APPROACH- CHART OF TRADITIONAL METHODS AND APPROACHES
GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD.
Background
The grammar translation method is a method of teaching foreign languages derived from the classical (sometimes called traditional) method of teaching Greek and Latin. In grammar-translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native language. Advanced students may be required to translate whole texts word-for-word. The method has two main goals: to enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language, and to further students’ general intellectual development.
The grammar-translation method originated from the practice of teaching Latin. In the early 1500s, Latin was the most widely-studied foreign language due to its prominence in government, academia, and business. However, during the course of the century the use of Latin dwindled, and it was gradually replaced by English, French, and Italian. After the decline of Latin, the purpose of learning it in schools changed. Whereas previously students had learned Latin for the purpose of communication, it came to be learned as a purely academic subject.
Throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the education system was formed primarily around a concept called faculty psychology. This theory dictated that the body and mind were separate and the mind consisted of three parts: the will, emotion, and intellect. It was believed that the intellect could be sharpened enough to eventually control the will and emotions. The way to do this was through learning classical literature of the Greeks and Romans, as well as mathematics. Additionally, an adult with such an education was considered mentally prepared for the world and its challenges.
At first it was believed that teaching modern languages was not useful for the development of mental discipline and thus they were left out of the curriculum. When modern languages did begin to appear in school curricula in the 19th century, teachers taught them with the same grammar-translation method as was used for classical Latin and Greek. As a result, textbooks were essentially copied for the modern language classroom. In the United States of America, the basic foundations of this method were used in most high school and college foreign language classrooms.
Teacher’s role
Teachers are just guides because grammar Translation deals with the memorization of rules, manipulation of the morphology and syntax of the foreign language. It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers because test of grammar rules and translation are easy to construct and be objectively scored. The facilitator main function is that of observation rather than corrective intervention in regards to the learners.
Students’ role
Students are expected to memorize endless lists of grammar rules and vocabulary, and produce almost perfect translations. This method means a tedious experience and often creates frustration for students. Main activities and controls are stated by the students, he or she is the one who provides the course of the learning process and the status of knowledge as well. Collaborative work is of s great importance, a real cooperative behavior from the learner, is required for the lessons.
Characteristics of the Grammar Translation Method
Classes are taught
Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.
Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.
Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.
Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.
Little or no attention is given to pronunciation in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.
TechniqueS
The grammar translation method is as useful as the others methods because in this method we as a teacher can apply it in our class because the students have the opportunity to read and translate literature written in the target language, and to further students’ general intellectual development. For that reason, is a successful method and our students will learn the new language in an easy and interesting way, and they enjoy it because they are going to translate their favorite music and they are going to feel more comfortable at the moment when they speak.
The Direct Method
Background.
It was established in Germany and France around 1900. The
direct method of teaching was developed as a response to the Grammar-Translation method. It sought to immerse the learner in the same way as when a first language is learnt. It was adopted by key international language the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State Department. schools such as Berlitz in the 1970s and many of the language departments of The direct Method is based on observation of acquisition of mother tongue. As teachers became frustrated with the students inability to communicate orally, they began to experiment with new techniques. The idea was that foreign language teaching must be carried out in the same way people learn their mother tongue.
Teacher's Role:
Teachers introduce the new language to the students exclusively in the target language, not in their mother tongue. Because in this method, they never translate: they demonstrate.
Teachers use pictures, realia or pantomime to demonstrate and communicate words or ideas in their classes.
Teachers emphasize interactions with the students, asking them questions and trying to use grammatical structures of the day in conversations, and using the new vocabulary.
Teachers make students speak much, and he/she finds various techniques to get the students to self-correction. The teacher makes emphasize in both speech and listening comprehension.
Learner's Role:
Students learn by self-correction, and they put into practice their oral communication skills.
Students are active learners in every class they participate actively in the acquisition of the target language.
Characteristics:
Grammar is taught inductively.
Sometimes it`s called the natural method.
Emphasis is put on correct pronunciation and grammar.
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.
Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration,objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas.
Techniques
Question and Answer exercise: The emphasis is on speaking in the target language. The teacher can provide oral practices in order to the students develop their skills.
Dictation:
Teachers using the direct method read aloud to students in the target language. The teacher reads information appropriate for the student's speaking level three times. The first time, students listen. The second time, the teacher reads the passage sentence by sentence, slow enough so students can write down what they hear. The third time, the teacher reads the correct. passage normally and students check over what they've written to make sure it's
Conversations practices:
Students can use situations of their real life to express their ideas. At the same time, they can practice self-correction with their classmates.
