1

1. BASIC TERMS AND FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Misbeliefs of the profession of language teaching (LT)

→ LT is a fashion (?)
Is it translation old fashioned?
Is grammar in or out?
Is dictation still approved?
Which is the right method these days?
→ LT is practical (?) “it doesn’t matter – it is said)
We’ll just do what works.
You cannot apply a theory (→ sign of narrow practisism)
LT: reflections, intuitions, emotions etc. (naïve, whimsical – szeszélyes,
hóbortos – non-professional)
LT= common sense (heart)
LT= craft (hand) musician: ‘ear’, ‘heart’, ‘brain’, ‘heart’ Kodály
LT=science (brain) applied linguistic, psychology, pedagogy
LT= art (ear) cannot learn this – speech in human communication
Problems: there are people who only use one of these
→ LT is pragmatic: it contains a lot of practical elements
Should be also: coherent, systematic, and relevant
You need: knowledge (explicit, implicit); skills (procedures)
→ Language pedagogy studies in Veszprém
speech, singing and movement techniques → Bokros-gap → Ø
history of LT methods
contemporary LT
evaluating and constructing teaching material → audio-visual teaching material
feedback: testing, marking, examination techniques
the applied linguistic foundation of foreign language (LT) / second language (SL) teaching & learning
LP (language pedagogy) ≈ educational linguistic (not the same but similar)
→ Henry Sweet: The Practical Study of Languages: A Guide for Teachers and Learners
The first scientific book on LP
The father of LP
→ history of language teaching methods (reasons)
awareness of the past and present → there is no future without knowing the past
perspectives on the wisdom of the language teaching profession
criteria to evaluate new methods

Most important methods:

grammar translation method GT
direct method D
reading method R
intensive method I
audio-lingual method AL
audio-visual method AV
mentalist (cognitive) method M
community language learning CLL
total physical response TPR
the silent way SW
suggestopedia SU
communicative approach COMM

clearing the ground

some basic notions:
L1 L2 → differences
Basic language skills
Listening = L
Reading = R
Speaking = S
Writing = W
Interpretation = I
Translation = T
Basic dilemmas in LT
13 indices (indexes) to describe a method
the hierarchy of the method concept
1. Basic Terms And Fundamental Problems Of Foreign Language Teaching -2-

L1&L2

L1: L2:

first language second language

native non-native
mother tongue foreign tongue
primary secondary
stronger weaker

Questions of bilingualism → L1 + L2 ≠ bilingualism (more or less equally used languages)

Language Skills
old fashioned classification:

SOUND-CENTERED LETTER CENTERED

(AUDITIVE) (VISUAL)

“passive” Listening Reading

“active” Speaking Writing

newer:

listening, reading
“simple skills”
speech, writing

interpretation
“complex skills” (because there are two languages involved)
translation

best:

Listening & reading can be viewed as comprehension (felfogás)

Speech & writing can be viewed as communication (közlés)
Interpretation & translation can be viewed as mediation (közvetítés)

Inclusive → no mediation without comprehension & communication

Basic dilemmas:
• Use of L1 vs. not to use L1
o In the classroom
o Translation: you have to use l1
o Direct method: not to rely on l1

• Awareness vs. intuition

o Learn or acquire?
o To know every scientific detail or not (to be absolutely unscientific)

• Forms vs. functions

o Know the code or communicate?
o Grammar centered teaching: basis: to know the code
o Some grammatically correct sentences do not fit in communication well enough
o In real language forms and functions are in harmony

Essential features to describe a method

• The three basic dilemmas:

1. use L1 or not
2. awareness vs. intuition
3. forms vs. functions
1. Basic Terms And Fundamental Problems Of Foreign Language Teaching -3-

• Arranging language content:

Emphasis on:

4. pronunciation
5. grammar
6. vocabulary
7. usage (pragmatics) of the language in the language teaching process
8. all skills vs. one skill
e.g. reading method: 1 skill
some try to develop 4 but they don’t do so
9. role (amount) of translation

• Teaching style:

10. student participation

(from frontal teaching to individual teaching e.g.: group works in between)
11. classroom control
(strict or liberal etc.)
12. error correction style
13. feedback
(some methods require constant feedback, some methods hardly mention it)

Hierarchy of the method concept

I.Step (item, technique) (lépés)

The smallest possible unit in l. t process e.g.: reading aloud, fill in the gap, repeat what you hear etc.

II.Process (eljárás)
Consist of several steps: it’s a logical series of steps e.g.: dialogue exploitation
III.Method (módszer)
Finite number of steps in which the arranged language content & classroom teaching form are organically entwined to ensure the
necessary didactic phases for acquisition during the whole process e.g.: preparation, presentation, application
IV.Language teaching theory (nyelvtanítási elmélet)
Congruent elements of linguistics, psychology & language pedagogy
e.g.: structuralism + behaviorism + audio-lingual methodology = AL

step ~ point → no dimension

process ~ lines → 1 dimension

allegorically
method ~ surface → 2 dimensions

l. t theory ~ space → 3 dimensions

Language teaching theories

Linguistics Psychology Language pedagogy

Phonetics + Associated psychology → Direct method

Structuralism + Behaviorism → Audio-lingual
TG grammar + Cognitive psychology → Mentalist
Macrolinguistics + Socio-psychology → Communicative approach

Direct sciences of the foreign language teacher

Who → personality of the teacher

The teacher’s stage (the art of speech, appearance & personification, interaction, communication, culture and tact
Whom → personality of the student (ped. psych. etc.)
What → pedagogical grammar, “static & dynamic” lexicon, functions & scripts (communicative competence) cross culturally
With the help of → audio-visual background (realia, pictures, slides, tapes, labs, CALL – Computer Aided Language Learning
 -4-
2. HISTORY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING
(TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES IN EARLY LT)

LT & LL are interdisciplinary

→ Content field for language teachers
Language
Linguistics → applied linguistics
Language learning
Psychology → psycholinguistics (neurology, psychology in the brain)
Language teaching
Education → history of education
Pedagogy → history of LT, language pedagogy, LT methodology, ethnomethodology
Society
Sociology → sociolinguistics
Anthropology, geography, cultural tradition
→ Related supportive sciences in LT
“the three sisters”

linguistics (applied)
psychology (educational)
FLT methodology (theory of instruction ≈ didactics)

The drama of foreign language teaching

→Nature of language
Views of language
Linguistics
→ Human factor (who)
Views on learning/teaching
Views on education
Educational psychology
→ Views on LT
Ways in LL
FL learning/teaching methodology
→ Language → rational / system
→irrational / habit
natural activity
set of conventions
means of communications
→ Learner: age / maturity
aptitude (set) attitude (hajlam, fogékonyság; hozzáállás)
interest, empathy (érdeklődés, beleélés)
IQ, previous knowledge
→ Learning process: drive & motivation (energia, lendület, hév; motiváció)
repetition & extinction
transfer (+); inhibition (-)

Ages of language teaching

Ancient times:
Sumerians
Egyptians
Greeks
Romans
Middle ages
“monastery” ↔ “marketplace”
Renaissance
Reformation – Counterreformation
Enlightenment

Sumerians
First proves of accurate language teaching: Sumerians
Territory: Sumer → Babylon (V. – II. c. BC)
III. BC clay tables cuneiform (ékírás) → contained grammar exercises
Copying → memorization (overlearning)
Sumerians: conquered by the Akkadian Semites (?) but their culture didn’t die
(Sumerian teachers later like Greek teachers in Rome)
“dictionaries” word lists in 2 lg-s
2. HISTORY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES IN EARLY LT) -5-

Egyptians
No lg-s taught at school
Acquiring the language on the spot (helyben)
Empire → “immersion” (elmerülés)
They wanted to learn no other lg-s
Didn’t believe in learning but in acquisition

Greeks
“no barbarous please” → speak Greek!
“folk linguistics (gift of the tongue) → culturally recognized special field
views on L
nature ↔ convention
analogy (anything that is systematic, structural) ↔ anomaly (sg unexpected, irregular)
Plato (427-344 BC) Cratylos (syntax, semantics)
Socrates: grammatical gender
Aristophanes: Clouds → mocked Socrates
Aristotle: Rhetoric and literary criticism
Sentence structure (logos); NP – VP (onoma ↔ rhema)
Stoics → “philosophy of language”
300 BC: (Asia minor & Egypt)

Roman

Byzantine (5-10 c.)

Greek=lingua franca → started teaching Greek → first grammars:
Dionysius Thrax (~ 100 BC) → didactic grammar → basically morphologic
Empereira (observational knowledge; language and grammar belonged here) ↔ techne (science; many people opposed)

Romans
Adopted Greek culture → Greek nurse, slave, teacher → “grammaticos”
rhetor
bilingual (ancient direct method?)
the three R-s in two lg-s: - reading
- writing
- arithmetic
III. AD: manuals on topical conversations called “capitula” (chapters): gods, fish, birds)
Texts → narrative (Aesop’s fables)
→ conversational (course books) → everyday situations
trying to keep the Greek pattern
Alexandrians → first to describe the 8 word classes (N, V, Particle, Art, Pron, Prep, Adv, Conj)
Models of Greek grammars:
Morphology: Thrax; syntax: Dyscolus (200 AD) → also included: commentaries (Scholia) + summaries → for the purpose of
how to teach
Greek-Latin similarities: 5 cases ↔ 6 cases
Def. art ↔ Ø
Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27BC): De lingua Latina → not grammar books → treaties
Most popular grammar books
Donatus (4 c.): Catechistic Manual (Q + A) → Latin orthography, phonology, morphology
Grammar books: Ars Minor (very popular)
Ars Maior (never became as popular as the shorter one)
Priscian (≈ 500 AD): Institutiones Grammaticae → became a textbook for students
Romans, Greeks appreciated who could communicate (speak, write) beautifully.

Septem Artes Liberales

Grammar
Rhetoric Trivium part of schooling
Logic

Astrology
Arithmetic
Geometry Quadrivium
Music (theory)
2. HISTORY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES IN EARLY LT) -6-

+
Medicine
Architecture
Philosophy later
Ars dictamen
… (?)

Changes in bilingualism
I. Greek & Latin
II. Latin & vernacular (after the fall of the Roman Empire)
III. Vernacular (local) & Latin (in the Renaissance vernacular got more important role)
IV. Vernacular (national) & ? (Reformation)

national + Latin
national + modern lg-s

Vernacular → “modern”
Local into national

1st wave: (XVI.)

