The Silent Way

Method Supporting lecturer:

Dr. Hj. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M.Pd., M.TESOL
 hello!
The seventh group:
Compiled by
DEWI SAHRUNI 20400118008
WIDYA LESTARY 20400118027
INSANI AL HUSNAH SYAM 20400118033

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A background
The silent way was founded in the early 1970s by
the Egyptian mathematician and educator, Caleb
Gattegno. Gattegno's name is well known for his revival
of interest in the use of colored wooden sticks call
edcuisenaire rods and for his series Words in Color, an
approach to the teaching of initial reading in which
sounds are coded by specific colors. The Silent Way
represents Gattegno's venture into the field of foreign
language teaching. The Silent Way shares a great deal
with other learning theories and educational philosophies.

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Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegno's work
could be stated as follows:
 Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than
remembers and repeats what is to be learned.
 Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.
 Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be
learned.

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 B. APPROACH
Theory of Language
Gattegno takes an openly skeptical view of the role of linguistic theory in language
teaching methodology. He feels 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" (Gattegno 1972: 84). Gattegno views language itself "as a
substitute for experience, so experience is what gives meaning to language" (Gattegno
1972: 8). Considerable discussion is devoted to the importance of grasping the “spirit” of
the language and not just its component forms. By the “spirit” of the language Gattegno is
referring to the way each language is composed of phonological and suprasegmental
elements that combine to give the language its unique sound system and melody. The
learner must gain a “feel” for this aspect of the target language as soon as possible, though
how the learner is to do this is not altogether clear.

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 Theory of Learning
Silent Way learning claims to “consolidate the human dimensions of being, which
include variety and individuality as essential factors for an acceptance of others as
contributors to one's own life” and even moves us “towards better and more lasting
solutions of present day conflicts”. The "artificial approach" that Gattegno proposes is
based on the principle that successful learning involves commitment of the self to
language acquisition through the use of silent awareness and then active trial. Gattegno's
repeated emphasis on the primacy of learning over teaching places a focus on the self of
the learner, on the learners priorities and commitments.
To speak… requires the descent of the will into the vocabulary speech organs and a clear
grasp by one's linguistic self of what one is to do to produce definite sounds in definite
ways. Only the self of the utterer can Intervene to make objective what it holds in itself.
Every student must be seen as a will capable of that work. (Gattegno 1976: 7)

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 C. DESIGN
The General and Specific Objectives

 The general objective of the Silent Way is to give beginning level students
oral and aural facility in basic elements of the target language. The
general goal set for language learning is near-native fluency in the target
language, and corect pronuncation and mastery of the prosodic elements
of the target language are emphasized.

 The specific objective is to provide the learner with a basic

practical knowledge of the grammar of the language.

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 C. DESIGN

“
Gattegno discusses the following kinds of objectives as appropriate for a language course at an
elementary level (Gattegno 1972; 81-83). Students should be able to
 Correctly and easily answer questions about themselves, their education, their family, travel,
and daily events;
 Speak with a good accent;
 Give either a written or oral description of a picture, “including the existing relationships that
concern space, time and numbers";
 Answer general questions about the culture and the literature of the native speakers of the
target language;
 Perform adequately in the following areas: spelling, grammar (production rather than
explanation), reading comprchension, and writing.

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 C. DESIGN
The syllabus

The Silent Way adopts a basically structural syllabus, with lessons planned
around grammatical items and related vocabulary. Gategno does not,
however, provide details as to the precise selection and arrangement of
grammatical and lexical items to be covered. There is no general Silent Way
syllabus.
But from observation of silent Way programs developed by the Peace Corps
to teach a varety of languages at a basic level of proficiency, it is clear that
language items are introduced according to their grammatical complexity,
their relationship to what has been taught previously, and the ease with which
items can be presented visually.
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 The following is a section of a Peace Corps Silent Way Syllabus for the first ten hours of instruction in Thai.
(A word that is italicized can be substituted for by another word having the same function)

Lesson Vocabulary Lesson Vocabulary

Wood color red. wood, red, green, yellow, brown, Wood red where? where, on, under, near, far, over,
pink, white, orange, black, color next to, here, there
Wood red on table.

Using the numbers 1-10 one, two,.. ten Wood color red on the table, is it? Question-forming rules.
Yes, on. Yes, No.
Not on.

Wood color red two pieces. Wood color. red long adjectives of comparison
Wood color green longer.
Wood color orange longest.

Take (pick up) wood color red two Take (pick up) Wood color green taller.
pieces
Wood color red is it?

Take wood color red two pieces give, object pronouns Review. Students use structures
give him taught in new situations, such as
comparing the heights of students
in the class.

