Lesson 6.

The Methods of Teaching Language Arts

A. The Grammar translation

B. The Direct method

C. The Audiolingual method

D. Total Physical response

E. Community language learning

F. The Silent way

G. Language experience method

H. Desuggestopedia

Learning Outcomes:

a. Explain the process of different methodologies used in teaching English for the elementary

b. Determine how these methods address learner’s diversity in an English class

c. Assess the methods used in an actual teaching through classroom observation

12/2/21, 12:10 PM

Mary Gaytos

Preliminary Activity:

a. Watch a demonstration lesson in an English language Arts class and try to come up with a lesson
plan according to how you see it

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Do the activity at once. Again watch carefully the video and write a brief lesson plan on the
demonstration lesson: 1. title of the lesson

You sent

2. Materials; 3. Objectives: 4. Procedure (identify the method and write the process by steps. ) 5.
Assessment or Evaluation

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Mary Gaytos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk6RRf4kKs&ab_channel=HelblingEnglish
Total Physical Response (TPR)

youtube.com

12/2/21, 2:50 PM

Mary Gaytos

Mary Gaytos

A. The Grammar translation Method

As English teachers we are always on the lookout for effective and interesting ways to stimulate our
language learners. Various teaching methods are aimed at this goal. This lesson investigates the
Translation Method that is widely used by a large number of teachers. This method is better known as
the Grammar-Translation Method and considered to be a classical method of teaching English. The
philosophy behind this method is that the foreign language can be taught or learn through translation.
Here each phrase or sentence of English is taught by translating it into mother tongue. The Grammar-
Translation Method instructs students in grammar and provides vocabulary with direct translations to
memorize.

The Grammar-Translation Method derived from traditional approaches to the teaching of Latin and
Greek and it was the predominant method in Europe in the 19th century. It was rather widespread for
learning foreign languages, though by the end of the century moves towards the Direct Method were
noticed.

Principles in using the Grammar-Translation Method

The most relevant principles of this method can be summarized as follows:

1. It emphasizes the study and translation of the written language, as it is considered superior to
spoken language.

2. Reading and writing are the main language skills.

3. The student's native language is the medium of instruction and used as well to compare with the
language studied.
4. The structural patterns of two languages are compared and this comparison makes learning
clearer and firmer.

5. The fundamental principle of proceeding from known to unknown is followed throughout.

6. Successful learners are those who translate each language into the other, though they cannot
communicate orally.

7. Students have to know verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms.

8. The knowledge of rules helps the learners to avoid any types of mistakes.

9. Teachers play an authoritarian role in the classroom and the predominant interaction is
between teacher-student.

The Grammar-Translation Method focuses on the teaching of the foreign language grammar through the
presentation of rules together with some exceptions and lists of vocabulary translated into the mother
tongue. Translation is considered to be the most important classroom activity. The main procedure of an
ordinary lesson follows this plan: a presentation of a grammatical rule followed by a list of vocabulary
and, finally, translation exercises from selected texts.

Other activities and procedures can be the following: answering comprehension questions on the text;
students find antonyms and synonyms words in the text; vocabulary is selected from the reading texts
and memorized; sentences are formed using new words; fill-in-the-blank exercises; writing compositions
on the topic.

This method has a number of advantages given below:

1. By telling the meaning of the word or sentence in mother tongue, the teacher can at once make the
students understand.

2. The students are able to learn many items of English by comparison with mother tongue.
3. The comprehension of the students can be tested very easily.

4. Knowledge is acquired gradually, by traversing the facts of language and the syntactic mechanisms,
going from simplest to the most complex.

5. Learning grammar, the students examine the texts developing awareness that language constitutes a
system which can be analyzed.

There are some very obvious disadvantages of this method:

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Mary Gaytos

1. No account of present-day language usage is presented. Norms are imposed from the great literary
authors.

2. Secondary grammatical points, lists of forms and examples receive a lot of attention; some definitions
and explanations are often incoherent because of their heterogeneous criteria. Thus, facts about the
language are confusing for the students.

3. It gives a predominant place to morphology but neglects syntax. Therefore, rules enabling the
learners to construct systematically correct complex sentences are not presented.

4. Translations are often unsatisfactory as they are done word by word.

5. Students have to learn a lot of grammatical terms and too much weight falls on their memories.
Frustration on the part of students and lack of demands on teachers are the effects of this method.

So, the teaching of grammar consists of a process of training in the language rules which must make it
possible to all the students to express their opinion correctly, to understand the remarks which are
addressed to them and to analyze the texts which they read. The objective is that by the time they leave
college, the students control the tools of the language which are the vocabulary, grammar and the
orthography, they are able to read, understand and write texts in various contexts. Unfortunately, this
method gives little attention to listening and speaking skills, and the result is usually inability of some
students to use the language for communication.
We find that this method has a few both merits and draw-backs. It can be successfully used at higher
educational institutions for teaching foreign languages for professional communication, but it must be
combined with other methods. We consider that the teachers should use a variety of methods to teach
a second language as each student is unique and will respond well to a particular method. A good
teacher should make use of the items that he or she has and the learning styles of the students.
Adapting your style to your class can be an effective teaching method.

