2.3.3. Audio-lingual Method
The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of this method. The
Audio-lingual Method draws its name from the emphasis on listening (audio) and
speaking (lingual) abilities. The appearance of the Audio-lingual Method
resulted from increased attention given to foreign language teaching in the USA
toward the end of the 1950s (Richards and Rodgers, 2001: 52). One of
audiolingualism's central tenets is that learning a language is largely a
question of habit formation, and for this reason a good part of the lesson is
spent on drills, in an attempt to make the grammar point an automatic habit. A
number of learning influences emerged. These became the psychological
foundations of Audiolingualism and came to shape its methodological practices.
Richards and Rodgers (p.57) give some of the central methodological practices:
1. Foreign language learning is basically a process of
mechanical habit formation;
2. 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;
3. Analogy provides a better foundation for learning than
analysis;
4. The meanings that the words of a language have for the
native speaker can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not
in isolation.
The audio-lingual method approached the teaching of the four
skills as follows: nothing was spoken before it was heard, nothing was read
before it was spoken, nothing was written before it was read (Kilfoil and Van
der Walt, 1997:10) In other words, the order of skills presentation is adhered
to: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In this case, the oral and aural
skills receive most of the attention and what students write is the outcome of
what they have first been introduced to orally (Larsen-Freeman, 2000:46). With
this method came the trend which led to the use of tape recorders as
instructional materials. This was promoted as a way of easing the burden of
teachers in drilling and pronunciation. Tape recorders provided the opportunity
for further drill work and for receiving controlled error free practice of
basic structures. In this case, the teacher would pay attention to mistakes of
pronunciation or grammar and correct them immediately. Tape recording was later
replaced by the language laboratory model.
The Audio-lingual Method came to its decline even though it is
still used today. It has been criticised as ineffective. As Richards and
Rodgers assert (2001: 65), students were found unable to transfer skills
acquired through Audiolingualism to real communication outside the classroom.
Some theoretical attacks on audio-lingual beliefs resulted from Chomsky's
theories. The American linguist argued that sentences are not learned by
imitation and repetition but `generated' from the learner's underlying
`competence' (Chomsky, 1966 as cited in Richards and Rodgers, 2001:66). The
Audio-lingual Method came to be rejected due to its emphasis on drilling,
repetition and memorisation. Although the desired aim was to teach learners to
communicate, practically speaking, the goal was not achieved. Consequently,
teachers felt the need to opt for innovations, hence the rise of the
Communicative approach to language teaching.
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