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The Audiolingual Method



Overview I Objectives t Key Features I Typical Techniques I Comments

The next "revolution" in terms of language teaching methodology coincided with World War II, when America became aware that it needed people to learn foreign languages very quickly as part of its overall military operations. The "Army Method" was suddenly developed to build communicative competence in translators through velY intensive language courses focusing on auraVoral skills. This in combination with some new ideas about language leaming coming from the disciplines of descriptive linguistics and behavioral psychology went on to become what is known as the Audiolingual Method (ALM).

This new method incorporated many of the features typical of the earlier Direct Method, but the disciplines mentioned above added the concepts of teaching ~linguistiC patterns" in combination with "habit-forming·. This method was one of the first to have its roots ''firmly grounded in linguistic and psychological theory" (Brown 1994:57), which apparently added to its credibility and probably had some influence in the popularity it enjoyed over a long period of time. It also had a major influence on the language teaching methods that were to follow, and can still be seen in major or minor manifestations of language teaching methodology even to this day.

Another factor that accounted for the method's popularity was the "quick success" it achieved in leading leamers towards communicative competence. Through extensive mimiCfY, memorization and "over-teaming~ of language patterns and forms, students and teachers were often able to see immediate results. This was both its strength and its failure in the long run, as critics began to point out that the method did not deliver in terms of producing fong-tel1l1 communicative ability.

The study of linguistics itSelf was to change, and the area of second language learning became a discipline in its own right. Cognitive psychologists developed new views ol'lleamil'lg in general, arguing that mimicry and rote teaming could not account for the fact that language leaming involved affective and interpersonal factors, that reamers were able to produce language forms and patterns that they had never heard before. The idea that thinking processes themselves led to the discove/)' of independent language "rule formation- (rather than -habit formation") and that affective factors influenced their application paved the way toward the new methods that were to follow the Audiolingual Method. Objectives

Just as with the Direct Method that preceded it, the overall goal of the Audiolingual Method was to create communicative competence in learners. However, it was thought that the most effective way to do this was for students to ·overlearn" the language being studied through extensive repetition and a variety of elaborate drills. The idea was to project the linguistic pattems of the language (based on the studies of strucf.urallinguists) into the minds of the learners in a way that made responses automatic and "habituar'. To this end it was held that the language "habits" of the first language would constantly interfere, and the only way to overcome ths problem was to facilitate the learning of a new set of "habits" appropriate linguistically to the language being studied.

IQ210bjectives I Key Features I Typical Techniques I Comments Key Features

Here is a summary of the key features ofthe Audiolingual Method, taken from Brown (1994:57) and adapted from Prator and Celee-Murcia (1979).

(1) New material is presented in dialog form.

(2) There is dependence on mimiCfY, memorization of set phrases, and overlearning.

(3) Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at a time.

(4) Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.

(5) There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than

. deductive explanation.

(6) Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.

(7) There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids.

(8) Great importance is attached to pronunciation.

(9) Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted.

(10) Successful responses are immediately reinforced.

(11) There is great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances.

IQQ I Objectives I Key Fe.atures I Typical Techniques I Comments Typical Techniques

larsen-Freeman, in her book Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (1986:45-47) provides expanded descriptions of some commonltypical techniques closely associated with the Audiolingual Method. The listing here is in summary form only.

(1) Dialog Memorization

(Students memorize an opening dialog using mimicry and applied role-playing)

(2) Backward Build-up (Expansion Drill)

(Teacher breaks a line into several parts, students repeat each part starting at the end of the sentence and Hexpanding" backwards through the sentence, adding each part in sequence)

(3) Repitition Drill

(Students repeat teachers model as quickly and accurately as possible)

(4) Chaiil1 IID;iIl!

