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Open in new tab The Audio-Lingual Method
HUM 403 Methodology in ELT
Dr. Yakup Cetin
INTRODUCTION
In World War II, the US needed personnel to
learn foreign languages very quickly as part of
their military operations in Germany, Russia, France,
Vietnam.
The “Army Method“ (former name of Audio-lingual
Method) was developed to provide agents, interpreters,
translators, informants with communicative fluency.
Correct pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and
intonation are emphasized.
Native communication skills were achieved through very
intensive language courses that focus on aural/oral skills.
Officers studied 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. There were generally 15
hours of drill with native speakers and 20 to 30 hours of private study
spread over two to three 6-week sessions.
ALM has a strong theoretical base in linguistics
(structure) and psychology (behaviorism)
(Skinner, Thorndike, Paulov).
Behaviorism and structural linguistics are
anti-mentalist, empirically (experimental) based
approach to the study of human behavior. They
depend on three important elements: stimulus,
response, and reinforcement.
ALM aims habit formation through mechanical
drills.
ALM is mainly based on memorizing dialogues
through highly controlled practice including
imitation, drills and repetitions.
Dialogues provides the context for key structures
and situations in which structures might be used as
well as some cultural aspects of the target language.
E.g. A group of soldiers doing marching drills in the
exercise yard, listening to the short commands and
repeating them until they are memorized. (Add
Video Ay akşamdan ışıktır, yaylalar yaylalar …)
ALM focuses mainly on drills to teach grammatical
sentence patterns through tapes, language labs, and visual
aids.
E.g. Language learning is like learning driving a car.
EXAMPLES TO DRILLS
T: I bought the ticket. > She.
SS: She bought the ticket.
T: They.
SS: They bought the ticket.
T: We.
SS: We bought the ticket.
T: We are going to the cinema. > Zoo.
SS: We are going to the zoo.
T: Restaurant.
SS: We are going to the restaurant.
T: Concert.
SS: We are going to the concert.
Energizer
.
For Charles Fries (1945) , grammar, or “structure,” was the starting point to teach
language.
Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to be learned
in the target language are presented in spoken form before they are
seen in written form. Thus, reading and writing skills come later.
Therefore, the idea in ALM is that practice makes perfect.
E.g. Sentence Patterns
BILL :
Good morning, Sally.
SALLY:
How are you?
BILL:
Fine, thanks. And you?
SALLY:
Fine. Where are you going?
BILL:
I’m going to the post office.
SALLY:
I am too. Shall we go together?
BILL :
Sure. Let’s go.
SAMPLE VIDEO TEACHING
THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
1 The teacher introduces a new
dialog.
2 The language teacher uses only the
target language in the classroom.
Actions, pictures, or realia are
used to make the meaning clear.
Language forms/structures
occur most naturally within a
context.
The native language and the
target language have separate
linguistic systems. They should
be kept apart so that the
students’ native language
interferes as little as possible
with the target language.
3 The language teacher introduces the
dialog by modeling it several times.
He corrects mispronunciation by
modeling the proper sounds in the
target language
4 The students repeat each line of the
new dialog several times.
5 The students stumble over one of the
lines of the dialog. The teacher uses
a backward buildup drill with this
line.
One of the language teacher’s major
roles is that of a model of the target
language. By listening to how it is
supposed to sound, students should
be able to mimic the model.
Language learning is a process of
habit formation. The more often
something is repeated, the stronger
the habit and the greater the
learning.
It is important to prevent learners
from making errors. Errors lead to
the formation of bad habits.
6 The teacher initiates a chain drill,
single-slot and multiple-slot
substitution drills in which
students interact with each other.
8 The teacher says, ‘Very good,’
when the students answer
correctly.
The purpose of language
learning is to learn how to use
the language to communicate
through different forms of
drills.
Positive reinforcement
(motivation, reward) helps the
students to develop correct
habits.
Energizer
9 The teacher uses spoken cues and
picture cues.
10 The teacher conducts
transformation and
question-and-answer drills.
11 When the students can handle it, the
teacher poses the questions to them
rapidly.
