Audio Lingual Method

The audiolingual method I) Key Features 1. New material is presented in dialog form. 2. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and over-learning. 3. Structures are sequenced by means of constractive analysis and taught one at a time. 4. Structual patterns are taught using repetitive drills. 5. There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation. 6. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. 7. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids. 8. Great importance is attached to pronunciation. 9. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted. 10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced. 11. There is great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances. 12. There is a tendancy to manipulate language and disregard content. II) Typical techniques 1. Dialogue memorization: Students memorize an opening dialogue using mimicry and applied role-playing. 2. Backward build-up (expansion drill): Teacher breaks a line into several parts, student repeat each part starting at the end of the sentence and “expanding” backwards through the sentence, adding each part in sequence. 3. Repetition drill: sstudent repeat teacher’s model as quickly and accurately as possible. 4. Chain drill: Students ask and answer each other one-by-one in a circular chain around the classroom. 5. Single-slot substitution drill: Teacher states a line from the dialogue, then uses a word or a phrase as a “cue” that students, when repeating the line, must substitute into the sentence in the correct place. 6. Multiple-slot substitution drill: Same as the Single Slot drill, except that there are multiple cues to be substituted into the line. 7. Transformation drill: Teacher provides a sentence that must be turned into something else, for example a question to be turned into a statement,