The Silent Way is a language teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno in the 1970s that emphasizes student autonomy and discovery learning. The teacher plays a minimal role, speaking less than 10% of class time, and uses gestures rather than verbal instruction to guide students. Students are actively engaged in exploring and hypothesizing about the target language's rules through peer interaction and practice without repetition. The goal is for students to develop independence and their own internal criteria for correctness in the language.

1. THE SILENT WAY
TEFL, 2012

2. Theoretical background
1. Challenge audio-lingual method:
Ss are unable to transfer habits formed in
the classroom to communicate outside
of it.
2. Noam Chomsky:
 Language must not be considered a
product of habit formation, but rule
formation.

3.  Language acquisition must be a
procedure of people using their own
thinking process, or cognition, to
discover the rules of the language they
are acquiring.

4. 3. Cognitive approach
Rather than responding to stimuli, Ss
are:
 responsible for their learning
 engaged in formulating hypotheses to
discover the rules of target language
(grammar)

5. Background
 American educator, Galeb Gattegno
created in the 70s, 1983.
 Basic principle: Teaching should be
subordinated to learning.
 Teaching is to serve learning process
rather than to dominate it.
 Learners are actively searching for
rules of the target language regarding
to the learner in the cognitive approach.

6.  Learning is a process which we initiate
by ourselves by mobilizing our inner
resources. (perception, awareness,
cognition, imagination, intuition,
creativity..)
 In the process of learning, we integrate
into ourselves whatever ‘new’ that we
create, and use it as a stepping stone
for further learning.

7. Teaching-learning process
 Gattegno “The teacher works with the
students; the students work on the
language”.
 In a period of class, teacher should not
talk more than 10%.
 Have Ss talk.

8.  Students should use language for self-
expression.
 Students develop their inner criteria for
correctness.

9.  Only the learners can do the learning.
 Ss is to make use of what they know.
 Learning is Ss’ personal responsibility.
 Teacher should respect the autonomy
of the learners in language.
 Teaching involves only one structure at
a time.

10.  With minimal spoken cues, Ss are
guided to produce the structure.
 Ss practice without repetition.
 Ss gain autonomy in the language by
exploring it.
 T sets up situation to ‘force awareness’
through the use of nonverbal gestures
and the tools which are available.

11. Principles
Teachers’ goals:
 Ss use the language for self-expression
through their thoughts, perceptions and
feelings.
 They need to develop independence
from the teacher.
 Develop their own criteria for
correctness.
The teacher should give them only what
they need to promote their learning.

12. Teacher/students’ role
 Teacher’s role
 he/she is a technician or engineer.
 The teacher relies one what his
students already know.
 Focus on students’ perceptions, force
their awareness, and provide
exercises to insure their facility with
the language.

13.  Students’ role
 Ss make use of what they know.
 Free themselves of any obstacles
that would interfere by paying
attention to the learning task.
 Actively engage in exploring the
language.

14. Characteristics TL process
 Students begin their study through its
basic building blocks and its sounds.
 Teacher sets up situations that focus on
student attention to the structures of the
language.
 Students receive a great deal of
practice with a given target language
structure without repitition.

15. Students-teacher interaction
 The teacher is silent.
 He is still very active in setting up
situations to force awareness, listen
attentively to students’ speech and
silently work with them on their
production.
 Give the clues, not to model the
language.

16. Student-student interaction
They learn from one
another  the teacher’s
silence is one way to do this

17. Area of language
 Since sounds are the basic,
pronunciation is worked on from the
beginning.
 Focus on the structures of the language
 but explicit grammar rules may never
be supplied.
 Start for what students know and build
from one another to the next.

18.  All skills are worked from the beginning
of the course.

19. Role of native language
 Meaning is made clearly by focusing on
students’ perceptions, not translation.
 Native language can be used to give
instructions when necessary.
 Native can exploited to introduce the
new sounds in TL.

20. evaluation
 Never give a formal test, he assesses
student learning all the time.
 Teaching is subordinated to learning
teacher must be responsive to
immediate learning needs.
 Teacher doesn’t praise or criticize
student behavior because it would
interfere students’ development.
 Teacher looks for steady progress, not
perfection.

21. Students’ errors
 Errors are seen as a natural, essential
part of the learning process.
 Errors are inevitable since the students
are encouraged to explore the
language.
 (teacher) errors are used as a basis for
deciding where further work is
necessary.

22.  The teacher works with students in
getting them to self-correct.
 If students/peers are unable to correct,
teacher would supply the correct
language.

23. Techniques
Self-correction gestures
Sound-color chart
Teacher’s silence Word chart
Peer correction Fidel chart
Rods Structured feedback