B. The Direct Method

During the nineteenth century, the Direct Method (or Natural Method) was developed as an antithesis
to the popular grammar-translation method, which many believed was failing in the goal of effective
communication in a second language.

The direct method focuses on full immersion in the classroom environment where not one word of the
students’ native language is spoken. The focus is not on grammar but instead on learning through
listening and speaking. When using the natural approach, we don’t focus on the rules, we allow for
mistakes, and we aim for excellent oral communication with our target words and language.

Basic Principles in the use of direct Method

The basic principles of the direct method approach are:

a. Teach language inductively: In this method, we don’t explain the rules to the students; we let
them figure it out for themselves. We challenge them and guide them to the correct use of the
language, but we also force them to think through things as they learn. We can do this by showing them
objects and even calling the objects by the wrong color, so they will figure out what the object is NOT as
well as what it is.

b. Only use the target language: Our goal is to not have the students translating from their mother
tongue but to learn instead to think in the foreign language. When a person learned their first language,
there was no translation from another language; they had nothing to base it on. The direct method
approach believes in trying to mimic first language acquisition.

c. Oral communication is the main objective: The direct approach focuses on speaking far more
than the importance of reading and writing. This practice is the complete opposite of the grammar-
translation approach, where students learn all of the rules of a language but often cannot speak or
communicate effectively in the second language. Using the direct method, we encourage our students
to speak, even to make grammatical mistakes, so they can get their point across and put into practice
what they are learning in their classrooms.
Teaching styles used in the direct method approach are:

a. Showing or using multiple examples of a word or concept: There should be an overkill of props,
images, or gestures used to make sure the point comes across for a student. The overuse is needed to
ensure comprehension since there is no translation being used at all.

b. Props and TPR (total physical response): Visual cues are extremely important for a student
learning with the direct method. The student needs to see the image or the action many times in order
to associate the concept with the new word or language they are learning.

c. Listening and repetition: Not only do the students need to see something to create an
association, but they also need to hear something. They need to hear how the language is used, how it is
pronounced, and how to incorporate it into their oral communication.

d. Speaking: the students need to be able to practice the concepts of words they are learning.
Once they have seen it, seen examples, heard it, and created an association of a word or concept in their
mind, they will need to put it into practice with actually speaking and communicating. Give them ample
opportunity to try to speak and praise them when they are correct. If you don’t understand, be patient
and repeat the examples, TPR, images, etc.

e. Make sure to have a non-threatening environment: It is vital to create a safe space for the
students to attempt to communicate using their newly acquired language. The students should receive
rewards and praise when they effectively speak and gentle correction and repetition when needed due
to errors.

(see: https://blog.alo7.com/esl-teaching-methods-what-is-the-direct-method/)

C. The audio-lingual method

The audio-lingual method, Army Method, or New Key, is a method used in teaching foreign languages. It
is based on behaviorist theory, which postulates that certain traits of living things, and in this case
humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement. The correct use of a trait would receive
positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback.

This approach to language learning was similar to another, earlier method called the direct method. Like
the direct method, the audio-lingual method advised that students should be taught a language directly,
without using the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in target language.
However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method did not focus on teaching vocabulary.
Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.
Applied to language instruction, and often within the context of the language lab, it means that the
instructor would present the correct model of a sentence and the students would have

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Mary Gaytos

to repeat it. The teacher would then continue by presenting new words for the students to sample in
the same structure. In audio-lingualism, there is no explicit grammar instruction: everything is simply
memorized in form.

The idea is for the students to practice the particular construct until they can use it spontaneously. The
lessons are built on static drills in which the students have little or no control on their own output; the
teacher is expecting a particular response and not providing the desired response will result in a student
receiving negative feedback. This type of activity, for the foundation of language learning, is in direct
opposition with communicative language teaching.

Charles Carpenter Fries, the director of the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, the
first of its kind in the United States, believed that learning structure or grammar was the starting point
for the student. In other words, it was the students' job to recite the basic sentence patterns and
grammatical structures. The students were given only “enough vocabulary to make such drills possible.”
(Richards, J.C. et-al. 1986). Fries later included principles of behavioural psychology, as developed by B.F.
Skinner, into this method.

