The Direct Method
The Direct Method
Introduction
The method that will be analyzed in this paper is one which allows the students to be taught through the creativity of the teacher. Instead of relaying only in detailed grammar explanations, the direct method is characterized by resourceful aids which permit to develop a dynamic set of explanations for the students to have a better understanding. Taking into consideration that the reader has a full knowledge about this method, I will expose my opinion about its usage for teaching a second language, in this case, English; at the end a conclusion will be given from my personal point of view. What I found interesting was the fact that the teacher has the freedom of presenting a topic as he wants, as far as he uses a wide range of resources for doing it. For instance, teaching activities as visual aids, realia, pictures and pantomime are very convenient because the students receive a huge amount of input directly related to the target language. Nevertheless, a disadvantage could be the fact that, due to the banning of the usage of the mother tongue, not all the students might be able to fully understand certain explanations. Provided that all languages have words which meanings cannot be represented by images or pantomime, learners can get confused and frustrated. For most of students grammar results boring and complicated when presented in an explicit way, however this method is perfect for them because the grammar is taught intuitively so the students can understand it while making use of it. Adding to this, learners start to study a second language to communicate, this means that if the grammatical analysis is carried out they will be bored instantly and not willing to learn a L2. Which is more convincible about the direct method is that despite its main goal is to develop communicative skills, it also focuses in all the 4 skills with exercises like reading aloud, self-correction, conversation practice, fill in the
Introduction
The method that will be analyzed in this paper is one which allows the students to be taught through the creativity of the teacher. Instead of relaying only in detailed grammar explanations, the direct method is characterized by resourceful aids which permit to develop a dynamic set of explanations for the students to have a better understanding. Taking into consideration that the reader has a full knowledge about this method, I will expose my opinion about its usage for teaching a second language, in this case, English; at the end a conclusion will be given from my personal point of view. What I found interesting was the fact that the teacher has the freedom of presenting a topic as he wants, as far as he uses a wide range of resources for doing it. For instance, teaching activities as visual aids, realia, pictures and pantomime are very convenient because the students receive a huge amount of input directly related to the target language. Nevertheless, a disadvantage could be the fact that, due to the banning of the usage of the mother tongue, not all the students might be able to fully understand certain explanations. Provided that all languages have words which meanings cannot be represented by images or pantomime, learners can get confused and frustrated. For most of students grammar results boring and complicated when presented in an explicit way, however this method is perfect for them because the grammar is taught intuitively so the students can understand it while making use of it. Adding to this, learners start to study a second language to communicate, this means that if the grammatical analysis is carried out they will be bored instantly and not willing to learn a L2. Which is more convincible about the direct method is that despite its main goal is to develop communicative skills, it also focuses in all the 4 skills with exercises like reading aloud, self-correction, conversation practice, fill in the
Bibliography: Larsen, Diane. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. New York. Oxford University Press. 2000. Richards. Jack Et al. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. 2001.