A Comparison Between the Audiolingual Method and the Communi

A Comparison and Inspiration Between the Audiolingual Method and the

Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Engilsh Teaching

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Abstract

】

The Audiolingual Method and the Communicative Language

Teaching Approach are the two basic and important teaching principles .An analysis

of the theoretical base

、

the main features

、

and a comparison of the basic techniques of

the two mehtods lead us to conclude that each approach has its own advantages and

disadvantages. There is no hard-and-fast rule. We should select the suitable teaching

method or approach to design teaching programs and keep our class procedures more

lively and effective.

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Key words

】

the Audiolingual Method

the Communicative Language

Teaching Approach

behaviorist theory

interaction structual linguistics

communicative competence.

1. Introduction

We live in the world of languages which are used for us to communicate. We need

get more and more information from some other countries and communicate with

made it necessary to learn some foreign language. But how to learn a

second language and how to use it? The research on a second language teaching

methodology is related to the development of linguistics, phychology and sociology.

Teaching methods are the application of theoretical findingand positions.

Nowadays new teaching methods are cropping up one after another. The reseach

on language teaching methodology has brought about a great conflict in the field of

teaching English as a second language. Involved in this as rivals are, for one side, the

defenders of the Communicative Teaching and for the other, the guardians of the

Audiolingual Method. Which method should we choose for practise? It is urgent

necessityto explore them. An analysis of their theoretical bases and teaching

principles will lead us to conclude that each approach has its own advantages and

disadvantages. Known these can give us more inspirations for our English teaching.

2. Background and Theoretical Foundation

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1

）

The Audiolingual Method

Background

The Audio-lingual Method was developed in the U.S. 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. Thus the Army Specialized Training Programme

(ASTP) was established in objectives of the army programme were for

students to attain conversational proficiency in a variety of foreign languages. The

method used was known as the ―informant method‖ since it used a native speakers of

the language, the informant, and a linguist. The informant served as a source of

language for imitation, and the linguist supervised the learning experience. The

intensive system adopted by the army achieved excellent results.

Linguists and applied linguists during this period were becoming increasingly

involved in the teaching of English as a foreign language. In 1941 the first English

Language institute in the U.S. was established to in the University of Michigan. The

director of the institute was Charles Fries who applied the principles of structural

linguists to language teaching. The result is an approach which advocated aural

training first, then pronunciation training, followed by speaking, reading and writing.

The emergence of the Audiolingual Method resulted from the increased attention

given to forign language teaching in the United States toward the end of 1950s.

Audiolingualism and materials based on audiolingual principles continue to be widely

used today.

Theoretical Foundation

Theoretically, the Audiolingual Method is based on ―structural linguistics‖ and

―behavioristic psychology‖ (Celce

-Murcia 1979:17), Structural linguistics regarded

language as a system of structurally related elements for encoding meaning These

elements are phonemes, morphemes, and syntactic (phrases, clauses, sentence types),

structural linguists systematically and scientifically described the different levels of

linguistics structure in a langguage. It was assumed that learning a language was a

matter of mastering the elements and learning the rules by which these elements are

cimbined. An important tenet of structural linguistics was that the primary medium

of language is oral: Speech is language. Moulton proclaimed the linguistic principles

should be based:‖ Language is speech, not writing… A language is what its native

speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say…Languages are different‖

(quoted in Rivers 1964:5)

（

2

）

The Communicative Language Teaching

Background

Communicative Language Teaching(CLT) began in Britain in the 1960s as a

replacement to the earlier structural method, called Situational Language Teaching.

This was partly in response to Chomsky's criticisms of structural theories of language

and partly based on the theories of British functional linguistis and American

sociolinguists. At that time, much more communication was required in the

European continent among the countries, and the formation of International

Association of Applied Linguistics was also promoted. Under these circumstances,

the Communicative Method emerged and was quickly welcomed. Besides these, at

that time, the Notional Syllabuses published in 1976 which was proposed by D. A.

Wilkins had a significant impact on the development of CLT. Currently, CLT is also

greatly accepted and encouraged in Chinese second language classroom, which

actives the class and gain great harvest in a communicative way .

Theoretical Foundation

The communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of

language as communication. The goal of teaching is develop what Hymes

(1972)referred to as ―communicative competence.‖In Hymes’s niew, a person who

acquires communicative competence acquires both knowledge and ability for

language use. Hymes's theory of communicative competence was a definition of what

a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech

Another theorist frequently cited for his view on the communicative nature of

language is Henry Widdowson. In his book Teaching Language as Communicative

(1978), Widdowson presented a view of the relationship between linguistic systems

and their communicative values in text and discourse.

A more recent but related analysis of communicative competence is found in

Canale and Swain (1980), in which four dimensions of communicative competence

are

identified: grammartical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse

competence and strategic competence.

3. Definition of AudioLingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching

(CLT)

AudioLingual Method

The Audio-Lingual Method, or the Army Method, is a style of teaching used in

teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that

certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a

system of reinforcement

—

correct use of a trait would receive positive feedback while

incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback. The Audio-lingual Method

is a method of foreign language teaching which emphasizes the teaching of listening

and speaking before reading and writing. It uses dialogues as the main form of

language presentation and drills as the main training techniques. Mother tongue is

discouraged in the classroom.

Communicative Language

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of

second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the

ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as ―communic

ative

approach to the teaching of foreign languages‖ or simply the ―Communicative

Approach.‖

4. The main features of The Audiolingual Method and Communicative Language

Teaching

The Audiolingual Method

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1

）

By drawing on the structural linguistics and behaviourist psychology, the

Audiolingual Method formed its own distinctive characteristics. There are mainly five

of them:

①

Separation of language skills into listening, speaking, reading and writing,

with emphasis on the teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing;

②

Use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language;

③

Emphasis on

certain practice techniques: mimicry, memorization and pattern drills;

④

Discouraging the use of the mother tongue in the classroom;

⑤

Use of language

laboratory.

(2) The audiolingual Method also believe that speaking and listening are the basic

form of verbal communication, therefore reading and writing should come after the

first two.

(3) The Audiolingual Method uses dialogues to present the language. They hold

that dialogues can provide a natural context for the language forms.

(4) The Audiolingual Method believes that language is complex system of habits

and drills can be used to help form this habit.

(5) Foreign language learning results from practice and practice could lead to

automatization. Language learning is not a problem of learning the knowledge, but

one of practice.

(6) The Audiolingual Method believes that only when the learner has a good

mastery of both the native and the target language can he be trained to do translation.

(7) The Audiolingual Method insists on accurate reproduction of sentence

patterns and their attitude towards students’ language error is negative.

(8) A language lab is considered essential in an audiolingual classroom. It

provides the opportunity for further drill work and to receive controlled error-free

practice of basic structures.

(9) Learners are play a reactive role by responding to stimulate, and have little

control over the content, pace, or style of learning.

(10)

The teacher’s role is central and active. The teacher models the target

language, controls the direction and pace of learning, and monitors and corrects the

learners’ performance.

The Communicative Language Teaching

(1) Language learning is learning to communicate. The primary function of

language is for interaction and communication.

(2) Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative

competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence

(3) Students learn to use the appropriate language forms in the different places.