Education for all

1. AUDIO-LINGUAL
METHOD
BY MS. LAILA AFRIDI
M.PHIL ( APPLIED LINGUISTICS)
VISITING LECTURER AT NUML PESHAWAR

2. Introduction
The audio-lingual method is another teaching approach that has been initially focused on speaking
proficiency. The Audio-Lingual Method is also an oral-based approach.
The Audio-Lingual Method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence pattern. Also unlike ,it
has a strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology . Charles Fries (1945) of the University of
Michigan led the way in applying principles from structural linguistics In developing the method, and
for this reason, it has sometimes been referred to as the ‘Michigan Method.’ Later in its
development, principles from behavioral psychology (Skinner 1957) were incorporated. It was
thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the target language was through
conditioning— helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement,
so that the learners could overcome the habits of their native language and form the new habits
requiredto be target language speakers.

3. Historical Background
The start of World War II made it more crucial than ever for Americans to learn the languages of both
their enemies and friends.
Consequently, fragments of the Direct Method were taken to create and reinforce this new approach, the
“Army Method,” which eventually became known as the Audiolingual Method in the 1950s.
The main focus of the method was to shape the habit of using certain structures, patterns and verbs
through repetition and drilling, and general extensive exposure to the examples that needed to be
recreated.
Developing the habit was supposed to help students improve their speaking skills and work with
language acquisition on the physiological level.

4. The key Characteristics of The Audio-Lingual Method
1. The teacher has to present a context which will be worth copying. This usually happens by role-
playing the dialogues or filling the gaps with the information students have heard in the audio.
2. Teachers must be very attentive to errors and mistakes and do their best to correct them so that
the wrong habit can’t be developed. Nothing is worse than fossilization.
3. The main goal is to teach students how to speak correctly. Moreover, there is a great emphasis on
the pronunciation.
4. All the necessary words and structures should be drilled to the extent of automatic reproduction
without taking any extra minutes to thin
5. No emphasis is placed on the explanation of grammar rules. Audio-lingual methods followers
believe that learning any language is pretty similar to the acquisition of the native language.
Therefore, rules can be induced from examples and practice.
6. Audio-lingual practitioners follow the “natural order” of developing language skills: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing.

5. The students’ position/ role in such a
classroom
1. Students’ native language should be used as little as possible so that they do not lose focus on
the target language.
2. Students are supposed to do their best to mimic the pronunciation of the examples presented by
the teacher.
3. Students have to revise and repeat the target language and grammar structure as often as
possible in order to develop the habit.
4. The vocabulary presentation is limited. Students have to pay much more attention to learning
structural patterns rather than separate words. Loads of new vocabulary come later.

6. The Pros and Cons of The Audio-Lingual Method
PONS
Constant drills make students remember the
materials for a very long time. .
Students have very good pronunciation as it is
taught straight from the beginning.
Students also get a lot of context about the
culture of the language they are learning
through exposure to dialogues and texts. .
Almost no L1 is allowed so students are focused
on the foreign language all the time.
CONS
Students overlearn the information but can’t
really use it fluently outside of the memorized
patterns
Not enough attention is paid to the skills that are
not oral. Therefore, writing suffers a lot. Too little
grammar and spelling exposure leads to a lot of
writing mistakes.
Students don’t get an explicit presentation of
grammar, which is needed sometimes. Thus,
some grammar rules may stay vague.
Errors are not allowed, and the students are
pressured to reproduce the examples given by
the teacher with no mistakes.

7. Using the Teaching Techniques within the
Audio-lingual Method
Memorizing the dialogues
Dialogues are considered the best examples to copy within the method as they have both useful structures and
comprehensible context . That is why dialogues are not only role-played but also learnt by heart.
Various forms of drilling
Drillings are a must in the audio-lingual method. Therefore, the whole spectrum is actively used: repetition and chain
drill, substitution and transformation drill. You name it!
Fill in the gaps
There is no better way to reproduce certain words within the context than fill-in-the-gaps tasks. They require
understanding of the target language, knowledge of whether the word is appropriate in a certain structure, an
ability to interact with a context, as well as the right spelling skills.
Conclusion
Even though the audio-lingual method has lost its impact over the years, teachers still use some elements of this
method while teaching, especially when it comes to practicing pronunciation or drilling.

8. Slides are based on ;
References
Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching
BY Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson
https://grade-university.com/blog/the-history-of-the-method-the-audio-lingual-method