Approaches
Silent Way
originated in the early 1970s and was the brainchild of the late Caleb
Gattegno. The last line of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote about teaching and
learning can be said to lie at the heart of Silent Way. The three basic tenets
of the approach are that learning is facilitated if the learner discovers
rather than remembers or repeats, that learning is aided by physical objects,
and that problem-solving is central to learning. The use of the word
"silent" is also significant, as Silent Way is based on the premise
that the teacher should be as silent as possible in the classroom in order to
encourage the learner to produce as much language as possible. As far as the
presentation of language is concerned, Silent Way adopts a highly structural
approach, with language taught through sentences in a sequence based on
grammatical complexity, described by some as a "building-block"
approach.
The structural patterns of the target language are presented
by the teacher and the grammar "rules" of the language are learnt
inductively by the learners. Cuisenaire rods (small coloured blocks of varying
sizes originally intended for the teaching of mathematics) are often used to
illustrate meaning (the physical objects mentioned above). New items are added
sparingly by the teacher and learners take these as far as they can in their
communication until the need for the next new item becomes apparent. The
teacher then provides this new item by modelling it very clearly just once. The
learners are then left to use the new item and to incorporate it into their
existing stock of language, again taking it as far as they can until the next
item is needed and so on.
This is perhaps best illustrated by an example. Let us say
that the teacher has introduced the idea of pronouns as in "Give me a
green rod". The class will then use this structure until it is clearly
assimilated, using, in addition, all the other colours. One member of the class
would now like to ask another to pass a rod to a third student but she does not
know the word "her", only that it cannot be "me". At this
point the teacher would intervene and supply the new item: "Give her the
green rod" and the learners will continue until the next new item is
needed (probably "him"). This minimalist role of the teacher has led
some critics to describe Silent Way teachers as "aloof" and, indeed,
this apparently excessive degree of self-restraint can be seen as such.The
prominent writer on language teaching, Earl W. Stevick, has described the role
of the teacher in Silent Way as "Teach, test, get out of the way".
The apparent lack of real communication in the approach has also been
criticized, with some arguing that it is difficult to take the approach beyond
the very basics of the language, with only highly motivated learners being able
to generate real communication from the rigid structures illustrated by the
rods. The fact that, for logistical reasons, it is limited to relatively small
groups of learners is also seen as a weakness.
As with other methods and
approaches, however, aspects of Silent Way can be observed in many lessons in
the modern classroom. In the 1980s and early 90s, for example, it became
fashionable in some quarters to argue that excessive "teacher talking
time" was something to be discouraged. Cuisenaire rods are also popular
with some teachers and can be used extremely creatively for various purposes
from teaching pronunciation to story-telling. The idea of modelling a new
structure or item of vocabulary just once may also have some justification as
it encourages learners both to listen more carefully and then to experiment
with their own production of the utterance. Lastly, the problem-solving feature
of Silent Way may well prove to be its most enduring legacy as it has led
indirectly both to the idea of Task-based Learning and to the widespread use of
problem-solving activities in language classrooms.
An article discussing the
grammar-translation approach to language learning.
At the height of the Communicative Approach
to language learning in the 1980s and early 1990s it became fashionable in some
quarters to deride so-called "old-fashioned" methods and, in
particular, something broadly labelled "Grammar Translation". There
were numerous reasons for this but principally it was felt that translation
itself was an academic exercise rather than one which would actually help
learners to use language, and an overt focus on grammar was to learn about the
target language rather than to learn it.
As with many other methods and
approaches, Grammar Translation tended to be referred to in the past
tense as if it no longer existed and had died out to be replaced world-wide by
the fun and motivation of the communicative classroom. If we examine the
principal features of Grammar Translation, however, we will see that not only
has it not disappeared but that many of its characteristics have been central
to language teaching throughout the ages and are still valid today. The Grammar Translation method embraces a wide range
of approaches but, broadly speaking, foreign language study is seen as a mental
discipline, the goal of which may be to read literature in its original form or
simply to be a form of intellectual development. The basic approach is to
analyze and study the grammatical rules of the language, usually in an order
roughly matching the traditional order of the grammar of Latin, and then to
practise manipulating grammatical structures through the means of translation
both into and from the mother tongue.
The method is very much based on the written word and texts are widely in
evidence. A typical approach would be to present the rules of a particular item
of grammar, illustrate its use by including the item several times in a text,
and practise using the item through writing sentences and translating it into
the mother tongue. The text is often accompanied by a vocabulary list
consisting of new lexical items used in the text together with the mother
tongue translation. Accurate use of language items is central to this approach.Generally speaking, the medium of instruction is the mother tongue, which is used to explain conceptual problems and to discuss the use of a particular grammatical structure. It all sounds rather dull but it can be argued that the Grammar Translation method has over the years had a remarkable success. Millions of people have successfully learnt foreign languages to a high degree of proficiency and, in numerous cases, without any contact whatsoever with native speakers of the language (as was the case in the former Soviet Union, for example).
There are certain types of learner who respond very positively to a grammatical syllabus as it can give them both a set of clear objectives and a clear sense of achievement. Other learners need the security of the mother tongue and the opportunity to relate grammatical structures to mother tongue equivalents. Above all, this type of approach can give learners a basic foundation upon which they can then build their communicative skills.
Applied wholesale of course, it can also be boring for many learners and a quick look at foreign language course books from the 1950s and 1960s, for example, will soon reveal the non-communicative nature of the language used. Using the more enlightened principles of the Communicative Approach, however, and combining these with the systematic approach of Grammar Translation, may well be the perfect combination for many learners. On the one hand they have motivating communicative activities that help to promote their fluency and, on the other, they gradually acquire a sound and accurate basis in the grammar of the language. This combined approach is reflected in many of the EFL course books currently being published and, amongst other things, suggests that the Grammar Translation method, far from being dead, is very much alive and kicking as we enter the 21st century.
Without a sound knowledge of the grammatical basis of the
language it can be argued that the learner is in possession of nothing more
than a selection of communicative phrases which are perfectly adequate for
basic communication but which will be found wanting when the learner is
required to perform any kind of sophisticated linguistic task.
An article discussing the benefits
of translation as a language learning tool.
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