2nd wave: English, German (XVI. – XVII.)
3rd wave: like Hungarian (beginning: XIX.)
4th wave: like Slovakian

Europe 64 lg-s are spoken nowadays

Parallel periods in the history of LT

Conscious learning vs. Subconscious learning
Deductive approach vs. Inductive approach
Indirect (→L1→L2) vs. Direct (L2)
Analytical vs. Holistic
Ancient Times (thesis)

Middle Ages (antithesis)

Renaissance (synthesis → thesis)

17-19. c. (antithesis)

Modern Times – (synthesis)

Techniques and processes in the early lg. teaching

• Reading
1. recognition of letters
2. letter by letter reading (ei – i – bé – a)
3. “sounding” letter (l – i – b – a)
4. syllables-based reading
5. sounding reading: recitals (reading in a loud voice)

• Pronunciation: spelling
1. phonetic transcription ↔ original spelling
(constant debate: spell it as it is pronounced or as it was written traditionally)
2. pronunciation / tradition / etymology (the three principles)

• Writing
1. copying
2. imitation: the style of the most important writers, poets etc.
3. paraphrase: the style of the most important writers, poets etc.
4. composition + versification (write poems)
2. HISTORY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES IN EARLY LT) -7-

• Speech
1. question & answer
2. dialogues
3. rote learning (learning by heart, memoriter)
4. action series (e.g.: describe your day)
5. monologues
6. “drills” (not real but sg similar
e.g.: in Erasmus: “Colloquia (?)table of substitutes for one element of a sentence)

• Grammar & translation

1. ortographie + copiae: meaning of the word, spelling, correct use etc.
2. praelectio: - commentum (verb, phonetics, morphology)
(szójelentéssel és intenzív nyelvi elemzéssel foglalkozik)
- glossa (explanations of idioms, expressions etc.)
(mondatszintű, stilisztikai megjegyzések)

3. vulgaria: bilingual collection of explanatory sentences

4. interlinear translation: translation is written in between the two lines (literal translation)
5. double translation: after a while you retranslate your original translation & compare it
with the original text
6. bilingual lg. learning: a situation in which the students learns 2 new lg.-s in addition
to his mother tongue (pl.: angolul magyarázzák a német szavakat egy magyarnak)

teaching

era inductive deductive lg. analysis was called

classical X X grammar

medieval X gr. Speculativa

renaissance X X grammar

XVII. – XIX. X general grammar

XIX. – XX. X X linguistics

Changes of “objectives” (aim) in LL║LT

1. social – communication → anywhere public (Forum, ports etc.)

2. artistic – literature → at home (?)
3. scientific – science – schools → schools, abbeys etc.

“Marketplace” “Monastery”
tradition of LT forced controversy tradition of LT

Era “Social” Objective “Scientific” Language

communication “Artistic” “schools”
“Marketplace” Literature “Monastery”

AT 6 Greek Greek Greek Ancient

Latin Latin Latin Modern
MA 3 Latin Latin Latin Ancient
Ø Ø Ø Modern
Ren. 5 Latin Latin Latin & Greek Ancient
Local Local Ø Modern
15th, 17th, 18th 4 Ø Ø Latin Ancient
National National National + L1 Modern
Now 5 English Ø (?) English
National National National

virtues of this LT
Excellent grasp of language content → grammar, spelling, syntax, pragmatics
Rich arsenal of methodological solutions → both in communicative content and developing skills
 -8-
1880: The Art of Teaching and Learning Languages 3. THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

The development of linguistic consciousness

Greek → stoics
D. Thrax (morphology)
Dyscolus (syntax) founding fathers of gram. description in AT
Latin → A. Donatus (Ars Minor)
Priscianus (Institutiones)
Models of Latin and Greek grammar used later
Middle Ages → basic principle → all science did not exist → just servants to theology
Scietia Angilla Fidei
Ars Bene loquendi et scribendi → the art of how to write & how to speak correctly
Appearance of vernacular language: Irish, Icelandic (the first two appear with grammar)
Appearance of alphabetic writing in Europe: Latin, Gothic (4th c.), St Cyril (9th c.)
“Carolingian” Renaissance: Alcuin (his teacher)
Arab (Hebrew) linguistics (7-9th c.) → very little knowledge about it → 15th c. – realized that the Arab
way of describing languages was very developed.
Speculative grammars → beginning of MA → not using literary quotations
Using metaphysical, logical, grammatical concepts + catholic philosophy
→ on the one hand: artificial
→ on the other hand: logical → role of prepositions, theory of syntax, universal grammar
Despised grammar teaching → gr. became independent of teaching & learning
Other grammar books:
Around 1250: A de Villa Dei (Villedieu); Doctrinale → very detailed grammar written in hexameter
MA preferring deductive grammar, speculative grammar → teaching faded
Renaissance → rebirth of ancient European civilization
They “published” the whole corpus of classical literature (literae humaniores)
Recovery of human values as against to clerical values
Reformation (various sects against the supremacy of Rome)
The rise of natural sciences (empirical sciences)
1453 – The end of the Byzantine Empire (1492 → America); by 1500: printing
15-16th c. abundance of grammars mainly for teaching purposes → had to prescribe vernacular
languages as in a comparative way (1539 – Sylvester János)
by 17th c. in Europe: a lot of comparative dictionaries published → containing data about languages the
first mayor vernacular grammar (reasoning type of grammar in Descartes tradition) → published in
Port Royal (1660)
Leibniz → logical categories are more important in grammar than anything else → mathematical logic
Descartes, Leibniz, Rousseau, Herder → Rational thinking in describing grammar
Herder: languages as specific towards a nation → language: unique for a culture and a nation
1770 – Demonstratio Idioma Ungarorum Et Lapponum Idem Esse (Sajnovics János)
→ pointing to the possible relationship of Hungarian and Finnish
1779 – Affinitas Linguae Hungaricae Cum Linguis Fennicae Origins Grammaticae Demonstrata
(Gyarmati Sándor) → the relationship is grammatically proved and demonstrated
Sanscrit → described by Panini (6th c. BC) → the basis of the later reconstruction
16th c. – Sasseti → describing Sanscrit as having sg. Common with Italian
18th c. – Coeurdoux → French priest
Sir William → described Sanscrit as better than Greek and more logical & richer than Latin
1808 – Schlegel → treaties about the lg and wisdom of the Indians – they realized there must
have been an ancient language in Europe → the comparative-historical linguistics started
→etymology became a separate science
Comparative-historical linguistics
• 1816 – 35 Bopp, Grimm (Boctokob)
• Humbolt → the first one to popularize the description of languages in 3 groups
The first typology of language → isolating, agglutinative, inflectional
• 1825 – 70 – the appearance of naturalist directions
o Schleicher → analyzing the relatedness of languages similar to a family → a family three of languages
o Schmidt → wave theory → these changes can overcome certain borders amongst languages
o Steinthal → developing this trend toward psychology and logic → the first time it appears: language is not only
an individual achievement of a person → social achievement → each nation has a linguistic psychology
• Neogrammaticans (Neogrammarians → more accepted name): working in historical linguistics
Using rigorous methods in proving etymological relationships
The best known figure among them: Herman Paul
• 20th c. – appearance of general linguistics (1916 – de Saussure)
appearance of phonetics
general linguistics moving into two directions: – synchronic (descriptive) linguistics
– diachronic (historical) linguistics
3. THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD -9-
GT – the classical method → not true, others are also classical!
– traditional method → true its elements appear in other methods
– grammar school method
– “Prussian” method

Views on grammar & language trends

Controversy between:
→ language universals (best described by gr. speculativa) ↔ description of a particular language (descriptive gr.)
→ language approaches ↔ empirical
→ formalism ↔ functions
Language is considered to be:
→ an organism (the ‘biological’ views) → languages are born, die out, are related
→ writing → the real good form of languages → speech: dirty, full of mistakes → writing is correct:
correctness – central category
→ conventional

Teaching grammar
Two categories still alive from the Greek times: – analogy (regular – by the 18th c.)
– anomaly (irregular)
Characteristic features of GT
Objectives
o read with the help of dictionaries
o learn with the help of translation
o write in both lg-s with grammatical awareness
o grow mentally (mental disciple)
Typical classroom
o more than 30 students
o 2 max. 6 classes per week
(~800 classes are needed for intermediate state lg. exam on the average)
o tables of paradigms (declensions, conjugations) on the wall
o lack of AV (audio-visual) equipment
o teacher-student relationship limited to frontal teaching, no student-student interaction
o immediate error correction, strong control
o constant use of L1
Typical course book structure
o topic: grammatical (e.g.: past tense)
o exemplary sentences to illustrate rules (no connection between sentences, no texts)
o bilingual lists of words
o in case you had a reading text it was to illustrate new words and rules
o the text was of a classical author: reading with plenty of odd & random words
o Most typical exercises: – completion (gap filling,
– transformation
– translation in both direction → L1, → L2
Typical solutions (steps, techniques, procedures)
o Detailed explanation of rules (deductive grammar)
o Reading in a loud voice
o Rote learning (memoriter) was considered to be the engine of lg. learning: poems, songs, texts
o Recitals of declensions (főnévragozás) and conjugations
o Long lists of words to be memorized: – exceptions
– rare words
– terms of grammar
o Comprehension questions (Q&A)
o Minimum time devoted to oral skills
o Maximum time devoted to written skills
o No difference between presentation and practice (because it was too short → small amount of practice)
(egy nyelvtani pontot kiadós fordítás követ)

The most famous names in GT

• J. V. Meidinger
1783 – Praktische Französische Grammatik → the first GT course book on French → sentence based approach instead of texts
• J. C. Fick
1793 – Praktische Englische Sprachlehre → the first course book on English; practical = 1. useful 2. requires practice
Why German?
1. School subject → the most developed school system
2. 17th c. → the age of genius → new thoughts, politics, commerce
3. 18th c. people started communicating → utilitarian LL → Germans creating that well-known type of a civil servant
3. THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD - 10 -
4. rigid system → no reforms

• Seidenstucker
o 1811 Elementarbuch zur Erlehrung der Französischen Sprache (part 2: 1814; part 3: 1829)
immensely popular GT course book → not only in schools
sentence based → the sentences are consciously selected from a point of view of lexis & grammar
→ used the only typical sentences → patterns
disconnected sentences

• J. F. Ahn

Born on the Dutch border (Aachen) → Manual for Dutch (1828)

1839 – Praktische Lehrgang zur schnellen und leichten Erlehrung der Französischen Sprache
the first modern language course book → meant to be used on short courses → 68 lessons on 66 pages
odd: grammar (only one rule), even: practice → appendix: 12 areas of vocabulary + 12 pages of case dialogues
(Are you hungry? – eating; It is foggy. weather)
grammar teachers did not accept
1849 – A New, Practical and Easy Way of Learning the German Language
readers, conversation books
became a model
short, easy to follow, little grammar
grammatical rules ≈ practice sentences
sentences: useful vocab. short & easy, dull, quiet, sentimental, moral and eminently Victorian
UK: public examinations (1850’s)
1858: Oxford & Cambridge local examinations
→ 60’s: overseas examinations
• H. G. Ollendorf
1838: A New Method of Learning To Read and Speak a Language in Six Months (adapted to French, Italian, English)
massive two volumes
large scale international publishing operation (Paris → London, NY, Berlin, Frankfurt)
“international” character Q & A → all lessons done this way → manic interrogation
graded linguistic syllabus (The Article, The Past Tense etc.) → graded approach as far as
grammatical items are concerned
→ based on intuition

