The Audio-lingual Method

THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

OSCAR ALFREDO TORRES ORELLANA

Teaching Methods, Technical IV Professor Elmer Guardado, October 21st, 2013.

The Audio-lingual Method

The audio-lingual method

This method refer how the student can learn in order to use the techniques that this method has as improve the listening and speaking that the student need by getting a better comprehension or performing of the language. This method was developed mainly in America in the sixties and seventies. The audiolingual method tries to demonstrate the fact that a language teaching method can be based on rigorous scientific disciples like linguistic and psychology. The roots of the audio-lingual method can be traced back to the languages teaching programmes devised in America during the Second World War. its focus was on the learner's ability to gain the communicative skills required in everyday discourse, particularly the skills of listening and speaking in the target language. William Moulton of Princeton the university enumerated five slogans which formed the basis of the audio-lingual method. The language is a speech. Not writing. A language is a set of habits. (Larsen-Freeman, 2000 and 2003)

For more understanding I am going to develop the following questions:

1-What is audio-lingual method? 2- What are the principles and the techniques of the Audio-lingual Method? 3- Who developed the audio-lingual method? 4- What was proposed of the audio-lingual method? 5-What is the other approach of the audio-lingual method?

The Audio-lingual Method

What is audio-lingual method?

Audio lingual method (ALM) also known as the aural-oral method, it the application to foreign languages teaching of the behaviorist theories of the skinner(1957), ,which profess that human learn through patters of stimulus-response-reinforcement (positive or negative) with the audio lingual method, students learn the foreign language through extensive repetition of a variably of drill so as to project the linguistic patters of the languages into their minds to form a habits, in audiolingualism, there is no implicit grammar instruction: the teacher presents the correct model of a contextualized sentences ( usually in the language lab) introducing new words for the students to sample in the same structure, and the students repeat it until they can use it spontaneously in error-free utterances with the correct pronunciation. Here is an example of drill: given the sentences << Susans got a bike>>, change it to the negative <<Susan hasn't got a bike>>. the interest or usefulness of the content is not issue, since the primary focus is on the form, and the drills are only understood in a superficial way as students do not pay much attention after a few repetitions. The outbreak of world war ll created the need to send soldiers abroad. it was necessary to provide them overnight with strong verbal communication skills for their military operation and the kind of rote- learning of form typical of the ALM was considered the most effective tool. Because of this, audiolingualism came to be known as the army method. in the late 1950s, the effectiveness of the audio lingual method was questioned by the cognitive-code approach and by linguistic such as Noam Chomsky, who pointed out the limitations of structural linguistic such as overemphasis on the formal properties of the language, while neglecting the creation of useful meanings. Chomsky believed that language development depends on a innate mechanism that he called a <<language acquisition device>> which processes grammatical rules (competence) and allows speakers to create and produce sentences (performance) they may have never heard before. (Sonsoles Snchez-Reyes Peamara, 2011)

The Audio-lingual Method

What are the principles and the techniques of the Audio-lingual Method?

1-language forms do not occur by themselves; they occur most naturally within a context. 2-the native language and the target language separate linguistic systems. They should be kept apart so that the students native language interferer as little as possible with the student's attempts to acquire the target language. 3-One of the language teacher's major is that of a model of the target language. the teacher should provide students with a good model. by listening to how it is supposed to sound, students should be able to mimic the model. 4-language learning is a process of habits formation. The more often something is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning. 5- It is important to pretend learners form making errors. Errors lead to formation of bad habits. when errors do occur, they should be immediately corrected by the teacher. 6-the purpose of the language learning is to learn how to use the language to communicate. 7-particular parts of speech occupy particular "slots" in sentences. In order to create new sentences, students must learn which part of speech occupies which slot. 8-positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits. 9-students should learn to respond to both verbal and nonverbal stimuli. 10-each language has a finite number of patterns. Pattern practice helps to students to form habits which enable the students use the patterns 11- Students should "Over learn" i.e. learn to answer automatically without to stopping to think 12- The teacher should be like orchestra--- conducting guiding and controlling the students behavior in the target language 13-The major objective of language teaching should be for students to acquire of the structural patterns students will learn vocabulary afterward.