Students should learn to respond to
both verbal and nonverbal stimuli.
Each language has a finite number of
patterns. Pattern practice helps
students to form habits which enable
the students to use the patterns.
Students should ‘overlearn,’ i.e. learn
to answer automatically without
stopping to think.
12 The teacher provides the students with
cues; she calls on individuals; she
smiles encouragement; she holds up
pictures one after another.
13 New vocabulary is introduced through
lines of the dialog; vocabulary is
limited.
14 Students are given no grammar rules;
grammatical points are taught through
examples and drills.
The teacher should be like an
orchestra leader —conducting,
guiding, and controlling the students’
learning.
The major objective of language
teaching should be for students to
acquire the structural patterns; rather
than vocabulary.
The rules necessary to use the target
language will be figured out or
induced (inductive grammar
teaching) from examples.
15 The teacher does a contrastive
analysis of the target language and
the students’ native language in
order to overcome mistakes.
16 The teacher writes the dialog on
the blackboard toward the end of
the week. The students do some
limited written work with the
dialog and the sentence drills.
A comparison between the native and
target language will tell the teacher in
what areas her students will probably
experience difficulty.
Speech is more basic to language than the
written form – skill acquisition is like:
listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Energizer
REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
1 What are the goals of teachers who use the Audio-Lingual
Method?
Students are required to use the target language communicatively.
Therefore, teachers believe students need to memorize the target language,
to learn to use it automatically without stopping to think. Their students
achieve this by forming new habits in the L2 and overcoming the old habits
of their L2.
2 What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the
students?
The teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the
language of the students. The teacher is also responsible for providing her
students with a good model for imitation.
Students are imitators of the teacher’s model or the tapes of native speakers.
They follow the teacher’s directions and respond as accurately and as
rapidly as possible.
3 What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning
process?
New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs. The
dialogs are learned through imitation and repetition of drills.
Drills (such as repetition, backward build-up, chain, substitution,
transformation, and question-and-answer) are conducted based upon the
patterns present in the dialog.
Students’ successful responses are positively reinforced.
Grammar is induced from the examples given; explicit grammar rules are
not provided.
Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogs or presented by the
teacher.
Students reading and written work is based upon the oral work they did
earlier.
4 What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What
is the nature of student-student interaction?
Most of the interaction is between teacher and students and is
initiated by the teacher.
5 How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
There are no principles of the method that relate to this area.
6 How is the language viewed? How is the culture viewed?
Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-Lingual Method. The
level of complexity of the speech is graded, however, so that
beginning students are presented with only simple patterns.
Culture consists of the everyday behavior and lifestyle of the target
language speakers‘.
Energizer
7 What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills
are emphasized?
The natural order of skills presentation is : listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. The oral/aural skills receive most of the attention. What
students write they have first been introduced orally. Pronunciation is
taught from the beginning, often by student working in language
laboratories.
8 What is the role of the students’ native language?
The habits of the students’ native language are thought to interfere such
as word order in L1 and L2. Therefore, the target language is used in the
classroom, not the students’ native language.
A contrastive analysis between the students’ native language and the
target language will tell the teacher what mistakes may occur.
9 How is evaluation accomplished?
The answer to this question is not obvious because we did not actually
observe the students in this class taking a formal test.
10 How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Student errors are to be avoided if at all possible through the teacher’s use
of different forms of drills.
Check your understanding of the Audio-Lingual
Method.
1 Which of the following techniques follows from the principles of the
Audio-Lingual Method, and which ones don’t? Explain the reasons for your
answer.
a The teacher asks beginning-level students to write a composition about the
system of transportation in their home countries. If the need a vocabulary
word that they don’t know, they are told to look in a bilingual dictionary for a
translation.
b Toward the end of the third week of the course, the teacher gives students a
reading passage. The teacher asks the students to read the passage and to
answer certain questions based upon it. The passage contains words and
structures introduced during the first three weeks of the course.
c The teacher tells the students that they must add an’s’ to third per son
singular verbs in the present tense in English. She then gives the students a
list of verbs and asks them to change the verbs into the third person singular
present tense form.
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