The Audio-Lingual Method

The Audio-Lingual Method .

Behaviorism, • Principles • language learning is habit-formation • mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they make bad habits • language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form • analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis • the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context

Introduction • Audio-Lingual Method is an oral-based approach. • It drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. • Based on behavioral psychology (Skinner). • operant conditioning means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. • Conditioning →helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. • Language learning is a process of Habit-formation.

Reinforcement (behavior likely to occur again and become a habit) Stimulus Organism Response Behavior No reinforcement " Negative reinforcement (behavior not likely to occur again)

Introduction • Founded around 1950’s and 1960’s, AL was based on structural linguistics and behavioral psychology : the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the target language is repetition of dialogues about every day situations that are imitated and drilled to make the response automatic.

Structural Linguistics • Language is a system of structural related elements, like phonological units, grammatical units, and lexical items, for the transmission of meaning

Behavioral Psychology • Language learning is habit-formation. • Mistakes, the bad habit, should be avoided. • Language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form. • The meaning of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.

Principles

1. Language forms occur most naturally within a context “ dialogue”. • The native language and the target language have separate linguistic systems , they should be kept apart not interfered . So teachers use only the target language.

2. One of the language teacher's major roles is that of a model of the target language. Teachers should provide students with a native-speaker-like model. By listening to how it is supposed to sound, students should be able to mimic the model.

3. Language learning is a process of habit formation. The more often something is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning (The students repeat each line of the new dialogue several times).

4. It is important to prevent learners from making errors. Errors lead to the formation of bad habits. When errors do occur, they should be immediately corrected by the teacher.

5. The purpose of language learning is to learn how to use the language to communicate (The teacher initiates a chain drill in which each student greets another).

6. Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits (The teacher says, "Very good," when the students answer correctly). 7. The major objective of language students should learn to respond to both verbal and nonverbal stimuli (The teacher uses spoken cues and picture cues).

8. Each language has a finite number of patterns. Pattern practice helps students to form habits which enable the students to use the patterns. Ex. Transformation or question and answer

9. Students should "over learn," i.e., learn to answer automatically without stopping to think. 10. The teacher should be (leader , controller , guide) like an orchestra – leader, conducting, guiding, and controlling the students' behavior in the target language.

11. The major objective of language teaching should be for students to acquire the structural patterns. New vocabulary is introduced afterwards. 12. It is important to prevent learners from making errors. Errors lead to the formation of bad habits. When errors do occur, they should be immediately corrected by the teacher.

13. The learning of a foreign languages should be the same as the acquisition of the native language. We do not need to memorize rules in order to use our native language. So , no grammar rules are given but, taught through examples and drills.

14. The major challenge of foreign language teaching is getting students to overcome the habits of their native language. A comparison between the native and target language will tell the teacher in what areas her students will probably experience.

15. Language cannot be separated from culture. Culture is not only literature and the arts, but also the everyday behavior of the people who use the target language. One of the teacher's responsibilities is to present information about that culture. 16. The natural order of skill acquisition is listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Techniques of the Audio-lingual method • Dialogue Memorization • Backward Build-up (Expansion) Drill • Repetition Drill • Chain Drill • Single-slot Substitution Drill • Multiple-slot Substitution Drill • Transformation Drill • Question-and-answer Drill • Use of Minimal Pairs • Complete the Dialogue • Grammar Game

Dialogue Memorization • Students are given a short dialog to memorize then they must use mimicry and applied role playing to present the dialog.

Backward Build Up • : Provide students with the sentence fragments found in the materials section. Students repeat each part of the sentence starting at the end of the sentence and expanding backwards through the sentence adding each part in sequence

Transformation Drill • : The teacher provides a question which must be transformed into a statement. An extension of this activity is to have the students make a question out of a statement.

Dictation • : Using any piece of literature at the students' reading level, read the piece aloud several times. Have the students write down what they hear. The idea is to write what they have heard as literally as possible.

