Audio-visual method

An Audio-Visual Approach to Modern Language Teaching.

Pictures play a most prominent role in present day advertising. They are designed to attract attention to the advertisement, to excite and hold the interest of the reader and to impress his memory. In a sense the advertiser is teaching the reader a foreign word, since he wants the consumer to remember a particular brand name. To achieve this purpose he found pictures to be most effective, because they create a mental association by which the product and the name of the manufacturer are related in the readers mind. The foreign language teacher faces a problem in many respects similar to the one of the advertiser; he wants his students to remember foreign words and expressions enabling them to express their thoughts in the foreign tongue. In this case advertising can give us a few hints in the use of audio- visual equipment and techniques. In foreign language teaching audio- visual education has played the role of an accessory designed to present the culture of the foreign country. This accessory could become an integral part in teaching the language itself. The high school teacher especially is faced with the challenge of attracting the attention of his students to his subjects matter. As the pupil strolls from one class to another, according to the cycle of his daily schedule, his thoughts often are preoccupied with other activities more interesting to him. Furthermore the atmosphere of the classroom with its maps and posters is not endowed with a magic wand able to focus the pupils attention on the foreign language, since this visual device is used in nearly every classroom and the pictures too frequently remain unnoticed. However, the teacher easily can captivate the attention of every one by the means of an attractive slide illustrating the first paragraph of the lesson; and there seems to be little danger that slides will lose their fascination.

AUDIO - VISUAL METHOD

The Audio- visual method is based on the coordinated use of visual and auditive technical media. It exists in strong versions in which the simultaneous use of pictorial and auditive material is dominant, and in weak versions in which pictorial and auditive materials are used only as a component within language instruction or, more frequently, with both elements dissociated from other. The audio-visual method was first developed by the CREDIF term in France in the 1950s. One can see this method at work in such French courses/books as Voix et Images de France (for adult French learners), Bonjour Line (for young French learners), De vive voix and Dialogue Canada. The audio-visual is often linked to the audio-lingual method use tape-recorders, work mainly with dialogues and were presented as scientifically-based methods during the 1960s. Objectives. Here are some objectives of the audio-visual method: This method is intended for teaching everyday language at the early stage of second/foreign language learning. Using audio visual methods in teaching will help students gain knowledge quickly and easily, even when making an audio-visual. Procedure: 1. The presentation of new materials through a filmstrips and corresponding tapes. 2. Explanations of the materials through pointing, demonstration, selective listening, question and answer. 3. Reinforcement through repetition, memorization, and practice in a language lab. 4. Development by means of applying the language in different context. Types of audio-visual tools. In an audio visual class is very important have more tools that help teacher for developing the class, such us: Computers

Television DVDs Projectors forms of audio-visual material Posters Comics Costumes Models and field visits are also audio-visual materials.

Audio-lingual method

BACKGROUND
The audio lingual method is the product of three historical circumstances. For its views on language, audiolingualism drew on the work of American linguists such as Leonard Bloomfield. The prime concern of American linguistics at the early decades of the 20th century had been to document all the indigenous languages spoken in the USA. However, because of the dearth of trained native teachers who would provide a theoretical description of the native languages, linguists had to rely on observation. For the same reason, a strong focus on oral language was developed. At the same time behaviourist psychologists such as B.F SKINNER were forming the belief that all behaviour (including language) was learnt through repetition and positive or negative reinforcement. The third factor that enabled the birth of the audio lingual method was the outbreak of World War II, which created the need to post large number of American servicemen all over the world. It was therefore necessary to provide these soldiers with at least basic verbal communication skills. Unsurprisingly, the new method relied on the prevailing scientific methods of the time, observation and repetition, which were also admirably suited to teaching en masse. Because of the influence of the military, early versions of the audio lingualism came to be known as the army method.

