Chapter Six The Audiolingual Method

Chapter Six

The Audiolingual Method

Ⅰ

. Key points(

学习要点

)

tion (

定义

)

The Audiolingual 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.

ound(

产生背景

)

The Audiolingual 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 ”

(

当地人法

), 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(

弗里斯

), 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

to

foreign language teaching in the U.S. towards the end of the need for a radical change

and rethinking of foreign language teaching methodology made language teaching specialists set

about

developing

a

method

that

was

applicable

to

conditions

in

U.S.

college

and

university

1

classrooms. They drew on the earlier experience of the army programmes and the Aural-Oral or

structural

Approach

developed

by

Fries

and

his

colleagues,

adding

insights

taken

from

behaviorist

psychology.

This

combination

of

structural

linguistic

theory,

aural-oral

procedures,

and

behaviourist

psychology

led

to

the

Audiolingual

Method,

which

was

widely

adopted

for

teaching foreign languages in North American colleges and universities.

tical Basis(

理论背景

)

1) theory of language (

语言理论

)

The theory of language underlying Audiolingualism was derived from a view proposed by

American

linguists

in

the

1930s

and

1940s.

The

view

then

came

to

be

known

as

structural

linguistics with Bloomfield and Fries as its representatives. Structural linguistics views language

as a system of structurally related elements for the expression of meaning. These elements are

phonemes, morphemes, words, structures, and sentence types. The grammatical system consists

of

a

list

of

grammatical

elements

and

rules

for

their

linear

combination

into

words,

phrases,

phrases and sentences.

According to a structural view, language has the following characteristics:

(1)

E

lements in a language are produced in a rule-governed (structural) way. (

语言成分是以

一定规则（结构）出现的

)

(2)

L

anguage samples could be exhaustively described at any structural level of description.

(

语言实例可以在任何结构层次上 进行详尽的描述

)

(3)

L

anguage is structural like a pyramid, that is, linguistic level is system within system.

(

语言结构像金字塔，即语言 层次的大结构系统里有小结构系统

)

(4)

L

anguage is speech, not writing. (

语言是口头的话语，不是笔头的文字

)

(5)

L

anguages are different. (

语言各不相同

)

The views of language above offered the foundation for the Audio lingual Method.

2) Theory of learning(

学习理论

)

（< /p>

1

）

Behaviourist psychology

（行为主义心理学）

The learning theory of

Audiolingualism is behavioral psychology which is an empirically

based approach to the study of human behaviour. Behaviourism tries to explain how an external

event(a stimulus) caused a change in the behaviour of an individual(a response) without using

con

cepts like“mind”or “ideas” or any kind of mental behaviour.

Behaviourist psychology states

2

that people are conditioned to learn many forms of behaviour, including language, through the

process of training or conditioning.

(2) The three crucial elements in learning: a stimulus, a response and reinforcement. (

学习

中三个决定性因素：刺 激、反应和强化

)

The occurrence of these behaviours is dependent upon three crucial elements in learning: a

stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour; a response triggered by a stimulus; and reinforcement,

which

serves

to

mark

the

response

as

being

appropriate

(or

inappropriate)

and

encourage

the

repetition

(or

suppression)

of

the

response

in

the

future.

Learning

is

thus

described

as

the

formation of association between stimuli and responses.

(3) The application of this theory to language learning(

该理论在语言学习中的运用

)

To apply this theory to language learning is to identify the organism as the foreign language

learner, the behaviour as verbal behaviour, the stimulus as what is taught (language input), the

response as the learner’s reaction to the stimulu

s, and the reinforcement as the approval or praise

(or discouragement) of the teacher or fellow students.

(4) Language learning: a mechanical process of habit f ormation(

语言学习：一个机械的习

惯形成过程

)

According to this behaviourist psychology, learning a language is a process of acquiring a

set of appropriate language stimulus-response chains, a mechanical process of habit formation.