Students learn the new language base on observation, and language acquisition is similar of mother tongue- It allows the students to learn new words and expressions quickly.
Due to application of the Direct Method, students are able to understand what they learn, think about it and then express their own ideas in correct way about what they have read and learnt. The teacher explains new vocabulary using realia, visual aids or demonstrations.
Disadvantages
Themethod ignores systematic written work and reading activities and sufficient attention is not paid to reading and writing.
In the Direct Method is its assumption that a second language can be learnt in exactly the same way as a first, when in fact the conditions under which a second language is learnt are very different.
The total physical response method as a result of his observation of the language development of young children. Asher saw that most of the interactions that young children experience with parents or other adults combine both verbal and physical aspects. The child resp
The Audio-Lingual Method
Background
The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins during World War II when it became known as the Army Method. It is also called the Aural oral approach. It is based on the structural view of language and the behaviorist theory of language learning.
The Audiolingual Approach to language teaching has a lot of similarities with the Direct Method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that speaking and listening competences preceded reading and writing competences. But there are also some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills
Advantages
It aims at developing listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the Grammar translation method
The use of visual aids has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.
It is a very useful method because the teachers and the students have an important role.
The teacher must encourage the students to change the old native language habits.
The students are able to learn more vocabulary.
The students are imitators of the teacher’s model.
Disadvantages
The method is based on false assumptions about language. The study of language doesn’t amount to studying the “parole”, the observable data. Mastering a language relies on acquiring the rules underlying language performance. That is, the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competences.
Speaking and repeating are the skills that this method improves, not writing.
Repetition is not only the way to learn.
The students could be bored.
The teacher in class is like an orchestra leader.
Characteristics:
Structuralism
The structural view to language is the view behind the audio-lingual method. This approach focused on examining how the elements of language related to each other in the present, that is, ‘synchronically‘ rather than ‘diachronically‘. It was also argued that linguistic signs were composed of two parts, a signifier (the sound pattern of a word) and a signified (the concept or meaning of the word). The study of language aims at describing the performance, the “parole” as it is the only observable part of language.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. It contends that leaning occurs through associations, habit formation and reinforcement. When the learner produces the desired behavior and is reinforced positively, it is likely that behavior be emitted again
The teachers' role
The role of teacher in class is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior of his students. He is also responsible for providing his students with a good model for imitation.
The students' role
The role of the students is they are imitators of the teacher’s model of the tapes he/she supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher’s directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible.
TPR (Total Physical Response)
Background
James Asher
developedonds physically to the speech of the parent, and the parent reinforces the child’s responses through further speech. This creates a positive feedback loop between the parent’s speech and the child’s actions. Asher also observed that young children typically spend a long time listening to language before ever attempting to speak, and that they can understand and react to utterances that are much more complex than those they can produce them.
From his experiences, Asher outlined three main hypotheses about learning second languages that are embodied in the total physical response method. The first is that the brain is naturally predisposed to learn language through listening. Specifically, Asher says that learner’s best internalize language when they respond with physical movement to language input. Asher hypothesizes that speech develops naturally and spontaneously after learners internalize the target language through input, and that it should not be forced. In Asher’s own words: A reasonable hypothesis is that the brain and the nervous system are biologically programmed to acquire language, either the first or the second in a particular sequence and in a particular mode. The sequence is listening before speaking and the mode is to synchronize language with the individual’s body.
The second of Asher’s hypotheses is that effective language learning must engage the right hemisphere of the brain. Physical movement is controlled primarily by the right hemisphere, and Asher sees the coupling of movement with language comprehension as the key to language acquisition. He says that left-hemisphere learning should be avoided, and that the left hemisphere needs a great deal of experience of right-hemisphere-based input before natural speech can occur.Asher’s third hypothesis is that language learning should not involve any stress, as stress and negative emotions inhibit the natural language-learning process. He regards the stressful nature of most language-teaching methods as one of their major weaknesses. Asher recommends that teachers focus on meaning and physical movement to avoid stress. The main text on total physical response is James Asher’s learning another Language through Actions, first published in 1977.
Teachers' roles.
The teacher plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. "The instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors". It is the teacher who decides what to teach, who models and presents the new materials, and who selects supporting materials for classroom use. The teacher is encouraged to be well prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably. Asher recommends detailed lesson plans: “It is wise to write out the exact utterances you will be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving there is usually not time for you to create spontaneously". Classroom interaction and turn taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even when learners interact with other learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the interaction:
Teacher: Maria, pick up the box of rice and hand it to Miguel and ask Miguel to read the price.