AUDIO - LINGUAL METHOD

The Audio-lingual Method is a style of teaching using in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans could be trained through a system of reinforcement-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 be taught a language directly, without using the students native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language. However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method didnt focus on teaching vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar. OBJECTIVES. Here are some of the objectives of the audio-lingual method: Accurate pronunciation and grammar. Ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations. Knowledge of sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar patterns. PROCEDURE. Brooks lists the following procedures that the teacher should adopt in using the Audio-lingual method: The modeling of all learnings by the teacher. The subordination of the mother tongue to the second language by rendering English inactive while the new language is being learned. The early and continued training of the ear and tongue without recourse to graphic symbols. The learning of structure through the practice of patterns of sound, order, and form, rather than by explanation. The gradual substitution of graphic symbols for sounds after sounds is thoroughly known. The summarizing of the main principles of structure for students use when the structures are already familiar, especially when they differ from those of the mother tongue

 The shortening of the time span between a performance and the pronouncement of its rightness or wrongness, without interrupting the response. This enhances the factor of reinforcement in learning. The minimizing of vocabulary until all common structures have been learned. Sustained practice in the use of the language only in the molecular form of speaker hearer situation. Practice in translation only as a literary exercise at an advanced level.

In a typical audio-lingual lesson, the following procedures would be observed: 1. 2. 3. 4. Students hear a model dialogue. Students repeat each line of the dialogue. Certain key words or phrases may be changed in the dialogue. Key structures from the dialogue server as the basis for pattern drills of different kinds. 5. The students practice substitutions in the pattern drills. TEACHER ROLES. In Audio-lingualism, as in Situational Language Teaching, the teachers role is central and active; it is a teacher-dominated method. The teacher models the target language, controls the direction and pace of learning, and monitors and corrects the learners performance. The teacher must keep the learners attentive by varying drills and tasks and choosing relevant situations to practice structures. LEARNER ROLES. Learners are viewed as organisms that can be directed by skilled training techniques to produce correct responses. In accordance with behaviorist learning theory, teaching focuses on the external manifestations of learning rather than on the internal processes. Examples: The use of drills and patterns practice is a distinctive feature of the audio-lingual method: for example the repetition: I used to know him I used to know him I used to know him

DISADVANTAGES OF AUDIO VISUAL AND AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD.

1. Basic method of teaching is repetition, speech is standardized and pupils turn into parrots who can reproduce many things but never create anything new or spontaneous. Pupils became better and better at pattern practice but were unable to use the patterns fluently in natural speech situations. 2. Mechanical drills of early Audio visual approach criticized as being not only boring and mindless but also counter productive, if used beyond initial introduction to new structure. 3. Audio visual materials were open to same sort of misuse. Tendency to regard audio visual materials as a teaching method in themselves, not as a teaching aid. 4. Soon became clear to teachers that audio visual approach could only assist in presentation of new materials. More subtle classroom skills were needed for pupils to assimilate material and use it creatively. This final vital phase was often omitted by teachers. 5. New technology caught publishers and text book writers unprepared very few commercial materials were available in the early stages. Those that did exist stressed oral and aural skills and didnt develop reading and writing skills. 6. New materials necessitated extensive use of equipment with all associated problems of black out, extension leads, carrying tape-recorders from classroom to classroom. Some schools set up Specialist Language rooms, but teachers still had to set up projectors and find places on tape. Equipment could break down, projector lamps explode, tapes tangle not sophisticated equipment of today. Hardware involved extra time, worry and problems, and, for these reasons alone, its use gradually faded away. 7. Series of classroom studies threw doubt on claims made for language laboratory. Showed that this costly equipment did not improve performance of 11+ beginners, when compared with same materials used on single tape-recorder in classroom.

CONCLUSION The audio-visual and audio-lingual methods are important in the learning English teaching, because help teacher for developing more skills in the students and make the class more dynamic and fluency. The audio- lingual method let us developing our abilities, such us: listening comprehension, accurate pronunciation, recognition of speech symbols, etc.