The Audiolingual method

The objective of the audiolingual method is accurate pronunciation and grammar, the ability to respond
quickly and accurately in speech situations and knowledge of sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar
patterns. Particular emphasis was laid on mastering the building blocks of language and learning the
rules for combining them. It was believed that learning structure, or grammar was the starting point for
the student. Here are some characteristics of the method:

a. language learning is habit-formation,

b. mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they are considered bad habits,

language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form,
d. analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis,

e. the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.

The main activities include reading aloud dialogues, repetitions of model sentences, and drilling. Key
structures from the dialogue serve as the basis for pattern drills of different kinds. Lessons in the
classroom focus on the correct imitation of the teacher by the students. Not only are the students
expected to produce the correct output, but attention is also paid to correct pronunciation. Although
correct grammar is expected in usage, no explicit grammatical instruction is given. It is taught
inductively. Furthermore, the target language is the only language to be used in the classroom.

Advantages

1. It aims at developing listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the Grammar
translation method

2. The use of visual aids has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.

Disadvantages

1. The method is based on false assumptions about language. The study of language doesn’t
amount to studying the “parole”, the observable data. Mastering a language relies on acquiring the rules
underlying language performance. That is, the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competences.

2. The behaviorist approach to learning is now discredited. Many scholars have proven its
weakness. Noam Chomsky ( “Chomsky, Noam (1959). “A Review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal behavior”) has
written a strong criticism of the principles of the theory.

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Mary Gaytos

D. Total Physical Response (TPR)

Total Physical Response is a language teaching method that is based on the assumption that the
coordination of speech and action will boost language learning. It was developed by James Asher in the
70s. He drew from a variety of areas, including psychology, learning theory, and humanistic pedagogy.

According to the trace theory of memory in psychology, the more often and intensively a memory is
traced, the stronger the memory association will be and the more likely it will be recalled. The retracing
can be verbal through repetition and/or in association with motor activity. This clearly reminds us of the
behavioristic psychology which holds a Stimulus-Response model of learning. The stimulus in the TPR
method is verbal and the response is physical. In this respect, Total Physical Response has many
similarities to the Direct Method.

From developmental Psychology Asher draws the parallel, he contends exists, between first language
acquisition and 2nd language learning. Children get language through a series of commands from their
parents to which they react physically. It’s only later that they can produce verbal responses ( cf Jean
Piaget works). Asher contends that humans are endowed with a sort of bio program which follows this
process of language learning and that, when teaching a 2nd language, we must follow the same process
so that learning can be successful. Asher in this respect adheres to a naturalistic method of language
learning (cf Krashen’s Natural Approach). Language learning must focus on comprehension and the
teaching of speaking must be delayed until comprehension skills are established. Asher also thinks that
the skills acquired through listening transfer to other skills and that meaning precede form.

Asher’s method relies on three assumptions about language:

1. Asher thinks that a lot of the grammatical structures of language and many vocabulary items can
be learned from the skillful use of the imperative form. In his view, verbs in the imperative are
primordial forms upon which language learning can be organized. Command drills can be a vehicle for
the internalization of a lot of language structures and vocabulary.

2. Another TPR assumption about language is the one that distinguishes between abstractions and
non-abstractions. According to Asher, abstractions are not necessary to teach language to beginners. On
the other hand, non-abstractions can help build a detailed cognitive map and grammatical structure of
language.

3. The third assumption about language states that language can be internalized not only as single
items but also as wholes or chunks. This is an idea that will be later developed by Michael Lewis (1993)
in his Lexical Approach.

Relying on humanistic pedagogy, TPR also stresses the importance of a stress-free environment. In fact,
second language learning often causes a lot of stress and anxiety. However, if teachers focus on meaning
transferred into physical activity rather than on abstract language forms students are freed from stress
and anxiety.

Features of Total Physical Response

In a nutshell, here are the most salient features of the TPR:

a. The coordination of speech and action facilitates language learning.

b. Grammar is taught inductively.

c. Meaning is more important than form.

d. Speaking is delayed until comprehension skills are established.

e. Effective language learning takes place in a low-stress environment.

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Mary Gaytos

f. The role of the teacher is central. S/he chooses the appropriate commands to introduce
vocabulary and structure.

g. The learner is a listener and a performer responding to commands individually or collectively.

h. Learning is maximized in a stress-free environment.

TPR Activities

Activities in the TPR method rely on action-based drills in the imperative form. In fact, the imperative
drills are introduced to elicit physical/motor activity on the part of the learners. The use of dialogs is
delayed. Typical classroom activities include:

1. Command drills

2. Role plays in everyday situations (at the restaurant, at the movies.

3. Slide presentations to provide a visual center for teacher’s narration, which is followed by
commands or questions

4. Reading and writing can also be introduced to further consolidate grammar and vocabulary and
as follow-ups

Criticism

a. Asher doesn’t really give a detailed account of his distinction between abstractions and non-
abstraction. For example, as Richards and Rodgers (1986: 88) state, are tense, aspect, and so forth
abstractions, and if so, what sort of detailed cognitive map could be constructed without them?

b. TPR deals with only the beginning stages of language learning

c. TPR syllabus and the utterance and the sentences within it are questionable as far as their
communicative relevance is concerned

Advantages

1. When used in association with other methods and techniques, TPR can yield tremendous
results.
2. For many teachers, TPR represents a useful set of techniques and is compatible with other
approaches to language teaching.

