Audio Lingual Method Case Study

ASSIGNMENT #2: LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY

This paper will introduce, summarize and comment on the series of videos explaining and exemplifying six different methodologies of second language teaching (Audio-lingual method, Community Language Learning, Comprehension Approach/TPR, Suggestopedia, Silent Way and Communicative Approach) and their possible application or adaptation for future practice.

AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD • Habit formation

• Overlearning

• Positive reinforcement

• Acting out dialogues using pictures, gestures and props.

• Repetition drills

• Memorizing dialogues

• Role-playing (interchanging roles)

• Single-Slot substitution drills

• Question-answer drills (both directions: teacher-students and s-t)

• Repeating lines while

Students are first taught listening (to the teacher and the recorder) and speaking skills and then reading and writing “based on the assumption that this is the natural sequence in first language acquisition” (Peregoy and Boyle, 2005). For this school of thought, imitation, repetition, and reinforcement of grammatical structures are the main activities used to learn a second language and errors must be corrected immediately to avoid fossilization and formation of bad habits. Positive feedback and reinforcement are also important. The lesson is teacher-centred, students do not have to produce language, only listen or memorize and repeat

For many students, knowing exactly what they have to do is necessary for success. Unclear explanations, apart from producing misunderstandings, can make them feel insecurity concerning the activity and therefore, a worse performance. As it has been explained in the video, students learn much better when they feel secure about what they are doing. Pair work is also important within the classroom. Every student can contribute something to the rest of their classmates. Working in pairs or groups and not individually, students feel more comfortable and less threatened, since it is not only his/her own work but it has been supervised, corrected and improved by both of them. This also provides learners with security. Finally, the fact that pronunciation is emphasised is very useful nowadays, since we tend to focus more on the four main skills (reading, listening, writing, and a little bit less on speaking) and we put aside pronunciation, that is a key aspect of a language in order to make use of