TEACHING METHODS
1. GBA (Genre Based Approach)
GBA are basically to help students become more successful writers (and readers) of academic and workplace texts (Hyon, 1996, p.700); and to help students make sense of not only the structure of texts but also a wide range of compositional concerns (Brook, 2000).
The audio-lingual method was developed in the USA around World War II when governments realized that they needed more people who could conduct conversations fluently in a variety of languages, work as interpreters, code-room assistants, and translators. However, since foreign language instruction in that country was heavily focused on reading instruction, no textbooks, other materials or courses existed at the time, so new methods and materials had to be devised. For example, the U.S. Army Specialized Training Program created intensive programs based on the techniques Leonard Bloomfield and other linguists devised for Native American languages, where students interacted intensively with native speakers and a linguist in guided conversations designed to decode its basic grammar and learn the vocabulary. This “informant method” had great success with its small class sizes and motivated learners.
The U.S. Army Specialized Training Program only lasted a few years, but it gained a lot of attention from the popular press and the academic community. Charles Fries set up the first English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, to train English as a second or foreign language teachers. Similar programs were created later at Georgetown University, University of Texas among others based on the methods and techniques used by the military. The developing method had much in common with the British oral approach although the two developed independently. The main difference was the developing audio-lingual methods allegiance to structural linguistics, focusing on grammar and contrastive analysis to find differences between the student’s native language and the target language in order to prepare specific materials to address potential problems. These materials strongly emphasized drill as a way to avoid or eliminate these problems.
This first version of the method was originally called the oral method, the aural-oral method or the structural approach. The audio-lingual method truly began to take shape near the end of the 1950s, this time due government pressure resulting from the space race. Courses and techniques were redesigned to add insights from behaviorist psychology to the structural linguistics and constructive analysis already being used. Under this method, students listen to or view recordings of language models acting in situations. Students practice with a variety of drills, and the instructor emphasizes the use of the target language at all times. The idea is that by reinforcing ‘correct’ behaviors, students will make them into habits.
The typical structure of a chapter employing the Audio-Lingual-Method (ALM—and there was even a text book entitled ALM [1963]) was usually standardized as follows: 1. First item was a dialog in the foreign language (FL) to be memorized by the student. The teacher would go over it the day before. 2. There were then questions in the FL about the dialog to be answered by the student(s) in the target language. 3. Often a brief introduction to the grammar of the chapter was next, including the verb(s) and conjugations. 4. The mainstay of the chapter was “pattern practice,” which were drills expecting “automatic” responses from the student(s) as a noun, verb conjugation, or agreeing adjective was to be inserted in the blank in the text (or during the teacher’s pause). The teacher could have the student use the book or not use it, relative to how homework was assigned. Depending on time, the class could respond as a chorus, or the teacher could pick individuals to respond. It was really a sort of “mimicry-memorization.” And it was “Julian Dakin in ‘The Language Laboratory and Language Learning’ (Longman 1973) who coined the phrase ‘meaningless drills’ to describe pattern practice of the kind inspired by the above ideas.” 5. There was a vocabulary list, sometimes with translations to the mother tongue. 6. The chapter usually ended with a short reading exercise.
Due to weaknesses in performance, and more importantly because of Noam Chomsky‘s theoretical attack on language learning as a set of habits, audio-lingual methods are rarely the primary method of instruction today. However, elements of the method still survive in many textbooks.
3. Silent Way
The Silent Way is a discovery learning approach, invented by Caleb Gattegno in the early 1970s. The teacher is usually silent, leaving room for the students to explore the language. They are responsible for their own learning and are encouraged to interact. The role of the teacher is to give clues, not to model the language.
Suggestopedia was a method that experienced popularity especially in past years, with both staunch supporters and very strong critics, some claiming it is based on pseudoscience.