• K. J. Ploetz

Born French, living in Germany → published vocabulary books

1853 – Elementarbuch der Französischen Sprache
two parts: rules & paradigms + sentences to be translated
(mechanical) double translation → to the target language & back immediately to L1 (without any time)

assessment:
negative features:
“narrow” objectives (reading & writing esp. translation)
sentence based explanation of rules, deductive grammar with formal (mechanical) analyses
the rote learning of rules, exceptions
positive features:
explicit knowledge about L2 (and L1!) → conscience about L1
translation to L1
absorbing literature & culture (facts & quotations) by rote learning
 - 11 -
4. COMENIUS MARCEL, PRENDERGAST, GOUIN

COMENIUS (Jan Amos Komensky) 1592 – 1670

Modern history of education starts with him

4 years spent in Sárospatak, 1650 – 54, he wrote his most famous course book here
First mayor work: Education in Czech → first time appears a central idea of education
1631 Iauna Linguarium Reserata Aurea (= open golden gate to languages) → first work on language teaching topic
1633 Vestibulum
1652 Atrium → Sárospatak → it became later Orbis Sensualium Pictus (“a világ festve”) invited by Lórántffi Zsuzsanna
1653 Lucidarium → Language course book → 150 lessons → it became later Orbis Sensualium Pictus (“a világ festve”)
the most famous course book ever written → this time he developed his course book called “VIA” course books
VIA course books → graded system, richly illustrated, comparative most of them in 2 or 3 languages
(8000 szót egyre nehezebb mondatmintákban – Legfontosabb az utánzás és ismétlés szemléltetés – Illustration

Different levels:

Vestibulum (előszoba) fundamentum skeleton

Iauna (kapu) structura corpus
Atrium(nagyterem) ornamenta colores

1640 Novissima Linguarum Methodus → his only paper on LT → fairly detailed

1658 Orbis Sensualium Pictus
VIA → a road leading to Palatius Sapientiae (a bölcsességek palotája) → textus + grammatica + lexicon

(there is a picture with numbered elements which are named in the text)
– contextual
good course book
– referential

Comenius:
• reformer of course books
• pioneer of direct method
• renewed Latin quite significantly → created new words

• views on education:
o children can be educated
o children have an ability to dominate & to improve
o in teaching you can do thing step by step, graduality is vital
• and you have to demonstrate
o believed in permanent education and timing (időzítés)
o even the retarded can be educated (értelmi fogyatékos)
• language education:
o classical texts were too difficult for the students
o word and object together with the help of pictures and realia
o environment (~ 100 chapters, 10-15 sentences in each, ~ 8000 words
• techniques:
o reading & copying (colouring the pictures, children)
o reading in L1 then in L2
o reading, translation into L2
o memorisation of the translation
o teacher’s interpretation of declinations, conjugations, active and passive voice
o evaluation (examen)
o competition (concertatio) in the classroom between groups
• his basic idea:
o every language must be learned by practice rather than the rules; especially by reading, repeating, copying, and by written and
oral attempts at imitation
o emphasizes the importance of imitation in LT

Claude MARCEL

Inventor of the “rational method” → reading before hearing; one of the most talented intuitive language teachers
Two books:
1853 Language as a Means of Mental Culture and International Communication
1867 The Study of Languages Brought back to its True Principles or the Art of Thinking in a Foreign Language
4. COMENIUS MARCEL, PRENDERGAST, GOUIN - 12 -

Characteristics:
2 expressions to describe linguistic abilities:
→ we have to start with impression (reception) – spoken and written variation
→ then we can move to expression (production) – spoken and written
– impression (reception) - spoken
- written the first scientific description of
– expression (production) -spoken the 4 basic skills
- written
“method of nature” is always about meaning - comprehension of meaning (jelentés felfogása)
- acquisition of linguistic elements (nyelvi elemek alkalmazása)
methodology: fight between 2 approaches → analytical (inductive – giving examples, then conclusions
→ synthetic (deductive – starting out from the rule)
good method will contain both

reading before hearing?

teacher: reads out
student: listening comprehension
teacher: corrections
student: reading by imitations
conversations based on material read previously

principles: - the importance of ear-training

- students should read out familiar material in increasing difficulty (graduality!)
- speaking should be based on previously read texts
- writing is the least important
- grammar, translation & dictionaries should be avoided
- 25-30 volumes should be read to achieve fluency
readers bring method to print and not receive from it (most imp. Thought of him)
20 axiomatic (megdönthetetlen) truths
- method of nature → mother tongue above all (?)
- “The mind should be impressed with the idea before it takes cognitance of the sign
that represents it” → we not necessarily understand what people say, we understand
what people mean
- the proportion of analytic and synthetic methods
- using similar things to Pestalozzi’s object lessons (This is a nice book, I open the book)
- showing the object itself → demonstration + repetition
- reading first
- reading is the operation of the mind (→ cognitive)
- the text is not a meaning → it is us who add the meaning to the text → people understand the same
text differently
(szövegszintű megértést hirdet!)

Thomas PRENDERGAST (1806 – 1886)

1864 The Mastery of Languages or the Art of Speaking Foreign Languages Idiomatically

Characteristics
• observed L1 acquisition
• using isolated sentences → one sentence, generating other sentences → mastery sentences (starting point) → lot of grammar in
them, structures
• instant recall → memorizing → to say the sentence without thinking
• more rules in sentence, less model sentence
• you should only teach the commonest English words
• the labyrinth & evolutions (generated sentences → all variations of the original sentences)
• “pre-fabs” → mastery sentences → nuclear sentence → we can expand it according to the various situations pre-fabricated
elements → lg. exists in these → this is why children can use some parts of the language perfectly you have to memorize and
practice mastery sentences to the point when instant recall is possible
labyrinth – the big substitution table → basic sentence – create the variations
(1) His (2) servants (3) saw (4) your (5) friend’s (6) new (7) bag (8) near (9) our (10) house
(11) Her (12) cousin (13) found (14) my (15) sister’s (16) little (17) book (18) in (19) their (20) carriage.
Evolutions e.g.: 1-2-3-4-5-7 or 11-2-13-4-17-18-9-10
• practice sentences to instant recall → one way of learning → habit formation
• there are sentences which have structure, it’s like a rule → from the rule you can create an infinite number of sentences → basis
for the transformative generative grammar
4. COMENIUS MARCEL, PRENDERGAST, GOUIN - 13 -
teaching process:

step 1 → to memorize 5-6 sentences (≈ 100 words)

with the correct pronunciation
no books permitted
meaning was explained but no grammar
step 2 → study the written forms as well
step 3 → manipulation of model sentences
step 4 → further models
step 5 → reading
step 6 → further models
step 7 → translation → emphasis on the “cursory reservation” – not a close study

positive features
minimum set of vocabulary
gradedness
throughoutly learnt “core” → mastery sentences → fluency

negative features
artificial sentences
isolated sentences
too complicated

Francois GOUIN (1831 – 1896)

1880 The Art of Teaching & Learning Languages

“Gouin series”: - 18-31 sentences x 50 sets of series
- several series
- 50.000 sentences; 8000 words

students also acted out what they said

- positives: - verbs
- activity
- complete sentences in situations
- negatives: - opposition to phonetics, realia, reading
- large ungraded vocabulary (words not according to their frequency)
- excessive use of translation
 - 14 -
5. THE DIRECT METHOD

GT → one of the longest standing methods in history

End of the 19th c. → Development of a new science: Linguistics → descriptive & historical linguistics → phonetics →the experiment of branch of
linguistics
Revolt against GT → 1870’s & 80’s → reform movement
1885 the official date of reform movement
The most important people → the three main forerunners of RM

C. Marcel: The “Rational” Method (1867)

Gouin Series (1880) → physical movement → dramatization
Heness & Saveur: “Natural Method” (after 1866, New Haven) → magániskola

Gottlieb Heness (using the ‘object-lesson’ technique by Pestalozzi)

• teaching standard German to students from the south
• 1865 – US, Yale → teaching German as FL → own school
Lambert Saveur → met Heness in New Haven
• very talented teacher
• intensive course: 100 hours of intensive introduction (one semester) → 2 hours/day, 5 days/week, 4-5 month
• 1689: Boston → School of Modern Languages
• 1874: An Introduction To The Teaching Of Living Languages Without Grammar Or Dictionary (Saveur) → a teacher’s manual to this
book: “causeries” (conversations) – write reminder e.g.: first 5 lessons: parts of the body (120
words/lessons)
• techniques:
1. “earnest” questions (if the teacher asks sg seriously that is to be taken seriously in the classroom) → how can you connect
these questions
2. coherence of questions
• criticism:
1. trivial subjects
2. teacher: too much work: → the teacher is the engine of this whole method

THE REFORM MOVEMENT → DIRECT METHOD

↓
roots → commercial (changes in social life, development of commerce)
(Berlitz → Berlitz school)
→ school experiment (trying to introduce phonetics & new methods again GT)
(Klinghardt (German), MacGowen (UK) )
→ academic (changes in the academic field of LT)
(Viëtor, Passy, Sweet, Jespersen, Palmer)

Passy (French phonetist): founder of the International Phonetic Association

Sweet
Jespersen can be considered the founders of language pedagogy
Palmer

1878, Berlitz’s school on Rhode Island – he needed sy who could speak French → Nicholas Jolly joined him
“monolingual” method → this connects the DM & the communicative approach
series of textbooks from1882 on → based on the monolingual method also → on small languages (e.g.: Polish, Hungarian)
because of the emigrants in US
developing Berlitz school system: USA, Germany, Britain, France, Hungary, Austria, Holland (by the 90’s: approximately
50 schools)
before his death: Middle East, Australia, Latin America

Berlitz schools → basic principles

• only native speakers
• individuals or small groups (not more than 10 → 5 hours/week)
• “think” in the FL
• constant use of L2
• no L1, no translation, no grammar rules
5. THE DIRECT METHOD - 15 -

Berlitz’s advice during the oral procedures

• never translate: demonstrate
• never explain: act
• never make a speech: ask questions
• never imitate mistakes: correct
• never speak with single words: use sentences
• never speak to much: make students speak much
• never use the book: use your lesson plan
• never jump around: follow your plan
• never go to fast: keep the pace of the students
• never speak too slowly: speak normally
• never speak too loudly: speak normally
• never be impatient: take it easy

Reading procedure
• students reads aloud, teacher corrects mistakes, then has the student repeat the entirely sentence
• upon completion of the lesson, teacher asks 5 questions, student answers
• student then ask five (or more) question, on the lesson & teacher answers
• short texts on everyday topics