Asher stresses, however, that the teacher's role is not so much to teach as to provide opportunities for learning. The teacher has the responsibility of providing the best kind of exposure to language so that the learner can internalize the basic rules of the target language. Thus the teacher controls the language input the learners receive, providing the raw material for the "cognitive map" that the learners will construct in their own minds. The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in learners at the learners' own natural pace.
In giving feedback to learners, the teacher should follow the example of parents giving feedback to their children. At first, parents correct very little, but as the child grows older, parents are said to tolerate fewer mistakes in speech. Similarly teachers should refrain from too much correction in the early stages and should not interrupt to correct errors, since this will inhibit learners. As time goes on, however, more teacher intervention is expected, as the learners' speech becomes "fine tuned."
Asher cautions teachers about preconceptions that he feels could hinder the successful implementation of TPR principles. First, he cautions against the "illusion of simplicity," where the teacher underestimates the difficulties involved in learning a foreign language. This results in progressing at too fast a pace and failing to provide a gradual transition from one teaching stage to another. The teacher should also avoid having too narrow a tolerance for errors in speaking.
You begin with a wide tolerance for student speech errors, but as training progresses, the tolerance narrows.... Remember that as students’ progress in their training, more and more attention units are freed to process feedback from the instructor. In the beginning, almost no attention units are available to hear the instructor's attempts to correct distortions in speech. All attention is directed to producing utterances. Therefore the student cannot attend efficiently to the instructor's corrections.
Learner's roles
Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer. They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher. Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have little influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also expected to recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items:
Novel utterances are recombination of constituents you have used directly in training. For instance, you directed students with 'Walk to the table!' and 'Sit on the chair!'. These are familiar to students since they have practiced responding to them. Now, will a student understand if you surprise the individual with an unfamiliar utterance that you created by recombining familiar elements (e.g. 'Sit on the table!').
Learners are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Learners monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they feel ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.
Characteristics
Asher does not directly discuss the nature of language or how languages are organized. However, the labeling and ordering of TPR classroom drills seem to be built on assumptions that owe much to structuralism or grammar-based views of language. Asher states that "most of the grammatical structure of the target language and hundreds of vocabulary items can be learned from the skillful use of the imperative by the instructor" (1977). He views the verb and particularly the verb in the imperative, as the central linguistic motif around which language use and learning are organized.
Asher sees language as being composed of abstractions and non-abstractions, with non-abstractions being most specifically represented by concrete nouns and imperative verbs. He believes that learners can acquire a "detailed cognitive map" as well as "the grammatical structure of a language" without recourse to abstractions.
Abstractions should be delayed until students have internalized a detailed cognitive map of the target language. Abstractions are not necessary for people to decode the grammatical structure of a language. Once students have internalized the code, abstractions can be introduced and explained in the target language.
This is an interesting claim about language but one that is insufficiently detailed to test. For example, are tense, aspect, articles, and so forth, abstractions, and if so, what sort of "detailed cognitive map" could be constructed without them?
Despite Asher's belief in the central role of comprehension in language learning, he does not elaborate on the relation between comprehension, production, and communication (he has no theory of speech acts or their equivalents, for example), although in advanced TPR lessons imperatives are used to initiate different speech acts, such as requests ("John, ask Mary to walk to the door"), and apologies ("Ned, tell Jack you're sorry"). Asher also refers in passing to the fact that language can be internalized as wholes or chunks, rather than as single lexical items, and, as such, links are possible to more theoretical proposals of this kind, as well as to work on the role of prefabricated patterns in language learning and language use Asher does not elaborate on his view of chunking, however, nor on other aspects of the theory of language underlying Total Physical Response. We have only clues to what a more fully developed language theory might resemble when spelled out by Asher and his supporters.
Techniques
The TPR method offer a different kind of funny and easy activities in which teachers can evaluate students through simple observation of their actions, formal evaluation is achieved by commanding a students a perform a series of actions in this way we can alter the behavior of our students, so if we employ everyday conversations, roles plays, common situations we are going to engage our students to learn thoughts commands. It is good for kinesthetic learners who need to be active in the class. Likewise, the activities in the class privilege the development of the listening comprehension, their vocabulary and speech acquisition. Students often listen to teacher’s orders and in this way they acquire a great familiarly with the language sounds that he studies at the same time that he increases their vocabulary by means of the teacher´s action observation.