5. Direct Method
The direct method, sometimes also called natural method, is a method that refrains from using the learners’ native language and just uses the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900 and are best represented by the methods devised by Berlitz and de Sauzé although neither claim originality and has been re-invented under other names. The direct method operates on the idea that second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language – a child never relies on another language to learn its first language, and thus the mother tongue is not necessary to learn a foreign language. This method places great stress on correct pronunciation and the target language from outset. It advocates teaching of oral skills at the expense of every traditional aim of language teaching. Such methods rely on directly representing an experience into a linguistic construct rather than relying on abstractions like mimicry, translation and memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary.
According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away from second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language learner does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech. Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be avoided because this would involve the application of the learner’s first language. All above items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral proficiency.
The method relies on a step-by-step progression based on question-and-answer sessions which begin with naming common objects such as doors, pencils, floors, etc. It provides a motivating start as the learner begins using a foreign language almost immediately. Lessons progress to verb forms and other grammatical structures with the goal of learning about thirty new words per lesson.
In Total Physical Response (TPR), the instructor gives the students commands in the target language and the students act those commands out using whole-body responses. This can be categorized as part of the comprehension approach to language teaching.
7. CTL (Contextual Teaching and Learning)
Contextual teaching and learning is a conception of teaching and learning that helps teachers relate subject matter content to real world situations; and motivates students to make connections between knowledge and its applications to their lives as family members, citizens, and workers and engage in the hard work that learning requires.
Thus, CTL helps students connect the content they are learning to the life contexts in which that content could be used. Students then find meaning in the learning process. As they strive to attain learning goals, they draw upon their previous experiences and build upon existing knowledge. By learning subjects in an integrated, multidisciplinary manner and in appropriate contexts, they are able to use the acquired knowledge and skills in applicable contexts (Berns and Erickson 2001).
Communicative language teaching(CLT), also known as the Communicative Approach, emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Despite a number of criticisms it continues to be popular, particularly in Europe, where constructivist views on language learning and education in general dominate academic discourse. Although the ‘Communicative Language Teaching’ is not so much a method on its own as it is an approach.
In recent years, task-based language learning (TBLL), also known as task-based language teaching (TBLT) or task-based instruction (TBI), has grown steadily in popularity. TBLL is a further refinement of the CLT approach, emphasizing the successful completion of tasks as both the organizing feature and the basis for assessment of language instruction. Dogme language teaching id s vstriant of TBL. Dogme is a communicative approach, and encourages teaching without published textbooks and instead focusing on conversational communication among the learners and the teacher.
9. CLL (Community Language Learning)
Community language learning (CLL) is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counsellor and a paraphraser, while the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role can be changed. (Read More here!)
LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS COMPARATSSION
| | Natural Approach | Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) | Audio-lingual Method (ALM) |
Proposer/ advocator | Crashen & Terrell/ 1977 | ?/1972 | Charles Fries /1939 |
| Goals | Students can acquire the target languages in a natural and communicative situation. | Be able to communicate with others in the target language in different situations | Be able to listen, speak, read, and write in the target language, with emphasis on listening and speaking |
| Mother Tongue | No mother tongue | Both mother tongue and target language | Less mother tongue |
| Merits | 1. Students acquire the target language in a natural and easy way. 2. Teaching materials are designed very well. Students ca acquire language from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, and from concrete to abstract. | 1. Students have the opportunities to express their own thoughts and opinions. 2. Students have the opportunities to communicate with each other in the classroom. 3. Students can learn the culture of the target language because the teaching materials are related to the social environments. 4. The communicative situation makes students reconstruct their knowledge and thoughts, so students can learn to fluently speak the target language more easily. | 1. Students can learn target language in natural order: listening—speaking—reading—writing. 2. Students can speak the correct answers without thinking by overlearning. |