3. The focus on comprehension is another appealing feature of TPR.

4. The method is compatible with new approaches to language learning as it stresses the
importance of meaning rather than form.

5. Learning highly benefits from TPR’s emphasis on stress reduction.

E. Community language learning

As the Chomskyan linguistic revolution turned linguists and language teachers away from the
audiolingual method which focused on surface structure and on rote practice of scientifically produced
patterns to a new era where the deep structure is paramount, psychologists began to see the
fundamental importance of the effective domain. So innovative methods of language teaching were
developed during the 70s to redress the shortcomings of the audiolingual method. One of these
methods came to be known as Community Language Learning.

CLL differs from other methods by which languages are taught. It’s based on an approach modeled on
counseling techniques that alleviate anxiety, threat and the personal and language problems a person
encounters in the learning of foreign languages. The method was originally developed by Charles Curran
who was inspired by Carl Rogers view of education. in In this “Counseling-learning” model of education,
learners in a classroom are seen as a group rather than as a class, a group in dire need of certain therapy
and counseling.

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Mary Gaytos

The social dynamics occurring in the group are very important and a number of conditions are needed
for learning to take place:

1. Members should interact in an interpersonal relationship.

2. Students and teachers work together to facilitate learning by

a. valuing each other,

b. lowering the defense that prevent interpersonal interaction

c. reducing anxiety

d. and constituting a supportive community.

3. Teachers’ role is that of a true counselor.

a. They are not perceived as a threat

b. They don’t impose boundaries and limits

c. They concentrate on the learners needs

Stages in Community Language Learning (CLL)

Learners go through 5 stages in their learning process.

1. “Birth” stage: feeling of security and belonging are established. Dependence on the knower as
learners have little or no idea of the target language.

2. “Self stage”: As the learner’s ability improve and starts to gt an idea of how language works,
they achieve a measure of independence from the parent although they still seek help from the knower.

3. “Separate existence”: Learners can speak independently.

4. “Adolescence”: The learners are independent although they are aware of gaps in their
knowledge and feel secure enough to take criticism and being corrected.

5. “Independence”: Complete independence from the knower. The child becomes an adult and
becomes the knower.

Community Language Learning Class

Here is what you may find in a CLL class:

a. Students determine content.

b. Clients/learners establish an interpersonal relationship and trust in their native language.

c. They sit in a circle with the teacher/counselor on the outside of the circle.

d. Learners start a conversation.

e. Learners speak in their native language.

f. The counselor provides translations and explanations.

g. Learners repeat the utterances as accurately as they can.

h. The conversation goes on and my be taped for later use.

Advantages of CLL

a. CLL is an attempt to overcome the threatening affective factors in EFL and ESL.

b. The councelor allow the learners to determine type of coversation and to analyze the language
inductively

c. The student centered nature of the method can provide extrincic motivation and capitalize on
intinsic motivation.

Disadvantages

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Mary Gaytos

a. The counselor/teacher can become too non directive. Students often need directions.

b. The method relies completely on inductive learning. It is worthwhile noting that deductive
learning is also a viable strategy of learning.

c. Translation is an intricate and difficult task. The success of the method relies largely on the
translation expertise of the counselor.

F. The Silent Way

Silent Way in Language Teaching Methods

The Silent Way is a language teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of
silence as a teaching technique. It is not usually considered a mainstream method in language
education. It was first introduced in Gattegno's book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent
Way in 1963. Gattegno was skeptical of the mainstream language education of the time, and conceived
of the method as a special case of his general theories of education.

The method emphasizes the autonomy of the learner; the teacher's role is to monitor the students'
efforts, and the students are encouraged to have an active role in learning the language. Pronunciation
is seen as fundamental; beginning students start their study with pronunciation, and much time is spent
practising it each lesson. The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus, and structures are constantly
reviewed and recycled. The choice of vocabulary is important, with functional and versatile words seen
as the best. Translation and rote repetition are avoided and the language is usually practiced in
meaningful contexts. Evaluation is carried out by observation, and the teacher may never set a formal
test.

The teacher uses silence for multiple purposes in the Silent Way. It is used to focus students' attention,
to elicit student responses, and to encourage them to correct their own errors. Even though teachers
are often silent, they are still active; they will commonly use techniques such as mouthing words and
using hand gestures to help the students with their pronunciation. Teachers will also encourage
students to help their peers.

