Audio Lingual Method

Este material es proporcionado al alumno con fines educativos, para la crítica y la investigación respetando la reglamentación en materia de derechos de autor.
Este ejemplar no tiene costo alguno. El uso indebido de este ejemplar es responsabilidad del alumno.

Reading # 8
Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T.S. Approaches and Methods in laneuaee teachin~. C.U.P., pp. 44
63

4

TheAudiolingual Method

Background
T he Coleman Report in 1929 recommended a reading-based approach
to foreign language teaching for use in American s chools a nd colleges
(Chapter 1). T his emphasized teaching the comprehension of t exts.
Teacliers t aught from books containing short reading passages i ii t he
foreigii language, preceded by lists of vocabulary. Rapid silent reading
was tlie goal, butin practice teachers often resorted to discussing the
coiitent of t he passage in English. T hose involved in the teaching of
Englisli a s a second language in the United States between the two world
wars used either a modified Direct Method approach, a reading-based
approach, or a reading-oral approach (Darian 1972). Unlike the approach that was being developed by British applied linguistsduring t he
s ame period, there was little a ttempt to treat language content systematically. Sentence patterns and g rammar w ere introduced at the whiiii
of t he textbook writer. There was no standardization of t he vocabulary
or granimar that was included. Neither was there a consensus o n wlint
graiiiniar, sentence patterns, and vocabulary were rnost important f or
beginning, intermediate,or advanced learners.
But the entry of the United States into W orld W ar 11 h ad a significant
effect on language teaching in America. To s upply the U.S. government
with personnel who were fluent in German, French, Italian, Chinese,
Japanese, M alay, a nd other languages, and who could work as interpreters, c ode-room assistants, and t ranslators, i t was necessary to set up
a speciallanguage training program. The government c ommissioned
American universities to develop foreign language programs for inilitary
persoiiiiel. Thus the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) w ns
establislied in 1942. Fifty-five American universities were involved i n
t hc program by the beginniñg of 1943.
T lie objective of the army programs was for students to attain conversiitional proficiencyin a variety of foreign languages. Since this was
not tlie goal of c onventional foreign language c ourses in t he United
States, iiew approaches were necessary. Linguists, s uch as L eonnrd
Blooiiifield a t Yale, h ad already developed training prograins as part o t
thcir liriguistic research that were designed to give linguists and a ntliropologists mastery of American Indian l ang~iagesa ndother Ianguager

Richards, J.C. y T.S. Rodgers (1987). The Audiolingual Method.
En Approaches and Methods in language teaching (pp. 44-63). Reino Unido: Cambridge University Press.

Este material es proporcionado al alumno con fines educativos, para la crítica y la investigación respetando la reglamentación en materia de derechos de autor.
Este ejemplar no tiene costo alguno. El usoindebido de este ejemplar es responsabilidad del alumno.

T he Audiolitzgual M ethod
they were studying. Texcbooks did not exist for such languages. The
technique Bloomfield and his colleagues used was sometiines known as
the "informant method," since i t used a native speaker of t he language
- t he informant - w ho served a s a s ource of phrases and vocabulary
and who provided sentences f o ri mitation, a n d a linguist, who supervised
the learning experience. The linguist did not necessariiy k now the l ang uage but was trained in eliciting t he basic structure of the language
from the informant. Thus the students and the linguist were able to take
part in guided conversation with the informant, and together they g radually l earned how t o speak the lariguage, a s well a s to u...