Audio Lingual Method Essay

Compare and contrast the Direct Method and the Audio-Lingual Method. (1) Both are oral-based approaches. (2) The Direct Method emphasizes vocabulary acquisition through exposure to its use in situations; the Audio-Lingual Method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. (3) Unlike the Direct Method, the Audio-Lingual Method has a strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology. 2- How has the behavioral psychology influenced the Audio-Lingual Method? It was thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the target language was through conditioning—helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. (2) Learners could overcome the habits of their native language and form the new habits required to be target language speakers. 3- Define a backward build-up drill (expansion drill). State its purpose and advantages. (1) Definition: The teacher breaks down a line into several parts. The students repeat a part of the sentence, usually the last phrase of the line. Then, following the teacher’s cue, the students expand what they are repeating part by part until they are able to repeat the entire line. The teacher begins with the part at the end of the sentence (and works backward from there) to keep the intonation of the line as natural as possible. This also directs more student attention to the end of the sentence, where new information typically occurs. (2) Purpose: The purpose of this drill is to break down the troublesome sentence into smaller parts. (3) Advantages: (a) The teacher is able to give the students help in producing the troublesome line. Having worked on the line in small pieces, the students are also able to take note of where each word or phrase begins and ends in the sentence. 4- Define a repetition drill. Students are asked to listen carefully to the teacher’s model, and then they have to repeat and attempt to mimic the model as accurately and as quickly as possible. 5- Define a chain drill. State its advantages. (1) Definition: The chain of conversation that forms around the room as students, oneby- one, ask and answer questions of each other. The teacher begins the chain by greeting a particular student, or asking him a question. That student responds, and then turns to the student sitting next to him. (2) Advantages: (A) A chain drill gives students an opportunity to say the lines individually. (B) The teacher listens and can tell which students are struggling and will need more practice. (C) A chain drill also lets students use the expressions in communication with someone else, even though the communication is very limited. 6- Define a single-slot substitution drill. State its purpose. (1) Definition: The teacher says a line, usually from the dialog. Next, the teacher says a word or a phrase—called the cue. The students repeat the line the teacher has given them, substituting the cue into the line in its proper place. (2) Purpose: The major purpose of this drill is to give the students practice in finding and filling in the slots of a sentence. 7- Define a multiple-slot substitution drill. State its purpose. This drill is similar to the single-slot substitution drill. The difference is that the teacher gives cue phrases, one at a time, that fit into different slots in the dialog line. The students must recognize what part of speech each cue is, or at least, where it fits into the sentence, and make any other changes, such as subject-verb agreement. They then say the line, fitting the cue phrase into the line where it belongs. 8- Define transformation drill. Students are asked to change one type of sentence into another—an affirmative sentence into a negative or an active sentence into a passive.