For that reason, we think that work with our students by commanding activities is a useful technique because they develop their listening and speaking skill. Listening skill because they involves the movement in which the students listen and do the movement that the song, or the teacher indicates, after this the pupil understand the concepts and the sentences are repeated very times, but with this method don’t use the memory; so, after a few minutes the children will do the movement on their own. And for speaking skill because they apply the commands that they heard and then they repeat what the teacher or the audio says.
Another technique that we would employ of the TPR is that the lesson plan may not require the use of materials, since the teacher´s voice, actions and gestures may be sufficient materials for classroom activities. Likewise, the teacher may use common classroom objects for example books, pens, board, markets. But if the teacher wants to use some supporting materials he can use pictures, slides, flash cards and word charts, in which the teacher can use his creativity to do that kind of materials.
Advantages
TPR is a valuable way to learn vocabulary
TPR, instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions
Total physical response is often used alongside other methods and techniques.
Total physical response is an example of the comprehension approach to language teaching.
Disadvantages
Teaching materials are not compulsory, and for the very first lessons they may not be used.
We can use TPR only with intermediate and advanced students.
Errors made by beginning-level students are usually overlooked.
Grammar is not explicitly taught,
The students are only expected to listen and not to speak.
SUGGESTOPIDIA
Background
Suggestopedia is a teaching method, which focuses on how to deal with the relationship between mental potential and learning ability and it is very appropriate to use in teaching speaking for young language learners (Xue, 2005). This method was introduced by a Bulgarian psychologist and educator, George Lazanov in 1975. Maleki (2005) believed that we are able of learning much more than we think, provided we use our brain power and inner capacities. In addition, DePorter (2008) assumed that human brain could process great quantities of material if given the right condition for learning in a state of relaxation and claimed that most students use only 5 to 10 percent of their mental capacity. Lazanov created suggestopedia for learning that capitalized on relaxed states of mind for maximum retention material.
Suggestopedia is an effective comprehensible input based method with a combination of desuggestion and suggestion to achieve super learning. The most important objective of suggestopedia is to motivate more of students’ mental potential to learn and which obtained by suggestion. Desuggestion means unloading the memory banks, or reserves, of unwanted or blocking memories. Suggestion then means loading the memory banks with desired and facilitating memories.
Lazanov (1978) cited in Lica (2008) argued that learners have difficulties in acquiring English as the second language because of the fear of the students to make mistakes. When the learners are in this situation, their heart and blood pressure raise. He believes that there is a mental block in the learners’ brain (affective filter). This filter blocks the input, so the learners have difficulties to acquire language caused by their fear. The combination of desuggestion and suggestion is to lower the affective filter and motivate students’ mental potential to learn, aim to accelerate the process by which they learn to understand and use the target language for communication to achieve super learning. It is the final goal of suggestopedia.
Teacher’s Roles
Teacher should create situations in which learners are most suggestible and then to present linguistic material in a way most likely to encourage positive reception and retention by learners. Lozanov lists several expected teacher behaviors as follows:
1. Show absolute confidence in the method.
2. Display fastidious conduct in manners and dress.
3. Organize properly, and strictly observe the initial stages of the teaching process—this includes choice and play of music, as well as punctuality.
4. Maintain a solemn attitude towards the session.
5. Give tests and respond tactfully to poor papers (if any).
6. Stress global rather than analytical attitudes towards material.
7. Maintain a modest enthusiasm.
Learners’ Roles
The learners as well are should have “faith in the system and accept that they are in a childlike situation where they follow the teacher / parent” (Knight, 2001, p. 154). The students should not be critical, but simply absorb what is presented to them.
Characteristics
Comfortable environment
In suggestopedia method, the classroom is not the same as common classrooms. In the classroom, the chairs are arranged semicircle and faced the black or white board in order to make the students pay more attention and get more relaxed. In addition, the light in the classroom is dim in order to make the students’ mind more relaxed (Xue, 2005).
The use of music
One of the most uniqueness of this method is the use of Baroque music during the learning process. Baroque music, with its 60 beats per minute and its specific rhythm, created the kind of relaxed states of mind for maximum retention of material. It is believed that Baroque music creates a level of relaxed concentration that facilitates the input and retention of huge quantities of materials. Baroque music helps the students to reach a certain state of relaxation, in which the receptivity is increased (Radle, 2008). The increasing of learning potential is put down to the increase of alpha brain and decreasing of blood pressure and heart rate. The use of music also depends on the expected skill of the students: listening, grammar, pronunciation, discussion, etc.
