Diane Larsen-Freeman

50 Tb e Audio-Lingual Metbod
The Audio-Lingual Method
5 I
formation? If so. will the habits of the native langu age interfere w ith target
language learning? Should the commission of erro rs be prevented as
much as possible? Should the major focus be o n the structural pancms of
the tar get language? Which of these or the other principles of the Audio­
Lingu al Method a rc acce ptable to yo u?
Is a dialog a useful way to intro d uce new material ? Sho uld it he memorized
through mimicry ofthe teacher's model? Are structure drill s valuable
pedagogical act ivities? I ~ working o n pron unciation through mi nimal-pair
dril ls a worthwhile acti vity? Would yo u sa)' these techniques (or a ny ot hers
of the Audi o-Lingual Method)arc on es that you can use as described ? Co uld
you adapt any of them to your own teaching approach and situation?
ACTIVITIES
A Check your understand ing of the Audio-lingual Method.
1 Which of the follow ing techniq ues follows from rhe principles of the
Audio-Lingual Met hod , a nd wh ich ones don't? Explain the reaso ns for
your an swer.
a Th e teacher asks beginning-level students to write a composition
about the system of transpo rta tio n in their hom e co unt ries, If they
need a voca bulary wo rd that they don 't know, they are to ld to loo k
in a bilingual dictio na ry fo r a tr anslat io n.
b Tow a rd the end of the third week o f the cou rse, the teacher gives st u­
dents a reading passage. The teacher asks the students to read the
passage and to answer certai n qu estio ns based up on it. The passage
co ntains words an d structures introduced d uring the first three
week s of the course.
c Th e teacher tells the students that they mu st add an's' to third perso
n singular verbs in the present tense in English. She then gives the
students a list of verbs and asks them to cha nge the verbs into the
third perso n singular present te nse form.
2 Some peopl e believe that know ledge of a first an d seco nd lan guage can
be helpful to lea rners who arc try ing to learn a th ird language. W hat
\vould an Audio-Lingu al teacher say about this? Why?
B Apply what you have understood about the Audio-Lingual Method.
Read the follow ing dial og. What subsenrencc pat tern is it trying to
teach ?
SA M Lou 's going to go to college next fall .
B ETT Y Where ishe going?
SA M He's going to Sta nford.
A [ T T Y What is he going to stud y?
SA M Biology. He's going to be a doctor.
Prep are a series of dr ills (backward buil d- up, repetition , chain, single ­
s!Ot substitutio n, mu l~ipl e- s l() t substitutio n, rran sfo rmanon, an d q ucsnon-a
nd -answer] designed to give beginning level EFl students so me
practice with thi s structure. If the target language that yo u teach is not
English, y~ u may wish to write yo ur own dialog first. It is no t easy to
prepare d rills. so to check yo urs, you might want to try giving them to
some other teachers.
2 Prepare yo ur own dialog to int rodu ce your students to a sentence or
subsentence pattern in the target language yo u teac h.
REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Brooks, Nelso n. 1964. Language and LllfJguage Learning: Theory and
Practice. (2nd edn. ) New York : H arcourt Brace.
Ch asra i ~ , Kenneth . 1988. Developing Second Language Skills. (3rd ed n. )
San DIego, CA: Ha rco urt Brace Jovanovich.
Finocc h!aro. M a ry. 1974. English as a Second Language: From Theory to
.Practlce. (2n d cd n.) 62-72, 16!'!-72. Ne w York : Regents Publishing.
Fries, Charles C. 1945. Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign
Language. Ann Arbor: University ofMi ch igan Press.
l.ado, Robert . 1957. Linguistics across Cultures: App lied Linguistics (o r
Language Teachers. Ann Arbor; University of Michigan Press.
Lado, Robert. 1964. Language Teaching: A Scientitic Approach. New
York: ~kGraw -Hill.
Paulsro n, Christina Bratt. 197 1. 'The sequ encing of structural pa ttern
dr ills.' TESOL Quarterly 513, 197- 208.
Prater, Cliffo rd. 1965. 'Develo pment o f a ma nipul ati ve-co mm unication
sca le' in Ca mpbell, R. und H . Allen (eds.}: Teaching English as a
Second Lallguage. New Yor k: McGra w. l lill.
Rivers. Wilga. 196 8. Teaching Foreign l.angnage Sk ills. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Skinn er. B. F. 1957. Verbal Behavior, New York: Appleton- Century­
Crofts.