(Students ask and answer each other one-by-one in a circular chain around the classroom)

(5) Single Slot Substitution Drill

(Teacher states a line from the dialog, then uses a word or a phrase as a "cue" that students, when repeating the line, must substitute into the sentence in the correct place)

(6) Multiple-slot Substitution Drill

(Same as the Single Slot drill, except that there are multiple cues to be substituted into the line)

(7) Transformation Drill

(Teacher provides a sentence that must be turned into something else, for example a question to be tumed into a statement, an active sentence to be tumed into a negative statement, etc)

(8) QuestioTrcandLanswerrIDtilil

(StUdt:mfs; s!fuMJldfslilswerrOJr askqpestii!mJ; v.ery:quiGfdY}J

(9)l!lS:eoftMiilimal !Paiis;

(Using contrastive analysis, teacher selects a pair of words that sound identical except for a single

sound that typically poses difficulty for the learners - students are to pronounce and differentiate the two words)

(10)G'omp:letethelJlialom

(Selected words are erased from a line in the dialog - students must find and insert)

(11) GrammarrGames;

((Vd'lTJo:usgpme:s;oosii1fJecifto; (JIiEmtiire; agpammBlfp:Qintt iN, cnfext;, using /iiJfs;af/ repetitioTJ}j

The audio-Ungual method

However, most teaching through the first half of the 20th C continued to be some version or other of Grammar/translation. Things were to change during WWII.

Need for American army personnel to learn a wide variety of languages. Army turned to two sources for their courses.

• 1. Descriptive linguists who had worked with American Indian languages.

• 2. Behavioural learning techniques which stressed the importance of reinforcement - repetition + rewards - language as a set ofbabits

The methods used appear to have been very successful - soldiers learnt to speak exotic tongues enough to communicate in a very short time.

Two sessions

1. Situation based dialogues - practised and memorized, followed by structural drills. Teaching done by a linguist or a native speaker trained by a linguist

2. Conversation sessions with a native speaker - usually no more than ten learners.

This gave rise to the Audio-lingual Method - mostly based on the ideas encapsulated in the first session. Language performance consists of a set of habits - Students do not have to understand the grammar in order to use it

Classes -

a) new material presented in situational dialogues that were supposed to represent real world situations.

b) pattern drills - manipulation of the vocab and structures, until they become unconscious habits.

c) application of the rules thus learnt in semi-guided conversation

At first, the audiolingual method insisted that students should work on only oral material

- children learn first language without writing

- the written word would cause interference - particularly in pronunciation.

- grammar/translation was overwhelmingly based on written material.

But this was resisted by students, and gradually the audiolingual approach adopted a more relaxed attitude to the written word.

Critique

• 1. habit formation takes a long time, and the drills were insufficient. Making them long enough to do the job would render them dreadfully boring.

• 2. the inductive learning - drills, then the rules - does not suit all pupils.

• 3. students just repeat the drills without understanding them - they are not communicative.

Dissatisfaction grew. This lead to a number of different approaches, most of which can be looked upon as basically communicative. That is, the fundamental idea is that a language can only be learnt if it is used in a meaningful way.

The Audiolingual Method

The outbreak of World War IT heightened the need for Americans to become orally proficient in the languages of their allies and enemies alike. To this end, bits and pieces of the Direct Method were appropriated in order to form and support this new method, the "Anny Method," which came to be known in the 1950s as the Audiolingual Method.

The Audiolingual Method was based on linguistic and psychological theory and one of its main premises was the scientific descriptive analysis of a wide assortment of languages. On the other hand, conditioning and habit-formation models of learning put forward by behaviouristic phychologists were married with the pattern practices of the Audiolingual Method. The following points sum up the characteristics of the method:

• Dependence on mimicry and memorisation of set phrases

• Teaching structural patterns by means of repetitive drills (??Repetitio est mater

studiorum??)

• No grammatical explanation

• Learning vocabulary in context

• Use of tapes and visual aids

• Focus on pronunciation

• Immediate reinforcement of correct responses

But its popularity waned after 1964, partly because ofWilga Rivers's exposure of its shortcomings. It fell short of promoting communicative ability as it paid undue attention to memorisation and drilling, while downgrading the role of context and world knowledge in language learning. After all, it was discovered that language was not acquired through a process of habit formation and errors were not necessarily bad or pernicious.