Silent Way teachers use some specialized teaching materials. One of the hallmarks of the method is the
use of Cuisenaire rods, which can be used for anything from introducing simple commands to
representing abstract objects such as clocks and floor plans. The method also makes use of color
association to help teach pronunciation; there is a sound-color chart which is used to teach the language
sounds, colored word charts which are used to teach sentences, and colored Fidel charts which are used
to teach spelling.

Background

Gattegno was a rank outsider to language education when Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools was
first published in 1963. The book was conspicuously lacking the names of most prominent language
educators and linguists of the time, and Gattegno's works were only cited rarely in language education
books and journals. He was previously a designer of mathematics and reading programmes, and the use
of color charts and colored Cuisenaire rods in the Silent Way grew directly out of this experience.

Gattegno was openly sceptical of the role linguistic theory of the time had in language teaching. He felt
that linguistic studies "may be a specialization, that carry with them a narrow opening of one's
sensitivity and perhaps serve very little towards the broad end in mind".The Silent Way was conceived as
a special case of Gattegno's broader educational principles, rather than a method specifically aimed at
teaching languages. Gattegno developed these ideas to solve general problems in learning, and he also
applied them to his work in the teaching of mathematics and the mother tongue. Broadly, these
principles are:

a. Teachers should concentrate on how students learn, not on how to teach

b. Imitation and drill are not the primary means by which students learn

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Mary Gaytos
c. Learning consists of trial and error, deliberate experimentation, suspending judgement, and
revising conclusions

d. In learning, learners draw on everything that they already know, especially their native language

e. The teacher must not interfere with the learning process

These principles situate the Silent Way in the tradition of discovery learning, that sees learning as a
creative problem-solving activity.

Aims and goals

The general goal of the Silent Way is to help beginning-level students gain basic fluency in the target
language, with the ultimate aim being near-native language proficiency and good pronunciation. An
important part of this ability is being able to use the language for self-expression; students should be
able to express their thoughts, feelings, and needs in the target language. In order to help them achieve
this, teachers emphasize self-reliance. Students are encouraged to actively explore the language, and to
develop their own 'inner criteria' as to what is linguistically acceptable.

The role of the teacher is that of technician or engineer. The teacher's task is to focus the students'
attention, and provide exercises to help them develop language facility; however, to ensure their self-
reliance, the teacher should only help the students as much as is strictly necessary. As Gattegno says,
"The teacher works with the student; the student works on the language." For example, teachers will
often give students time to correct their own mistakes before giving them the answer to a question.
Teachers also avoid praise or criticism, as it can discourage students from developing self-reliance.

Learning Process

In the Silent Way students are seen as bringing a vast amount of experience and knowledge with them
to the classroom; namely, their first language. The teacher capitalizes on this knowledge when
introducing new material, always building from the known to the unknown. The students begin their
study of the language by studying its sound system. The sounds are associated to different colors using a
sound-color chart that is specific to the language being learned. The teacher first introduces sounds that
are already present in the students' native language, and then progresses to sounds that are new to
them. These sound-color associations are later used to help the students with spelling, reading, and
pronunciation.

The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus. The teacher will typically introduce one new language
structure at a time, and old structures are continuously reviewed and recycled. These structures are
chosen for their propositional meaning, not for their communicative value. The teacher will set up
learning situations for the students which focus their attention on each new structure. For example, the
teacher might ask students to label a floor plan of a house in order to introduce the concepts of inside
and outside. Once the language structures have been presented in this way, learners learn the grammar
rules through a process of induction.

Gattegno saw the choice of which vocabulary to teach as vital to the language learning process. He
advised teachers to concentrate on the most functional and versatile words, to help students build a
functional vocabulary.

Translation and rote repetition are avoided, and instead emphasis is placed on conveying meaning
through students' perceptions, and through practicing the language in meaningful contexts. In the floor
plan example, the plan itself negates the need for translation, and the teacher is able to give the
students a lot of meaningful practice simply by pointing to different parts of the house. The four skills of
active listening, speaking, reading, and writing

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Mary Gaytos

are worked on from the beginning stages, although students only learn to read something after they
have learned to say it.

Evaluation in the Silent Way is carried out primarily by observation. The teacher may never give a formal
test, but he is constantly assessing students by observing their actions. This allows him to respond
straight away to any problems the students might have. The teacher may also gain feedback through
students' errors; errors are seen as natural and necessary for learning, and can be a useful guide as to
what structures need more practice. Finally, the teacher may gain feedback by asking the students at
the end of the lesson. When evaluating the students, teachers expect them to learn at different rates,
and students are not penalized for learning more slowly than their classmates. Teachers look for steady
progress in the language, not perfection.