Principles(

基本原则

)

1

）

Main features(

主要特征

)

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;(

把语

言分成听、说、读、写四种技能，在教学中强调先听说，后读写；

)

(2)

Use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the lan guage;(

对话是语言教学中

的主要形式；

)

(3)

Emphasis

on

certain

practice

techniques:

mimicry,

memorization

and

pattern

drills;

(

强调模仿、记忆、和句型操练；

)

3

(4)

Discouraging the use of the mother tongue in the classroom;(

在课堂教学中避免使

用母语；

)

(5)

Use of language lab.(

使用语言实验室

)

2

）

Obj ectives(

教学目标

)

The

general

objective

of

the

Audiolingual

Method

is

to

enable

the

target

language

communicatively,

Short-range

objectives

include

training

in

listening

comprehension,

accurate

pronunciation,

reading

comprehension

and

production

of

the

Audiolingual

Method

are

the

development of mastery in all four language skills, beginning with listening and speaking, and

using

these

as

a

basis

for

the

teaching

of

reading

and

writing.

Long-range

objective,

or

the

ultimate goal, is to develop in the students the same types of abilities that native speaking have,

to use it automatically without stopping to think.

3)

Techniques

（教学技巧）

Dialogues and pattern practice form the basis of audiolingual classroom practice. The use

of

them

is

a

distinctive

feature

of

the

Audiolingual

Method.

The

techniques

used

by

the

Audiolingual Method are:

(1)

R

epetition drill

（重复练习）

：

This drill is often used to teach the lines of the dialogue.

Students are asked to repeat the teacher’s model as accurately and as quickly as possible.

e.g.:

T

S

This is a book

→

This is a book.

Students do this without looking at their book. They have to produce the appropriate sounds first.

(2)

S

ubstitution drill(

< br>替换练习

)

：

The students repeat the line from the dialogue which the

teacher has given them, substituting the cue into the line in its proper place. e.g.:

T

C

S

They drink wine.

→

beer

→

They drink beer.

→

coffee

→

They drink coffee.

→

tea

→

They drink tea.

The major purpose of this drill is to give the students practice in finding and filling in the

slots of a sentence.

(3)

Q

uestion-and-answer drill(

问答练习

)

：

Th e drill gives students practice with answering

questions. The students should answer the teacher

’

s question very quickly. It is also possible for

4

the

teacher

to

cue

the

students

to

ask

questions

as

well.

This

gives

students

practice

with

the

question pattern. e.g.

1. T: Are there any questions?

Ss: No, there aren

’

t any.

T: Is there any milk?

Ss: No, there isn

’

t any.

T: Are there any sandwiches?

Ss: No, there aren

’

t any.

T: Is there any wine?

Ss: No, there isn

’

t any.

2. T: he read

The Times

Ss: What did he read?

T: He said

“

Good morning.

”

Ss: What did he say?

T: He saw

“

The Sound of Music.

”

Ss: What did he see?

(4)

E

xpansion drill(

扩 展句子训练

)

：

This drill helps students to produce longer sentence bit

by bit, gradually achieving fluency.

The main structure is repeated first, then students have to

put cue phrase in its proper place. e.g.

T: They go to the cinema.

Ss: They go to the cinema.

T: On Sundays

Ss: They go to the cinema on Sundays.

T: Always.

Ss: They always go to the cinema on Sundays.

T: Nearly.

Ss: They nearly always go to the cinema on Sundays.

(5)

C

lause

combination

drill

(

合并句子练习

)

：

Students

learn

to

combine

two

simple

sentences into a complex one. e.g.

T: It may rain.

He’ll

stay at home.

Ss: If it may rain, h

e’ll

stay at home.

T: It may be sunny.

We’ll

go to the beach.

Ss: If it may be sunny, w

e’ll

go to the beach.

T: It may snow. They

’

ll go skating.

Ss: If it may snow, they

’

ll go skating.

(6) Background build-up drill( or backchaining

逆向读句练习

):This drill is used when a

long line of dialogue is

giving students

trouble. The teacher breaks down the line into

several

5

parts.

The

students

repeat

a

part

of

the

sentence,

usually

the

last

phrase

of

the

line.

Then,

following the teacher’s cue, the

students expand what they are repeating part by part until they

are able to repeat the entire line. The teacher begins with the part at the end of the sentence (and

works backward from there) to keep the intonation of the line as natural as

possible. This also

directs more student attention to the end of the sentence, where new information typically occurs.

e.g.

T: the flowers

Ss: the flowers

T: watering the flowers

Ss: watering the flowers

T: is watering the flowers

Ss: is watering the flowers

T: Ian is watering the flowers.