| Limits | 1. Students may use the target language fluently, but they cannot use it accurately. 2. Teachers should collect various teaching aids and use them appropriately. 3. Special teaching designs is necessary for the students with better abilities. | 1. It’s difficult for a nonnative speaking teacher who is not very proficient in the target language to teach effectively. Teacher training and certification are needed. 2. Students’ pronunciation and grammatical knowledge is poor. 3. It is difficult for teachers to evaluate students’ expression in the learning process. | 1. It fails to teach the long-term communicative proficiency. 2. Structural linguistics didn’t tell us everything about language that we needed to know. 3. It’s impossible and unnecessary to teach students without using native languages. 4. It’s boring for students to overlearn the drills and it’s tiring for teachers to teach. |
| Teaching Aids | Visual aids, such as pictures, maps, advertisement; games | (a)Interesting and meaningful materials, such as linguistic games, role plays, and problem solving materials. (b) Technology—films, videos, TV, computers, can be used as teaching aids. | Textbooks, drills, tapes, language labs |
| Features | 1. 5 important hypothesis A. the Acquisition-Learning H Students acquire language subconsciously in the natural and communicative situations. B. the Monitor H Students may call upon learned knowledge to correct themselves when they communicate, but that conscious learning has only this function. C. the Natural Order H The acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order. D. the Input (i+1) H Students acquire language best by understanding input that is slightly beyond their current level of competence. E. the Affective Filter H Student work should center on meaningful communication rather than on form; input should be interesting and so contribute to a relaxed classroom atmosphere. ------------------------------------- 2. The teacher was the source of the learner’s input and the creator of an interesting and stimulating variety of classroom activities. 3. Learners don’t need to say anything during the “silent period” until they feel ready to do so. 4. Start with TPR commands. 5. Use visuals, typically magazine pictures, to introduce new vocabulary. 6. The focus in the classroom is on listening and reading abilities. 7. No sentence patterns practice and no error correction during the process of acquisition. | 1. Language learning is learning to communicate. The primary function of language is for interaction and communication. 2. Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence 3. Students learn to use the appropriate language forms in the different places. 4. Communicative activities include functional communicative activities and social interaction activities. 5. Teachers are assistants, guides, counselors and group process managers. 6. Students are expected to interact with each other rather than with the teacher. 7. Learners should take the responsibility of the failed communication. 8. Language is created by the individual through trial and error. Correction of errors may be absent or infrequent. 9. Students can speak fluently but not accurately. 10. Four language skills are practiced. Reading and Writing can start from the first day, if desired. | 1. New material is presented in dialogue forms 2. There’s dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and overlearning. 3. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. 4. There’s little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy explanation. 5. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids. 6. It is based on Behaviorist psychology. Students’ successful responses are immediately reinforced and their errors are corrected immediately. 7. The teaching sequences are aural training, pronunciation training, speaking, reading, and writing. 8. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at a time. |
| Hypothesis | Definition |
| the Acquisition-Learning H | “Acquisition” is a unconscious and intuitive process of constructing the system of a language. “Learning” refers to a process in which conscious rules about a language are developed. Learning cannot lead to acquisition. |
| the Monitor H | Conscious learning can function only as a monitor or editor that checks and repairs the output of the acquired system. |
| the Natural Order H | The acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order. Errors are signs of naturalistic developmental processes and during acquisition, similar developmental errors occur in learners, no matter what their mother tongue is. |
| the Input (i+1) H | People acquire language best by understanding input that is slightly beyond their current level of competence. If an acquirer is at stage or level “i”, the input (s)he understands should contain “i+1.” Input should neither be so far beyond their reach nor so close to their current stage. The ability to speak fluently cannot be taught directly; it emerges independently in time. |