Teaching techniques

Just as the name implies, silence is a key tool of the teacher in the Silent Way. From the beginning levels,
students do 90 percent or more of the talking. Being silent moves the focus of the classroom from the
teacher to the students, and can encourage cooperation among them. It also frees the teacher to
observe the class. Silence can be used to help students correct their own errors. Teachers can remain
silent when a student makes a mistake to give them time to self-correct; they can also help students
with their pronunciation by mouthing words without vocalizing, and by using certain hand gestures.
When teachers do speak, they tend to say things only once so that students learn to focus their
attention on them.
A Silent Way classroom also makes extensive use of peer correction. Students are encouraged to help
their classmates when they have trouble with any particular feature of the language. This help should be
made in a cooperative fashion, not a competitive one. One of the teacher's tasks is to monitor these
interactions, so that they are helpful and do not interfere with students' learning.

Teaching Materials

The Silent Way makes use of some specialized teaching materials: colored Cuisenaire rods, the sound-
color chart, word charts, and Fidel charts. The Cuisenaire rods are wooden, and come in ten different
lengths, but identical cross-section; each length has its own assigned color. The rods are used in a wide
variety of situations in the classroom. At the beginning stages they can be used to practice colors and
numbers, and later they can be used in more complex grammar. For example, to teach prepositions the
teacher could use the statement "The blue rod is between the green one and the yellow one". They can
also be used more abstractly, perhaps to represent a clock or the floor plan of a house.

The sound-color chart consists of blocks of color, with one color representing one sound in the language
being learned. The teacher uses this chart to help teach pronunciation; as well as pointing to colors to
help students with the different sounds, she can also tap particular colors very hard to help students
learn word stress. Later in the learning process, students can point to the chart themselves. The chart
can help students perceive sounds that may not occur in their first language, and it also allows students
to practice making these sounds without relying on mechanical repetition. It also provides an easily
verifiable record of which sounds the students and which they have not, which can help their autonomy.

The word charts contain the functional vocabulary of the target language, and use the same color
scheme as the sound-color chart. Each letter is colored in a way that indicates its pronunciation. The
teacher can point to the chart to highlight the pronunciation of different words in sentences that the
students are learning. There are twelve word charts in English, containing a total of around five hundred
words. The Fidel charts also use the same color-coding, and list the various ways that sounds can be
spelled. For example, in English, the

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Mary Gaytos

entry for the sound /ey/ contains the spellings ay, ea, ei, eigh, etc., all written in the same color. These
can be used to help students associate sounds with their spelling.

G. The Language Experience Approach

The language experience approach (LEA) is a whole language approach that promotes reading and
writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language. It effectively helps develop learners'
print awareness, since learners see the direct connection between images and words. It effectively
connects known vocabulary and new vocabulary with print words, since the experience and image(s)
correlate with words in the written caption(s). It helps teachers explain sentence structure as the
image(s) can help the teacher unpack the logical structure of the sentence. It effectively scaffolds a
written text by using images to sequence a text, including personal narrative, procedures, explanations
and more. LEA also enhances reading comprehension and fluency, since the reading material is based
on the learner's funds of knowledge (Gonzales, Moll & Amanti, 2006). And there are avenues to extend
the experience by incorporating further reading, writing and learning tasks. (see:
https://www.theliteracybug.com/using-the-language-experience-approach)

The Language Experience Approach emphasises language learning through carefully scaffolded and
reinforced language in context and through activity. Teachers and learners diligently document the
experience, so the experience can be revisited and developed through further reading, writing,
speaking, listening, viewing and representing in the classroom.

The following are a number of questions to consider when building language and literacy through
authentic, mutual practices. These initial questions illustrate the significance of a number of essential
practices in the LEA, such as scaffolded talk, documenting the experience, revisiting the experience in
the classroom, pulling out rich vocabulary, expanding the experience through writing, and using the
experience for further comprehension and [content] learning. In this system, the teacher must be adept
at orchestrating, sequencing and extending a variety practices (often within a tight timetable).

Before and During the Experience

a. What is the experience? Is this an actual or virtual experience?

b. How is joint attention achieved and how is language being scaffolded?

c. How is vocabulary emphasised/reinforced/introduced/recorded during the experience

d. How is the experience being documented (digital cameras, information scaffolds, graphic
organisers, scaffolded questions, etc)?

e. How do the instructional conversations that take place throughout the experience build a
common discourse and assist learning?

After the Experience

1. Are word walls / glossaries / semantic maps / flow charts / storyboards developed from the
experience? Are they prominent, accessible and rigorous?

2. How is the documentation used to help the class jointly and/or individually re-construct the
experience? Is the sentence cycle used to generate rich, juicy sentences?

3. How is the joint construction phase used to refresh people’s memory and knowledge of events?
4. Can the newly constructed text(s) be used as “familiar text(s)” that can be re-read as fluency
practice?

