the students native language
9. How is evolution accomplished?
Written tests in which students are asked to translate from their native language to the target language or vice verse are often used. Questions about the target culture or questions that ask students to apply grammar rules are also common.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Having the students get the correct answer is considered very important. If the students make errors do not know an answer, the teacher supplies them with the correct answer.
REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
Ask yourself if any of the answer to the above questions make sense to you. If so, you may choose to try some of the techniques of the Grammar – Translation Method from the review that follows.
Translation of a literary passage
Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language. The passage may be excerpted from some work from the target language literature, or a teacher may write a passage carefully designed to include particular grammar rules and vocabulary.
Reading comprehension questions
Students answer questions in the target language based on their understanding of the reading passage. The questions are sequenced so that the first group of questions asks for information contained within the reading passage.
Antonyms/synonyms
Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading passage. A similar exercise could be done by asking students to find synonyms for a particular set of words. Other exercises that ask students to work with the vocabulary of the passage are also possible.
Cognates
Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages.
Deductive application of rule
Grammars rules are presented with examples. Exceptions to each rule are also noted. Once students understand a rule, they are asked to apply it to some different examples.
Fill-in-the-blanks
Students are given a series of sentences with words missing. They fill in the blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of a particular grammar type.
Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them.
Use word in sentences
In order to show that students understand the meaning and use of a new vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words.
Composition
The topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson.
Conclusion
You have now had an opportunity to examine the principles and some of the techniques of the Grammar – Translation Method. Try to make a connection between what you have understood and your own teaching situation and beliefs.
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