Peripheral Learning
The students learn English not only from direct instruction but also from indirect instruction. It is encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of posters and decoration featuring the target language and various grammatical information. They are changed every day. By doing this, the students can learn many things indirectly in the classroom or outside classroom. For example, students can produce simple sentence by using the posters or grammatical information on the wall.
Free Errors
In the teaching learning process, students who make mistakes are tolerated, for example in pronouncing the word. The emphasis is on the content not the structure. Grammar and vocabularies are presented and given treatment from the teachers, but not dwelt on.
Homework is limited
Students reread materials given in the classroom once before they go to sleep at night and once in the morning before they get up.
Music, drama and art are integrated in the learning process.
Techniques
Short stories
A short story will be read, accompanied by classical music. Then, The students are invited to relax and listen to the story, being read very quietly while soft music is played.
Puzzles
The students will solve puzzles while soft music is played.
Advantages:
It is very appropriate to use in teaching speaking.
The students feel comfortable and confident. The use of the music creates the kind of relaxed states of mind for maximum retention of material.
It motivates students´ mental potential.
The students learn not only from direct instruction but also, from indirect instruction. This method encourages learning through the presence in the classroom environment of posters and decoration featuring the target language and grammatical information.
The Audio-Lingual Method
The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins during World War II when it became known as the Army Method. It is also called the Aural oral approach. It is based on the structural view of language and the behaviorist theory of language learning.
The Audiolingual Approach to language teaching has a lot of similarities with the Direct Method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that speaking and listening competences preceded reading and writing competences. But there are also some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills
Advantages
It aims at developing listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the Grammar translation method
The use of visual aids has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.
It is a very useful method because the teachers and the students have an important role.
The teacher must encourage the students to change the old native language habits.
The students are able to learn more vocabulary.
The students are imitators of the teacher’s model.
Disadvantages
The method is based on false assumptions about language. The study of language doesn’t amount to studying the “parole”, the observable data. Mastering a language relies on acquiring the rules underlying language performance. That is, the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competences.
Speaking and repeating are the skills that this method improves, not writing.
Repetition is not only the way to learn.
The students could be bored.
The teacher in class is like an orchestra leader.
Characteristics:
Structuralism
The structural view to language is the view behind the audio-lingual method. This approach focused on examining how the elements of language related to each other in the present, that is, ‘synchronically‘ rather than ‘diachronically‘. It was also argued that linguistic signs were composed of two parts, a signifier (the sound pattern of a word) and a signified (the concept or meaning of the word). The study of language aims at describing the performance, the “parole” as it is the only observable part of language.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. It contends that leaning occurs through associations, habit formation and reinforcement. When the learner produces the desired behavior and is reinforced positively, it is likely that behavior be emitted again
The teachers' role
The role of teacher in class is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behavior of his students. He is also responsible for providing his students with a good model for imitation.
The students' role
The role of the students is they are imitators of the teacher’s model of the tapes he/she supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher’s directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as possible.
TPR (Total Physical Response)
Background
James Asher
developedonds physically to the speech of the parent, and the parent reinforces the child’s responses through further speech. This creates a positive feedback loop between the parent’s speech and the child’s actions. Asher also observed that young children typically spend a long time listening to language before ever attempting to speak, and that they can understand and react to utterances that are much more complex than those they can produce them.
From his experiences, Asher outlined three main hypotheses about learning second languages that are embodied in the total physical response method. The first is that the brain is naturally predisposed to learn language through listening. Specifically, Asher says that learner’s best internalize language when they respond with physical movement to language input. Asher hypothesizes that speech develops naturally and spontaneously after learners internalize the target language through input, and that it should not be forced. In Asher’s own words: A reasonable hypothesis is that the brain and the nervous system are biologically programmed to acquire language, either the first or the second in a particular sequence and in a particular mode. The sequence is listening before speaking and the mode is to synchronize language with the individual’s body.
The second of Asher’s hypotheses is that effective language learning must engage the right hemisphere of the brain. Physical movement is controlled primarily by the right hemisphere, and Asher sees the coupling of movement with language comprehension as the key to language acquisition. He says that left-hemisphere learning should be avoided, and that the left hemisphere needs a great deal of experience of right-hemisphere-based input before natural speech can occur.Asher’s third hypothesis is that language learning should not involve any stress, as stress and negative emotions inhibit the natural language-learning process. He regards the stressful nature of most language-teaching methods as one of their major weaknesses. Asher recommends that teachers focus on meaning and physical movement to avoid stress. The main text on total physical response is James Asher’s learning another Language through Actions, first published in 1977.