The Audiolingual Method

This method is based on the principles of behavior psychology. It adapted many of the principles and procedures of the Direct Method, in part as a reaction to the lack of speaking skills of the Reading Approach.

New material is presented in the form of a dialogue. Based on the principle that language learning is habit formation, the method fosters dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and overlearning. Structures are sequenced and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. little or no grammatical explanations are provided; grammar is taught inductively. Skills are sequenced: Listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed in order. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. Teaching points are determined by contrastive analysis between L 1 and L2. There is abundant use of language laboratories, tapes and visual aids. There is an extended pre-reading period at the beginning of the course. Great importance is given to precise native-like pronunciation. Use of the mother tongue by the teacher is permitted, but discouraged among and by the students. Successful responses are reinforced; great care is taken to prevent learner errors. There is a tendency to focus on manipulation of the target language and to disregard content and meaning.

Hints for Using Audio-lingual Drills in L2 Teaching

1. The teacher must be careful to insure that all of the utterances which students will make are actually within the practiced pattern. For example, the use of the AUX verb have should not suddenly switch to have as a main verb.

2. Drills should be conducted as rapidly as possibly so as to insure automaticity and to establish a system.

3. Ignore all but gross errors of pronunciation when drilling for grammar practice.

4. Use of shortcuts to keep the pace 0 drills at a maximum. Use hand motions, signal cards, notes, etc. to cue response. You are a choir director.

5. Use normal English stress, intonation, and juncture patterns conscientiously.

6. Drill material should always be meaningful. If the content words are not known, teach their meanings.

7. Intersperse short periods of drill (about 10 minutes) with very brief alternative activities to avoid fatigue and boredom.

8. Introduce the drill in this way:

a. Focus (by writing on the board, for example)

b. Exemplify (by speaking model sentences)

c. Explain (if a simple grammatical explanation is needed)

d. Drill

9. Don't stand in one place; move about the room standing next to as many different students as possible to spot check their production. Thus you will know who to give more practice to during individual drilling.

10. Use the "backward buildupll technique for long and/or difficult patterns.

-tomorrow

--in the cafeteria tomorrow

--will be eating in the cafeteria tomorrow

--Those boys will be eating in the cafeteria tomorrow.

11. Arrange to present drills in the order of increasing complexity of student response. The question is: How much internal organization or decision making must the student do in order to make a response in this drill. Thus: imitation first, single-slot substitution next, then free response last.

Audio

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Audio-lingual method

Introduction

This method is developed in the time of 1960's. this method was first developed in the United States during World War II. At that time many soldiers needed to learn foreign language for immediately military purposes. Therefore this method also called Army method. The purpose of the method is to clarify students' pronunciation and train their ability of listening.

Teaching Principals:

1. Structural school

2. Behaviorism

3. Teach sociolinguistic knowledge

Content

IGoal !Use the target language commjnicatively

I~~-----------------------------+~~~~~------------------------~

[Role of Teacher [Orchestra leader

[Role of Student ! Follower

I Characteristic

limitation and repetition. Positively reinforced.

i

!Overlearn, use it automatically without thinking

[Gramrnar is induced form drills

i

I

[Interaction

iStudent-student in dialogue mostly between lTeacher and Students

iLanguoge skill !

I

[Oral/Aural skills i

!Discriminate pronunciation

!Role of native language

i Focus on structure

iTeach grammar inductively

iNone

: Based on linguistic complexity

lLanguage view

iCulture view

jContextualized Culture in dialogue

i Evaluation

lNo formal text

i Correct immedia

i

tErrors

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Experience

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Let's go through the experience of ALM. Teacher first will give students a dialogue which is for everyday usage. He/she will read the dialogue and act out the action to let students understand. During this time, students couldn't hear any language from their native language. Teacher would convey through his/her body language.

Bob: Hi, Alice. How are you?