| the Affective Filter H | The learner’s emotional state or attitudes as an adjustable filter that freely passes, impedes, or blocks input necessary to acquisition. Three kinds of affective or attitudinal variables are: (1) motivation, (2) self-confidence (3) anxiety. The best acquisition will occur in environments where anxiety is low and defensiveness absent. |
Direct Method | Natural Approach |
Similarity | |
| 1. It emphasized that the principles underlying the method were believed to conform to the principles of naturalistic language learning in young children. | 1. It is believed to conform to the naturalistic principles found in successful second acquisition. |
Difference | |
| DM focuses on: 1. Teacher monologues 2. Direct repetition 3. Formal questions and answers 4. Accurate production of target language sentences | NA focuses on: 1. Exposure input 2. Optimizing emotional preparedness for learning 3. Listening & Reading |
| | Total Physical Response (TPR) | Community Language Learning (CLL)Counseling Learning Method |
Proposer/ advocator | Asher/ 1964 | Curran/1961 |
| Goals | Be able to respond physically to the sentences made in the target language. | To get the language competence and performance by asking questions. |
| Mother Tongue | No mother tongue | Both mother tongue and the target language |
| Merits | 1. It provides rapid and rather permanent language gains on early levels, so students can remember the learned vocabulary for a long time. 2. Students respond actively and feel interested in the learning processes. 3. It’s easy for teachers to teach students verbs. | 1. Each student lowers the defenses that prevent open interpersonal communication. 2. The anxiety caused by the educational context is lessened by means of the supportive community. 3. The teacher’s presence is not perceived as a threat, but as a counselor. |
| Limits | 1. It’s difficult to teach the abstract content with TPR 2. Students’ pronunciation is poor. 3. Teachers have to do obvious actions carefully or students would be confused and be misled by the unnecessary hints. 4. TPR has been an experimental model with volunteer students; its, not useful for the inactive students. 5. TPR is especially effective in the beginning levels of language proficiency, but then loses its distinctiveness as learners advance in their competence. | 1. The counselor-teacher can be too nondirective. Some intensive inductive struggle is a necessary component of second language learning. Learning “ by being told” is much better. 2. Translation is an intricate and complex process that is often “easier said then done.” If subtle aspects of language are mistranslated, there could be a less than effective understanding. 3. The training is required for an ideal knower. (s)he would have a perfect command of the foreign language and would have to be professionally competent in both psychology and linguistics. 4. It has limitations in a large-group situation with one teacher. 5. There’s a need for clients who speak a common language. |
| Teaching Aids | No text. Body language and practical materials. | Various materials for different purposes; colored coded signals; tapes; recorders |
| Features | 1. Based on 3 important hypothesis: (A) the Bio-program H Children, in learning their first language, appear to do a lot of listening before they speak, and their listening is accomplished by physical responses. (B) the Brain Lateralization H Motor activity is a right-brain function that should precede left-brain language processing—speaking. (C) Reduction of Stress H An important condition for successful language learning is the absence of stress. 2. Imperative(祈使句) drills are the major classroom activity in TPR. 3. Commands are easy first, and then become more and more complex. 4. Students are listeners and performers. They do a lot of listening and acting until they master the commands. They are required to respond both individually and collectively. 5. Students respond to the commands physically. No verbal response is necessary. | 1. The sense of belonging needed by both students and teachers. 2. Both teachers and students have the responsibility for the learning activity. 3. In a good knower-client relationship, there quickly develops a warm, sympathetic attitude of mutual trust and respect. The client emulates the language and person of the knower; the knower is fulfilled and enriched through the counseling-teaching experience. 4. More important to learners is the freedom and initiative they are permitted. 5. The most basic ingredient in CLL is a mutual interest, respect and concern of teachers for students and students for students. 6. A group of ideas concerning the psychological requirements for successful learning are collected under the acronym—SARD. (S-security, A-attention and aggression, R-retention and reflection, D-discrimination) 7. The teaching procedure: (a) The students sit in a circle, and the teacher(s) is(are) outside the circle. (b) During the first stage, a tape recorder is normally used. The only voices taped are those of the student-clients when they are speaking in the target language. (c) The students initiate the conversation in their native language and the knower Translates it into the target language. They then repeat in the target language what they have heard the knower said. (d) Students assist each other and they use the teacher when there is a need. The knower provides translation only when someone signals by raising his/her hand. (e) Color coded signals are used. If red is flashed, an error has been made. If amber, there is a more suitable idiom and a better way. If green, the utterance is acceptable. Blue indicates native expertise. 