THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

FLE 238 (I): APPROACHES TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING

FALL ’14

Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Language Education

Background• Pearl Harbour attacks

•The need for different language specialists

• National Defense Language College

Charles Fries from the University of Michigan led the way in applying principles from structural linguistics in developing the method. Thus, this method is sometimes called «Michigan Method.»

Structural Linguistics

Language is a system of structural related elements, like phonological units, grammatical units, and lexical items, for the transmission of meaning. So to learn the target language is to mater the elements of the target language system.

Behavioral Psychology•Language learning is habit-formation.

•Mistakes, the bad habit, should be avoided.

•Language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form.

•The meaning of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.

Teaching• An oral-based approach.

• Listening is highly important.

• Instructions are in the target language.

Principles•Separation of language skills into listening, speaking, reading and writing, with emphasis on the teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing;

•Use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language;

•Emphasis on certain practice techniques: mimicry, memorization and pattern drills;

•Discouraging the use of the mother tongue in the classroom

Techniques

Dialogue memorization

• Students take the role of one person in the dialogue and the teacher the other.

• Switch roles and memorize the other person’s part.

• Half of the class to take one role and the other half to take the other.

• Some pairs of students might perform the dialogue for the rest of the class.

Person 1: Good morning, Bill.

Person 2: Good morning, Sally.

Person 1: How are you?

Person 2: Fine thanks, and you?

Person 1: Fine. Where are you going?

Person 2: I'm going to the post office.

Person 1: I am too. Shall we go together?

Person 2: Sure. Let's go.

Backward build-up drill

• to teach long lines of dialogues:• break down the line into several parts • repeat a part of the sentence• follow the teacher, students expand • repeat part by part till being able to repeat the entire line.

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.

Chain drill• To make students ask and answer questions with

each other.

• It allows some controlled communication among students and give the teacher an opportunity to check students’ speech.

•Teacher: How are you?

•Student 1: Fine thanks. How are you?

•Student 2: Fine thanks. How are you?

•Student 3: Fine thanks. How are you? .....

Single/Multiple-slot substitution drill• To give cue phrase(s), one at time, that fits into

different slot(s) in the dialogue line.

• To recognize what part if speech each cue is and make any other changes, such as subject-verb agreement.

• To fit cue phrase into line where it belongs and to say the line loudly.

Teacher: school

Students: I am going to school.

Teacher: barber

Students: I am going to barber.

Teacher: hospital

Students: I am going to hospital.

Transformation drill

• to change a certain kind of sentence pattern to another form• to transform an affirmative sentence into a

negative one• to transform a statement into a question. • to transform an active sentence into a

passive one• to transform a direct speech into reported

one

I'm going to the post office.I'm not going to the post office.

Shall we go together?Let’s go together.

Question-answer drill

• Students practice the target language with answering questions and the question patterns.

• Students answer the teacher’s question quickly.

Advantages•The first method to have a theory. • Making language teaching possible to large groups of learners • Emphasizing sentence production , control over grammatical structures and development of oral ability.• Developing simple techniques and making use of language labs.• Developing the separation of the language skills

Disadvantages

• Based on a weak theory• Not developing language competence , lack of effectiveness , and boredom caused by endless pattern drills.• Learners having little control over their learning.• Teacher’s domination of the class .• Teacher-oriented materials.

Today

•Scientifically discredited

•Sometimes used in ESL classrooms

Now, see a demonstration of the Audio-Lingual Method in a German class, of A 1.1 level. The aim of the class is to communicate for basic needs during their Erasmus programme in DACH countries.

Thank you for your participation.

Let’s elaborate on the method now.

DISCUSSION

Have you ever been taught with this method? What was your experience like?

What is the student-teacher and student-student relationship in an AML class?

Do you think this method fosters or prevents creativity?

What is the role of students’ native language in this method?

What areas of language are emphasized?

What is the teacher’s reaction to student errors?

In what way grammar is taught in the method?

What kind of evaluation can be implemented under this method?

Can the method be applied to young learners or beginners?

Would you instruct using the Audio-Lingual Method? Why (not)?

What are the differences/similarities between the Audio-Lingual and Direct Methods?

What are the cons of this method?

Among the three methods we’ve learned about so far, do you think the Audio-Lingual Method works best in English Language Teaching? Why? If not, which method would, and why?

Thank you for your attention and participation.

Ahmet BAYRAMUğur ÇAKIROĞLUYasin ALTUN