direct method.doc

DIRECT METHOD

By:

1.      Risa Suryani          (11311040)

2.      Roisa Indriani       (11311043)

The Direct Method was quite successful in private language schools, such as those of the Berlitz chain, where paying clients had high motivation and the use of native-speaking teachers was the norm. But despite pressure from proponents of the method, it was difficult to implement in public secondary school education. It overemphasized and distorted the similarities between naturalistic first language learning and classroom foreign language learning and failed to consider the practical realities of the classroom. In addition, it lacked a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory, and for this reason it was often criticized by the more academically based proponents of the Reform Movement. The Direct Method represented the product of enlightened amateurism. It was perceived to have several drawbacks. First, it required teachers who were native speakers or who had nativelike fluency in the foreign language. It was largely dependent on the teacher's skill, rather than on a textbook, and not all teachers were proficient enough in the foreign language to adhere to the principles of the method. Critics pointed out that strict adherence to Direct Method principles was often counterproductive, since teachers were required to go to great lengths to avoid using the native tongue, when sometimes a simple brief explanation in the student's native tongue would have been a more efficient route to com­prehension.

The basic premise of the Direct Method is that students will learn to communicate in the target language, party by learning how to think in that language and by not involving L1 in the language learning process whatsoever. Objectives include teaching in the students how to use the language spontaneously and orally, linking meaning with the target language thorought the use of realia, picture or pantomime (Larsen-Freeman 1986:24). These is to be a direct connection between concepts and the language to be learned.

These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known as the Direct Method, which refers to the most widely known of the natural methods. Enthusiastic supporters of the Direct Method introduced it in France and Germany (it was officially approved in both countries at the turn of the century), and it became widely known in the United States through its use by Sauveur and Maximilian Berlitz in successful commercial language schools. (Berlitz, in fact, never used the term; he referred to the method used in his schools as the Berlitz Method.)

In practice it stood for the following principles and procedures:

1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language.

2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.

3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized   around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

4. Grammar was taught inductively.

5. New teaching points were introduced orally.

6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pic­tures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.

7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.

8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

These principles are seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language, which are still followed in contemporary Berlitz schools:

o   Never translate: demonstrate

o   Never explain: act

o   Never make a speech: ask questions

o   Never imitate mistakes: correct

o   Never speak with single words: use sentences

o   Never speak too much: make students speak much

o   Never use the book: use your lesson plan

o   Never jump around: follow your plan

o   Never go too fast: keep the pace of the student

o   Never speak too slowly: speak normally

o   Never speak too quickly: speak naturally

o   Never speak too loudly: speak naturally

o   Never be impatient: take it easy

Direct Approach

u This approach was developed initially as a reaction to the grammar-translation approach in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction.

u Lessons begin with a dialogue using a modern conversational style in the target language.

u Material is first presented orally with actions or pictures.

u The mother tongue is NEVER used. There is no translation.

u The preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative.

u Questions are answered in the target language.

u Grammar is taught inductively--rules are generalized from the practice and experience with the target language.

u Verbs are used first and systematically conjugated much later after some oral mastery of the target language.

u Advanced students read literature for comprehension and pleasure.

u Literary texts are not analyzed grammatically.

u The culture associated with the target language is also taught inductively.

u Culture is considered an important aspect of learning the language.

In this way, learners will be able to induce grammar rules through examples, illustrations, and demonstrations. This method replaces the textbook with teacher-student / student-student activities such as reading aloud, question-answer exercises, fill-in-the-blank exercises, etc. Correct pronunciation is given careful attention in this method. In addition, new vocabulary is taught by using known words.

Basic Principles:

1.      Classroom instruction is conducted exclusively in the target language. The teacher should demonstrate, not explain or translate.

NEVER TRANSLATE: DEMONSTRATE

2.      Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught.

BASIC VOCABULARY IS GIVEN FIRST

3.      Grammar is taught inductively. There may never be an explicit grammar rule given.

DO NOT GIVE RULES:

MAKE THEM FIGURE OUT THE RULE.

4.      New teaching points are introduced orally.

ORAL TRANSMISSION

5.      Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.

6.      Both speech and listening comprehension are taught

7.      Vocabulary is taught through known words, demonstration, authentic objects (realia), pictures, and miming.

8.      The teacher, by asking the student to make a choice, gets him to correct his own error.

LEARNING BY SELF-CORRECTION

9.      The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually on linguistic structures.

CONTEXTUAL/TOPICAL TEACHING

10.  Learning is not merely restricted with formal language knowledge; it also involves speaker conventions and descriptive usage.

NOT formal BUT NATURAL USE

11.  Students should learn to think in the target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences, rather than memorizing word lists.

NOT memorization but PRODUCTION

12.  The purpose of language learning is communication; therefore students need to learn how to ask questions as well as answer them.

COMMUNICATION-FIRST PRINCIPLE

TECHNIQUES IN THE DIRECT METHOD

v  Reading aloud

(reading sections of passages, plays or dialogs out loud)

v  Question-answer exercise

(asking question in the target language and having students answer in full sentences)

v  Student self-correction

(Teacher facilitates opportunities for students to self correct using follow-up question, tone, etc)

v  Conversation practice

(teacher asks students and students ask students questing using the target language)

v  Fill-in-the-blank exercise

(itensbuse target language only and inducative rather than explicit grammar rules)

v  Dictation

(teacher reads passage aloud various amount of times at various tempos, students writing down what they hear)

v  Paragraph Writing

(students write paragraph in their own words using the target language and various models)