8. Students’ developmental stages: (a)The “Embryonic Stage” (胚胎期) Students are totally dependent on the teacher. (b) The “Self-assertion Stage”(自我肯定) The student-clients begin to show some independence and tries out the language. (c) IThe “birth Stage” (誕生期) The students speak independently. They are most likely to resent what they feel unnecessary assistance from the knower. (d) The “Reversal Stage”(逆轉期) They are secure to take correction. (e) The “Independent Stage”(獨立期) Interruptions are infrequent. They occur for enrichment and improvement of style. |
| | The Silent Way | Suggestopedia / Suggestology |
Proposer/ advocator | Gattegno/ 1972 | Lozanov/ 1978 |
| Goals | Let students use the target language to express their own thoughts and feeling independently and develop the ability to correct their errors by themselves | Conduct the many negative “suggestions” or fears which inhibit learning feelings of incompetence and fear of making mistakes, and make students learn the target language in a relaxing atmosphere. |
| Mother Tongue | Both mother tongue and the target language | Both mother tongue and the target language |
| Features | 1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned. The learners should develop independence, autonomy and responsibility. 2. Learners in a classroom must cooperate with each other in the process of solving language problems. 3. Teachers provide single-word stimuli, or short phrases and sentences once or twice, and then students must refine their understanding and pronunciation themselves. 4. Teachers utilize a set of Cuisinere rods—small colored wooden rods of varying lengths to introduce vocabulary, verbs and syntax, especially about the spatial relationships and related prepositions as well as every aspect of language ranging from comparisons to tense, the conditional and the subjunctive. 5. Teachers use a series of colorful wall charts to introduce pronunciation models, grammatical paradigms. 6. The teacher is silent as much as possible, and make students work out solutions themselves. 7. Four language skills are emphasized and students are encouraged to read and write the sentences they have heard and spoken. 8. Students correct the errors themselves and teachers view these errors as the responses to the teaching and give students some hints and help. | 1. In a relaxing atmosphere with carpeted floor, easy chairs and classic music –Baroque, integrated the use of music, the element of lecture and theater, through the reputation of the method and the instructor, students’ language competence, confidence and wills to communicate are reinforced. 2. Students are encouraged to be as “childlike” as possible, yielding all authority to the teacher. 3. Every student is provided a new name and a new role within the target language on the first day of class. They live with a new identity rather than struggle with a foreign language. The new names also contain phonemes from the target language culture that learners find difficult to pronounce. 4. The dialogues are presented to the students in three phases: (a) explicative reading (b) intonational reading (c) concert 5. Students engage in interaction activities to review the material and involve new utterances as much as possible. 6. The teacher maintains a solemn attitude towards the session and shows absolute confidence in the method. |
| Merits | 1. Students interact not only with teachers but also with each other. | 1. Students are willing and able to communicate in the target language and students learn the target language in a relaxing atmosphere. 2. Easy grammatical explanation helps students learn the target language more easily. |
| Limits | 1. Teachers must know their teaching objectives clearly and make use of the teaching aids effectively. 2. Students may be confused with the symbols of the colored wooden rods. 3. Students waste too much time struggling with a concept that would be easily clarified by the teachers’ direct guide. 4. It is difficult for teachers to evaluate students’ progress in their learning process. | 1. Students don’t concentrate on the language learning because eof the music. 2. Students’ speech is somewhat inaccurate grammatically and phonologically. 3. All students need to share a common native language. 4. Teachers must be proficient not only in the target language but also I students’ native language. 5. Not all teachers are skilled in acting, singing and choosing the appropriate music and not all students can appreciate the music. |
| Teaching Aids | Cuisinere rods, phonic charts, transparencies | A carpet, sofas, classic music tapes, flowers and pictures |
| | Grammar-Translation Method (G-T) | Direct Method (Natural Method) |
Proposer/ advocator | 1840~1940 | ? |
| Goals | To learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language study. | Students can understand the target language without translation |
