Direct-Method.doc

An Introduction of Direct Method
1. The Direct Method is a method of foreign or second language teaching which insists that only the target language should be used in class and meanings should be communicated “directly” by associating speech forms with actions, objects, mime, gestures, and situations.
2. The Direct Method emphasizes the importance of spoken language, therefore holds that reading and writing should be taught only after speaking.
3. The Direct Method believes in the natural process of language learning and in the inductive teaching of grammar.
4. The Direct Method got its name from the assumption that meanings are to be connected with the target language, without going through the process of translating into the students’ native language.
5. The Direct Method was developed in the late 19th century as a reaction against the Grammar-Translation Method.
6. Language teaching innovations in the 19th century were inevitable. The Direct Method emerges as a result of the innovations.
7. The new world in the late 19th century made the Direct Method not only a necessity but also a possibility.
8. The rapid development of linguistics, psychology and education greatly stimulated the establishment of the Direct Method.
9. The non-grammarians, represented by Hermann Paul, formed the main linguistic base of the Direct Method.
10. The modern psychology founded by W. M. Wundt laid the psychological foundation for the Direct Method.
11. J. A. Comenius’ ideas on education justified the views on language teaching with the Direct Method.
12. The founder of the Direct Method, F. Gouin , his linguistic and psychological theories based on his observations of children’s use of language were directly applied to the practice of the Direct Method.
13. The language teaching innovations in the 19th century started with conversation books and phrase books intended for private study. Then some language teaching specialists turned their attention to the way modern languages were taught in the secondary schools.
14. The founder of the Direct Method, the Frenchman F. Gouin, the best known reformers in the mid-19th century, who developed an approach to teaching a foreign language on the basis of his observations of child first language learning.
15. In F. Gouin’s Method new language items were organized and presented in “series” which includes sequences of sentences related to actions in an event.
16. Reform-minded language teacher M. D. Berlitz established the first Berlitz School in the U. S. in 1878.
17. M. D. Berlitz used a method which is known as Berlitz Method.
18. Berlitz Method was on school of the Direct Method.
19. The principles of the Berlitz Method are summarized by Richards and Rodgers in the following way:
①Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language;
②Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught;
③Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around
question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes;
④Grammar was taught inductively;
⑤New teaching points were introduced orally; concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration,
objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas;
⑥Both speech and listening comprehension were taught;
⑦Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.
20. Towards the end of the 19th century, these ideas and methods received widespread support or attention form practically-minded linguists like Henry Sweet in England, Wilhelm Vietor in Germany and Paul Passy in France.
21. The language teaching innovation turned into the Reform Movement in language teaching. Linguists and teachers promoted new approaches to language teaching through their pamphlets, articles and books.
22. The International Phonetic Association (IPA) and other organizations in the language teaching profession were set up.
23. They emphasized the importance of spoken language of everyday life and students’ oral proficiency.
24. They also considered students’ mother tongue as an interfering system and tired not to use it in the classroom.

Theory of language underlying the Direct Method
1. The theory of language underlying the Direct Method was mainly derived from the following views proposed by the innovations and reformers of the 19th century:
(1). Every language has its own structure and can not be forced into the straitjacket of Latin grammar.
This view negates the dominant role of translation in the traditional method and offers an impetus means
should take the place of translation as the main techniques in foreign language learning.
(2).Since the spoken language came into being before written language, speech patterns rather than grammar
should be fundamental elements of language. This view accounts for the emphasis on the priority for
spoken language teaching in the Direct Method.
(3). Spoken language is a learnable system of sounds, and sounds are best described by phonetic
transcription. Training in phonetics will enable teachers and students to pronounce the language
accurately.
(4). According to Gouin, verbal expression is intimately linked with thought about real events. Thoughts
and corresponding utterances do not occur randomly or singly; they come in sequences and ends-means series. According to the advocates of the Direct Method, the verbal expression if an event is not just a word but a sentence; and the event is expressed above all, by a verb. So the sentencewas regarded as a more useful unit of language instruction than the word and the verb no less important than the norn to which language pedagogy had previously paid much more attention.

Theory of learning
1. The learning of a foreign language was viewed by the Direct Methodologists as analogous to the language acquisition, and the learning processes involved were often interpreted in terms of an associationist psychology.
2. According to the psychological principle of the German scholar F. Franke (1884), a direct association between forms and meanings in the target language should be established. A language could best be learned by being used actively in the classroom.
3. Direct association of language with objects and persons of the immediate environment is emphasized in the Direct Method.
4. Rather than teaching grammar deductively, teachers encourage learners to induce rules of grammar through active use of the target language in the classroom. Those assumptions can be traced back to “activism” in Ancient and Medieval times.
5. Comenius summarized the learning theory of the Direct Method as follows:
(1). Comenius claimed that the learner will acquire rules of grammar inductively. The best method is not
make the learner learn the rules themselves, but to provide direct practice in speaking and listening through imitation and repetition.
(2). In the Direct Method, the best method of teaching meaning is the one using sensory experience,
generally visual perception.

Techniques of the Direct Method
In order to realize the goal of teaching, a Direct Method teacher is usually found using the following techniques:
1. Direct association : new language items are presented by associating meaning with the target language directly.
2. Question and answer exercises: in order to have the newly-introduced language items fully understood by students, the teacher answers students’ questions and asks students to answer her questions in full sentences.
3. Conversation practice: students are encouraged to ask each other questions using the same grammatical structures they have practiced.
4. Error correction. Students are not allowed to make mistakes. Their mistakes are immediately corrected by the teacher or by students themselves.
5. Dictation : Dictation is an exercise frequently used in consolidation with written work in the Direct Method. Dictation is used as a means to reinforce and test what the students have learned.
6. Inductive teaching of grammar. Grammar is learned inductively through listening and speaking activities.
7. Listening comprehension tasks. Designing listening comprehension tasks is one of the ways to establish a favorbable classroom climate in the Direct Method.
8. Graded composition: writing can be introduced as a means of consolidation and evaluation in the Direct Method. Written work should be graded in the following sequence:
① Reproduction of familiar reading texts;
② Reproduction of narrative orally presented by the teacher;
③ Free composition.
9. Graded composition is one of techniques of the Direct Method.
10. Gradation is principle by which the organization and sequencing was chosen.
11. Classroom procedures in the Direct Method can be roughly divided into three phases: presentation by Direct Association; Oral practice in the target language; consolidation with written work.