Audiolingual Method

This will guide their use of the language.

In addition, various techniques can be applied in using this method to tea Since the day human beings began to learn foreign languages they have to confront the problem of how to learn it effectively. They have thought for centuries to look for a best way to teach and learn foreign languages, and there actually emerged lots of methods of language teaching. Today IЎЇd like to introduce one of them, which may not be as famous as grammar translation but is very practicable and useful in todayЎЇs language teaching. That is the Audiolingual Method.

The Audiolingual Method was developed in the U.S. during the Second World War. Originally, it was known as the ÐŽoinformant methodÐŽ±, since it used a native speaker of the language, the informant, and a linguist. Later in the 1950s, Charles Fries, the director of the first English Language Institute in the U.S., applied the principles of structural linguistics to language teaching. Then there came the Audiolingual Method, a method which advocated aural training first, then pronunciation training, followed by speaking, reading and writing.

The Audiolingual Method is a combination of structural linguistic theory, aural-oral procedures, and behaviorist psychology, which endows it with its own distinctive characteristics. There are mainly five of them: a. separation of language skills into listening, speaking, reading and writing, with emphasis on the teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing; b. use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language; c. emphasis on certain practice techniques: mimicry, memorization and pattern drills; d. discouraging the use of the mother tongue in the classroom; e. use of language lab.

In accordance with its features, some procedures will be observed in a typical audiolingual lesson. First, RecognitionЎЄstudents first hear a model dialogue (either read by the teacher or on the tape) containing the key structures that are the focus of the lesson and try to understand the meaning of the dialogue with the help of the teacherЎЇs gestures, mime, context or situation established in advance. Second, Imitation and RepetitionЎЄthe students repeat each line of the dialogue, individually and in chorus. The students must imitate the right pronunciation, intonation, and fluency. Third, Pattern DrillsЎЄcertain key structures from the dialogue are selected and used as the basis for patterns drills of different kinds. Fourth, Follow-up ActivitiesЎЄ the students now are allowed to look at their textbooks. They are usually asked to do some follow-up reading, writing or vocabulary activities.ch. These techniques include repetition drill which is often used to teach the lines of the dialogue. Students are asked to repeat the teacherЎЇs model as accurately and as quickly as possible; simple substitution drill which requires the students repeat the line from the dialogue which the teacher has given them, substituting the cue into the line in its proper place; question-and-answer drill which helps students practice with answering questions; expansion drill which helps students to produce longer sentences bit by bit, gradually achieving fluency; backward build-up drill which is used when a long line of a dialogue is giving students trouble. The teacher breaks down the line into several parts. The students repeat a part of the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then, following the teacherЎЇs cue,