THE AUDIO-LINGUAL

METHOD

BACKGROUND

• First called, the "Army Method" (during

World War II)

• AIM to develop communicative

competence in translators

through very intensive language courses

focusing on audio/oral skills. 

BACKGROUND

This in combination with structural linguistics and behavioral psychology

Become into the Audiolingual Method (ALM).

BACKGROUND

• Founded around 1950’s and 1960’s • ALM the way to acquire the

sentence patterns of the target language by repetition of dialogues about every day situations that are imitated and drilled to make the response automatic.

BACKGROUND

• 1939: University of Michigan developed the first English Language Institute in the USA

• They applied the principles of structural linguistics.

THEORY OF LEARNING

• Stimulus organism Response behaviour Reinforcement

• HABIT FORMATION

BEHAVIOURISM

GOALSForming new habits through

overcoming the old habit.

students have to use the target language communicatively

students need to overlearn the target language to use it automatically without stopping to

think.

Teacher Role/Student Role

• The teacher is like an orchestra leader.

• Providing students with a good model for

imitation.

Learner Roles

• Students are imitators of the teacher´s

model.

• They follow the teacher´s direction as

accurately as possible.

• They are learning

a new form of verbal behaviour.

Teaching/learning process

• New vocabulary and structural patterns are

presented through dialogues.

• Dialogues– learning through

imitation and repetition

• Positively reinforced

• Grammar is induced from the eg.

Teacher – students interaction

• There is student- student

interaction in chain drills or when

students take different roles in

dialogs, but this interaction is

teacher – directed.

Teacher – students interaction

• Most of the interaction is

between teacher and students

and is initiated by the teacher.

TY

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Dialogs: means of contextualizing key

structures and cultural aspects.

Used for repetition and memorization.

For correct pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation

Drills: practice of grammatical patterns

Repetition – Inflection – Replacement – Restatement . Completion.

The Role of Materials

• Not used at beginner levels.• Only a teacher has access to it.• They provide the texts of dialogues and

cues needed for drills and exercises.

Textbooks

• Pictures. Tape recorders. Language laboratory.

Audiovisual equipment

The view of language/ the view of culture

• The view of language → influenced by

descriptive linguists.

• Each level( phonological, morphological…)has

its own distinctive patterns.

The view of language/ the view of culture

• Everyday speech is emphasized.

• The level of complexity of the speech is

graded.

What areas of language are emphasized?

• Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the

students are mastering the sound system

and grammatical patterns.

What language skills are emphasized?

• The natural order of skills presentation :

listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

• The oral/aural skills receive

most of the attention .

The role of native language

• The habits of the students’ native language

are thought to interfere with the students’

attempts to master the target language.

• The target language is mostly

used in the classroom.

EVALUATION

• The evaluation is discrete – point in nature

Each question on the test would focus on only one point of the language at the time.

e.g. distinction between words

in a minimal pair or supply

an appropriate verb form in a sentence.

ERRORS

• Students errors should be avoided

• Teacher´s awareness of where the

students will have difficulty and

restriction of what they are taught to

say.

PROCEDURE

1. Students first hear a model dialogue containing key structures.

2. Students repeat each line of the dialogue, individually and in chorus.

3. Sts memorize the dialogue.4. A line is broken into parts to avoid mistakes.5. The dialog is adapted to students' interests or

situations by changing key words.6. Sts can refer to textbooks, follow-up reading,

writing or vocabulary activities.

TECHNIQUES

• Dialog memorization

• Backward build – up (expansion) drill

• Repetition drill

• Chain drill

• Single – slot substitution drill

TECHNIQUES

• Multiple – slot substitution drill

• Transformation drill

• Question and answer drill

• Use of minimal pairs

• Complete the dialog

• Grammar game

Bibliography

• Larsen-Freeman, Diane. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford. 2000