Ss: Ian is watering the flowers.

(7)Chain drill(

完成链接练习

)

：

A chain drill gets its name from the chain of conversation

that forms around the classroom as students, one-by- one, ask and answer questions of each other.

The

teacher

begins

the

chain

by

greeting

a

particular

student,

or

asking

him

a

question.

That

student responds, and then turns to the student sitting next to him. e.g.

T: Hello, what

’

s your name?

S1:

My

name

is

John

Smith.

(He

turns

to

the

student

next

to

her.)

Hello,

what

’

s

your

name?

S2: My name is Mary Clinton. (She turns to the student next to her.) Hello, what

’

s your

name?

S3: My name is Peter.

……

(8)Completion (

完成句子练习

)

：

Students hear an utterance that is complete except for one

word, and then repeat the utterance in completed form. e.g.

T: I

’

ll go my way and you go_____

Ss: I

’

ll go my way and you go yours.

T: We all have____own troubles.

6

Ss: We all have our own troubles.

(9) Use of minimal pairs (

最小成对练习，又称语音辨别练习

)

：

The teacher works with

pair

of

words

which

differ

in

only

one

sound;

students

are

first

asked

to

find

the

difference

between the two word and later to say the two words. e.g.

ship

—

sheep

live

—

leave

leap

—

lip

bit

—

beat

4)Procedures(

教学步 骤

)

In a typical audiolingual lesson the following procedures will be observed:

(1)Recognition (

认别

) : Students first hear a model dialogue (either read by the teacher or

on the tape) containing the key structures that are the focus of the lesson and try to understand

the

meaning

of

the

dialogue

with

the

help

of

the

teacher’s

gestures,

mime,

and

context

or

situation established in advance.

(2)Imitation

and

repetition

(

模仿和复述

)

：

The

students

repeat

each

line

of

the

dialogue,

individually

and

in

chorus.

The

students

must

imitate

the

right

pronunciation,

intonation

and

fluency.

(3) Pattern drills (

句型操练

)

：

Certain key structures from the dialogue are selected and used

as the basis for pattern drills of different kinds.

(4)

Follow-up

activities

(

补充练习< /p>

)

：

The

students

now

are

allowed

to

look

at

their

textbooks. They are usually asked to do some follow-up reading, writing or vocabulary activities.

This will guide their use of the language.

A sample lesson

In order to come to a better understanding of this method, let us now enter a classroom where

the Audiolingual Method

is being used. The students are English beginners:

Class begins,

the teacher reads the

following

dialogue to

the students

who are expected to

imitate and eventually memorize it:

T: All right, class. I

’

m going to read a dialogue to you. Listen carefully.

Sally: Good morning, Bill.

Bill:

Good morning, Sally.

Sally: How are you?

Bill:

Fine, thanks. And you?

7

Sally: Fine. Where are you going?

Bill:

I

’

m going to the post office.

Sally: I am too. Shall we go together?

Bill: Sure. Let

’

s go.

T: Listen one more time. This time try to understand all that I am saying. (Now the teacher

has the whole class listen to her. Sometimes she uses actions to help convey meaning. All

of the teacher

’

s instructions are in English.)

T: Understand? Now I

’

m going to repeat the dialogue. Say each of the lines of the dialogue

after me. (The

students repeat each line several times before moving on to the next line,

When the class comes to the line

“

I

’

m going to the post office

”

, they stumble a bit in their

repetition. The, at this point, stops the repetition and uses a backward build-up drill. )

T: Repeat after me: post office.

Ss: post office.

T: to the post office

Ss: to the post office

T: going to the post office

Ss: going to the post office

T: I

’

m going to the post office.

Ss: I

’

m going to the post office.

(The students repeat the dialogue after the teacher several times.)

T: Good. Now I

’

m going to talk for Sally and talk for Bill.

T: Good morning, Bill.

Ss: Good morning, Sally.

T: How are you?

Ss: Fine, thanks. And you?

T: Fine. Where are you going?

Ss: I

’

m going to the post office.

T: I am too. Shall we go together?

Ss: Sure. Let

’

s go.

Next

the

class

and

the

teacher

switch

roles

in

order

to

practise

a

little

more,

the

teacher

8