The Audiolingual Method

Definition
The Audio-lingual Method (also known as the army method, the aural-oral method, or the new key), is
a method of foreign language teaching in which the students learn language by repeating/imitating
the recurring patterns/dialogues of everyday situations by succession of drills. The Audio-lingual
Method strongly dominated the field of education in the 1950s and 1960s.

Background
First Phase
World War II suddenly necessitated the United States to produce a band of orally proficient speakers
of different foreign languages. The US government then commissioned the American universities to
develop a special language course for the army officials that would focus on aural or oral skills. This
project was established in 1942 and labelled as the Army Specialized Training Programme
(ASTP). The method was also known as the Informant Method, since it employed a native speaker of
the language, the informant, and a linguist. The informant served as a source of language for
imitation, and the linguist supervised the learning experience. Due to its association with the army,
the method later on came to be known as the Army Method.

Second Phase
Towards the end of the 1950s there had been an increased attention to foreign language teaching in
educational institutions. Therefore, the educational planners came forward to develop a new method
of language teaching. This need for change was materialized as per the classroom needs of American
colleges and universities. The planners modelled their method based on the Army Specialized
Training Programme (ASTP),the Structural Linguistics and the Behaviourist Theory. This
combination of the trio of approaches led to the development of the Audio-lingual Method (a term
coined by professor Nelson Brooks in 1964), which was widely adopted for teaching foreign
languages in North American colleges and universities

The Audiolingual Method (ALM) gained attention in the 1950s, largely in

the USA where it was rooted in the military's need during World War II to
train large volumes of personnel in disparate languages. Although it
claimed to have turned language teaching from an art to a science, it
shared several aspects with the Direct Method. Both were a reaction to the
perceived failures of the Grammar-Translation Method. Both ban the use of
mother tongue, and both prioritize listening and speaking skills over reading
and writing. ALM is nevertheless different in several ways. It drew on early-
20th century beliefs of 1) behaviourism that anything could be learned
through conditioning; and 2) structuralism and structural linguistics that
emphasized grammatical structure. In ALM, grammar is prioritized over
vocabulary, and accuracy over fluency, giving learners few opportunities to
 produce errors which are seen as potentially "contagious". Ultimately, the
learner will speak "automatically".

The Audiolingual Method has also been called audiolingualism, the aural-oral approach and —
reflecting its military roots — the Army Method

The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins during World War II when it
became known as the Army Method. It is also called the Aural oral approach. It is based
on the structural view of language and the behaviorist theory of language learning.

The Audiolingual Approach to language teaching has a lot of similarities with the Direct
Method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar
Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that
speaking and listening competences preceded reading and writing competences. But
there are also some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of
vocabulary while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills

Characteristics
The basic distinctive features of the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

Approach
The theoretical bases behind the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

Theory of language:The theory of language underlying the Audio-lingual MethodisStructuralism.

According to the structural view, language has the following characteristics:

 Speech is more basic to language than the written form.

 Language structure and form are more significant than meaning.
 Elements in a language are produced in a rule-governed (structural) way.
 Language samples could be exhaustively described at any structural level of description.
 Language is structural like a pyramid, that is, linguistic level is system within system.
 Languages are different, since every language has its own unique system.

Typical features of an Audio lingual Method lesson:

 target language/some mother tongue

 teacher-centred

 mechanical habit-formation activities with little opportunity for ("bad habit"-causing)

mistakes

 immediate reinforcement of correct responses

  presentation of new structural patterns and vocabulary through oral repetition and
memorization of scripted dialogues

 oral pattern-drills of key structures from dialogues (repetition drills, chain drills, substitution
drills...)

 inductive learning of grammar rules based on dialogues (ie no explicit grammar teaching)

 use of tapes, visual aids and ultimately language labs

 reading and written work based on earlier oral work, sometimes given as homework

 language learning is habit-formation,

 mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they are considered bad habits,
 language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then
in written form,
 analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis,
 the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.

Theory of Learning: The theory of learning underlying the Audio-lingual Method is Behaviorism,
including the following principles:

 Human beings learn language in the same way as other habits are learned through the process
of training or conditioning.
 As language learning is a process of habit formation, repetition leads to stronger habit
formation and greater learning.
 The learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the native language.
 The habits of the native language will interfere with target language learning.
 Language cannot be separated from culture as culture represents the everyday behavior of the
people who use the target language.
 Language learning is the outcome of stimulus (what is taught) – response (learner’s reaction to
what is being taught) – reinforcement (approval or disapproval of the teacher) chain.
 Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits.
 Mistakes should be avoided as they help to form bad habits.
 Analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis.