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C. DESIGN
Types of learning and teaching activities
Learning tasks and activities in the Silent
Way have the function of encouraging and
shaping student oral response without direct
oral instruction from or unnecessary modeling
by the teacher. Basic to the method are simple
linguistic tasks in which the teacher models a
word, phrase, or sentence and then elicits
learner responses. Then the learners collect
new and old information to make their speech.
The teacher sets up situations that focus
student attention on the structures of the
language.
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With minimal spoken cues, the students
are guided to produce the structure. The
teacher works with them, striving for
pronunciation that would be intelligible to a
native speaker of the target language. The
teacher uses the students’ errors as evidence of
where the language is unclear to students and,
hence, where to work.
The students receive a great deal of
practice with a given target language structure
without repetition for its own sake.
C. DESIGN
Learner roles
✘ Gattegno sees language learning as a process of personal growth resulting from
growing student awareness and self-challenge.
✘ Learners are expected to develop independence, autonomy, and responsibility.
✘ The autonomous learner chooses proper expressions in a given set of
circumstances and situations. "The teacher cultivates the student's autonomy’
by deliberately building choices into sttuations" (Stevick 1980: 42).
✘ Learners exert a strong influence over each other's learning and, to a lesser
degree, over the linguistic content taught.
✘ In order to be productive members of the learning group, learners thus have to
play varying roles.

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C. DESIGN
Teacher roles
The teacher is a technician or engineer. ‘only the learner can do the learning,’
but the teacher, relying on what his stundents already know, can give what help is
necessary, focus the students’ perceptions, ‘force their awareness’, and ‘provide
exercise to insure their facility’ with the language. The teacher should respect the
autonomy of the learners in their attempts at relating and interacting with the new
challenges.
The teacher silently monitors learners’ interactions with each other and may
even leave the room.
Teachers are responsible for designing teaching sequences and creating
individual lessons and lesson elements.
Gattegno emphasizes the importance of teacher-defined learning goals that
are clear and attainable. Sequence and timing in Silent Way classes are more
important than in many kinds of language teaching classes, and the teachers
sensitivity to and management of them is critical.
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C. DESIGN
The role of instructional materials
The main purpose of the material is The materials are used to illustrate the
relationships between sound and meaning in the target language.
The materials consist mainly of a set of colored rods, color-coded
pronunciation and vocabulary wall chart, a pointer, and reading/writing exercises,
all of which are used to illustrate the relationships between sound and meaning in
the target language. The materials are designed for manipulation by the students as
well as by the teacher, independently and cooperatively, in promoting language
learning by direct association.
Other materials that may be used include books and worksheets for practicing
reading and writing skills, picture books, tapes, videotapes, films, and other visual
aids.

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 D PROCEDURE
A Silent Way Procedure
A Silent Way Lesson Procedure usually follows a standard format .
Whereas in the first part of the lesson it focuses on pronunciation and
depending on the level of the student , classroom procedures may focus on
sounds , phrases , or even sentences that are specified on the chart . The teacher
can say a word and ask students to guess what object is related to the word .
After practicing with language sounds , sentence pattern structure , and object
reinforcement then move on to practice .
If the response is wrong ,the teacher will try to reshape the speech and
demonstration or can ask other students to present the correct model

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 Procedure for the Silent Way Method in the Classroom
The teacher teaches numbers in class in the classroom.
First, the teacher provides props in the form of a rod. There are ten rods used
with different colors that will be used, namely: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, brown,
white, black, pink and gray. As a props in forming numbers and sentences. Then the
teacher begins to explain the colors on each rod and the numbers, such as: red is one,
blue is two, yellow is three, green is four, orange is five, brown is six, white is seven,
black is eight, pink is nine and gray is ten. After that the teacher picks up the rods in
sequence and then the students start chanting simultaneously. This stage is carried out
repeatedly until the students understand the colors and numbers described by the
teacher. The next stage,

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 the teacher begins to form a sentence by lifting one of the rods
and saying "one is red“ and then giving the rod that the teacher is
holding to one of the students and the student repeats what the
teacher has said. After that, take the second rod and give it to the
other students and the student must say the colors and numbers
according to what the teacher has explained. The teacher did it to
the last rod. The teacher then collects the existing rods again and
raises the rods one by one randomly and the students say it
simultaneously and correctly.

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E. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESESS OF THE METHOD
Strengths of The Method
 The class becomes active with the tasks and activities in this method.
 Can help the memory function of the students themselves.
 Student responses are provoked without verbal instructions from the teacher and
without giving monotouns examples.
 Train students to make conclusions and decisions appropriately by making their own
analogies.
 Educating to concentrate on the subject matter and students are always required to try
to learn independently.
 Basically, the silent way tends to have a lot in common with audiolingual, because
after all students who are given one-time material will really need repetition,
especially those who are new to the foreign language being studied.

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 Weaknesess of The Method
 Is seen as impractical in the classroom, because students need and
want more input from the teacher.
 Basically, the basic concept, the silent way gives students the
freedom to make choices in the situations presented, including in
sentence construction. This method gives the impression that
students can master the learning situation. But in reality, it is the
teacher who masters the material and the way of teaching it in the
classroom. Thus in fact the teaching and learning process is still
teacher-centered (teacher centered).

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 thanks!
Any questions?

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