Background information of Silent Method

The Silent Method is a language teaching method which is created by Caleb

Gattegno (1911-1988). The Silent Method was first introduced in Gattegnos book
Teach Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Method (Gattegno, 1963). Gattegno
was an outsider to language education when Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools
was first published in 1963. Gattegno gain the idea of using colour charts and
coloured Cuisenaire rods in this method out of his experience as a designer of
mathematics and reading programmes (Richards, 1986). Gattegno developed these
ideas to solve general problems in learning, and he also applied them to his work in
the teaching of mathematics and spelling in the mother tongue (Stevick, 1974).

The Silent Method is famous for its use of silence by the teacher as a
technique in teaching language to students. Gattegnos name is best known for revival
of interest in the use of coloured wooden sticks called Cuisenaire rods and for his
series Words in Colour, an approach to the teaching of initial reading in which sounds
are coded by specific colours (Richards & Rodgers, 1987). The fundamental element
in the Silent Method is the pronunciation as most beginner courses start with
pronunciation.

In Gattegnos method, the silence of the teacher can act as an inducement for
the students to take the initiative in learning (Ko, 1994). The principle of the Silent
Method is that the teacher should remain silent as much as possible in the classroom
during lesson and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as
possible for effective learning. The general goal of the Silent Method is to help
beginning-level students gain basic fluency in the target language, with the ultimate
aim of gaining near-native language proficiency and good pronunciation (Richards,
1986).

Main idea of the Silent Method

The Silent Method is viewed as a method for discovery learning, where the
learners will learn through problem solving, thinking creatively and participating in
discovering activities during lessons in classroom. The learners are participating in the
process of learning rather than being a bench-bound listener (Bruner, 1966). The
learners will involve themselves fully in language learning instead of just listening to
the teacher teaching at the front of the class. Just as what Benjamin Franklin quotes,
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.

In the Silent Method, teachers are usually silent. This is unique as in

traditional classrooms, there are more teacher talking time rather than learner talking
time. Traditional classrooms teachers are usually the one speaking because they have
the responsibility to explain language rules and grammars for the learners
comprehension. Learners may just disengage their attention from the teacher sooner
or later because they feel that they do not have any responsibilities other than just
listening. Teaching in Silent Method however, occurs through the use of gestures,
charts, and manipulatives all done in silence by the teacher to elicit response from the
learners (Richards & Rodgers, 1987). As the teacher remain silent, the students on the
other hand have to be the ones to speak out and they tend to focus more and pay extra
attention in class rather than just being a listener.

According to Stevick (1980), the Silent Method defined teachers tasks as to

teach, to test, and to get out of the way. To teach means the teacher will model a
word, phrase or a sentence and then obtain response from the learners. Learners will
try to create their own words and utterances until the teacher obtains a satisfactory
answer while the teacher remaining silent from the start to the end. In the process, the
teacher will attempt to use nonverbal clues to get meanings from the learners and to
provide clues. The learners are then tested by the teacher thereafter to elicit correct
response and shape their production. Lastly, the teacher will silently monitor learners
interaction with one another. The teacher is important in creating an environment that
encourages learners to take risks in answering questions so as to facilitate learning.
The teachers role is of neutral, where the teacher will not praise for correct
performance or punish for error (Richards & Rodgers, 1987).

The learner also plays an important role in the Silent Method as the learner
should be willing to participate and involve fully in the lesson. The learners should be
able to work through trial and error and slowly build from there in the learning
process. Leaners will slowly figure out that they must rely on themselves and be
independent learners as they have to seek for their own resources based on the
knowledge that they have. They also have to open up to new things in a new
language. With that, the learner can figure out additional words by using the existing
knowledge that they have (Stevick, 1980).

Learners will not be provided with adequate explanations, so they are required
to make their own generalization, deduce a conclusion and formulate rules that they
require to complete the task given by the teacher of the Silent Method. Therefore,
learners are expected to interact with one another to gather as many information from
each other as possible. They are to learn how to work together cooperatively instead
of competitively in this situation. Every learner in the group has to play a different
role such as a teacher, a learner, part of a support system, a problem solver, and a selfevaluator (Richards & Rodgers, 1987).