Structuralism
The structural view to language is the view behind the audio-lingual method. This
approach focused on examining how the elements of language related to each other in
the present, that is, ‘synchronically‘ rather than ‘diachronically‘. It was also argued
that linguistic signs were composed of two parts, a signifier (the sound pattern of a
word) and a signified(the concept or meaning of the word). The study of language aims
at describing the performance ,the“parole” as it is the only observable part of language.
 classroom.
 Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things
which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be
regarded as behaviors. It contends that leaning occurs through associations, habit
formation and reinforcement. When the learner produces the desired behavior and is
reinforced positively, it is likely that behaviour be emitted again.

Design
The design of the Audio-lingual Method is materialised through the following considerations:

Objectives: The objectives of the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

 To enable the students to learn how to use English in everyday oral communication.
 To encourage the students to produce utterances with accurate pronunciation and grammar.
 To grow the students’ ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations like the
native speakers.
 objective of the audio lingual method is accurate pronunciation and grammar, the
ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations and knowledge of
sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar patterns. Particular emphasis was laid
on mastering the building blocks of language and learning the rules for combining
them. It was believed that learning structure, or grammar was the starting point
for the student.

. Goals and Principles

The general goal of the Audiolingual Method is to enable the target language
communicatively. And there are two objectives in Audiolingual Method such as;

Brook distinguishes between short-range and long-range objectives of an

Audiolingual program. Short-range objectives include training in listening
comprehension and accurate pronunciation. Long-range objectives or the
ultimate goal is to develop the student’s abilities are same like what native
speakers have, to use it automatically without stopping to think.

The main principles on which the audio lingual method is based are the following
:

Foreign language learning is basically a process of mechanical habit formation.

The student are able to give correct response rather than by making mistake.
Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to be learned in the
target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written
form. Aural-oral training is needed to provide the foundation for the development
of other language skills.
Drills can enable learners to form correct analogies. Hence the approach to the
teaching of grammar is essentially inductive rather than deductive.
The meaning that the words of a language have for the native speaker can be
learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not isolation.

 The syllabus: The Audio-lingual Method follows a Structural Syllabus.

Learner Roles: In the Audio-lingual method the students play a passive role as they don’t
have any control over the content or the method of learning. The students are mere
imitators of the teacher's model. Their sole objective is to follow the teacher’s direction and
respond as precisely and as promptly as possible.
 The role of the students is they are imitators of the teacher’s model of the tapes
he/she supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher’s directions and respond
as accurately and as rapidly as possible
Teacher Roles: In the Audio-lingual Method the teacher has an active role as he is the sole
authority to control and direct the whole learning programme. He monitors and corrects the
students’ performance. He is also responsible for providing the students with a good model
for imitation. The teacher endeavours to keep the students attentive by varying drills and
tasks and choosing relevant situations to practice structures.
 The role of teacher in class is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the
language behavior of her/his students. He/She is also responsible for providing
her/his students with a good model for imitation. .


The Role of Teaching/Learning Materials
 : In Audio-lingual Method the materials are predominantly teacher-oriented. The
instructional materials basically contains the structured sequence of lessons to be followed,
the dialogues, drills, and other practice activities, which would hopefully enable the teacher
to develop language mastery in the student.

Technique/Procedure
Typically, the audio-lingual method proceeds through drills or pattern practice. It gives
overemphasis on pattern practice since it conditions the students to form habits of correct
responses. The teacher strictly conducts, guides and controls the students’ behaviour in the target
language. New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through sentences/dialogues. The
teacher presents the correct model of a sentence/dialogue and the students endeavour to repeat it
again and again until they achieve the same accuracy. The students' successful responses are
positively reinforced. The teacher allows a limited use of mother tongue in the classroom so that the
students can learn the target language without any interference from the native language system. In
this model, the natural order of skill acquisition is sequenced as listening → speaking → reading →
writing. The theory basically concentrates on listening and speaking skills. But it is also true that the
oral skills receive most of the attention. The learner’s reading and written work is based upon the
oral work they did earlier. In the process of pattern practice, the learner first acquires the structural
patterns and then the vocabulary items. The grammar rules are taught through examples and drills,
but no explicit grammar rules are provided. The vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in the
context. Therefore, it is clear that the lessons in the Audio-lingual Method are chiefly built on drills.
Generally the drills are conducted based upon the patterns present in the dialogue:
Repetition Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and asks the students to listen carefully. The
students then try to replicate the dialogue as accurately and as quickly as possible.

Replacement Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and the students try to repeat the dialogue by
replacing a phrase or clause by one word. For instance:

Teacher: I broke the flower vase accidently.

Students: I broke it accidently.

Restatement Drill: The teacher says a dialogue and in response the students rephrase it. For
example:

Teacher: Tell me to slice the bread.

Students: Slice the bread.

Expansion Drill: The teacher says a dialogue and the students respond by adding a new word in a
certain place in the sentence. For Example:

Teacher: I get up early. (always).

Students: I always get up early.

Inflection Drill: In such a drill the students repeat the teacher’s utterance by changing the form of a
word. Example:

Teacher: I drafted the letter.

Student: I drafted the letters.

