The audio lingual method is the method that was first introduces in the united states in the 1940

This method was developed by the need to learn basic skills in foreign language during the World War 2.. Characteristics of the Audio Lingual Method The Audio Lingual Method has some cha

I Introduction

The Audio Lingual Method is the oral-based approach that was first introduced in the 1940s in the United States (Richard & Roger 1987, p.44) This method was developed

by the need to learn basic skills in foreign language during the World War 2 The backbone to build up this method was the structural theory of language and also the theory of behaviourist psychology It was accepted by the people of other countries and it was at the time the exciting new idea of teaching and learning language In my paper, I’m going to present some personal views in three parts: Some characteristics of the ALM; The advantages and disadvantages of the ALM and how the ALM should be applied to teach English in Vietnam

II Characteristics of the Audio Lingual Method

The Audio Lingual Method has some characteristics in common with the Direct

Method such as they are both using the target language during the teaching process and aiming at learning how to communicate the language, not just learning to know a language However, there are still many differences between them And here are the main characteristics of the Audio Lingual Method according to Richard & Rodger (1987):

1 Foreign language learning is basically a process of mechanical habit

formation Good habits are formed by giving correct responses rather than by making mistakes By memorizing dialogues and performing pattern drills the chance of producing mistakes are minimized Language is verbal behaviour – that is, the automatic production and comprehension of utterances – and can be learned by inducing the students to do likewise

2 Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to be learned in the target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written

form Aural – oral training is needed to provide the foundation for the

development of other language skills

3 Analogy provides a better foundation for language learning than analysis Analogy involves the processes of generalization and discrimination

Explanations of rules are therefore not given until students have practiced a pattern in a variety of contexts and are thought to have acquired a perception of the analogies involved Drills can enable learners to form correct analogies Hence the approach to the teaching of grammar is essentially inductive rather than deductive

4 The meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can

be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not in isolation

Teaching a language thus involves teaching aspects of the cultural system of the people who speak the language

III Advantages and disadvantages of the audio lingual method

Based on the main characteristics of the Audio Lingual Method mentioned above, I will express my personal view about the advantages and disadvantages of this teaching method

1 Advantages

Before the World War 2, in general, teaching methods were widely used to mainly make use of the translation and grammar study as mentioned in the study of Richards

& Schmidt (2002) And during the lesson, the teacher kept on using the mother tongue

to teach language, which, in my opinion, didn’t provide the students the environment and encouragement to speak out or use the language they learn When the Audio Lingual Method was introduced, with the principle of presenting the new material in

listening skill are better trained Students must use the target language during the lesson and somehow it forced them to say but also made them gradually feel more comfortable and enjoyable when saying the language they learned Moreover, through the teacher’s modelling of the target language, the students could be able to imitate the teacher so that they knew how to pronounce the words and how to add intonation and stress into the sentences they make accurately

Secondly, when being taught in this method, the learners aren’t given any grammar rule but they get the rule gradually through lots of drills and examples In my opinion, this feature is a very good way to teach grammar because it helps the learners

remember and practice the grammar rule effectively without having to learn by heart the rules which may cause them sleepy and bored Besides, when teaching

grammatical points inductively, the learners have chance to recognize the patterns and distinguish the differences or the similarities to point out the rule of each different pattern, then they will “enhance learning autonomy and self-reliance” (Widodo, 2006) Thirdly, I want to mention the principle I found the most favourite and the most radical

of this method, it is teaching language can not separate from teaching the culture Because culture is maintained and conveyed by language and language is the means to understand culture so that “If one is unaware of the culture behind a language, one can hardly communicate successfully in that language For this reason, besides Linguistic competence (the knowledge of phonology, grammar and vocabulary of a language) language learners must have a good command of communicative competence (how this language is used in a specific socio-cultural context).” (Pham, 1998) As a teacher

of English, I always consider how to include the cultural items into my teaching

procedure as I aware of the importance of culture in the language learning process

Finally, the ALM has a small but effective technique is that teacher always provides positive reinforcement when learners give the right answers This technique helps the learners to develop the correct habit as well as provide them with motivation and encourage them to use the language more frequently This is a useful technique to be applied in the language classes

