Audiolingual Method: Theory, Techniques, and Classroom Practices
Audiolingual Method (ALM) Theory
The descriptive practices of structural linguistics suggested a number of hypotheses about language learning. Since speech was held to be primary and writing secondary, it was assumed that language teaching should focus on mastery of speech and that writing, or even written prompts, should be withheld until reasonably late in the language learning process. Since the structure is what is important and unique about a language, early practice should focus on mastery of phonological and grammatical structures rather than on mastery of vocabulary.
Core Principles of Audiolingual Methodology
The core principles of audiolingual methodology are:
- Foreign language learning is fundamentally a process of mechanical habit formation.
- Good habits are formed by giving correct responses rather than by making mistakes. Memorizing dialogues and performing pattern drills minimize mistakes.
- Language is verbal behavior and can be learned by inducing students to do likewise.
- Language skills are learned effectively if the items to be learned in the target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written form.
- Analogy provides a better foundation for language learning than analysis. Analogy involves the processes of generalization and discrimination. Explanations of rules are not given until students have practiced a pattern in a variety of contexts.
- The meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context, and not in isolation. Teaching a language involves the cultural system of the people who speak the language.
Design Types of Learning and Teaching Activities
Dialogues and drills are common classroom practices, contextualizing key structures and illustrating situations in which structures might be used, as well as some cultural aspects of the target language. Dialogues involve repetition and memorization. Correct pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and intonation are emphasized. After memorization, specific grammatical patterns in the dialogue are selected and become the focus of various drills and exercises.
The use of drills is the distinctive feature of the audiolingual method.
Learner and Teacher Roles
Learner’s roles: Learners play a reactive role by responding to stimuli and have little control over the content or style of learning. They are not encouraged to initiate interaction. In the early levels, they may not understand what they are repeating.
Teacher’s role: The teacher’s role is central and active. The teacher must keep learners attentive by varying drills and tasks and choosing relevant situations to practice structures. It’s an active verbal interaction between teacher and learners.
Instructional Materials
Instructional materials in the audiolingual method assist the teacher in developing language mastery in the learner. Textbooks are not typically used in the elementary levels; students focus on listening, repeating, and responding. The teacher has access to a teacher’s book that contains dialogues, drills, and exercises. Textbooks and printed materials are introduced to the student later, providing the texts of dialogues and exercises. Tape recorders, audiovisual aids, and language laboratories also play central roles.
Typical Audiolingual Method Lesson Procedure
- Students first hear a model dialogue. They repeat it individually and in chorus. The teacher pays attention to pronunciation, intonation, and fluency and corrects errors.
- The dialogue is adapted to students’ interests or situations.
- Certain key structures from the dialogue are selected, and some grammatical explanation is provided.
- The students may refer to their textbook, and follow-up reading, writing, or vocabulary activities based on the dialogue may be introduced. At the beginning levels, writing is only an imitation, copying sentences. At increasing levels, students write short compositions.
- Follow-up activities may take place in the language lab.