1881, Brassai Sámuel’s work

1882, Viëtor’s pamphlet refers to Brassai’s work

Vilhelm Viëtor
• teacher of English, also taught German in England
• he taught: the famous Ploetz method was ineffective & stressful → overworked children
• Liverpool → study strip as a senior lecturer → pamphlet
• 1884-1918 – chair of English philology at the University of Hamburg
• 1882: Der Sprachunterricht muss umkehren! (LT must start afresh (újra kell kezdeni a nyelvtanítást)
• 1884: Elemente der Phonetik (→ 1893: English translation)
• 1902: Die Methodik des neusprachlichen Unterricht (paper on modern LT methodology)
• authority on language of Shakespeare
• President of International Phonetic Association (from 1888 on)
Walter Ripman (British disciple of Viëtor)
• 1899: Elements of Phonetics (→Viëtor)
• 1898: First French Book
coloured wall pictures: seasons, trades& occupation, village & town life

1885, Holzel (Vienna) used wall pictures

big pictures on major topics → necessary conditions for direct LT
1887, Alge (Switzerland) used wall pictures
1886, IphA or IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
1899, Sweet: The Practical Study of Languages → first major really serious work on LT
1900, Report of the Committee of Twelve (initiated by the Modern Language Association)
• first major investigation about LT
• what kind of methods were used by the teachers (at least in Canada)

The IphA Articles (Passy), Phonetic Teacher’s Association, 1896

Contained 6 articles:
1. start with the spoken form
2. emphasis on sound (+ phonetic transcription, because they couldn’t record sound 19th c.!)
3. the most common sentences and idiomatic phrases should come first
4. inductive grammar (no conscious grammar teaching)
5. use objects & pictures to relate ideas in L2: explanations in L2 (no translation)
6. writing comes last (contrary to GT)

Direct Method: General features

• long phonetic introduction & short texts (in everyday lg)
• no mother tongue & no translation
• “associations” with the help of - mimes
- gestures
5. THE DIRECT METHOD - 16 -

• text: modern prose about life, customs, history, geography etc.

(the first method aware of the culture of the language)
• speech is the most important, then reading, finally writing
• cultural & topical curriculum
• self-correction

Techniques
• explanations in L2 or pictures, realia gestures etc.
• pronunciation (immediate error correction) + phonetic transcription
• Read in a loud voice (teacher’ s demonstration) → supporting communication
• Q & A (confirmed by chorus → answer) → complete sentences
• Conversations
• Dictation (writing & listening at the same time)
• Completion exercises
• Paragraph writing
(about the main topic of the lesson, pupils using their own words → paraphrasing)

Varieties of the DM
• Original DM / Wild DM / Extreme DM / Berlitz method
• Oral DM / Bilingual DM
Emile de Sauzé (Canada): The Cleveland Plan (1919)
Tried to teach to lg-s at the same time
Integrated the 4 skills, based on real life experiences
Firm foundation of grammar taught functionally
Main principles (by Sauzé)
- logical challenge (inductive grammar, vocabulary from context) → effort to understand sg
- single emphasis (only one difficulty at a time)
- stimulation (gradual mastery and success on conversation)
Mather Campus of western Reserve University → demonstration school → course by Sauzé → teachers could learn and imitate
the methods
Psychological bias (hajlam): interest, incubation (lappangás, inkubáció), correct association, activity etc.
“artistic” concept of teaching → related to French direct Methodology (e.g.: Jolly) → teacher – magician
• Eclectic / Compromise DM
Sweet, Jespersen, Palmer
Grammar was brought back → “living English grammar” → 50’s: W. S. Allen: Living English Speech
Good readers + graded vocabulary
• Graded DM → start of “simplification” methods → Basic English – not a methodology, just an idea
They realised: far too many words, structures
Richards (later joined Gibson) → fairly good course books → using “sensits”
“sensit” = sentence in situation → graded with the difficulty of the structures
to have a kind of order of structures
selected vocabulary; basis structures of languages; sensits: ideal order of intelligibility (érthetőség) (+ pictures); substitution –
type exercises; a lot of oral work; everything is graded

“Latecomers”
• BASIC English (English for international communication in the 20’s)
o Ogden & Richards (1923 27)
o 850 words, 16 verbs
o general basic English dictionary (20.000 non-basic words explained)
o good reading material
o pronunciation is neglected
o translation into basic
• Richards & Gibson: English Through Pictures (1952)
o a course book, not a method
o stick-figure cartoons to present sensits
o loop films, recordings, workbooks, teacher’s manual → the first one to contain these

Also active period in Hungary

• RM was followed fairly closely by Hungarians
• Altenburger Adolf: Az élő idegen nyelvek tanításának módszere
• Bakonyi Hugó: A direkt módszer és a német nyelv tanítása
• Boga Imre
 - 17 -
6. FOUNDATION OF A NEW SCIENCE: LP
HENRY SWEET (1845 – 1912)
Probably the greatest phonetician, the founder of lg. pedagogy; significant role in blooming of variants of the DM

1874: A History of English Sounds 1900: The History of Language

1876: An Anglo-Saxon Reader 1902: A New English Grammar
1877: A Handbook of Phonetics 1908: The Sounds of English
1890: Primer of Phonetics 1913: Collected Papers by H. S.
1891: Das Elementarbuch des gesprochen English
1893: Anglo Saxon Reader
1895: Primer of Spoken English
1899: The Practical Study of Languages

Fundamental questions
• Practical study is also scientific → he was a believer of “living philology” – study of the development of lg.
• Fundamental sciences: → linguistics (phonetics) → lg problems
→ psychology (associative) → memory & association
• Good method is comprehensive & eclectic (átfogó & válogató) → general principles (to analyse lg in general)
→ special principles (to analyse each particular lg)
• The main axiom (alaptétel) of living philology: all study of l. must be based on phonetics
• All study is based on spoken language (living l. is much more important)
- the functional character of spoken grammar and vocabulary
- spoken l.: less to learn, but learn it accurately; natural order: spoken → literary
• Awareness of cross-linguistic contrasts
- questions of linguistic distance & similarities (e.g.: deceitful (csaló) similarities or false cognate (rokonság))
- difficulties in learning vocabulary (you can master the grammar of l. for reading purposes in generally less than 6 month)
- identify the contrast (to foresee & eliminate problems of interference)
General principles (analyse the lg in general)
• Each lg is peculiar (constructions, idioms, meanings etc.; Chinese cannot be interpreted on the basis of Latin)
• Lg. is partly rational (e.g.: rules; more in gr.: “laws”) & partly irrational (e.g.: habits; more in vocab.: “isolated facts” & arbitrary
• Best of the old & best of the new methods should be combined: criticism of the pure natural method
• Acquisition to a great extent is mechanical; direct practice with authentic material (but gr. awareness is still needed)
Special principles
• Psychology: great law of association
• Repetition is essential (the whole human speech is repetitive)
- for forming associations & memorising “a gyakorlati nyelvtanulás lélektani alapja az asszociáció
- not until exhaustion törvénye; az ism. megerősíti az asszociációt a memória
- with limited vocabulary pedig döntően a figyelemtől és a motivációtól függ”
- learning by heart should be attempted
• Memory depends on attention & interest / motivation
• There should be harmony amongst text, grammar & dictation (inductive method ≠ inventional methods)
• Grammar is to be taught formally only after it has been absorbed intuitively from the texts
- no questions of abolishing grammar
- sentence is the unit of the l., not the word
- syntax: most important part of grammar
- no memorisation of words paradigms → no linguistic wholes (cf. patterns)
• Progressive method (gradual stepping → stages): the stages of language learning:
- mechanical (breaking the ground activities; mastery of the pronunciation)
- grammatical (focus on gr., structures)
- idiomatic & lexical → the most difficult stage according to him – (idioms classified according to psychological cat).
- literary (reading authentic material in the target lg.; literature & culture)
- archaic (history of lg.)
Merits (+)
• Scientific approach towards lg. teaching (he was cautious about things)
• Modern approach (moderate DM)
• 1st scientific treaties on lg. teaching methodology
• good methods & principles - careful selection of the material
- limitation to the amount
- arrangement in 4 skills
- grading of the material
• start lg. l. at ten
6. FOUNDATION OF A NEW SCIENCE: LP - 18 -
(-)
• theoretical bias (hajlam) (phonetics & transcription overemphasised)
• old-fashioned psychology (associationism)

DANIEL JONES (1881 – 1967)

One of the most outstanding phoneticians of the age

1909: The Pronunciation of English

1917: The English Pronouncing Dictionary (even now is concerned the best known dictionary) – BBC best pron. Dictionary
1918: Outline of English Phonetics

OTTO JESPERSEN (1860 – 1943) Denmark

A fairly modern person (↔ Sweet); Prof of English (Copenhagen), Prof. of Linguistics (Columbia)

1894: Progress in l.
1897: Phonetics
1903: The England & American Reader
1904: Spogundervisnung: How to Teach a Foreign Language

General principles
• Fundamental sciences behind language pedagogy - linguistics (phonetics)
- psychology manifold (?) approaches
- teaching practice
• Teaching a “living” language should not be rigid & strictly logical
• Languages are made for communication (l. as a whole, in context, in communication situations)
• Good method criteria: 1. studies the living L.; 2. by direct contact with it

Special principles
• “living” language is not necessarily the L. of spoken conversations
• good selection of easy reading: - sensible meaning
- interesting, lively
- everyday (spoken material)
- correct language
- graded
- don’t bother much with grammar
• learn by direct contact: immersion → lg. should be learnt with the help of immersion (merítés, elmerülés )
- no translation
- oral work (repetition & meaning)
- numerous exercises (Q & A; renarration)
- no analytic of formal grammar (implicitly (hallgatólagosan) assimilated; “intentional gr.”)
- no sharp division between morphology & syntax (it separates form & function)
- reading with oral exercises
- phonetics (above all)

Jespersen’s contribution : An Evaluation

(+) maturity & solidity (érettség & szilárdság)
(-) overemphasis on reading, phonetics & transcription

HAROLD E. PALMER (1877 – 1949)

He was not a linguist, but a lg. teacher; practical mindedness & inventions; learnt French; wrote more than 100 books;
own school cars index system; WW1. escaped to Holland; invited to Japan

1916: Colloquial English

1917: The Scientific Study & Teaching of Languages
1921: The Principles of Language Study
1921: The Oral Method of Teaching Languages (PLS)

Fundamental sciences
- linguistics (phonetics, gr., lexicology)
- psychology (laws of memory) scientific method
- pedagogy (the value of concretisation in teaching)
I. Linguistics
lexicology, morphology, semantics, ergonics
ergonics: ergons = a unit of grammatical function
lg. microcosm = kernel = limited number of ergons (→ infinite number of sentences)
(cf. mastery sentences ↔ TG grammar) → notions & functions
6. FOUNDATION OF A NEW SCIENCE: LP - 19 -