| Mother Tongue | Both mother tongue and the target language | No mother tongue |
| Limits | 1 Students learn the target language indirectly. 2 Students just learn the knowledge of books not the common language, so they may have trouble applying their knowledge to the real social situations. 3 Students have poor listening and speaking ability because they seldom practice listening and speaking. | 1. It overemphasizes and distorts the similarities between naturalistic first language learning and classroom foreign language learning and it fails to consider the practical realities of the classroom. 2. It lacks a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory. 3. It requires teachers who are native speakers or who have native like fluency in the foreign language. It is largely dependent on the teachers’ skill, rather than on a textbook, and not all teachers are proficient enough in the foreign language to adhere to the principles of the method. 4. Sometimes a simple brief explanation in the students’ native tongue would have been a more efficient route to comprehension. |
| Merits | 1 With translation of the native language, students can read and write the target language I an easy and meaningful way. 2 Students can learn the grammars of the target language with a systematic and correct way. | 1 Students can learn the target language directly and systematically. 2 Students can pronounce correctly. 3 Students can learn to use both the written form and oral form of the target language. 4 Students can have interest in learning. |
| Teaching Aids | Textbooks and grammar books | Pictures and articles related to the textbooks |
| Features | 1. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening. 2. Vocabulary is based on the reading text used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary study and memorization. 3. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. 4. Accuracy is emphasized. 5. Grammar is taught deductively. 6. The student’s native language is the medium of instruction. | 1. Classroom instruction is conducted exclusively in the target language. 2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught. 3. Oral communication skills are built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students in small-intense classes. 4. New teaching points are introduced orally before students see the written form. 5. Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration objects and pictures; abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas. 6. Both speech and listening comprehension are taught. 7. Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized; grammar is taught inductively. 8. Students have to offer the interesting materials to draw students’ curiosity to learn the target language. |
| | The St. Cloud Method | Microwave Device |
Proposer/ advocator | ?/1951 | Stevick/1964 |
| Goals | To learn target languages in a situation presented by various media | To organize the power of the structure, vocabulary and communication of the target language in a short-term intensive language program. |
| Mother Tongue | Both mother tongue and the target language | Not limited |
| Features | 1. A carefully structured course in which students are immersed in multi-media language presentations. 2. Cultural, situational and nonverbal component should permeate the presentation. 3. The Direct Method is employed. 4. Initially students watch a picture sequence, then repeat the material chorally. Students don’t see the written language until after sixty hours of instruction. 5. Communication depends on asking questions and answering. | 1. This device is like a microwave cycle. It consists of an utterance which includes a question and 4 to8 replies. 2. The cycle of instruction includes an M phase (mimicry, manipulation and mechanics) and a C phase (communication, conversation and continuity). 3. It should play “a supporting role” , or at most “a co-starring role” in language materials. |
| Merits | 1. Because courses and related media are designed well, it is appreciated by non-native teachers who are not completely secure in the language they are teaching. 2. It produces better phonological than communicative competence. 3. It has proven more satisfactory with younger students than with those of college age. 4. The meaning of the pictures or films and the goal of course are easy to know. | 1. Because of the different learning goals, students can learn different materials. 2. Students can communicate with others in the accurately structured target language in a short time. |
| Limits | 1. Students’ communicative competence and performance are not good. 2. It is difficult for teachers to evaluate students’ progress in their learning process. 3. It wastes too much time speaking and listening without writing. 4. It’s difficult to get the teaching media and appropriate teaching materials. | 1. It just supplies variable activities instead of a complete course. 2. It sacrifices the practices of reading and writing to reinforce the listening and speaking competence. |
| Teaching Aids | Film strips are the dominant medium and pictures are supplement. | Variable materials for different special purposes |
| | Situational Reinforcement Method | Aural Discrimination Method |