Chain Drill • : A chain of conversation forms around the room as the teacher greets or questions a student and that student responds then turns to the next student and greets or asks a question of the second student and the chain continues.

The Alphabet Game • : The teacher picks a category, such as the supermarket. Then the first student says, "I am going to the supermarket. I need a few apples." (The first student names something beginning with A.) The second student says, "I am going to the supermarket. I need a few apples and I need a few bananas." The game continues in this manner with each consecutive student adding an item beginning with the next letter after repeating the items named before their own.

Single -slot substitution drill • I’m going to the post office

Multiple-slot Substitution Drill To give cue phrases, one at time, that fits into different slots in the dialogue line. To recognize what part of speech each cue is and make any other changes, such as subject-verb agreement. To fit cue phrase into line where it belongs and to say the line loudly.

I’m going to the post office. She She is going to the post office The park She is going to the park They They are going to the park ………….

Transformation Drill • To change a certain kind of sentence pattern to another form. • to transform an affirmative S. into a negative S. • to transform a statement into a question. • to transform an active S. into a passive S. • to transform a direct speech into reported speech

Question & Answer Drill • Students practice the target language with answering questions and the question patterns. • Students answer the teacher’s question quickly.

I’m going to the post office. 1. introduces a new dialog (p36) 2. uses a backward build-up drill 3. uses a repetition drill (group) 4. initiates a chain drill (individual) 5. leads a single-slot substitution drill (replaces a word or phrase = cue) (shows pictures) 6. praise the class during the practice

More practices 1. reviews the dialog 2. expands upon the dialog by adding a few lines. 3. drills the new lines and introduces new vocabulary (p.41) 4. works on the mass and count nouns (a little/a few) 5. uses contrastive analysis (correct the pronunciation) (use of minimal pairs)

Goals • Teachers want their students to be able to use the target language communicatively. • Overlearning →automatically without stopping to think • Forming new habits through overcoming the old habit.

Teacher’s Role • teacher's role is central and active; it is a teacher-dominated method. The teacher models the target language, controls the direction and pace of learning, and monitors and corrects the learners' performance. • The teacher must keep the learners attentive by varying drills and tasks and choosing relevant situations to practice structures. The teacher is like an orchestra leader. • Providing students with a good model for imitation.

Learner’s role • Learners are viewed as organismsthat can be directed by skilled training techniques to produce correct responses. In accordance with behaviorist learning theory, teaching focuses on the external manifestations of learning rather than on the internal processes. • Learners play a reactive role by responding to stimuli, and thus have little control over the content, pace, or style of learning. The fact that In the early stages learners do not always understand the meaning of what they are repeating is not perceived as a drawback, for by listening to the teacher, imitating accurately, and responding to and performing controlled tasks they are learning a new form of verbal behavior.

Characteristics of the teaching/learning process • New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs. • Dialogs– learning through imitation and repetition • Positively reinforced • Grammar is induced from the examples.

Student-teacher interaction/ student-student interaction • Interaction is teacher-directed • Student-student interaction →Chain drills and dialogues

The view of language/ the view of culture • The view of language → be influenced by descriptive linguists. • Each level( phonological, morphological…)has its own distinctive patterns. • Everyday speech is emphasized. • The level of complexity of the speech is graded.

What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized? • Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the students are mastering the sound system and grammatical patterns. • The natural order of skills presentation is adhered to : listening, speaking, reading, and writing. • The oral/aural skills receive most of the attention .

The role of native language • The habits of the students’ native language are thought to interfere with the students’ attempts to master the target language. • The target language is mostly used in the classroom instead of the native language.

Evaluation →each question on the test would focus on only one point of the language at a time. Ex: students might be asked to distinguish between words in a minimal pair.

Deal with errors • Students errors are to be avoided if at all possible through the teacher’s awareness of where the students will have difficulty and restriction of what they are taught to say.

The Audio-Lingual Method