The Audio-lingual Method 14-The learning of the foreign learning should be the same as the acquisition of the native language. We do not to memorize rules in order to use our native language. The rules necessary to used target language will be figured out or induced from examples. 15-the major challenge of foreign language teaching is getting students to overcome the habits of their native language. a comparison between the native and target language will tell the teacher in what areas her students will probably experience difficultly 16-speech is more basic to language than the written form. The natural order"- the order children follow when learning their native language- of skill acquisition is: listening, speaking, reading and writing. 17 - 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. One of the teacher's responsibilities is to present information about that culture. (Nagaraj, 1996 and 2005)

Main features of the audio-lingual method. -the audio-lingual method treated each language skill separately: Listening, speaking, -this method focused primarily on the skill of listening and speaking, in accordance with Moulton's first slogan: language is speech. Not writing -the skills of reading and writing were not neglected, but the focus throughout remained on listening and speaking. -dialogues were the main feature of the audio-lingual method syllabus, and they were the chief means of presenting language items. -they also provided learners an opportunity to practice mimic and memorize bits of language. -pattern drills were an essential part of the method and use an important technique for language teaching/learning. -the language laboratory was introduced as an important teaching aid. it gave learner an opportunity to mimic a model and memorize language patterns. -like the direct method, the audio-lingual method too tried to avoid the use of the mother tongue, though perhaps not so rigidly. (Larsen-Freeman, 2000 and 2003)

The Audio-lingual Method

The techniques of the audio-lingual method -The skills were taught in the following order: listening-- speaking--. The first few stages concentrated on listening and the speaking skills. -Language was introduced through dialogues which contained common structures used in everyday communication as well as useful vocabulary. The dialogues were memorized line by line. Learners mimicked the teacher or a tape, listening carefully to all the features of the spoken target language. Native speaker- like pronunciation was important in presenting the model. -Phrases and sentences of a dialogue were learnt through repetition, first by the whole class, then smaller groups and finally individual learners. -To consolidate what was learnt, the dialogues was adapted and personalized by application to the learner's own situation. These drills were practiced orally, firs in chorus and later individually. Some generalizations (not rules) were given to advanced learners about the structures they have practiced. (Larsen-Freeman, 2000 and 2003)

Who developed the audio-lingual method?

The audio-lingual method (or the structural approach, as it was called by its founders) was developed by American structural linguistic during world war ll., when governmental and institutional support was available for the teaching of foreign languages. Perceived by founder Charles fries as a new approach to pedagogical grammar rather than as merely a new method. the audio-lingual method was originally used in the English language institute at the university of Michigan. Friess q9945 teaching and learning English as a foreign language described the new approach as a practical interpretation of the principles of the modern linguistic science" (fries, 1945, p.v). this approach suggest that most problems experience by foreign language concern the conflict of different structural systems. with grammar or "structure" as it starting point and belief that language learning is a process of habit formation, the audio-lingual method paid systematic attention to pronunciation and intensive oral drilling of the basic sentences patters. Students were taught grammatical points through examples and drills rather than through analysis and memorization of rules. the course, as proposed by fries, consisted of three months of intensive study of the essential of English structure.

The Audio-lingual Method With the major object of language teaching being the acquisition of structural patterns, vocabulary items were selected according to their simplicity and familiarity. New words were introduced through drills, but only enough words to make the drills possible (larson-freeman, 1986) (James Coady, 1997)

the audio-lingual method grew directly out of a programmed development American linguistics and psychologists for the USA army during in the second world war but it really shape took when American structural linguistic and behaviorist psychology were adopted as the twin foundations of a scientists approach to foreign language teaching in the late 1950s. it is similar in many ways to situational language teaching, but there are notable differences. Two of the main activities of the audio-lingual method are dialogue repetition and memorization, and substitution drilling. The dialogue are often little more than vehicles for pronunciation practice with a few contextualized models of the new structure. The substitution drilling is often uncontextualized manipulation of structures, and is very intensive and extensive. In the audio-lingual method, correct production by learners should always be praised(reinforced) and incorrect production instantly and firmly corrected (Davies, first published 2000 and second 2002)

What was proposed of the audio-lingual method?

