Methods of psychology of foreign language teaching.

Plan:

1. Main Methods of foreign language teaching:

a) Grammar Translation Method

b) Direct Method

c) Direct Method

d) Audiolingual Method

1. Main Methods of foreign language teaching.

a) the Grammar Translation Method. (up to 19^th century was developed)

The traditional position starts from the assumption that the purpose of teaching is to ensure that learners acquire a prescribed body of knowledge and set of values. Both knowledge and values are taken to reflect a society’s selection of what it most wants to transmit to its future citizens and requires its future workforce to be able to do.

An important characteristic of this traditional view is that it seeks to convey what is already known and, at some level, approved. The relationship between teacher and learner is determined thereby. The learner is seen as the person who does not yet have the required knowledge or values and the teacher as the person who has both and whose function it is to convey them to the learner.

From the nature of this relationship, a number of things follow: the systematic transmission of knowledge and values from teacher to learner needs to proceed smoothly. That requires well-behaved learners and a disciplined environment. Teaching and learning also benefit from carefully designed syllabuses and prescribed curriculum content. Furthermore, as what has to be learned can be set out in full, stage by stage, from the start of the educational process to its conclusion, it follows that what is taught can be regularly tested and that each stage of teaching and learning can best be seen as a preparation for the next. It also follows that, as individual learners learn at different speeds and are capable of reaching different levels of achievement, it seems sensible to arrange learners in groups of similar abilities, either at different schools or in graduated classes within schools. Finally, so far as human motivation is concerned, competition is seen to be the predominant way to encourage learners or institutions to strive to improve their performance in relation to that of others. (British education theorist Peter Newsam)

Source: Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation.

Features of the Grammar-Translation Method (Traditional Method):

1) classes are taught in the mother tongue with little active use of the target language;

2) much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words;

3) grammar provides the rules for putting words together;

4) reading of difficult texts is begun early;

5) little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammar analysis;

6) often the only drill exercise is translation of disconnected sentences from the target language to the mother tongue; another drill exercise is substitution from one form to another, that requires thoughtless imitation of the model.

This method is still popular with teachers as it requires few specialized skills on the part of the teacher. Tests of grammar rules and of translation are easy to construct and can be objectively scored.

b) Direct Method (the end of 19^th century)

A simplified form of the English language based on 850 key words was developed in the late 1920s by the English psychologist Charles Kay Ogden and publicized by the English educator I. A. Richards. Known as Basic English, it was used mainly to teach English to non-English-speaking persons and promoted as an international language. The complexities of English spelling and grammar, however, were major hindrances to the adoption of Basic English as a second language.

The fundamental principle of Basic English was that any idea, however complex, may be reduced to simple units of thought and expressed clearly by a limited number of everyday words. The 850-word primary vocabulary was composed of 600 nouns (representing things or events), 150 adjectives (for qualities and properties), and 100 general “operational” words, mainly verbs and prepositions. Almost all the words were in common use in English-speaking countries; more than 60 percent were one-syllable words. The abbreviated vocabulary was created in part by eliminating numerous synonyms and by extending the use of 18 “basic” verbs, such as make, get, do, have, and be. These verbs were generally combined with prepositions, such as up, among, under, in, and forward. For example, a Basic English student would use the expression “go up” instead of “ascend.”

Features:

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-answer exchanges between teachers and students;

4) grammar was taught inductively;

5) new teaching items were introduced orally;

6) concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects and pictures, abstract vocabulary was taught by definition and explanation;

7) correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.

c) Audiolingual Method (since 1950)

It is focused of aural skills.

Features:

1) new material is presented in dialog form;

2) there is dependence on memorization of set phrases and over learning;

3) structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one a time;

4) structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills;

5) there is little or no grammatical explanation; grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation;

6) vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context;

7) there is much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids;

8) pronunciation is of great importance;

9) very little use of mother tongue by teachers is permitted;

10) successful responses are immediately reinforced;

11) there is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard content.

d) Communicative Language Teaching Approach (1970)

Features:

1) classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence;

2) language techniques are designed to engage learners in authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes; organizational language forms are the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish that purposes;

3) fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques; at times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use;

4) learners ultimately have to use the language productively and receptively in unrehearsed context.

Control questions:

1. What main Methods of foreign language teaching?

2. What’s Grammar Translation Method?

3. What’s Direct Method?

4. What’s Direct Method?

5. What’s Audiolingual Method?

Recommended literature:

1. Педагогическая психология. И.А.Зимняя, М., 1997

2. Психологические основы формирования личности в педагогическом коллективе. А.Коссаковски, М., 1961

3. Психологический справочник учителя. Л.М.Фридман, 1991