Teachers' roles.
The teacher plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. "The instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors". It is the teacher who decides what to teach, who models and presents the new materials, and who selects supporting materials for classroom use. The teacher is encouraged to be well prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably. Asher recommends detailed lesson plans: “It is wise to write out the exact utterances you will be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving there is usually not time for you to create spontaneously". Classroom interaction and turn taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even when learners interact with other learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the interaction:
Teacher: Maria, pick up the box of rice and hand it to Miguel and ask Miguel to read the price.
Asher stresses, however, that the teacher's role is not so much to teach as to provide opportunities for learning. The teacher has the responsibility of providing the best kind of exposure to language so that the learner can internalize the basic rules of the target language. Thus the teacher controls the language input the learners receive, providing the raw material for the "cognitive map" that the learners will construct in their own minds. The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in learners at the learners' own natural pace.
In giving feedback to learners, the teacher should follow the example of parents giving feedback to their children. At first, parents correct very little, but as the child grows older, parents are said to tolerate fewer mistakes in speech. Similarly teachers should refrain from too much correction in the early stages and should not interrupt to correct errors, since this will inhibit learners. As time goes on, however, more teacher intervention is expected, as the learners' speech becomes "fine tuned."
Asher cautions teachers about preconceptions that he feels could hinder the successful implementation of TPR principles. First, he cautions against the "illusion of simplicity," where the teacher underestimates the difficulties involved in learning a foreign language. This results in progressing at too fast a pace and failing to provide a gradual transition from one teaching stage to another. The teacher should also avoid having too narrow a tolerance for errors in speaking.
You begin with a wide tolerance for student speech errors, but as training progresses, the tolerance narrows.... Remember that as students’ progress in their training, more and more attention units are freed to process feedback from the instructor. In the beginning, almost no attention units are available to hear the instructor's attempts to correct distortions in speech. All attention is directed to producing utterances. Therefore the student cannot attend efficiently to the instructor's corrections.
Learner's roles
Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer. They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher. Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have little influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also expected to recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items:
Novel utterances are recombination of constituents you have used directly in training. For instance, you directed students with 'Walk to the table!' and 'Sit on the chair!'. These are familiar to students since they have practiced responding to them. Now, will a student understand if you surprise the individual with an unfamiliar utterance that you created by recombining familiar elements (e.g. 'Sit on the table!').
Learners are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Learners monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they feel ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.
Characteristics
Asher does not directly discuss the nature of language or how languages are organized. However, the labeling and ordering of TPR classroom drills seem to be built on assumptions that owe much to structuralism or grammar-based views of language. Asher states that "most of the grammatical structure of the target language and hundreds of vocabulary items can be learned from the skillful use of the imperative by the instructor" (1977). He views the verb and particularly the verb in the imperative, as the central linguistic motif around which language use and learning are organized.
Asher sees language as being composed of abstractions and non-abstractions, with non-abstractions being most specifically represented by concrete nouns and imperative verbs. He believes that learners can acquire a "detailed cognitive map" as well as "the grammatical structure of a language" without recourse to abstractions.
Abstractions should be delayed until students have internalized a detailed cognitive map of the target language. Abstractions are not necessary for people to decode the grammatical structure of a language. Once students have internalized the code, abstractions can be introduced and explained in the target language.
This is an interesting claim about language but one that is insufficiently detailed to test. For example, are tense, aspect, articles, and so forth, abstractions, and if so, what sort of "detailed cognitive map" could be constructed without them?
Despite Asher's belief in the central role of comprehension in language learning, he does not elaborate on the relation between comprehension, production, and communication (he has no theory of speech acts or their equivalents, for example), although in advanced TPR lessons imperatives are used to initiate different speech acts, such as requests ("John, ask Mary to walk to the door"), and apologies ("Ned, tell Jack you're sorry"). Asher also refers in passing to the fact that language can be internalized as wholes or chunks, rather than as single lexical items, and, as such, links are possible to more theoretical proposals of this kind, as well as to work on the role of prefabricated patterns in language learning and language use Asher does not elaborate on his view of chunking, however, nor on other aspects of the theory of language underlying Total Physical Response. We have only clues to what a more fully developed language theory might resemble when spelled out by Asher and his supporters.
