About this video

• Video Title: Audiolingual Method
• Channel: Seval Kemal
• Speakers: Speaker 1 (Teacher)
• Duration: 00:06:53

Overview

This video demonstrates the Audiolingual Method of language teaching through a classroom scenario. The teacher presents a dialogue, has students repeat it, and then guides them in practicing sentence structures by substituting new phrases. The goal is to instill language learning through repetition and habit formation.

Key takeaways

• Dialogue Presentation: The teacher introduces a simple dialogue between two characters, Bill and Liz, who meet and have a brief conversation.
• Repetition and Mimicry: Students are instructed to listen carefully and then repeat the dialogue. This is a core component of the Audiolingual Method, emphasizing accurate pronunciation and intonation.
• Substitution Practice: After mastering the initial dialogue, students practice substituting specific phrases (e.g., "to the post office") with new ones (e.g., "to the bank," "to the pharmacy," "to the park," "to the cafe").
• Role-Playing: The class is divided into two groups, one playing Bill and the other Liz, to practice the dialogue in a role-playing exercise. This is followed by a reversal of roles.
• Question Formation Practice: The method is extended to practicing question formation by converting declarative sentences into interrogative ones (e.g., "He is going to the post office" becomes "Is he going to the post office?").
• Notebook Work: Students are encouraged to write down the new phrases and sentence structures in their notebooks after the oral practice.

Based on the transcript provided, the lessons are not conducted within the framework of the communicative method. Instead, they heavily utilize the Audiolingual Method.

Here's why, along with positive and negative aspects of the presented method, and advice for the teacher:

Why it's the Audiolingual Method, Not Communicative:

The defining characteristic of the Audiolingual Method is its emphasis on drilling, repetition, memorization of dialogues, and habit formation through stimulus-response. This video clearly demonstrates these elements:

• Dialogue Memorization: The teacher presents a dialogue and has students repeat it multiple times.
• Pattern Drills: Students engage in substitution drills where they replace parts of a sentence with new words or phrases.
• Focus on Form: The primary goal is accurate pronunciation and grammatical structure, rather than spontaneous, meaningful communication.
• Limited authentic interaction: While there's role-playing, the scenarios are scripted and repetitive, not allowing for genuine, unpredictable communication.

A communicative approach would focus more on meaningful interaction, using language to achieve real communicative goals, and would involve more spontaneous use of language, problem-solving, and authentic materials.

Positive Aspects of the Audiolingual Method Demonstrated:

1. Clear Structure: The lesson follows a logical progression from introduction to practice and reinforcement.
2. Controlled Practice: Substitution drills provide a structured way for students to practice new grammatical patterns.
3. Pronunciation Focus: The emphasis on repetition helps students practice pronunciation and intonation.
4. Confidence Building (through repetition): Repeated successful completion of drills can build a sense of accomplishment for some learners.
5. Vocabulary Reinforcement: Repeating phrases and sentences helps in memorizing new vocabulary.
6. Active Student Participation: Students are actively involved in repeating and substituting.
7. Clear Teacher Guidance: The teacher clearly explains and demonstrates what students need to do.
8. Role-Playing Introduction: Incorporating simple role-playing helps students apply the learned phrases in a slightly more interactive context.
9. Classroom Management: The teacher effectively manages the class by assigning roles and directing participation.
10. Pacing: The teacher moves through the exercises at a pace that allows for repetition and practice.

Negative Aspects of the Audiolingual Method Demonstrated:

1. Lack of Meaningful Communication: The core criticism is that the method prioritizes form over meaning, failing to equip students for spontaneous, real-world conversations.
2. Artificiality: The dialogues and drills are often unnatural and do not reflect how people actually communicate.
3. Limited Creativity: Students are not encouraged to be creative or express their own ideas.
4. Potential for Boredom: The repetitive nature of drills can lead to disengagement and boredom for students.
5. Teacher-Centric: While students participate, the teacher is the primary source of language and control.
6. No Error Correction Strategy: The transcript doesn't explicitly show how errors are handled beyond repeating the correct form. A communicative approach often involves more nuanced error correction that focuses on maintaining fluency.
7. Passive Listening: While listening is part of the process, it's primarily for mimicry, not for understanding complex messages or different accents.
8. Focus on "Right" Answers: Success is measured by accurate repetition, not by the ability to convey a message effectively.
9. Limited Scope of Language: The practice is confined to very specific sentence structures and vocabulary.
10. Transfers Poorly to Spontaneity: Students may become good at reciting dialogues but struggle when faced with unpredictable conversational situations.

Advice for the Teacher:

To improve the lesson and move towards a more communicative approach, the teacher could consider the following:

1. Introduce Open-Ended Questions: After the substitution drills, ask students questions that require more than a single, pre-learned response. For example, instead of just "Where are you going?", ask "What are you going to do at the post office?" or "Who else might you see at the park?".
2. Use Authentic Materials: Incorporate short, real-world materials like simple advertisements, signs, or brief audio clips that students can interpret and discuss.
3. Task-Based Learning: Design activities where students need to use the language to achieve a specific goal. For example, a "planning an outing" task where students negotiate destinations and activities.
4. Encourage Negotiation of Meaning: Create situations where students might not understand each other perfectly and need to use strategies like asking for clarification, rephrasing, or using gestures to communicate.
5. More Varied Role-Plays: Move beyond simple greetings. Create scenarios like asking for directions, ordering food, or making a simple purchase, where students have to actively use the language to achieve an outcome.
6. Focus on Fluency Over Perfect Accuracy (at times): While accuracy is important, encourage students to speak even if they make small errors, emphasizing the ability to get their message across. Provide feedback later or on specific types of errors.
7. Get Students to Create: Ask students to create their own short dialogues based on a theme, or to describe what they would do at different locations.
8. Utilize Pair Work for Communication: Have students work in pairs to discuss topics, ask each other questions, or complete simple information-gap activities.
9. Integrate Skills: Combine listening, speaking, reading, and writing more holistically. For example, after listening to a dialogue, have students read a related text or write a short response.
10. Debrief and Reflect: After activities, spend time discussing what students learned and how they used the language, rather than just moving to the next drill. Ask them if they felt they could communicate their ideas.