Audio-Lingual Method

Army Method
Audio-Lingual Method
 GTM and DM were popular until World War II.
 ALM was developed in the U.S. during II W.W.
 Why?

• The Pearl Harbour Event: America had

been involved into world conflicts.
• Needs for different languages specialists
in the army.
• First used in National Defense Language
College, USA.
 Introduction
 ALM:
 The first scientific method.
 An oral-based approach.
 Structures and vocabulary are paramount.
 Drills students in the use of grammatical
sentence patterns.
 Roots in
psychology and
linguistics
Skinner Bloomfield
(1930s-50s) (1930s-50s)
Behaviorism Structuralism
 Language
 Charles Fries, the University of Michigan:
applied structural linguistics principles to develop it.
(Language: phonetics, lexicon, patterns, syntax)
 Skinner (1904-1990) then, incorporated behavioural
psychology.
Conditioning → helping learners to respond correctly to
stimuli through shaping and reinforcement.
(stimuli – response-shaping – reinforcement – habit
forming)
 Learners could overcome L1 habits and form new habits
of TL.
Theory of language
 Structural view of language
 Structures in contexts
 Vocabulary is instrumental to show how structures
operate
 Linguistic Structuralism :
Language is a system of forms, from smaller units
such as sounds to bigger units such as sentences.
Theory of learning
 Behaviourism combined with structuralism
 Habit formation
 Imitation
 Repetition
 Reinforcement
 Errors are sin
 Gradual increase in complexity
 Teaching
 An oral-based approach.
 Reading and writing is based on oral work.
 Attentively listening.
 Memorize the dialogue (conversation).
 Instructions are in target language.
 Using tape/CD/DVD player and language labs.
 Principles
 Use TL:
L1 should interferes as little as possible with Ss attempts to
acquire TL.
 Learn to respond to both verbal & nonverbal stimuli:
The teacher uses spoken cues and picture cues.
 Single/multiple-slot drills:
Learn parts of speech.
 Spoken/picture cues:
Ss should learn verbal/non verbal stimuli.
 Transformation/Q&A drills:
Pattern practice enable Ss to form habits.
 Pattern practice:
Form habits which enable their use.
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 .
 Grammar Rules
 No grammar rules.
 The rules will figured out from examples.
 Form appears inside the context, not in isolation.
 A dialogue is used to introduce a new structure.
 A sentence includes several slots and each slot
needs a special part of speech.
 Contrastive analysis
of L1 and TL
• L1 and L2 have two systems and they are treated differently to avoid interference.
• Contrastive analysis:

• The major challenge of FL teaching is getting

students to overcome L1 habits.
• Contrastive analysis of L1 and FL shows the
areas of difficulty.
 Teacher
• Teacher is the model (native-speaker-like model)
• Teacher's role is central and active.
• A teacher-dominated method.
• Like an orchestra leader:
conducting, guiding,
and controlling the behaviour
in TL.
• Students are imitators.
• Interaction is teacher-directed.
Student-student interaction →
Chain drills and dialogues
 Habit formation and errors
 Ss repeat the dialogue:
Language learning is a process of habit
formation and habits should be repeated to get
fixed in mind.
 Errors
 are barriers for habit formation (inhibition):
Correct errors immediately to prevent bad habit
formation.
 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.
 Communication

 Communication is the prior goal.

 Learn how to use TL to communicate.
 The teacher initiates a chain drill in which
each student greets another.
 Positive reinforcement
 Positive reinforcement is
preferred to no/negative
reinforcement.
 Positive reinforcement to
develop correct habits
(Very good)
 Behaviorism: stimulus,
response and
reinforcement.
 Stimulus → Organism → Response Behavior → Positive Reinforcement or
No / Negative Reinforcement
 Stimulus = a dialogue, a passage, …
 Organism = L2 learner
 Response Behavior = verbal behavior
 Positive Reinforcement =