Alice: I'm fine, and you?

'1ob: Not very good. I want to play online and chat with my internet friends.

Alice: Well, why don't you go online then?

Bob: I can't. My mom wants me to go outside and play more.

Alice: My mom is like your mom. She thinks it is good to go outside and play.

Bob: Really? Then how about going outside to play with me after school today?

(from EZ basic march 2003)

Later on, Teacher will ask students to repeat after he/she. For those difficult lines, teacher will use a backward build-up drill to train these students. The purpose of this drill is to break down the difficult sentence into small parts.

Class: friends

Teacher: friends

Teacher: internet friends

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Experience

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Class: internet friends

Teacher: my internet friend

('"

C:~="-Iass: my internet friend

Teacher: with my internet friend

Class: with my internet friend

Teacher: chat with my internet friend

Class: chat with my internet friend

Then, teacher continue to practice chain drill, substitution drill to repeat and repeat until students familiar with these sound. Chain drill gives students an opportunity to say the lines individually. At the same time, they can learn how to communicate because immediate send and receive of message. Substitution drills gives them an opportunity to know how to use the sentences. At the same time, they learn about the grammar.

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The i\udio-lingual method

e' II About l.inqual.lnks I library contents / Book contents I Page context

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The Audio-lingual method

Introduction

The audio-lingual method was widely used in the United States and other countriesin the 1950's and 1960's, It is still used in some programs today.

Approach

Theory of language

Th~c.s:tructural view of language is the view behind the audio-lingual method. Particular emphasis was laid on mastering the building blocks of language and learning the rules for combining them.

Theory of learning

Behaviorism, including the following principles:

• language learning is habit-formation

• mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they make bad habits

• language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally fITSt, then in written form

• analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis

• the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context

Design

Objectives

Here are some of the objectives of the audio-lingual method:

• accurate pronunciation and grammar

• ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations

• know ledge of sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar patterns.

The syllabus

Audiolingualism uses a structural syllabus

Types of learning techniques and activities

• dialogues

• drills

Procedure

Here is a typical procedure in an audio-lingual course

• Students hear a model dialogue

• Students repeat each line of the dialogue

• Certain key words or phrases may be changed in the dialogue

• Key structures from thedialogue serveas the basis for pattern drills of different kinds.

• The students practice substitutions in the pattern drills

Context for this page:

• Fact module: The AU_QiQ:limmal method

• In overview module: A brief_l;JJ[Y~YcQfJJ:ID_g_ugge learning meth9_g~

• In modular book: Ways to Approa~b. .. L.ill!guage Learning, by CaroLI._.9rwig

• In bookshelf: LanguagcLI&.ill]1..IDg

This page is an extract from the Ling1l&Link~_LiD.r.IDY, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SlLJ!1t~m<!1:ionill., 1999. [Ordering information.]

htlp:llwww.si1.org/lingualinksILANGUAGELEARNING/WaysToApproachLanguageLeamingiTheAudio ...

7/8/2007

Audi?-Lingual Method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

~Audio-Lingual Method

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Audio-Lingual Method, or the Army Method or also the New Key[1], is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist ideology, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a system of

reinforcement=correct use of a trait would receive positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback.

This approach to language learning was similar to another, earlier method called the Direct Method. Like the Direct Method, the Audio-Lingual Method advised that students be taught a language directly, without using the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language. However, unlike the Direct Method, the Audiolingual Method didn't focus on teaching vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.

Applied to language instruction, and often within the context of the language lab, this means that the instructor would present the correct model of a sentence and the students would have to repeat it. The teacher would then continue by presenting new words for the students to sample in the same structure. In audio-lingualism, there is no explicit grammar instruction--everything is simply memorized in form. The idea is for the students to practice the particular construct until they can use it spontaneously. In this manner, the lessons are built on static drills in which the students have little or no control on their own output; the teacher is expecting a particular response and not providing that will result in a student receiving negative feedback. This type of activity, for the foundation of language learning, is in direct opposition with communicative language teaching.