The audio-lingual method proposed the teaching of the four language skill in the order of listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the audio-lingual textbooks, pre-composed dialogues would introduce and practice, in a tightly controlled manner, structural and lexical items graded according to difficulty and frequency of use. there would be copious repetition and drills, choral group and individual, of the selected structure and vocabulary, before further practice and gradually broadening contexts, reading and writing were then practiced through texts, again strictly graded and adapted to contain

The Audio-lingual Method the structures and vocabulary already encountered in the listening and speaking activities. "the emphasis", rivers said (1968: 44) " is on structuring the situation so that the student will not make the mistakes or at least will make very few" (hamkey, Feb 24, 2005)

What is the other approach of the audio-lingual method?

A very different approach, emphasizing the spoken languages, became popular in the middle of the twentieth century, it involved a systematic presentation of the structures of the L2, moving the simple to the more complex, in the form of drills that the student had to repeat. This approach, called the audio-lingual method, was strongly influenced by belief that the fluent use the language was essentially a set of "habits" that could be developed with a lot of practice. Much of the practice involved hours spent in a language laboratory repeating oral drills. Versions of this approach are still used in a language teaching, But its critic have pointed out that isolated practice in drilling language patterns bears no resemblance to the international nature of actual spoken language use. Moreover, it can be incredibly boring (Yule, first 1985, 1996 and 2006)

Therefore, the audio-lingual method refer how the students learn to listening and mimic what the teacher say in order to get the correct pronunciation, using this method correctly in order to the student improve their skills as listening and speaking Using the techniques that this method has like improve the listening and speaking that they need or the steps that they need to follow by getting a better comprehension of the language.

The Audio-lingual Method

REFERENCES

Davies, P. (first published 2000 and second 2002). Success in English Teaching: . hong kong. hamkey, R. (Feb 24, 2005 ). studies in language a modular approach to testing english language skills. James Coady, T. H. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. U.S New York, the edinburgh building cambridge CD2 2RU, united kingdom 40 west 20th street,: published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000 and 2003). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. china. Nagaraj. (1996 and 2005). English Language Teaching: Approaches, Methods, Techniques. india. Sonsoles Snchez-Reyes Peamara, A. L. (2011). theory and practice in english language teaching. spain. Yule, G. (first 1985, 1996 and 2006). the study of language. united states of america, new york: published in the united kingdom at the university, press cambridge.

The Audio-lingual Method

UNIVERSIDAD CAPITAN GENERAL GERARDO BARRIOS. Km. 113 Carretera del Litoral, Desvo a Santa Mara Usulutn, El Salvador. PBX. (503) 2662-0846 LESSON PLAN Teachers name: Oscar Alfredo Torres Orellana. Date: Oct. 21st, 2013 Time: 10 min. Subject: English Section: B Unit: 1 Career: Associate Degree in English. Level: B1

Topics.

Teaching Methods . The Audiolingual method.

Talking with the students

Principles of the Method. -this method focused primarily on the skill of listening and speaking, in accordance with moulton's first slogan: language is speech. Not writing.

Techniques -Listening--speaking

Activities Teacher Students Greeting. Give indications. Tell to the students about the words. Give to them the steps that they need to follow

Timing Teaching Resources. 5 min. -Pamphlets -Markers. Projector. -Notebook.

-Language learning is a process of habits formation. The more often something is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning.

Repetition and the correct pronunciati on.

Tell to students about to repetition of the words in order to get the correct pronunciati on.

Mimic to the teacher and repeat after him.

5 min.