The Audio-Lingual Metodh

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
                                         Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Audiolingual method was developed by British in the United States during the Second World War. At that time, the U.S. government found it a great necessity to set up a special language- training program to supply the war with language personnel. Therefore, the government commissioned American universities to develop foreign language program for military personnel. It was, therefore, necessary to provide these soldiers with at least basic verbal communication skills. Unsurprisingly, the new method relied on the prevailing scientific methods of the time, observation and repetition, which were also admirably suited to teaching in masse. Because of the influence of the military, early versions of the audio-linguism came to be known as the “army method.”  The objective of the program was for students to attain conversational proficiency in a variety of foreign languages. This approach to language learning was similar to another, earlier method called the direct method. Like the direct method, the audio-lingual method advised that students should be taught a language directly, without using the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language. However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method did not focus on teaching vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.

The idea is for the students to practice the particular construct until they can use it spontaneously. The lessons were built on static drills in which the students have little or no control on their own output; the teacher were expecting a particular response and not providing the desired response will result in a student receiving negative feedback. This type of activity, for the foundation of language learning, is in direct opposition with communicative language teaching.The approach was theoretically underpinned by structural linguistics, a movement in linguistics that focused on the phonemic, morphological and syntactic systems underlying the grammar of a given language, rather than according to traditional categories of Latin grammar. As such, it was held that learning a language involved mastering the building blocks of the language and learning the rules by which these basic elements are combined from the level of sound to the level of sentence. The audio-lingual approach was also based on the behaviorist theory of learning, which held that language, like other aspects of human activity, is a form of behavior.

The Audio-Lingual Method is based on two main theories: Structuralism: A Language is a system of structural related elements, like phonological units, grammatical units, and lexical items, for the transmission of meaning. So, to learn the target language is to master the elements of the target language system, Behaviorist psychologists state that people are conditioned to learn many forms of behavior, including language, through the process of training or conditioning. A language is a set of habits. The Audio-Lingual Method was based on habit formation. Language is acquired during childhood at the same way as children acquire other social habits by imitation and memorization. Learners acquire Language automatically by using dialogue material. The Techniques and Activities Used by the Audio-Lingual Method The Audio-Lingual Method has a different techniques in contrast with the Grammar Translation Method and the Direct Method. It lays emphasis on mimicry as a main technique, Repetition: where the student repeats an utterance as soon as he hears it, without looking at printing materials. ex I used to know him. – I used to know him. I used to know him years ago.

The teacher’s role in the Audio-Lingual Method ‘is like an orchestra leader.’ He leads and directs students in their style of learning the language. He is also responsible for supplying the students with a good model for imitation, some ALM advantages students or teachers had was that It made language learning accessible to a large groups of ordinary learners. It was the first method to lay stress on the development of language syntax, whereas the other methods were preoccupied with morphology and vocabulary. Developing simple techniques and making use of language lab, that didn't come with it's disadvantages such as lack of creativity. Students repeat and memorize what they do not understand. The techniques used by this method become “tedious and boring, causing fatigue”. In conclusion The use of dialogues and drills are effective in foreign language teaching as they lead the students to produce speech. Repetition of the dialogues and the drills will enable students to respond quickly and accurately in spoken language, however the use of correct structure formation is invaluable for future language learners regardless of their ability to understand a spoken language.

Harlow. Freeman, D. L. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Richards, J. C and Theodore S. Rodgers. (1997). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press: USA. Rivers, W. (1981). Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London.

Angy Stephanie Ramirez 
Angel Garcia