AudiolingualMethod – TugayElmas

What are the objectives of Audio-Lingual Method ?

Oral comprehension.

Accurate pronunciation.

Writing+reading comprehension.

The ultimate goal is native like production.

Which skills are emphasized in ALM ?

Emphasis is on the listening and speaking skills.

Then writing and reading is introduced.

What is the role of the teacher ?

Teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior.

Teacher should be a good model for imitation.

Teacher should use different techniques to grasp students interest.

What are the advantages of ALM ?

Since errors are immediately corrected , students have a better chance of understanding their mistakes.

Making language teaching possible to large groups of learners.

Through imitation students improve their listening and speaking skills.

Effective to beginners.

This method provides students with simple vocabulary and conversation exaples.

Native like production is the ultimate aim.

What should we know about its background

It is also called "Army Method"

The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins during World War II when it became known as the Army method.

It is based on the principles of behavioral psychology.

Behaviorist psychology states that people are conditioned to learn many forms of behavior, including language, through the process of training or conditioning.

The first strong method with theory of language and theory of learning.

Theory of language = StructuralismTheory of learning = Behaviourism

An oral-based approach.

Let's get to the point = Principles

Language learning is a habit-formation.

The meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural contex.

Language skiils are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first then in written form.

Immediate error correction.

Errors can lead to the formation of bad habits if not corrected immediately.

Students should overlearn the target language.

Discouraging the use of mother tongue in the classroom.

Application of ALM in the classroom

What kind of techniques are used in ALM ?

Dialog Memorization

Students memorize the dialog through mimicry.

Drills

Backward build up drillRepetition drillChain drillSingle-slot substitution drillMultiple-slot substitution drillTransfromation drillQuestion-and-answer drill

Grammar game

The games are designed to get students to practice a grammar point within a context.

Complete the dialogue

Selected words are erased from a dialogue students have learned.Students complete the dialogues by filling the balnks with the missing words.

Use of minimal pairs

The teacher works with pairs of words which differ in only one sound;for example , "ship/sheep."

Students' roles

Students are seem as organism that can be manipulated by skilled teachers and skilled techniques.

Students are imitators.

Students don't have much of a control in the classroom.

Students play a reactive role.

Learners play a reactive role by responding to stimuli, and thus have little control over the content, pace, or style of learning.

What are the disadvantages of ALM ?

Students can't create anything new or spontaneous.

Repeating the same sentences over and over makes the lesson boring.

Since students dont know the meaning behind the sentences they repeat like parrots they are unable to see the true meaning of the words.

Teacher's domination of the class causes lack of motivation in students.

Reading and writing skills are not improved.

Criticism of ALM

Languages can not be learned in laboratories.

In order to learn a language students should practice in genuine environment.

Mechanical learning.

Human brain is capable of creating variety of ideas through language.However ALM only focuses on teaching habit formation which disables learners to produce spontaneous sentences.

Behaviourism

Behaviourism can not function as a model of how humans learn languages.

Without meaningful learning , competence in language can not be achieved.

Structuralism

Language learning can not be succesfull with just focusing on structure.There are variety of factors such as socio-cultural , psychological etc .