II. Psychology
• lg. learning is a process of unconscious assimilation (acquisition ↔ learning)
• studial capacities → lg. learning depends on the student’s capacity
• multiple line of approach (spontaneous & intellectual powers) (önkéntelen & észbeli)

III. Pedagogy
• be aware of the aims of lg. study (4 skills)
• subjective factors: student: previous study & motivation, linguistic attitude (nyelvérzék)
• objective factors: L. itself, orientation, extent, degree, manner of study
• importance of initial step (L1: learn how to learn)

The Scientific Study & Teaching Languages (general principles)

A) Beginner 1. Segregation (= differentiation between morphological forms); (phonetic transcription)
2. Passive assimilation = “incubation” period
B) Intermediate 3. “Semanticising” → association; translation; definition / paraphrasing ; context
4. Translation is necessary
5. Learning texts by heart
C) Advanced 6. Use of L. in reading, composition, conversation
7. Habit formation

Principles of Language Study

• Initial preparation is needed (special exercises: ear-training, articulation, mimicry, understand the gist)
• Importance of habit forming & adapting (substitution tables)
• Accuracy (sounds, stress & intonation, fluency, orthography, sentence building, inflections, meanings)
• Interest
• Gradation (from known to unknown)
• Concreteness (of lg. forms) (examples) multiple line of approach
• Be aware of the proportions (rész, arány) (all skills) (curriculum design)
• Rational order of progression (előrehaladás)

Positives (+) → Scientific & also balanced approach

→ Had a quite correct “inner view” of the lg.
Negatives (-) →Oddity in terminology (furcsaság a szaknyelvben)
→Obscurity (bizonytalanság) in conscious & subconscious learning
 - 20 -
7. THE READING METHOD; THE INTENSIVE METHOD; THE AUDIO-VISUAL METHOD
THE READING METHOD

Why do methods change?

Changes in society, in education (e.g.: school system), in the profession (esp. in the supporting sciences like linguistics); boredom
1920: some teachers & students had enough of the direct method
Their complaint: too “demanding” on everybody
Teachers should: → show: - intense vitality
- robust health
- real fluency
→ be: - resourceful (találékony) in the way of gestures / tricks of facial expressions
- able to sketch (vázol) rapidly on the blackboard
Pupils should → be very bright
→ have immense memory spans (emlékezet kiterjedése)

Reports & committees

• Report of the Committee of Twelve, 1900 – (a módszerek kombinációját ajánlja nagyjából életkor szerint / N., psy. …)
→ examined 2500 teachers
→ found chaos, chaotic and bewildering (zavaros) conditions
→ methods: GT, Natural, psychological, phonetic, RM
→ recommendation: age, goals of instruction
• The Cleveland Plan (Sauzé), 1919 – (inductive grammar)
→ examined bilingual DM
• The Bengal Project Report (West), 1920
→ investigated books published; lg. levels, needs; bilingualism with special reference to Bengal; vocab. Research
• Modern Foreign Language Study = the Coleman Report, 1924 – 27
→ a longitudinal study; gathering data (1925); objective tests in French, German, Spanish (1925 – 27)
→ questions - who should study
- what objectives (cél, feladat)
- content of course
→found: - maximum amount practice is needed
- no single method seems to be superior to others
- poor results: because of teacher’s inability to speak the lg. properly
→ need: - organisation of work, supervision, administrative co-operation, quality of teaching
- new procedures to develop reading power (not many classes / week → develop one skill only

Word frequency studies

1890’s: Keading: Training stenographers; 11 million words Prussian Bureau of Statistics
→ the usefulness of commonest words
→ currency of word frequency is similar: - up to 1000 words: increase (the most important to learn)
- after 3000 words: fall
(Az első pár száz szónak nagy a gyakorisága; az első 2-3 ezer szó után a gyakoriságában hirtelen ellaposodik)
1921, Thorndike
- The Teacher’s Word Book
- The Teacher’s Word Book of 20.000 words (1932)
- The Teacher’s Word Book of 30.000 words (1944)

1926 ,West: New Method Reader Scheme (rendszer, terv)

→ graded readers (Longman, Calcutta 1927), “simplified, adopted, abridged” version (rövidített kiadás)
→ lexical selection, lexical distribution is needed → most frequent variations to be chosen
→ number of unknown words / page
→ too many unknown words → can’t read
→ ideal: a text with 4-5 unknown words / page

New Method Dictionary, 1935, Longman

24.000 entries (címszó)explained in 1490 words

General Service List of English Words, 1953, Longman

1949, Lorge: A Semantic Count of the 570 Commonest Words, (Longman readers, Oxford readers: number of words e.g. 700)
Lexical selection (most frequent)
e.g.: mode → way
isle →island
nought →nothing
groom → servant
7. THE READING METHOD; THE INTENSIVE METHOD; THE AUDIO-VISUAL METHOD - 21 -

Lexical distribution (a principle of readability)

A new method readers’ text should contain not more than 3/5 unknown words/page
Simplified readers control
1. vocabulary control; 2. structures; 3. the amount of info (number of characters/chapters, length of sentences)
Reader 500: this reader was using the first 500 most common words
Publishers: Longman; Macmillan; CUP; OUB; Heinemann; Penguin

Types of reading
- extensive / synthetic
- intensive / analytical
- scanning
- skimming
→ for meaning & pleasure (the text as a whole)
→ detailed (every single element); for classroom teaching
→ locate info in a text; one element of a set
→ focus on the main point; the most important element; reading for gist

Features of the Reading Method

- use of l1 was banned
- techniques were adapted from native (reading instruction)
- applications of the various types of reading
- graded lexis (szókincs)
- less classes but more extensive reading (at home)
- “inner speech” (those who read a lot develop an inner speech → sooner or later will speak up)

Assessment:
(+) one skill only; renewed interest in reading (scientific literature)
(-) texts were not always properly selected; simplified readers are no substitution for real lit.

Linguistics: Trends:
19th c.: the growth of historical L. → diachronic (etymology; comparative L. meth.)
descriptive L. → synchronic (phonetics)
20th c.: De Saussure (structured wholes); 1916: cours delinguistique generale (Theoretical linguistics)
Phoneme theory (Prague school: Trubetckoy, Jacobson, Chomsky)
U.S.: linguistics & anthropology (embertan); linguistic-culture methodology; Boas, E. Sapir, B.L. Whorf

Leonard Bloomfield (1887 – 1949), Structuralism

1914: An Introduction to the Study of Language
1933: Language
1942: Outline Guide for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages

THE INTENSIVE METHOD

• Part of the ASTP (Army Specialised Training Program, 1942)

• Bloomfield: Outline Guide for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages
• New challenge: learn small amount of words: minimum level – maximum standard for performance (near native way)
• Team teaching (informant method) → two teachers: - informant (native speaker) → to speak
- linguist (instructor) → to understand
→ students: guided conversations
• 6 weeks; 10 hours / day; 15 hours of drills (with native speaker); 20-30 hours of private study

Procedures of the Intensive Method (6 basic steps)

- imitation (word for word → phrases to whole sentences; immediate error correction)
- repetition (each sentence twice; individual repetition)
- translation (instructor: L2 → student L1)
- rotation (repetition & memorisation practice: all students to start with sentence No1)
- discontinuous repetition (sentences at random; + repeat or translate)
- dialogue practice (swap roles)

Assessment:
(+) teamwork (new psychology); pronunciation → performance → fluency; overlearning; towards the AL theory; new
techniques; language learning: faster
(-) “instant linguistics” (learn Swedish in 5 days)

THE AUDIO-VISUAL (STRUCTURAL-GLOBAL) METHOD

Comes form France; the 60’s: C.R.E.D.I.F. → a language teaching research centre; Voix et images de France (ez egy kurzus neve)

Formula - relationship between sound & image → “sound” + “image” = “S” (situation?)
slide projector + tape recorder used → it created the situation; tapes + slides = situation
7. THE READING METHOD; THE INTENSIVE METHOD; THE AUDIO-VISUAL METHOD - 22 -

authentic: GT
small dialogues: DM
simplified reader: RM
dialogues: AV
- clear suggestive, vivid, graphic

Stages
→ becomes familiar with the everyday lg.
→ talk more; read fiction; newspapers; (hétköznapi nyelv; egyszerű szituk; hagyományos társalgási témák; olvasás; újságnyelv)
→ get more specialised; ESP (English for Special Purpose) (szaknyelv)

“The Whole” global visual image The Parts (structural; segment of lg.)
↓ ↓
Situation Patterns
Imitation
↓
• Chunks of language
• Musical elements of lg. is emphasised:
- intonation
- stress
- rhythm
- “dynamics”
• Visual association
• Live it over & over again & then many words
Instead of the tape become part of the picture

Pictures in general
- sketches, detailed pictures (drawing style)
- cartoons, strip cartoons (~ humoros képsor), comics
- picturecards & flashcards (figurakártya, szókártya/képkártya);pictures from magazines
flow-charts (folyamatábra) wall charts; wall pictures; wall posters
- slides, motion pictures
OHP foils, videos, photocopying devices, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)

“Complex” teaching material

Teacher’s book Work book Tapes

Student’s book Texts Slides
Games Wall pictures
Video
“Career” “Wheels” “Body-building”

Steps; phases; procedures (techniques)

Presentation ~ bemutatás
Explication (= explanation) ~ magyarázat
Repetition (memo) ~ ismétlés
Exploitation (development (fejlesztés); transposition (kiaknázás); interiorisation (átvitel) ~ elmélyítés

Assessment:
Vivid, entertaining
(+) script of scenario; typical conversations of a language instead of printed texts
situation centred (social context + meaningful communication)
new technology (slide, projector, tapes)
(-) difficulties in conveying meaning (with pictures)
too rigid and strict teaching sequences (do this in 5 minutes, that in 10 minutes etc.)
 - 23 -
8. THE AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD
Nature of language behind the AL
Lg. is a system & is often arbitrary
Lg. is speech (sounds are facts)
Lg. is for communication

30’s – 50’s: structuralism the most important linguistic theory

Structuralism:
- Bloomfield – Language
- sample; corpus – választott minta – szegmentáltak, azok minden elemét gondosan osztályozzák
- segmentation & classification of utterances
- IC (Immediate Constituent) analysis (sentence structure)
- sentence pattern (limited number; recurring) → identified by a process of successive substitution

the dogs may bite the postman

↓ ↓ ↓
dog bite Albert
↓
dogs bite

John found a book on Broadway

John found a bracelet on Broadway
John found a book on linguistics
Same structure; different meaning
He was killed by midnight
He was killed by the enemy deep structure vs. surface structure

The man is easy to see

The man is eager to see

Structuralism neglected meaning → no meaning in classification

Theories of learning
(a glimpse of behaviourism) learning is mechanistic
Pavlov & the conditioned reflex
Thorndike & the law of effect
Watson & the “stimulus” – “response” connection
Skinner & the operant conditioning (respondent ~ operant)
→ learning with imitation, repetition, positive answer
AL: the first real teaching method for the masses