Techniques
The TPR method offer a different kind of funny and easy activities in which teachers can evaluate students through simple observation of their actions, formal evaluation is achieved by commanding a students a perform a series of actions in this way we can alter the behavior of our students, so if we employ everyday conversations, roles plays, common situations we are going to engage our students to learn thoughts commands. It is good for kinesthetic learners who need to be active in the class. Likewise, the activities in the class privilege the development of the listening comprehension, their vocabulary and speech acquisition. Students often listen to teacher’s orders and in this way they acquire a great familiarly with the language sounds that he studies at the same time that he increases their vocabulary by means of the teacher´s action observation.
For that reason, we think that work with our students by commanding activities is a useful technique because they develop their listening and speaking skill. Listening skill because they involves the movement in which the students listen and do the movement that the song, or the teacher indicates, after this the pupil understand the concepts and the sentences are repeated very times, but with this method don’t use the memory; so, after a few minutes the children will do the movement on their own. And for speaking skill because they apply the commands that they heard and then they repeat what the teacher or the audio says.
Another technique that we would employ of the TPR is that the lesson plan may not require the use of materials, since the teacher´s voice, actions and gestures may be sufficient materials for classroom activities. Likewise, the teacher may use common classroom objects for example books, pens, board, markets. But if the teacher wants to use some supporting materials he can use pictures, slides, flash cards and word charts, in which the teacher can use his creativity to do that kind of materials.
Advantages
TPR is a valuable way to learn vocabulary
TPR, instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions
Total physical response is often used alongside other methods and techniques.
Total physical response is an example of the comprehension approach to language teaching.
Disadvantages
Teaching materials are not compulsory, and for the very first lessons they may not be used.
We can use TPR only with intermediate and advanced students.
Errors made by beginning-level students are usually overlooked.
Grammar is not explicitly taught,
The students are only expected to listen and not to speak.
SUGGESTOPIDIA
Background
Suggestopedia is a teaching method, which focuses on how to deal with the relationship between mental potential and learning ability and it is very appropriate to use in teaching speaking for young language learners (Xue, 2005). This method was introduced by a Bulgarian psychologist and educator, George Lazanov in 1975. Maleki (2005) believed that we are able of learning much more than we think, provided we use our brain power and inner capacities. In addition, DePorter (2008) assumed that human brain could process great quantities of material if given the right condition for learning in a state of relaxation and claimed that most students use only 5 to 10 percent of their mental capacity. Lazanov created suggestopedia for learning that capitalized on relaxed states of mind for maximum retention material.
Suggestopedia is an effective comprehensible input based method with a combination of desuggestion and suggestion to achieve super learning. The most important objective of suggestopedia is to motivate more of students’ mental potential to learn and which obtained by suggestion. Desuggestion means unloading the memory banks, or reserves, of unwanted or blocking memories. Suggestion then means loading the memory banks with desired and facilitating memories.
Lazanov (1978) cited in Lica (2008) argued that learners have difficulties in acquiring English as the second language because of the fear of the students to make mistakes. When the learners are in this situation, their heart and blood pressure raise. He believes that there is a mental block in the learners’ brain (affective filter). This filter blocks the input, so the learners have difficulties to acquire language caused by their fear. The combination of desuggestion and suggestion is to lower the affective filter and motivate students’ mental potential to learn, aim to accelerate the process by which they learn to understand and use the target language for communication to achieve super learning. It is the final goal of suggestopedia.
Teacher’s Roles
Teacher should create situations in which learners are most suggestible and then to present linguistic material in a way most likely to encourage positive reception and retention by learners. Lozanov lists several expected teacher behaviors as follows:
1. Show absolute confidence in the method.
2. Display fastidious conduct in manners and dress.
3. Organize properly, and strictly observe the initial stages of the teaching process—this includes choice and play of music, as well as punctuality.
4. Maintain a solemn attitude towards the session.
5. Give tests and respond tactfully to poor papers (if any).
6. Stress global rather than analytical attitudes towards material.
7. Maintain a modest enthusiasm.
Learners’ Roles
The learners as well are should have “faith in the system and accept that they are in a childlike situation where they follow the teacher / parent” (Knight, 2001, p. 154). The students should not be critical, but simply absorb what is presented to them.
Characteristics
Comfortable environment
In suggestopedia method, the classroom is not the same as common classrooms. In the classroom, the chairs are arranged semicircle and faced the black or white board in order to make the students pay more attention and get more relaxed. In addition, the light in the classroom is dim in order to make the students’ mind more relaxed (Xue, 2005).
