Diane Larsen-Freeman

4
The
Audio-Lingual Method
INTRODUCTION
The Audio-Lingual Me thod, like the Direct Meth od we have just examined,
is also an oral-based approach. However, it is very different in that
rather than emphasizing voca bulary acquisition through exposure to its
usc in situa tions, the Audio-Li ngualMethod drills stude nts in the use of
grammatical sentence patterns. It also, unlike the Direct Meth od, has a
strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology. Charles Fries (1945)
of the University of Michigan led the way in applying principles from
srrucrurallinguisrics in developing the method. and for th is rcason, it bas
sometimes been referred to as the 'M ichigan Meth od .' Later in its development,
pr inciples fro m behavior al psychology (Skinner 1957) were
incorporated. It was thought that the way to acqu ire rhe sentence parterns
of the target lang uage was th rou gh cond itioning- helping learners
to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforc ement.
Learn ers could ove rcome the habits of their nat ive language and form the
new ha bits required rc be target language speakers.
In order to come to an understanding of th is merhod . Icr us now enrer a
classroo m where the Audio-Lingual Method is being used. We will sit in
on a beginning level English class in Mali. There arc thirty-four students,
thirteen to fifteen years of age. The class meets for one hou r a day, five
days a \...·eek.
EXPERIE NCE
As we enter the classroom, the first thing we notice is that the stude nts arc
attent ively listening as the teacher is presentin g a new dialog, a co nversation
between two peopl e. T he students know they will be expected to
eventually memorize the dialog the teacher is introducing. All of the
teacher's instructions are in English. Sometimes she uses actio ns to convey
mean ing, but not one wo rd of the students' native language is uttered .
After she acts out the dialog, she says:
'All right, class. I am going to repeat the dialog now. Listen carefully,
but no talking please.