a.

Discuss the differences between the Reading Approach and the Audio Lingual
Approach.
A foreign language is something very challenging, not only for students but also for
teachers. Through history several approaches have been used by teachers in order to
help students to get that goal. In the 1930s came the reading approach in universities
and schools, which had the sole purpose to train students to pass yearly standardized
tests of foreign languages. Normal students attended classes, where they were given lots
of vocabulary lists and grammar structures to memorize, which de-emphasized the use
of spoken English, because students were not supposed to travel overseas to use that
language; however, later on in the 1940s appeared a new revolutionary approach called
audio-lingual, which was used in the military, at the beginning of WWII, because the
US Army wanted to communicate with French allies and at the same time spy on
German enemies. This approach focus on repetition practices in order to form strong
habits. Teachers used rewards and reinforcements to help students remember the target
language emphasizing in oral instant communication.
b. Which approach most closely aligns with your current teaching style?
As a military, I had the huge privilege of being taught by the audio-lingual approach. I
attended English training in the US in a well-known Institution belongs to the DoD
(Department od Defense) called Defense Language Institute (DLI). Over there I
received a lot training base on this approach and to be perfectly honest it was very
helpful, because I could deeply learn, and today I fell very comfortable with my
English Level. Nowadays I try to use this techniques in my classes to make them more
enjoyable and effective.