The use of music
One of the most uniqueness of this method is the use of Baroque music during the learning process. Baroque music, with its 60 beats per minute and its specific rhythm, created the kind of relaxed states of mind for maximum retention of material. It is believed that Baroque music creates a level of relaxed concentration that facilitates the input and retention of huge quantities of materials. Baroque music helps the students to reach a certain state of relaxation, in which the receptivity is increased (Radle, 2008). The increasing of learning potential is put down to the increase of alpha brain and decreasing of blood pressure and heart rate. The use of music also depends on the expected skill of the students: listening, grammar, pronunciation, discussion, etc.
Peripheral Learning
The students learn English not only from direct instruction but also from indirect instruction. It is encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of posters and decoration featuring the target language and various grammatical information. They are changed every day. By doing this, the students can learn many things indirectly in the classroom or outside classroom. For example, students can produce simple sentence by using the posters or grammatical information on the wall.
Free Errors
In the teaching learning process, students who make mistakes are tolerated, for example in pronouncing the word. The emphasis is on the content not the structure. Grammar and vocabularies are presented and given treatment from the teachers, but not dwelt on.
Homework is limited
Students reread materials given in the classroom once before they go to sleep at night and once in the morning before they get up.
Music, drama and art are integrated in the learning process.
Techniques
Short stories
A short story will be read, accompanied by classical music. Then, The students are invited to relax and listen to the story, being read very quietly while soft music is played.
Puzzles
The students will solve puzzles while soft music is played.
Advantages:
It is very appropriate to use in teaching speaking.
The students feel comfortable and confident. The use of the music creates the kind of relaxed states of mind for maximum retention of material.
It motivates students´ mental potential.
The students learn not only from direct instruction but also, from indirect instruction. This method encourages learning through the presence in the classroom environment of posters and decoration featuring the target language and grammatical information.
Disadvantages
Some people cannot study in a noisy class.
Environment limitation because most schools in developing countries have large classes. Ideally should be 12-15 students; but in large classes there are around 30-40 students.
THE NATURAl APPROACHE
Background
The Natural Approach was proposed in 1977 by Tracy Terrell, a teacher of Spanish at the University of California. Later, supported by Stephen Krashen. They tried to provide a detailed theoretical rationale for the Natural Approach. In 1983, their joint effort came out in a book The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the classroom, which states the principles and practices of the Natural Approach. This new philosophy of language teaching was an attempt to develop a language teaching proposal that incorporated the “naturalistic” principles in the studies of second language acquisition.
Teacher`s role:
The teacher is the primary source of comprehensible input in the target language. In this role the teacher is required to generate a constant flow of language input while providing a multiplicity of nonlinguistic clues to assist students in interpreting the input.
The teacher creates a classroom atmosphere that is interesting, friendly, and in which there is a low affective filter for learning.
The teacher must choose and orchestrate a rich mix of classroom activities, involving a variety of group sizes, content, and contexts.
Learner`s role:
Provide information about their specific goals, so that acquisition activities can focus on the topics and situations most relevant to their needs.
Take an active role in ensuring comprehensible input.
Decide when to start producing speech and when to upgrade it.
Characteristics:
The Natural Approach claims that language learning is a reproduction of the way humans naturally acquire their native language.
The aim of the Natural Approach is to foster the communication competence, not grammatical perfection.
At the beginning, the emphasis is on listening.
Activities that enhance the process of language acquisition are the main part of the class (input).
The affective filter is especially useful.
Techniques
Start with TPR commands. At first the commands are quite simple: “stand up. Turn around.”
Use TPR to teach names of the body parts and to introduce numbers and sequence.
Introduce classroom terms and props into commands.
Use visuals, typically magazines pictures, to introduce new vocabulary.
Combine use of pictures with TPR.
Affective-humanistic activities attempt to involve students’ feelings, opinions, desires, reactions, ideas, and experiences. Open dialogues, interviews, reference ranking, personal charts, supplying personal information, description, etc. are often used to involve students in communicating information about themselves.
Advantages
Comprehensible and meaningful practice activities are emphasized.
The teacher knows student`s needs and concentrates on appropriate and useful areas.
The classroom consisting of acquisition activities can be an excellent environment for beginners.
The Natural Approach is an attempt to simulate in the classroom an environment that will be similar to the context in which children acquire their first language, as they create utterances to express their own thoughts.
Disadvantages
The method rarely concerns about correctness.
There’s no grammar instruction in this method.
It simply borrows techniques from other methods.
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