It is important that the teacher and learners play their respective roles in The
Silent Method because as one party does not comply with the roles, the Silent Method
will not work to its full potential. For example, the teachers should always remain
silent during the lesson regardless of how tempting it is to speak out and to provide
answer directly to the learners, otherwise the lesson carried out will be disrupted and
the meaning of the whole Silent Method teaching would dissipate. Learners on the
other hand, should be open to new experiences and stay out of their comfort zone,
learn how to be independent and at the same time seek help from other learners.

The resources used in the Silent Method are mostly physical objects. The
teaching materials include mainly of a set of coloured rods, color-coded pronunciation
and vocabulary wall charts, a pointer, and reading/writing exercises, all for the

purposes of illustrating the sound and meaning of the target language (Richards &
Rodgers, 1987). The materials are designed so as to facilitate the learning experience
of the learners and to assist the teacher in inducing response from the learners. This
brings us to the pronunciation charts, called Fidels.

Fidels are designed to contain symbols and sounds in the target language.
The symbols are colour coded according to the similar pronunciation. For example,
there are two ways of pronouncing the word the, therefore two different colours are
marked on the word the to emphasise the difference in pronunciation. Moreover,
there are the coloured Cuisenaire rods used to directly link words and structures with
their meanings in the target language, thereby avoiding translation into the native
language (Richards & Rodgers, 1987). There are also the vocabulary and word charts,
books and worksheets for practicing and writing, tapes, videotapes, films and other
visual aids.

Critical comments on The Silent Method

Even though the Silent Method provides countless benefits in learning a
language, but it is not workable in Malaysias education system. The reason being the
Silent Method is time consuming and requires a lot of effort as it is compulsory for
the teacher to learn the usage of the coloured Cuisenaire rods and Fidels chart.
Besides, the learners would struggle and waste a lot of time in understanding a certain
concept which can be easily clarified through the teachers direct guidance. Many
public schools in Malaysia run on a two-session system, which is in the morning and
afternoon to accommodate the high number of students. Thus the time provided for a
lesson is limited and is not suitable for teachers to use the Silent Method as it would
takes up a lot of time compared to the traditional teaching method.

Besides that, the lack of participation of teachers in the Silent Method

classroom may also neglect the needs of certain introvert students during the lesson as
the lesson requires students to open up to errors and mistakes. In addition, the teacher
does not provide any verbal answer to the students, thus the students would have to

try to obtain the correct words, sentences, or pronunciation. This would be difficult in
the Malaysian context as most of the learners here do not acquire English as their first
language, Malaysian students may be influenced with pronunciation from other
languages which are widely used in Malaysia like Malay, Mandarin and Tamil,
therefore the fundamental aspect of the Silent Method, which is pronunciation, would
be difficult to apply as there would be interference from other languages especially
Malay, which has many words similar to English but are pronounced different, for
example words like Hospital, ambulance and status.

Furthermore, most Asian countries education system requires students to

remain silent and obedient during lesson as some overexcited students may disrupt the
class and impair the on-going lesson carried out by the teacher. So students only voice
out when they were called out by the teacher, most students were critised for cutting
off the teachers speech during lesson, this indirectly shapes the students behaviour in
Asian countries to remain silent as much as possible during lesson.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Silent Method is not aplication in Malaysia. However, it is
useful in the sense that learners can remember the concept well as the Silent Method
is based on inductive approach. It is suitable for tactile and kinesthetic learners.
Students are expected to become independent, autonomous and responsible
(Gattegno, 1976). In other words, students are expected to be good problem solver in
language. Students are encouraged to actively explore the language, and to develop
their own 'inner criteria' as to what is linguistically acceptable. It is proven that
through application, and by doing a certain task during lesson, students will be able to
remember a certain concept well compared to listening skills alone. This method also
trains the students to communicate well with their peers, to seek answer and learn
from one another.

However, the shortcomings of this method is that it is not applicable in limited

time contraint classrooms and students who are introvert and not ready to step out of

their comfort zone. Also, the Silent Method can only be used by teachers who are not
free to adopt the Communicative Approach. Teachers must be able to contain
themselves from giving direct answers to the students if they fail to provide the
answer that the teacher wants. Students must also arrive to a certain intelligent level to
be able to think out of the box as the Silent Method depends mostly on the students
prior knowledge of a language.

In a nutshell, there are the ups and downs in the Silent Method. With adequate
knowledge, the students can further progress and build up more words and vocabulary
with the Silent Method, but if the student is lacking in basic knowledge for a
language, it will be difficult for the student to learn through the Silent Method.