Charles Fries, the director of the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States, believed that learning structure, or grammar was the starting point for the student. In other words, it was the students' job to orally recite the basic sentence patterns and grammatical structures. The students were only given "enough vocabulary to make such drills possible." (Richards, le. et-al. 1986). Fries later included principles for behavioural psychology, as developed by B.F. Skinner, into this method.

• 1 Example

• 2 Historical Roots

• 3 In Practice

• 4 Fall from popularity

• 5 Today

• 6 References

• 7 External links

Contents

Example

"Teacher: There's a cup on the table ... repeat Students: There's a cup on the table

Teacher: Spoon

Students: There's a spoon on the table Teacher: Book

Students: There's a book on the table Teacher: On the chair

Students: There's a book on the chair etc.,,[2]

Historical Roots

The Audio-lingual method is the product of three historical circumstances. For its views on language, audiolingualism drew on the work of American linguists such as Leonard Bloomfield. The prime concern of American Linguistics at the early decades of the 20th century had been to document all the indigenous languages spoken in the USA. However, because of the dearth of trained native teachers who would provide a "heoretical description of the native languages, linguists had to rely on observation. For the same reason, a strong focus on oral language was developed. At the same time, behaviourist psychologists such as B.F. Skinner were forming the belief that all behaviour (including language) was learnt through repetition and positive or negative reinforcement. The third factor that enabled the birth of the Audio-lingual method was the outbreak of World War II, which created the need to post large number of American servicemen all over the world. It was therefore necessary to provide these soldiers with at least basic verbal communication skills. Unsurprisingly, the new method relied on the prevailing

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Audio-Lingual Method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

. ~

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~. scientific methods of the time, observation and repetition, which were also admirably suited to teaching en masse. Because of the influence of the military, early versions of the audio-lingualism came to be known as the "army method.vl-l.

(J~ Practice \---

As mentioned, lessons in the classroom focus on the correct imitation of the teacher by the students. Not only are the students expected to produce the correct output, but attention is also paid to correct pronunciation. Although correct grammar is expected in usage, no explicit

grammatical instruction is given. Furthermore, the target language is the only language to be used in the classroom.l-l Modern day implementations are more lax on this last requirement.

Fall from popularity

In the late 1950s, the theoretical underpinnings of the method were questioned by linguists such as Noam Chomsky, who pointed out the limitations of structural linguistics. The relevance of behaviorist psychology to language learning was also questioned, most famously by Chomsky's review (http://cogprints.orglI148/00/chomsky.htm)ofB.F.Skinner's Verbal Behavior in 1959. The audio-lingual method was thus deprived of its scientific credibility and it was only a matter oftime before the effectiveness of the method itself was questioned.

In 1964, Wilga Rivers released a critique of the method in her book, "The Psychologist and the Foreign Language Teacher." Subsequent research by others, inspired by her book, produced results which showed explicit grammatical instruction in the mother language to be more productive. These developments, coupled with the emergence of humanist pedagogy led to a rapid decline in the popularity of audiolingualism.

Today

Despite being discredited as an effective teaching methodology in the 19608, audio-lingualism continues to be used today, although it is typically not used as the foundation of a course, but rather, has been relegated to use in individual lessons. As it continues to be used, it also continues to gain criticism, as Jeremy Harmer notes, "Audio-lingual methodology seems to banish all forms of language processing that help students sort out new language information in their own minds .. " As this type oflesson is very teacher centered, it is a popular methodology for

(- . -'Jth teachers and students, perhaps for several reasons but in particular, because the input and output is restricted and both parties know what

\ J expect.

References

1. A abc Barker, James L. On The Mortality of Language Learning Methods. Speech Nov. 82001. http://www.didascalia.be/mortality.htm

2. A Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd Edition. pg. 79-80. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd., 2001

External links

• Saskatchewan Schools' Audio-lingual method page (http://www.saskschools.calcurr_contentlhuttlesllalmethod.htm)

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