LT theories
Linguistics Psychology Language pedagogy

Phonetics Associated psychology Direct method

Structuralism Behaviorism Audio-lingual
TG grammar Cognitive psychology Mentalist
Macrolinguistics Socio-psychology Communicative approach

AL: a lg. learning theory

Structuralism (ling.) + behaviorism (psych.) → AL (originally called aural-oral)

Structuralism → Bloomfield: Outline Guide for the Practical Study of Foreign Languages, 1942 (the first guideline of the intensive method)

ELI (English Language Institutes) led by Fries

→ structural lg. teaching material
→ “structural approach” Fries & Lado
→ “slot & filler” grammar (substitution tables!)
→ C.C. Fries The Structure of English, 1952
English Sentence Patterns, 1957
→ F.G. French: E. in tables, 1960
→ L.G. Alexander – W.S. Allen – R.A. Close – R.J. O’Neill: E. Grammatical Structures 1975
→ Nuclear sentences: simple sentences + extensions
e.g.: birds fly; birds are animals; birds love chocolate; Tom gives the birds chocolate; Chocolate makes you fat
8. THE AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD - 24 -

AL: the audio-visual background

→ Edison: phonograph (1902), linguaphone (1920): issued records
→ lg. labs: 1961: Ealing College, UK
1962: 20
1963: 160
1965: 500

→ types of labs: → AA = audio-active → students worked together bur they couldn’t record their own voices
→ → AAC = audio-active-comparative → they could record their own voices
→AAC+ = interactive multimedia (nowadays) → audio + video + computer control

classical AL started with dialogues (mimmem-method → mimicry & memorisation) not with the labs

AL classroom process (phrases)

→ presentation
→ repetition
→ practice
→ memorisation
→ confirmation

AL classroom process (procedures)

→ dialogue (structure & vocabulary)
presentation + microdialogue
→ mimic & memorisation = mimmem
repetition + expansion drills → done in the classroom, not in the lab
→ pattern drills (typical structures of a language)
practice + laboratory drills → labs were never used to teach new material, only for practice
a tanulás során először → minimal pairs → (egymástól egy hangban különböző szavak)
↓
to improve phonetic consciousness (kialakítani az artikulációs bázist)
később → sentence patterns
↓
bevésés drillek segítségével
Types of drills: - imitation ~ utánzás
- completion ~ kiegészítés
- substitution ~ helyettesítés
- transformation ~ átalakítás

Drills in classical AL: 3 phase drill

stimulus → response → tape repeats the answer
4 phase drill
stimulus → response → tape gives the right answer →
student repeats the right answer
Lg. lab is a perfect place for habit forming!
→ explanation
AL tried to develop all the 4 skills but they were aware of the order of them
→ roles “acted out” (gyakorlatba átvisz) → in groups
→ by individuals
memorisation (rote learning) ~ gépies tanulás
→ dialogue completion
→ grammar games, written work (e.g. composition)
confirmation ~ megerősítés → to turn what they had learnt into some other skills

Assessment
(+) →complex, demanding method
→ imitation & analogy → most people are capable of the ways of learning
→ adequate amount of (mechanical) practice → with the help of technical equipment
→ graded patterns drills (40’ – 60’s: the classical time of AL
later: they were aware of the pattern drills → graded them)

(-) → knowledge of the elements of the lg. (recognition) ≠ the whole lg. (performance)
→ one cannot “condition “ all utterances for a lifetime
→ long & lifeless dialogues → boring
 - 25 -
9. THE MENTALIST (COGNITIVE) APPROACH ~ Megközelítés
1957, Skinner: Verbal Behaviour → perhaps the best description of AL
Lado: Linguistic Across Cultures
Chomsky: Syntactic Structures
Chomsky: Language & Mind (Transformative Generative Grammar)
He himself never referred to lg. teaching
According to him:
→ lg.: a mental process in which we are seeking for rules
→ LAD: Language Acquisition Device → is decreasing through the passing time
The mentalist view of language
Lg. is → a system which relates meaning to substance
→ a mental phenomenon
→ innate (LAD) → infants have no languages!
→ universal (theoretical, people can learn any lg.)

A nyelv, mint jelentések rendszere mentális jelenség és tudatos elsajátítást kíván.

A Mentalist Approach a nyelvet mint gondolkodási folyamatot vizsgálja, amelynek terméke a beszéd.

Audio-lingual ↔ mentalist method (controversy) ~ vita

AL M
→ trial & error (condition) → insight & understanding
→ habit-formation → rule-seeking
→ Pavlov’s dog → LAD
→ emphasises performance → recognition is emphasised but
(“repeat automatically”) never bothered with performance

ò
They are nearly the opposite to each other

For good learning you need: → access to lg.

→ intelligent observation

History
Roger Bacon: universal features ↔ not universal
Petrus Ramus (?): self-investing grammar
Erasmus: Colloquia
Lubimus: use the talent of the lg. learner
Lemare: individual rule seeking (1918, Cours de langue latine, 3000 words) “előbb a gyerek maga figyelje meg a nyelvet,
Prendergast: mastery system mondatokból általánosít szabályokat; csak
Palmer: Ergonics akkor állítottak fel szabályokat ha a diák már
tudta kezelni”

It’s a new modern form of inductive approach

For the mentalist approach you need people who prefer thinking and recognising things (→ who are better at their left hemisphere)

Components

Linguistics: TG grammar + psychology: → “gestält” + lg. learning: cognitive code learning

→ cognitive psychology
code: → lg., speech variety, dialect
→ sign lg.
cognition: mental process like thinking; memory; perception; recognition etc.

Cognitive code learning (↔ habit forming)

→ mental processes like: → inference (~ közvetítés)
→ generalisation (~ általánosítás)
→ deductive learning
→ monitoring
→ memorising

Lg. learning according to mentalist views

Lg.: → a process of thinking: the product of speech
→ learn by trial & error: hypothesis testing
→ rules & sought for: learn by insight ~ bepillantás
→ a “cognitive map” of lg. will help identify generating rules
9. THE MENTALIST (COGNITIVE) APPROACH ~ Megközelítés - 26 -
→ a finite number of sounds, rules → an infinite number of sentences (TG; competence & performance)
→ lg. learning is a process of problem solving: “individual way through the intellectual puzzle”

The linguist: discovers the lg.

Native speaker: cannot explain although can speak the lg.
Lg. teacher: has to develop / built up the lg.
Lg. learner: discovers & develops the lg. at the same time (hypothesis formation + hypothesis testing)

The teacher’s role

AL: predicts difficulties; directs practice ~ irányít
M: is the resource centre, judges

Human learning is mentalistic → you need:

→ thinking: “creating” cognitive maps
→ errors: essential hypo-testing: → you learn from your errors
→ errors are natural
→ must be: no time to learn L1 by stimulus & response (Miller, 1964)
→ analysis & creativity (insight)
→ intelligent observation

This is not for beginners! But for those who want to improve their knowledge
The whole theory is about the differences between learning & acquisition:
→ emphasises acquisition BUT: not really bothers with performance

S.D. Krashen: Five Hypotheses (1977 – 82)

1. “acquisition” vs. learning” hypothesis

acquisition: → central
→ result acquired competence
learning: → peripheral ~ felszíni
→ results formal knowledge → useless; prevents you from speaking

2. the “natural order” hypothesis

→ all lg-s. are usually acquired according to a predictable order of events
→ for 2nd lg. learners this order is not good
(first morphological element that English people acquire is the –ing ending)

3. “monitor” hypothesis
acquisition results in competence → fluency
learning → accuracy → for this you need a monitor built up in your brain
→ you need: →time
→ to focus on form you can have problems
→ to know the rule

4. “input” hypothesis
what you need is a lot of authentic lg.
interlanguage = current competence in interlanguage
(interlanguage: when learning a lg. you can move from L1 towards L2 →
you are in the area of interlanguage)
i: the present level of interlanguage
i + 1: one step beyond
input should be slightly complicated than the student’s present level
CI = comprehensible input (sg. that can be understood fully)

5. the “affective filter” hypothesis ~ érzelmi

→ motivation
high level
→ self confidence the affective filter is low otherwise is up

→ anxiety low level

input → filter → LAD → acquired competence

result: low-level competence
emotion is also important
 - 27 -
10. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING; TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (CSELEKEDTETŐ MÓDSZER)

(also “comprehensive” or audiomotor approach)

inventor: Asher

Past: → Heness & Saveur

→ Goiun (Gouin’s series)
→ Harold & Dorothy Palmer: English Trough Actions, 1940
→ Asher: TPR (1969)
→ Winitz – Reeds: TPR + pictures (1973)
→ Postovsky: DOR (Delayed Oral Response) (1978)

Actions in TPR: → commands (to direct behaviour) → teaching through commands

→ swap roles → 2 groups in the classroom: first one takes the rule, then the other
→ action series

Classroom setting: instructor + volunteers + silent crowd

“volunteers” → initiate what teacher did ~ elkezd
→ physical movement helps to remember things
“silent crowd” → watch the other group
→ couldn’t remember words as well as the volunteers

The principles of TPR: → delay in speech until understanding of spoken language has been internalised
→ understanding is achieved through utterances through utterances (kiejtés) made by the instructor in the
imperative (felszólító mód)
→ students will indicate their “readiness” to talk (“incubation period” (lappangási időszak) H. Palmer)

Postovsky: steps of DOR: (when listening to a tape)

→ intonation: up & down → follow the pattern (megfigyelik az intonációt)
→ explanation in L1 (a tanár elmagyarázza a szemantikailag különösen érthetetlen részeket)
→ reading with stops (a tanár pontosan elmondja, hogy mi micsoda)
→ teacher’s reading (felolvassa a szöveget egyben)
→ silent period (mindenki magában gondolkodhat a hallottakon)
→ some words changed (a tanár szavakat változtat meg; diák: mi az eredeti?)
→ sentence with stops → what was the sentence you heard?
→ stops: what the sentences will follow → what will be the text?
→ final (new) listening (meghallgatják az egész szöveget)

mid 70’s: new ideas came as a result of the disappointment, as the aftermath (utóhatás) of the AL (behaviourist ↔ mentalist)

Trends: → fun & games (jazz chants; jigsaw (rejtvény)

→ drama teaching (script, scenario, role-play, discourse, social interaction, real life)
→ pragmatic (integrated)
optimal environment → not to interfere → “natural” ways = acquisition-based (Krashen!)
→ social / therapeutic orientations
Moskowitz: caring & sharing
Curran: CLL (Community/Counselling Language Learning)
→ individual solutions (creative teachers)
Asher: TPR
Gattegno: The Silent Way
Lozanov: Suggestopedia