Proposer/ advocator | Hall/1978 | Winitz & Reeds/1973 |
| Goals | Be able to use the target to communicate in the real situations | Learn to discriminate the vocabulary, inflection, phonology and syntax by a visually-cued listening approach. |
| Mother Tongue | Not limited | Not limited |
| Features | 1. Discard the sequenced grammatical approach. 2. It involves students in “authentic communication.” 3. It’s built in cognitive choices in order to avoid mere mechanical repetition. Students may analyze language and use it effectively in the new situations. 4. Students learn concrete objects before they learn abstract ideas. | 1. Teachers introduce vocabulary four or five times as fast as possible. Students listen to teachers’ pronunciation and then from four pictures select the one which best represents what they have heard. 2. Students don’t speak until they have mastered the basic structures and vocabulary of the target language. |
| Merits | 1. Students enjoy the realistic situations which enhance students’ willing to learn. 2. By simulating the realistic language situations, students can understand what a language is and why to learn it. 3. Students learn to communicate with these materials quite soon and they can use the materials even outside the classroom. | 1. It’s interesting and meaningful to utilize pictures as teaching media, and they attract students’ attention easily. 2. Students have the opportunities to think about the messages by judging the different pictures according to what they heard. |
| Limits | 1. Teachers have to spend lots of time and energy creating the real situation and not every situation can be simulated well. 2. Excessive repetition is in the lesson format. 3. The unstructured-unsequenced material can give students the feeling that they are not making any real progress. | 1. Students just can learn the concrete objects; they cannot learn the abstract ideas. 2. It focuses on listening competence, and ignores speaking, reading and writing. As a result, students’ listening ability is good, but their three other language abilities are poor. Therefore, it just can be seen as an assistant method rather than as a major teaching approach. 3. It lacks the variety of some methods and the relevance inherent. |
| Teaching Aids | Authentic languages | Pictures, tapes, and video tapes |
| | Stylized Mnemonics | Structured Tutoring |
Proposer/ advocator | Lipson/1971 | Harrison/1976 |
| Goals | In order to learn the target language by recalling the memory of the drawings | Make students learn the target language in an individually structured course. |
| Mother Tongue | Both mother tongue and the target language | Both mother tongue and the target language |
| Features | 1. Use translation at the outset of instruction. 2. A corpus of sentences is learned through choral repetition and translation, but drawings replace translation almost immediately. 3. Interesting and culturally relevant vocabulary is combined in exotic situations to teach the target language. 4. Some grammatical explanation are presented but the emphasis is on communication 5. The situations become more and more involved, new combinations of language are constantly generated. | 1. Initially, this approach is used to teach disadvantaged children how to read. It involved volunteer tutors—adults or peers. 2. It focuses on reading and writing, even introduces to beginners during the second week of instruction. 3. It is an informal remediable course designed for the low-achievement students. 4. The courses are well structured. Students cannot learn the next unit until they reach the goals of the last unit. 5. Tutors spend 80 percents of their time on grammar during seven out of the eight units. 6. The tutors should be volunteers, and their mother tongue is the target language. Before they start to help the students, they have to be trained. 7. The students who must be literate native tongue, receive one-hour tutorial visits a week and work four to six hours on their own. |
| Merits | 1. This approach is cognitive, culturally oriented, systematic and interesting. 2. Variable comprehensible drawings as cues to introduce vocabulary are interesting to students and can help them memorize the new vocabulary more easily. | 1. Students can reach the learning objects in a short period of time. 2. It includes the negligible cost involved simply administrative and material charges. 3. Students get the needed help, so the good will is generated in their hearts. |
| Limits | 1. This approach requires bilingual teachers. 2. Not all teachers are artists; not every teacher can draw pictures well. 3. Initially students should be linguistically homogeneous at least. 4. The bizarre situations of the drawings may create an amuse detachment on the part of learners. | 1. It’s difficult to find volunteer native-speaking tutors overseas. 2. Some experienced teachers think their teaching skills are bound under the tightly controlled tutorial materials. 3. It overemphasizes reading and writing, students’ speaking competence is ignored. 4. It’s boring with the one-by-one teaching. 5. Students may feel bored with the overemphasis on the grammar teaching. |
| Teaching Aids | Pictures with explanatory words | Well structured teaching materials |
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