5. Has the teacher selected a portion of words to use for further word study?

Extending the Experience

Using the Language Experience Approach — The Literacy Bug

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Mary Gaytos

Mary Gaytos

1. Can you link new readings to the shared experience? For instance, now that we have explored
the world of the garden, can we explore:

a. poetry about gardens or which use gardens as a motif;

b. procedural/information texts about gardening;

c. stories and/or picture books which takes place in a garden; and

news articles about community gardens?

2. Can the writing be extended to the inclusion of the writing of recognized genres related to the
experience? (procedural texts, brochures, etc)

3. How have non-verbal knowledge, expertise and attitudes been fostered through the activity?

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is a literacy development method that has long been used for
early reading development with first language learners. It is also perfect for diverse classrooms. It
combines all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Working on the four-language
skills side by side aids fluency.

An LEA lesson is centered around a learner-generated text. The rationale behind LEA is that materials
with familiar vocabulary and ideas are more meaningful and accessible than texts found in pre-prepared
books. For teachers wanting to work on reading fluency with emergent readers, learner-generated texts
are ideal.
The following sections describe the steps of an Language Experience Approach lesson.

STEP #1: A Shared Experience

The LEA process begins with something the class does together, such as a field trip, an experiment, or
some other hands-on activity. If this is not possible, a sequence of pictures (that tell a story) can be
used, as can a student describing a sequence of events from real life.

STEP #2: Creating the Text

Next, the teacher and students, as a group, verbally recreate the shared experience. Students take turns
volunteering information, as in a large-group discussion. The teacher transcribes the student’s words on
the board in an organized way to create the text.

STEP #3: Read & Revise

The class reads the story aloud and discusses it. The teacher asks if the students want to make any
corrections or additions to the story. Then she marks the changes they suggest and makes further
suggestions, if needed.

STEP #4: Read and Reread

The final story can be read in a choral or echo style, or both. Students can also read in small groups or
pairs, and then individually.

STEP #5: Extension

This text can be used for a variety of literacy activities like illustrations or creating comprehension
questions.

H. Desuggestopedia?

INTRODUCTION

Teacher should be creative in using different kinds of teaching method. They have to choose an
appropriate method to transfer the knowledge, because they will find different situation and different
students in the class. Generally, students would not be able to believe
Mary Gaytos

Mary Gaytos

that they could be successful in learning language. This lack of motivation has made students do not
have confidence to speak in the target language, because they do not want to make mistakes.
Moreover, they find difficulties to recall the previous lesson, such as memorizing the new vocabularies.

This situation encourages teacher to be creative and use an effective method on teaching. According to
Lozanov and others, we may be using only five to ten percent of our mental capacity. In order to make
better use of our reserved capacity, the limitations we think we have need to be ‘desuggested’.
Desuggestopedia, the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help
students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful or the negative association they may have
toward studying and, thus, to help them to overcome the barriers to learn.

One of the ways the students´ mental reserves are stimulated is through integration of the fine
arts.Lozanov states that communication takes place on “two planes”: on one the linguistic message is
encoded; and on the other are factors which influence the linguistic message. On the conscious plane,
the learner attends to the language; on the subconscious plane, the fine arts (it could be classical music)
suggests that learning is easy and pleasant. When there is a unity between conscious and subconscious,
learning is enhanced.

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES

Some helpful questions and asnwers to make one understand what the method is.

What are the goals of teachers who use Desuggestopedia?

Teachers hope to accelerate by process to the students by using a foreign language for everyday
communication. The students` mental power must be tapped by desuggesting the psychological barriers
learners bring with them to the learning situation and using techniques to activate the ‘paraconscious’
part of mind, just below the fully conscious mind.

What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?

The teacher is the authority in the classroom. In order for the method to be successful, the students
must trust and respect their teacher. Once the students trust the teacher, they can feel more secure. If
they feel secure, they can be more spontaneous and less inhibited.

What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?

The posters are change every few weeks to create a sense of novelty in the environment. Students
select target language names and choose new occupations. During the course they create whole
biographies to go along with their new identities.

What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? What is the nature of student-student interaction?

The teacher initiates interactions with the whole group of students with individual’s right from the
beginning of a language course. Initially, the students can only respond nonverbally or with a few target
language words they have practiced. Later the students have more control of the target language and
can respond more appropriately and even initiate interaction themselves.

How are the feelings of the students dealt with?

A great deal of attention is given to the students` feeling in this method. One of the fundamental
principles of the method is hat if the students are relaxed and confident, they will not need to try hard
to learn the target language. It will come naturally and easily.

The important thing in this method is the psychological barriers that students bring with them be
desuggested. Indirect positive suggestions are made to enhance students` self confidence and to
convince them that success is obtainable.

Mary Gaytos

Mary Gaytos

How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?