COMMUNITY/COUNSELLING LANGUAGE LEARNING

inventor: Curran (since 1959 Woodstock, iii.)

trend in psychology → giving advice (counsel)

you lose part of your language you speak → similar to a person leaving psychological troubles
in case you lose your l. → psychological death
10. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING; TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - 28 -

1968, Counselling & Psychotherapy (NY, Sheed & Ward)

1972, A Whole-Person Model for Education
1976, Counselling Learning in L2
1978, Understanding: A Necessary Ingredient in Human Belonging

basic principles of counselling

you need security for learning

The CLL classroom

Counsellors → “knower”
Clients → “learner” (6-12 persons)

Clients: sitting around a table in a circle facing each other

Teacher: walks along
Tape recorder: in the middle
Main parts of the process
Investment + Reflection

Investment: → sentence in L1
→ “whisper” in L2 (knower) a kind of security
→ repetition (client) is increased
→ recording

Reflection: → impressions, experience shared (no criticism; nothing threatening to students)

→ listening to all the sentences on tape
→ sentence by sentence → analysis (written on the blackboard + translation)
→ discrimination (identifying meaningful parts)
- silent contemplation
- small group discussion
- verification
- answering questions
- passive listening
- monologue by the knower
→ more recording

Stages of development in CLL

1. client in L1 “infant”
knower in L2 phase 1: total dependence
repetition
recording

2. in L2 “child”
advice, explanation in L1
phase 2: separation processes
3. L1 only if needed “separate existence stage”

4. knower only corrects mistakes “adolescence”

5. more elegant phases “independent” phase 3: independent

SARD Principles (SAARRD) (six principles of successful learning in CLL)

→ Security
→ Attention → degree of involvement; self-attention (self assertion)
→ Aggression → you should use what you have already learnt
→ Reflection
→ Retention → to internalise all material → a different personality is coming up (this is the aim)
→ Discrimination → trying to become aware of the linguistic phenomenon of the lg.
10. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING; TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE - 29 -

Essential features → initial anxiety: comfort from ignorance ~ tudatlanság

threat of knowing → conflict, hostility, anger, anxiety to learning ~ sóvárgás
need → non-threatening environment

→ inverse ratio paradox: the greater the need the greater the resistance to expert help

→ “he must increase and I must decrease”

learner knower
-suffering - incarnation
- redemption ~ megváltás - vulnerable to students
- resurrection ~ feltámadás - alienation of knower
- becoming a knower - the “pedagogue” must decrease
- a new self is born

→ sense of growth and the turning point

- passing over a threshold: sense of belonging ~ tartozás valahová
- end of handicap regression

→ community learning: sharing & caring

- positive self-concept
- confidence in learning
- potential
- self-invested persons
- psychosomatic engagement

(AIM: to built up a new personality in L2!)

“A tanulás során a teljes személyiséget veszik figyelembe és nemcsak egy betegséget a célnyelv hiányát próbálják gyógyítani.
A nyelvtanulás döntően pszichológiai folyamat, amely során a diákok a nyelvtanulással is gazdagodó – teljes személyiségként kell kezelnünk.
A hatékony tanulás alapja a megosztott felelősség, egymás iránt érzett bizalom, megértés, elfogadás, meghitt, meleg interakció.” )
 - 30 -
11. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES: THE SILENT WAY; SUGGESTOPEDIA
THE SILENT WAY

inventor Gattegno, Galeb → psychologist, not a teacher

1972: Teaching FL-s in schools: The Silent Way

1976: The Common Sense of Teaching Foreign Languages
1976: Stevick, Earl: memory → Meaning & Method
1980: Teaching Languages: A Way & Ways
1990: Humanism in Language Teaching

Principles
• Capacity for learning is individual but no one can do it for you
• Teaching is subordinated to learning
• Teacher “engineers” the student (makes students do things)
• Students rely on each other
• Transfer what you already know
• Silence is tool – a bevésést vagy a reflexiókat segíti, lehetőséget ad a kezdeményezésre
• Student attention is key to learning
• Meaningful practice is important but you should avoid repetition

Technical background
• Charts → sound, colour – színnel segítik a hangok megkülönböztetését.
o words (12)
o fidel charts (8) – hang –és szótáblák
• Rods → they teach: minimum possible number of words → maximum number of grammatical terms
• Silence & peer correction – egyenrangú (hibák fontosak és szükségesek; a tanár nem dicsér és nem kritizál
• Gestures

SUGGESTOPEDIA

Georgij Lozanov (Bulgarian)

1978, Outline of Suggestology & Suggestopedia (London)

1971, Suggestology (Sofia)
1970, Ostrander & Schroder: Physic Discoveries behind the Iron Curtain

General assumption
• Learning is held back → by the social tradition
• By the relaxed & harmonious conditions
• By too much of “idle power” haszontalan
• Faster learning is possible; (hypermnesia = supermemory)
• Down with the psychological barriers; (avoid inhibitions ~ gátlás with the help of physical relaxation)
• Both conscious & subconscious learning are needed; (= double planedness)

The central category

State of mind:
asleep → awake → aware → alert → attentive → aroused → anxious → agonised
which is the best for language learning?
According to Lozanov: relaxed alertness

Hypnosis ↔ Suggestopedia
Hypnosis: we keep some parts of the brain alive while being asleep
Suggestopedia: we keep some parts of the brain relaxed while being alert

There’s no teaching & learning without

• Joy & easiness (artistic tools)
• Conscious /subconscious (pedagogical tools)
• Suggestive interaction (psychological tools)
11. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES: THE SILENT WAY; SUGGESTOPEDIA - 31 -

Operational principles ~ műveleti alapelvek

• Desuggestion = confidence building
(“bring down the wall”; ignore imitations; circumvent barriers; speak around them)
• Relaxation → both hemispheres + α state (“ritual placebos”)
Placebo: not a real thing, but something innocent; people should feel secure, should not worry
• Infantilisation (openness)
You should be very open to everything goes around you; you have to be as desperate as a child

Some notions from psycholinguistics & neuropsychology

Hemisphere functionally → asymmetric

structurally → symmetric
corpus colossum: connects the two hemispheres
Left hemisphere Right hemisphere
“can speak” “dumb c silent”
numbers forms, shapes
logic topography
analysis music / singing
mathematics dreaming / fantasy
(logical / abstract) (concrete / iconic image)
“thinkers” “artists”

Biologically they are symmetrical, but functionally not!

It is not enough to do sg. with the left hemisphere – the right should also be used!

Roles of hemispheres
Right: a rich world
Left: order, logical actions
Structure: symmetric
Function: asymmetric

• Cooperate versenyez
• Compete együttműködik
• Disturb zavar
• Inhibit gátol
(verbs under a fine & delicate balance)

Brain waves
• α state: 8 – 12 / sec → relaxation, meditation
• β state: 13 – 25 / sec → active, watchful mind
• γ state: 0.5 – 3 / sec → sleep
• δ state: 4 – 7 / sec: → inspiration (of age 2 – 5)

The technical background in Suggestopedia

• An attractive classroom (paintings, photos on the walls etc.)
• Peripheral learning (subconscious)
• Recliners, hi-fi equipment
• Security (time & money) → different from the security in CLL

The human “factor”

• A new identity for learners (maximum 12: 6♂ + 6 ♀)
• A “great teacher” = warm, supportive, lively, cheerful, efficient, glamorous ~ elbűvölő, cooperative
(actor, psychologist, musician, educator at the same time)
• Authority (competence) → result of various activities
• How to effect the learner on subconscious level

Standard methodological processes

(the material is usually a long (more than 1000 words) dialogue; 1 unit usually for three days)

Suggestopedic cycles:
I.review → very similar to direct method
II.presentation →of the next dialogue
→ very traditional: they discuss the dialogue sentence in both lg-s (→ very similar to GT)
III.active part → the presentation of the dialogue in a fairly specific way
11. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACHES: THE SILENT WAY; SUGGESTOPEDIA - 32 -
→ yoga breathing is used (séance / session: 20 – 25 minutes)

2” → inhale → L1 → neutral

4” → breathe retention L2 → normal whisper loud

2” → exhale Ø inner speech → memorisation
IV.passive part (concert): 20 – 25 minutes
(a tanár felolvassa a szöveget, miközben klasszikus zene szól)
→ introduction when you listen to the dialogue:
→ baroque you listen to sg. really classical
→ cheerful

SALT = suggestive – accelerated learning & teaching → an umbrella term for other varieties of relaxation

Physical relaxation
• reach & stretch
• tension waves
• three turtle
• side bends
• yogic breathing
• mind calming: → little white clouds
→ Zen-breathing
→ climbing a mountain
Components to describe human quality
• feelings (personal emotions + aesthetic appreciation)
• social relations (like friendship & cooperation)
• responsibility
• intellect (knowledge, reason & understanding)
• self actualisation (an active personality not just a passive listener)

CLL; SU; SW; TPR;

• have no linguistic theories behind
• setting & seating is important in all of them

CLL SU SW TPR

• teaching material: → CLL → Ø (students produce it)

→ SU → 10 ~ 1200 word dialogues
→ SW → mainly oral; traditional; structural
→ TPR → introductory grammar, meaning first
• teaching style; control →CLL → no teacher control; no “normal” feedback
→ SU → strong teacher control; no feedback
→ SW → strong teacher control; no feedback
→ TPR → strong teacher control; teacher is a participant; hardly any feedback
lack of demand on the facts of language

These methods are not for mass teaching; they are good for beginners
It is difficult to achieve higher levels with the help of them

“Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.”
(Benjamin Franklin)
.
 - 33 -
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH I.
20th century: speeding up in changes of methods
Now: the dominating approach in lg. teaching almost all over the world is the communicative approach / communicative method

Theories behind CM:

• linguistics: macro-linguistics
• psychology: socio-psychology

Formation of the CM:

3 major areas:
• New methodology as a result of new needs
• New solution for language curricula
• New fields in linguistic research (and its influence of lg. teaching)

New needs at the and of the 70’s

• needs analysis → the analysis of the needs of learners become important
• Council of Europe (in 1977) decided to set up general standards for lg. learners
• unification → unit → credit system was created → 2 levels: → “threshold”
→ “waystage”
(Alexander, Trim, Van Ek)

Theorists
1972, Wilkins: Linguistics in Language Teaching
1974, Wilkins: Second Language Learning & Teaching
1975, Leech & Starvik: A Communicative Grammar of English

Notions (semantic categories) appeared for the first time in grammar

Functions (purpose of language use) = things that you can do with language

1976, Wilkins: Notional Syllabus

1978, Widdowson: Teaching Language as Communication

Language philosophy (Wittgenstein)

1962, Austin: How to Do Things with Words
1969, Searle: Speech Acts

Linguistics (Saussure, Chomsky)

Firth → content
Halliday → systemic l. MEANING
Fillmore → case gr.
Wilkins → notions

Sociolinguistics
• more serious research in accents & dialects (horizontal)
• Style & Register by Joos appropriateness
(Crystal & Davy also wrote about it) (acceptability)

Psycholinguistics
• Roles
• Scripts
• Categories of acceptability & appropriateness
Acceptability → mainly focussing on correctness
Appropriateness → if people say things in a wrong place, corrected in
the reaction is emotional and language norm
sometimes unexplainable

Language norm
→ Balance of acceptability & appropriateness
→ A dynamic compromise between linguistic codification ~(törvényalkotás) and social convention

Disappointment in micro-linguistics
• More attention on micro-linguistics
• (instead of “What lg. is?” → What lg. is good for?”)
• What lg. is language? → What lg. is good for?
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH I. - 34 -

• “usage” → “use” Widdowson

• forms → functions (Wilkins)
• sentences utterances (What was happening behind sentences)
• text → discourse
(“language” → “parole (Saussure!))