2 Disadvantages

As we know that there is no “one size fits all” approach so of course this method still has some disadvantages to be taken note

Firstly, I would like to mention the main feature of the ALM that Larsen-Freeman

mentioned in the Techniques and Principles in language teaching (1986) They

pointed out that language learning is a process of habit formation and the learners’ error must be corrected immediately in case they would form a bad habit When I first read this principle I quite agreed with it because as a teacher, we must correct any mistake of the learners so that they can perform the new language accurately However

if the teacher kept on correcting the learners’ mistakes as soon as they made it, at first, this would interrupt the speaking coherence of the learners then would make them afraid of speaking and therefore slowing down their speaking speed In other word, correcting mistake immediately can lead the student to produce a language accurately but not fluently As a result, the learners will just dare to perform the simple sentences

so that it is difficult for them to reach the higher level in that language because they only stick with simple, familiar patterns and do not dare to try the new one for not making any mistakes And another reason was stated by Brown (2001) is that: “We discovered that language was not really acquired through a process of habit formation and overlearning, that errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all costs ” So, as a

teacher, I think that, correcting the learners’ mistakes is important but should be aware

of how and when to do it

Secondly, as the main technique of the ALM is the repetitive drills for students to acquire the structure without providing much the vocabulary, it may make the learners become better and better in patterns practice However, too much drill may cause a boring atmosphere and losing the learners’ motivation in learning the language

Moreover, it doesn’t require any creativity and provide much vocabulary so that the learners tend to response following the pattern they learned even though they are not in that mood or situation For example: One of the very familiar patterns for all the

learners of English is “How are you?” will get automatically response “I’m fine/ fine,

thank you And you?” even when the subject doesn’t feel that good In other words, this technique forms the habit of response mechanically without thinking of the real and authentic context so that the learners are no more than a robot displaying what it has been programmed This is not a real acquisition of language but no more than a pattern practice machine

IV How the audio lingual method should be applied to teach English in Vietnam

In my opinion, to say what is the best method to teach language or which teaching method should be applied in vietnam is too complicated because each method has its own strengths and weaknesses So if we choose to apply the ALM into training in Vietnam, it should be accomplished with another approaches As this approach has its good points and bad points so that the educator must be very sensitive to choose and combine it with suitable methods to help our learners make progress We should not choose to base only on ALM method because of some of the disadvantages I had analysed above In Vietnam, the language class size at the compulsory education are

often very large, may be from the range of 35 to 45 students per class and the students are at multi level So that we can apply many kinds of drill of this method but we should let the students do the peer correction instead of being corrected immediately

by teacher to save time for other tasks and also create more chances for students to practice Moreover, the time for drills should be shortened to leave room for the

students to work in groups or in pairs to discuss, to do the role play or to apply the patterns into many kinds of real context Besides, the purpose of the ALM is to learn how to use the language to communicate so that teachers should loosen their role of controlling the students’ behaviours but focus on preparing them to deal with lots of authentic situations to make use of the language and leaving the stage for the students

to perform the language Besides, the teacher role as a model can be left for the other visual aids and the cassette player in order that the students have chance to listen to the native speakers’ pronunciation And last but not least, cultural details of the target language should be included in the lesson to help the students not only learn about the language but also communicate in that language successfully

In conclusion, the ALM had been widespread used in the period of 1960s for some of its new ideas about language learning and teaching It was, at that time, a very new and innovatory method however it still has some weaknesses As a result, to apply the ALM in nowadays context in Vietnam we should consider applying its strengths in combination with other methods to satisfy our teaching objectives

REFERENCES

1 Brown, H D 2001 Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language

Pedagogy Addison Wesley Longman, p.22-24

2 Larsen -Freeman, D 1986 Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching,

Oxford University Press p.31-50

3 Pham, H.H 1998, Learn a language learn a culture Easy English 11, p.14

4 Richard, J C & Rodgers, T.S 1987 Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching Cambridge University Press, p.48-61.

5 Richard, J C., & Schmidt, R 2002 Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Pearson Education Limited, p.231

6 Widodo, H P 2006 Approaches and Procedures for Teaching Grammar English Teaching: Practice and Critique 5, p 129