The audio-lingual method of foreign language instruction predominant in the United States emphasizes the lingual at the expense of the aural. Language acquisition is viewed as verbal behavior. Instead of a response-oriented learning approach, a stimulus-oriented one should be used, with listening as the focal skill from which speaking would…

The need for cognitive style mapping and student grouping in order to enhance learning and retention in foreign language instruction is examined. The four components of classical audio-lingual language instruction, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, are discussed. Different learning modalities are considered, including visual, auditory,…

This Middlebury College summer 1974 commencement address is an informal presentation of the author's experiences as a language learner. The effectiveness of such pedagogical methods as the grammar-translation, audio-lingual, and "balanced" approaches, and of language learning with the aid of an informant, is discussed. It is concluded that, given…

On the basis of evidence from general linguistic theory and psycholinguistic research, it is argued that the working hypotheses of the audiolingual habit theory are inconsistent with studies of human verbal learning tasks, and that transformation grammarians have shown convincingly that structuralist views of language are too narrow in scope. It…

Reviews trends in language instruction and the use of language laboratories in South African higher education from 1962 to 1990, paying particular attention to racial differences and the movement from an audio-lingual method to a communicative language technique. Questions the wisdom of equipping institutions with sophisticated hardware without…

Though the audiolingual approach has lost much of the support that it once enjoyed from methodologists and language teachers, no new method--fully formulated, coherent, and sufficiently in harmony with current developments in psychology and linguistics--has yet arisen to take its place. Many new directions in language teaching are apparent, most…

The history of instructional material development for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in the United States is chronicled through five different instructional approaches: the audiolingual approach (late 1940s to early 1960s); transformational grammar (early 1960s to the present); Total Physical Response (late 1970s to the present);…

The American Graduate School of International Management (AGSIM) in Glendale, Arizona, founded in 1946, has a tripartite curriculum incorporating modern language instruction, international studies, and world business. All students at AGSIM are required to achieve conversational proficiency in at least one of the eight languages taught there.…

This paper constitutes an analysis of the audiolingual concept in terms of what it was originally intended to mean and what it has come to mean in second language teaching. Basic to the concept is the notion that language was originally a matter of oral communication, and that although writing and writing systems are central, they have secondary…

This paper describes some experiences in foreign language teaching based on three objectives: (1) to prove that students have greater language learning potential than they show in the classroom; (2) to put the stress on communication; and (3) to keep the students motivated. The 41 subjects were the students in a beginning German class who met for…

In the spirit of the new, sober eclecticism in foreign language teaching methodology, the effectiveness/efficiency dimensions become the criteria for decision-making in educational planning. The points are raised that: (1) there are no universally applicable methods; (2) teachers should not accept educational dogma without empirical evidence; (3)…

This is a preliminary report on a series of small-scale language teaching experiments, aimed primarily at demonstrating that valid research into language teaching methods is possible. Small-scale refers not to the number of subjects involved, but to the scope of the experiment. Instead of looking at a method as a whole (as happens in large-scale…

This paper questions the practical application of the audiovisual method in FL instruction in Belgian secondary schools. Some of the reasons for the lack of success of the audiolingual method are given as: the large size of the classes; the young age and poor motivation of the students; the small number of weekly hours devoted to FL instruction;…

Perhaps the main forum for disseminating information about new techniques and materials to language teachers is the professional development workshop. Such workshops often proceed along similar lines: local teachers are brought together and a consultant is brought in to describe and illustrate a particular subject, with the expectation that…

This section of the TESOL convention volume challenges basic assumptions which are held by language teachers and researchers while at the same time providing other assumptions for professionals to challenge. The following papers are presented: (1) My View of "Teaching Languages: A Way and Ways," by E. Stevick; (2) "'I Got…