 1. approval by teacher/peers,
 2. self satisfaction
 Stimuli

 Stimuli can be
 verbal or
 nonverbal
 Visuals can be used.
 Over-learning

 Language is a set of patterns or

structures.
 Pattern practice leads to the over-
learning of a desired verbal behavior
(habit formation).
 Over learn: to answer automatically
without stopping to think.
Language = speech

 Language can be learned

by mastering the building
blocks (elements) of the
Form system.
Rule-ordered processes

 Rule-ordered processes
involve
 addition,
 deletion, and
 transposition of grammatical
elements.
Automatic repetition

 Automatic repetition is the

result of
 overlearning,
 drilling, and
 mechanical repetition.
 Three
language learning activities

1. mechanical drills,
2. meaningful exercises,
3. communicative activities –
the first one is practiced.
 structural patterns v.
vocabulary
 Form is more important:
Students sometimes repeat unknown or
meaningless words.
 Limited vocabulary is introduced:
Acquire structure pattern and then
vocabulary through lines of the dialogue.
 FL v. L1

 FL learning = L1 acquisition.
 Rules are induced (implicit) from
examples.
 L1 habits interfere with students’
attempts to master TL.
 TL is mostly used in the classroom
instead of L1.
 Natural order

 The Natural Order is to be adopted for FL

acquisition:
listening, speaking, reading, writing.
 Limited written work and no need to
memorize rules.
 In ALM acquisition is preferred to
learning. The former is implicit.
 Culture
 Culture is discussed within the
context of language.
 Culture game:
Language is not only literature,
but also the everyday behaviour
and lifestyle.
Techniques
 Dialogue memorization
 Backward build up (expansion) drill
 Repetition drill
 Chain drill
 Substitution drills (single/multiple-slot)
 Transformation drill
 Question & answer drill
 Use of minimal pairs
 Completing the dialogue
 Grammar game
 Pattern drill
 Types of
learning and teaching activities

 Repetition  Expansion
 Inflection  Contraction
 Replacement  Transformation
 Restatement  Integration
 Completion  Rejoinder
 Transposition  Restoration
Disadvantage
 Students

 often unable to transfer skills

acquired through ALM to real
communication outside the
classroom,
 studying through ALM, boring
and unsatisfying.
 Evaluation
 Nature: discrete-point
 Each question focuses on only one point of the language at a
time.
 Students are evaluated at different stages and on different points
of the language.
 Ex: Ask students to distinguish between words in a minimal pair.
Sample Teaching Procedure 1

 Listen to a conversation more than once.

 Have class repeat each line several times.
 Use backward build-up drill.
 Ss adopt the role of the conversation and dialogue
with the teacher.
 Repetition drill: mimic the teacher’s model.
 Chain drill:
 Ss have opportunities to say his/her lines.
 Let Ss use expression to communicate.
Sample Teaching Procedure 2

 Substitute drill: Use the cue.

 Transformation drill:
 e.g.: change affirmative sentences to negative sentences; active-
passive.
 Through actions and examples, Ss have learned to answer Qs
following for the pattern T modelled.
Backward build-up drill

T: Repeat after me: post office.

C: Post office.
T: To the post office.
C: To the post office.
T: Going to the post office.
C: Going to the post office.
T: I’m going to the post office.
C: I’m going to the post office.
Substitute drill: Use the cue.

 Reciting the line from the dialogue:

‘I’m going to the post office.’
1. single-slot substitution drill:
T shows the picture of the bank and says:
‘the bank’ (cue), pauses, then says:
‘I’m going to the bank.’
2. multiple-slot substitution drill:
T: ‘she’
S: ‘She is going to the post office.’
T: ‘ to the park’
S: ‘She is going to the park.’
Transformation drill

T: ‘They are going to the bank.’

C: ‘Are they going to the bank?’
T: ‘Are you going to the library?’
(shows the picture)
C: ‘Yes, I’m going to the library.’
 ANALYSIS

 APPROACH

 THEORY OF LANGUAGE?

 THEORY OF LEARNING ?
DESIGN

 OBJECTIVES
 SYLABUS
 TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES
 ROLES
 TEACHERS
 LEARNERS
 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
PROCEDURES

 WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CLASS?