Questions of The Audio-

Lingual approach
By: Carla N. Choque Alatrista.
 1. The aim of this type of teaching is the establishment of automatic speech
habits

a) What characteristics of this approach are mentioned by the author? Compare these
with the description.

The characteristics of this approach are:

- It´s carried out by exercises, either oral or pattern practice.
- It´s repeated until the student is able to produce grammatical forms quickly,
accurately and with a minimum of conscious thinking.
b) What criticisms are referred to? Do you agree with them?

They are referred to this system, that in this form the students tend to get bored with
the incessant repetition of formal patterns and without purpose.
I agree, but not entirely, because if I put myself in the shoes of a student, it would make
me very boring to have the same teaching method every day, I prefer something didactic
and creative, I understand that the students of so much repetition end up memorizing,
but they only know how to copy the sentences or structures, but they don´t learn how
to use them or create sentences.
c) Do you think that there is place in language teaching for intensive oral drills? If
you do, mention some of the features of language for which you would wish to use
them, giving reasons why you think they are effective

Yes, the principal characteristic is that it involves automatic patterns of

concord or agreement.
The oral drills in this case are effective because they are designed to
provide the maximum opportunity to practice the structures taught, which
are already memorized by the students due to their continuous repetition.
 2. The author describes an alternative to 'pattern-based, habit-formation
method

a) How does this approach differ from the one described earlier?

The first method is carried out by exercises, either oral or pattern practice, which
are repeated until the student is able to produce grammatical forms correctly. On
the other hand, the pattern-based, habit-formation method, consists that the writer
of a national programmed would attempt to teach a language appropriate to the
type of situation in which the pupil is likely to wish to use the foreign language.
b) What special reasons are given for adopting such an approach?
Do you agree with them?

The main reason was to fix the problem that the students get
bored with the incessant repetition of formal patterns and
without purpose, but keeps the principal concept of this
method, and also convert the application of this in a form
more didactic and interesting.
 3. The resulting materials would be functionally unified but
grammatically heterogeneous. The author refers to three types of
functional communication: ordering a meal, buying a suit, asking the
way. Give examples of the 'heterogeneous grammar' likely to be needed
to teach any of these

Well, in a formal way a sentence should be like this:

I am in my home.

Where you can see: Subject + verb to be + complement. That´s the structure of this
sentence, and also the majority of formal sentences always have Subject, Auxiliary/or no,
verb and complement, but in the case of a heterogeneous grammar the sentence would
be:

In my home
 4. The author emphasizes that language learners need to master 'underlying speech
acts: denial, disagreement, affirmation, approval' and 'to acquire a set of variable
strategies which he can employ for himself as the need arises. From your experience
of language teaching (or learning).

Do you think that these needs are neglected or insufficiently taken of in 'typical modern' textbooks?

I think yes, because in the typical modern textbooks, you can

see some model conversations, and you just have to learn them
by heart, so you know how to use them in a single situation
But to develop a genuine creative use of language, the student
will have to study the component parts of situations (denial,
disagreement, affirmation and approval), which you can use for
different situations.