1/132/13Background1.Inthelate19thcentury,withthedevelopmentofcapitalism,allEuropeancountriesincreasinglycommunicatedwitheachother.Itcreatedademandfororalproficiencyinforeignlanguages.2.Therapiddevelopmentoflinguistics,psychologyandeducation.3.AndtheGrammarTranslationMethodcouldnotmeettheneed.TheReformMovementhasbegan.TheInternationalPhoneticAssociationwasfoundedanditsInternationalPhoneticAlphabet(IPA)wasdesigned.3/134.Thebestknownreformerinthemid-19thcenturywasaFrenchmannamedE.Gouin.Hedevelopedanapproachtoteachingaforeignlanguagebasedonhisobservationsofchildren’suseoflanguage.5.

WilhelmViёtor,aGermanyscholarLanguageTeachingMustStartAfresh

SpeechpatternsInHenrySweet’sbookThePracticalStudyofLanguages(1899),hesetforthprinciplesforthedevelopmentofteachingmethod,whichsystematicallydiscussedaboutTheDirectMethod.4/13ItwasestablishedinGermanyandFranceitthelate1800sandcontrastswiththe

GrammarTranslationMethod

andothertraditionalapproaches.ItbecamewidelyknowninAmericathroughitsusebySauveurandBerlitzinsuccessfulcommerciallanguageschool.Itfadedintheearly1900s.5/13Principles1.Classroominstructionwasconductedexclusivelyinthetargetlanguage.2.Onlyeverydayvocabularyandsentencesweretaught.3.Oralcommunicationskillswerebuiltupinacarefullygradedprogressionorganizedaroundquestion-and-answerexchangesbetweenteachersandstudentsinsmall,intensiveclasses.4.Grammarwastaughtinductively.6/135.Newteachingpointswereintroducedorally.6.Concretevocabularywastaughtthroughdemonstration,objects,andpictures;abstractvocabularywastaughtbyassociationofideas.7.Bothspeechandlisteningcomprehensionweretaught.8.Correctpronunciationandgrammarwereemphasized.7/13Mainactivities1.Directassociation(newlanguageitems)2.Question

and

answer

exercise.(asking

questions

in

target

language

and

having

students

answer

in

full

sentences)3.Errorcorrection(studentsareallowedtocorrecttheirmistakesbytheteacherorthemselves.)

8/134.Inductiveteachingofgrammar5.Conversationpractice(studentsareencouragedtoaskeachotherquestionsusingthesamegrammaticalstructuretheyhavepracticed.)6.Dictation

(Itisusedasameanstoreinforceandtestwhatthestudentshavelearned.)9/13CommentAdvantages1.TheDirectmethodofferedinnovationsatthelevelofteachingprocedures.2.TheDirectmethodwasquitesuccessfulinprivatelanguageschools,suchasthoseoftheBerlitzchain,wherepayingclientshadhighmotivationandtheuseofnative-speakingteacherswasthenorm.3.Formingthehabitofspeakingandthinkingintargetlanguageandimprovingstudents’automaticityinusingthetargetlanguage.Solanguagesenseisbuiltup.10/134.Thismethodisbasedonfullofactivities,soitisveryinteresting,excitingforstudents.5.Payingmoreattentiontospeakingandlistening,whichisveryusefulineverydaylife.Anditmakesforeignlanguagelearningmorenaturalandefficient.11/13Disadvantages1.TheDirectMethodwasdifficulttoimplementinpublicsecondaryschooleducation.restrictedtime;thelimitedskillsofteachers;andtheperceivedirrelevanceofconversationskillsinaforeignlanguagefortheaverageAmericancollegestudent.2.Itoveremphasizedanddistortedthesimilaritiesbetweennaturalisticfirstlanguagelearningandclassroomforeignlanguagelearning.3.Itlackedarigorousbasisinappliedlinguistictheoryandathoroughmethodologicalbasis.12/134.Itunderestimatedtheroleofnativelanguage.Anditmaybeverytime-consum