Reviewing The Principles

Principles

DIRECT METHOD

The direct method of teaching, sometimes called the natural method. Not limited to but often used in teaching foreign languages, the method refrains from using the learners' native language and uses only the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900. Characteristic features of the direct method are:

· teaching concepts and vocabulary through pantomiming, real-life objects and other visual materials

· teaching grammar by using an inductive approach (i.e. having learners find out rules through the presentation of adequate linguistic forms in the target language)

· centrality of spoken language (including a native-like pronunciation)

· focus on question-answer patterns

1. Classroom instructions are conducted exclusively in the target language.

2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught during the initial phase; grammar, reading and writing are introduced in intermediate phase.

3. Oral communication skills are built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

4. Grammar is taught inductively.

5. New teaching points are introduced orally.

6. Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas.

7. Both speech and listening comprehensions are taught.

8. Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.

9. Student should be speaking approximately 80% of the time during the lesson.

10. Students are taught from inception to ask questions as well as answer them.

Now let us consider the principles of the Direct Method as they arc arranged in answer to the ten questions posed earlier:

1. What arc the goals of teachers who use the Direct Method? Teachers who use the Direct Method intend that students learn how to communicate in the target language. In order to do this suc­cessfully, students should learn to think in the target language.

2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?

Although the teacher directs the class activities, the student role is less passive than in the Grammar-Translation Method. The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching/learning process.

3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?

Teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In order 10 do this, when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of realia, pictures, or pantomime; he never translates it into the students' native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations (for example, one unit would consist of language that people would use at a bank, another of the language that they use when going shopping) or topics (such as geography, money, or the weather). Grammar is taught inductively; that is the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences.

4. 'What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction? The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from student to teacher, although the latter is often teacher-directed. Students converse with one another as well.

5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with? There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.

6. How is language viewed? How is culture viewed? Language is primarily spoken, not written. Therefore, students study common, everyday speech in the target language. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the 'language.

7. What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills arc emphasized?

Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Although work on all four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening occurs from the start, oral communication is seen as basic. Thus the reading and writing exercises arc based upon what the students practice Orally first. Pro­nunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of a course.

8. What is the role of the students' native language?

The students' native language should not be used in the classroom.

9. How is evaluation accomplished? We didn't actually see any formal evaluation in the class we ob­served; however, in the Direct Method, students arc asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked 10 do so using both oral and written skills. For example, the students might be interviewed orally by the teacher or might be asked to write a paragraph about something they have studied.

10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11