“Means” of communication
• linguistics (3-8%)
• paralinguistic
• visual
• proxemic channels
• kinetic
• tactile
• olfactory
• taste

Linguistic channel: mainly responsible for the content of the message

Non-linguistic channels: result in certain attitudes

Wilkin’s model:
Communication purpose
• origin:
→ person ‘A’
→ thing ‘A’
• message: ↓
→deliberate ~ szándékos?
→ non-deliberate ~ nem szándékos?
• form: ↓
→coded (symbol)
→ uncoded (sign)
• medium: ↓
→ verbal
→ non-verbal
• receiver: ↓
→ person ‘B’
Communication result

Feedback: very important → may be culture-based

conversation: you must be strong at the feedback line → culture things are always offending ~ bántó
“notions”
(time, space, etc)

Meaning (thoughts) → Semantico-grammatical categories → grammar

↓
speech ← Communicative functions ←
↓
“functions”
(persuasion, request, intention, refusal, etc.)
↓
It shows how notions & functions can be interpreted when producing a sentence

Semantico-grammatical categories
Notions:
• time: point of time, duration, time relations, frequency, sequence, age
e.g.: I saw you at the swimming pool at 10 last night.
(at → this is a notion)
• space: dimension, location, motion
• case: agentive, objective (tárgyeset), dative (részeshatározó), instrumental (eszközhatározói), locative (helyhatározói), factitive (műveltető),
benefactive (jótékony)

Categories of communicative function:

• argument: information asserted and sought, agreement, disagreement, denial, concession ~ engedmény
• emotional relations: greeting, sympathy, gratitude (hála), flattery (hízelgés), hostility
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH I. - 35 -

Brumfit’s model (originally Swan’s)

Cross-fertilisation

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Functions

Structures

Communicative approach → new curriculum design + the functional notional syllabus

→ teaches structures simultaneously
Analyse topic, structures etc. → leads to a complete syllabus

“Old” model (AL)

1. presenting material
2. practice
3. practice in context

“New” model:
1. trying to communicate with all available resources
2. presenting the necessary items
3. drill if necessary
(it is not good for beginners)

Traditional order of events in a classroom

• setting objectives
• presentation (skill – getting) interiorisation
• practice
• transfer (skill – using) exteriorisation

skill getting GAP skill – using

the gap activities

The whole lg. learning process:

Skill – getting:
• cognition (knowledge): → perception (of units, categories, functions) linguistic
→ abstraction (internalising rules relating categories and functions) competence

• production /
pseudo-communication: (~ ál-) → articulation (practice of sequences of sounds) linguistic
→ construction (practice in formulating communication) performance

Skill – using:
• interaction /
real communication: → reception (comprehension of a message) language is
→ expression (conveying personal meaning) interaction

Communicative competence (3-component model)

• linguistic competence
• linguistic performance
• interaction
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH I. - 36 -

A new model of communicative competence (model by Canal & Swain)

1. linguistic competence (accuracy + fluency)
(linguistic competence & performance are united)
2. sociolinguistic competence
(appropriacy + acceptability → linguistic criteria behind it) → proper language norm
3. discourse competence
effective speech & writing (producing larger pieces of text)
(cohesion + coherence → linguistic criteria behind)
4. strategic competence
avoidance techniques (if you have problems with the first 3)
e.g.: if you realise that you are unable to finish the sentence:
→ begin another (to express it another way)
those who don’t have a strategic competence commit a mistake

Speech act theory

A: The phone is ringing → request (→ purpose: pick it up)
B: I’m in the bathtub → refusal
A: OK → agreement

Why do conversations tend to be elliptic?

Speakers: know each other → have no problems
The less they know each other the more cohesive devices they have to use

Conversation: you either say sg. or imply it

say and / or implicate

speech acts based on:
assumptions: ~ feltételezések
presuppositions: ~ előfeltétel
conclusions

Logical deduction + knowledge of the situation

A: Have you got a watch?
B: It’s half past six.
(The answer is not “Yes, I have”)
elliptic: it is taken for granted that “A” asks about the time.

Speech acts analysis

Locution: The phone is ringing I’m in the bathtub

→ what you said

Illocution: (Request) (Refusal)

→ what you implied with
what you said

Perlocution: I’m in the bathtub OK

→ the result of this:
communicative act on the
other person (effect)

A perlocution can be the locution from another point of view → it helps to analyse longer stretches of speech

Locution:
• grammatically well-formed semantically interpreted utterance
• “referential” or cognitive
• meaning

Illocution:
• the force or effect
(the speaker wants to produce “illocutionary force”)

Perlocution:
• the actual effect made by the utterance
(embracing in a situation)
12. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH I. - 37 -

Speech acts classification

• commisive: e.g. promise, threat
• declarative: e.g. assertion
• directive: e.g. suggestion, request, command
• expressive: e.g. apology, complaint, feelings, attitudes
• representative: e.g. assertion, claim

Models of Communicative competence

Cognition → linguistic competence
Production → linguistic performance
Teaching (and learning) linguistic competence & linguistic performance is a necessary but not satisfactory condition to
achieve communicative competence. Interaction skills are required.

Cohesion: ties & connections within the text

Deictic ~ utaló expressions: (here, there, this, that, now, then, yesterday, I, you etc)
They’ll have to do it tomorrow, because they aren’t here now.
→ meaningless → gets meaning in a situation
The meaning is often in us → the interpretation is in our mind → the text in itself is not meaningful

Coherence: “make sense” → within us

Cohesion can support meaningfulness but is not absolute (e.g.: a text can contain cohesive devices yet it is not coherent) +
sentences can be coherent even if they don’t contain cohesive devices.
e.g. A: Has John come home yet?
B: The pubs are still open.

I can’t hear my own voice → we don’t interpret it that he doesn’t have voice

A: The phone is ringing → request

B: I’m in the bathtub → refusal Meaningful without cohesive devices
A: OK

Syntax: sequence of linguistic forms (relationship, sequence, well-formedness)

Semantics: linguistic forms → entities in the world (how words literary connect to things)

Pragmatics: linguistic forms → the users of form (→ deals with meaningfulness of the language;
humans are included in the analyses)

Pragmatics
• intended speaker meaning
• theory of speech & performance (semantics, logic, psychology, philosophy)
• relation between linguistic expressions and their users
• is about the use of language
function, use, purpose

→ use of language in communication

→ in the study of
1) The speaker meaning (intended speaker meaning)
2) Contextual meaning
3) Invisible meaning
4) The expression of relative distance (choice bw. said and unsaid will depend upon shared
experiences)

Dichotomy

language ↔ language in use

“language” ↔ “parole”
sentences ↔ utterance
(“sense”) ↔ (“force”)
(form) ↔ (function)
competence ↔ performance
semantics ↔ pragmatics
meaningful
communication
 - 38 -
13. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH II.
The fundamental principle of CLT
Teaching (&learning) linguistic competence &linguistic performance is necessary but not satisfactory condition to achieve
communicative competence. Interaction skills are also required.

Basic principle of teaching communicatively in the classroom

(Morrow: Principles 1981, Longman)
• Know what you are doing (consciousness!)
• The whole is more than the sum of the parts (→ in AL)
• The processes (e.g.: how a dialogue is built up) are as important as the forms
• To learn it, to do it (→ activities (not necessarily physical) are connected with learning)
• Mistakes are not always a mistake

Communicative activities
• Awareness type exercises (often: “warming up” exercises)
• Role play
→ situation
→ script → more or less → provided by the teacher
• Drama-techniques
→ highest level: acting
→ fairly artistic → not the same as role plays
• Language games
• Stimulation / problem solving exercises

Graduality of the role play

• Communicate through interaction in L2 → the most important
• Use authentic material as much as you can
• Focus on lg. and the learning process
• Learner’s own experience as contribution ~ közreműködés to classroom learning
• Link classroom learning with lg. activation outside the classroom
→ wherever you have the chance to practice what you learnt, do it

Since the end of the 70’s the aim of the comm. approach is to create a lg. classroom similar to real lg. environment.

The development of CLT

• Needs analyses (Council of Europe)
← business
70’s

• Functional-notional syllabi
← linguistics
70’s

• Communicative curriculum design

← course book writing
70’s
→ functions & notions
→ + topic reappeared (lexis)
+ roles (socio- & psycholinguistics)
+ cross cultural topics
+ feedback (testing & marking)
→ no “methodology” was present (as communicative)

• Communicative classroom solutions

← practice
80’s
→ roots: methodological arsenal of the 70’s:
- Pair work / group work (instead of frontal or individual teaching)
- Drama techniques
- Language games (→ 3 criteria!)
- Psychotherapy etc.
13. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH II. - 39 -

• Orthodox CLT / principled CLT

← practice
80’s
→ criteria:
- Morrow’s principles
- Strict requirement of the information gap

• Contemporary CLT
← practice
90’s
→principles
- interaction inL2
- authentic lg.
- learner-centeredness
- cooperation etc
→ trends still around:
- whole-language activities (→ to integrate not to separate the skills)
- task-based teaching
- content-based teaching
CLT never became a method, only an approach!!!

Criticism of the comm.. approach

(Mainly of the orthodox CLT)

• Validity (IQ & common sense)

Teaching of communication, not the teaching of lg.
• How to cover phenomena outside notions & functions?
• How to keep chunks / lumps of lg. (phrases) together?
→ problems for the beginner
→ later the lexical approach
• Holistic approach – isolated functions → valójában
→ there is no l. to l. correspondence between grammatical forms & functions
• Proportions of activities

Learning ↔ Communication
↓ ↓
Input-centred Output-centred
↓ ↓
Finite Virtually infinite
↓ ↓
Quantitative Qualitative

We can compare the methods on the basis of:

Use of L1: Awareness of l. operations; Isolation of l. phenomena; Emphasis on pronunciation; Emphasis on structures.
Emphasis on vocabulary; Emphasis on usage; All skills vs. one skill; Role of translation; Classroom control;
Frontal vs. individual teaching; Error correction; Feedback