Language is the first of two planes in the two planes of communication. In the second plane are the
factors which influence the linguistic message. The culture which students learn concerns the everyday
life of people who speak the language. The use of fine arts is also important in Desuggestopedic classes.

What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?

Vocabulary is emphasized. Claims about the success of the method often focus in a large number of
words that can be acquired. Grammar is dealt with explicitly, but minimally. In fact, it is believed that
students will learn best if their conscious attention is focused not on the language forms, but on using
the language. The ‘paraconscious’ mind will absorb the linguistic rules. Speaking communicatively is
emphasized. Students also read in the target language (for example, dialogs) and write (for example,
imaginative compositions).

What is the role of the students` native language?

Native language translation is used to make the meaning of the dialog clear. The teacher also uses the
naïve language n the class when necessary. As the course proceeds, the teacher uses the native
language less and less.

How is evaluation accomplished?

Evaluation usually is conducted on students` normal in class performance and not through formal tests,
which would threaten the relaxed atmosphere considered essential for accelerated learning

How does the teacher respond to the student errors?

Errors are corrected gently, the teacher using a soft voice.

The Techniques Of Desuggestopedia

In Desuggestopedia, there are some techniques that we can use in the classroom:

1. Classroom set-up

The challenge of the teacher is to create a classroom environment which is bright and cheerful. (This
was accomplished in the classroom we visited where the walls were decorated with scenes from a
country where the target language is spoken. These conditions are not always possible. However, the
teacher should try to provide as positive an environment as possible.)

2. Peripheral learning

The students learn English not only from direct instruction but also from indirect instruction. It is
encouraged through the presence in the learning environment of posters and decoration featuring the
target language and various grammatical information. They are changed from time to time. By doing
this, the students can learn many things indirectly in the classroom or outside classroom. The teacher
may or may not call attention to the posters. For example, students can produce simple sentence by
using the posters or grammatical information on the wall.

3. Positive suggestion

It is the teacher`s responsibility to orchestrate the suggestive factors in a learning situation, by helping
students break down the barriers to learning that they bring with them. Teacher can do this through
direct and indirect means. Direct suggestion appeals to the students` consciousness by telling the
students that they are going to be successful. But indirect suggestion appeals to the students`
subconscious, is actually the more powerful of the two. It was achieved through the dialogue, “Be self-
confident”.
4. Choose a new identity

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Mary Gaytos

The students choose a target language name and a new occupation. As the course continuous, the
students have an opportunity to develop a whole biography about their fictional selves.

5. Role play

Students are asked to present temporarily that they are someone else and to perform in the target
language as if they were that person. They are often asked to create their own lines relevant to the
situation.

6. First concert (active concert)

The two concerts are components of the receptive phase of the lesson. In the first concert, the teacher
reads the dialog in the target language. Music is played. After a few minutes, the teacher begins a slow,
dramatic reading and synchronized in intonation with the music.

7. Second concert (passive concert)

In the second phase, the students are asked to put their script aside. They simply listen as the teacher
reads the dialog at the normal rate of speed. The teacher is seated and reads with musical
accompaniment. The content governs the way the teacher reads the script, not the music.

8. Primary activation

This technique follows components of the active phase of the lesson. Students playfully reread the
target language dialog out loud, as individuals or in group. In the lesson we observed, three groups of
students read parts of the dialog in a particular manner: the first group, sadly; the next, angrily; the last,
cheerfully.

9. Creative adaptation

The students engage in various activities designed to help them learn the new material and use it
spontaneously. Activities particularly recommended for this phase include singing, dancing,
dramatization and games. The important thing is hat the activities are varied and do not allow the
students to focus on the form of the linguistic message, just the communicative intent.

CONCLUSION

Teacher will find different situation and different types of students in learning. Therefore, teacher
should be creative and smart in choosing and using different types of methods in teaching different skill
of language.

Teacher can use Suggestopedia as teaching method in their teaching. Using Suggestopedia is very
interesting but challenging to do. It can be seen from some considerations. In one side it has some
benefits, but on the other side it also has some weaknesses. In addition, the key factors of effective
teaching are not the approaches and methods in language teaching themselves but the teacher’s
deliberate selection of different approaches and methods and the devoted practice of putting theories
into real teaching activities in a corresponding social-cultural context. It is a fact that no approach or
method is perfect.

However, there is no end for teacher to seek the perfection of the approaches and methods in language
teaching. The language teaching method known as Suggestopedia provides some valuable insights into
the power of cognition and creates techniques that make students feel comfortable, relaxed and
suggestible to the material being learned.

Mary Gaytos

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What Is Grammar Translation Method In Language Teaching

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Mary Gaytos

Mary Gaytos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWMjNruvKzU&ab_channel=ALO7English

Natural Approach / Direct Method of Language Teaching

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