Chain Drill: Such a drill features conversation between the students in a circular sitting around the
classroom. The teacher initiates the chain conversation by asking a particular student a question.
The student responds and turns to the student next to him. In this way, the students continue the
conversation by asking and answering questions to each other.

Transposition Drill: This drill enables the students to be able to change the word order in a
sentence when a new word is added. For example:

Teacher: I'm not going to come with you.

Student: Neither am I.

Transformation: The teacher says a dialogue and asks the students to change the form of the
sentence, such as an affirmative sentence into a negative or an active sentence into a passive. For
example:

Teacher: This is my car (affirmative).

Student: This is not my car (negative).

Dialogue Completion Drill: The teacher says an incomplete dialogue by erasing some words that
the students learned earlier. The students then try to complete the dialogue with the missing words.
For instance:

Teacher: I ____ never seen such a ____ scenery before.

Students: I have never seen such a beautiful scenery before.
 Grammar Games: The teacher sometimes creates the opportunity for the students to practice the
newly learned grammatical materials through different games. The games help the students to
practice grammar elements in context, although in limited scope.

Question-and-answer Drill: In this drill the teacher asks questions and the students try to answer
the teacher’s question very quickly.

Contrastive Analysis: It is the comparison between the students’ native language and the target
language. This drill enables the teacher to find out where the students will feel troubled by the
interference from the target language.

Use of Minimal Pairs: The teacher familiarizes the students with pair of words which differ in only
one sound. For example, alter/altar. The teacher asks the students to find the difference in meaning
between the two words.

Integration Drill: The teacher says two separate sentences and the students then combine them
into one sentence. For example:

Teacher: I fed the dog./ The dog was very hungry.

Students: I fed the dog which was very hungry.

Single-slot Substitution Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and also says a word or phrase as a
cue. The students repeat the dialogue by using the cue in appropriate place.

Multiple-slot Substitution Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and also provides more than one
cues. The students repeat the cues in suitable places in the dialogue with necessary changes.

Restoration Drill: Students create a sentence from a sequence of separate words. For example:

Teacher: ran/away/man.
Students: The man ran away.

Activities
 The main activities include reading aloud dialogues, repetitions of model
sentences, and drilling. Key structures from the dialogue serve as the basis for
pattern drills of different kinds. Lessons in the classroom focus on the correct
imitation of the teacher by the students. Not only are the students expected to
produce the correct output, but attention is also paid to correct pronunciation.
Although correct grammar is expected in usage, no explicit grammatical
instruction is given. It is taught inductively. Furthermore, the target language is
the only language to be used in the classroom.

Advantages
 This is the first language learning method which is grounded on a solid theory of language
learning.
 This method emphasises everyday cultural traits of the target language.
 It provides the opportunity to learn correct pronunciation and structure.
 This method made it possible to teach large groups of learners.
 It puts stress on listening and speaking skill.
  It aims at developing listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the
Grammar translation method
 The use of visual aids has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.
 Advantages:

 Learners be able speaking the target language comunicatively.

Learners have no difficulties to understand the lesson as it is carried out in
the mother tongue.
Learners are able to give correct response directly.
Learners more concern about the combination between behavioral
psychology and linguistic.

 Disadvantages:
 Speaking or any kind of spontaneous creative output was missing from the
curriculum.
Students lacked an active role in the classroom.
Very little attention is paid to communication.
Very little attention is paid to content.
Process of learning only focus in speaking.
Because of all these disadvantages, instructors tried to find better ways to
remedy the pitfalls of the audiolingual method.

 The method is based on false assumptions about language. The study of language
doesn’t amount to studying the “parole”, the observable data. Mastering a language
relies on acquiring the rules underlying language performance. That is, the
linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competences.
 The behaviorist approach to learning is now discredited. Many scholars have proven
its weakness. Noam Chomsky ( “Chomsky, Noam (1959). “A Review of B. F.
Skinner’s Verbal behavior”) has written a strong criticism of the principles of the
theory.

1. The theoretical foundation of the Audio-lingual Method suffers from inadequacy.

2. It is a mechanical method since it demands pattern practice, drilling, memorization or over-
learning.
3. It is a teacher dominated method.
4. Here, the learners have a passive role, since they have little control over their learning.
5. This method does not put equal emphasis on the four basic skills, such as listening, speaking,
reading and writing.
6. It considers only language form, not meaning.
7. This method does not pay sufficient attention to communicative competence.
8. It prefers accuracy to fluency.
9.

4. The Application of Audiolingual Method in Teaching Reading for

Junior High School
  In applying Audiolingual Method for teaching speaking, I will take the
material about daily conversation. The Material is for first grade of Junior
High School. As we know, in teaching speaking the students must try to
speak English about something based on the material in order to improve
their speaking ability, I will use Audiolingual Method and help the students
to improve speaking ability through dialogue, so the students able to speak
English very well.

 1) I will do the brainstorming to catch the students’ attention.

 2) I will explain about how to make a dialogue.

 3) I will give the students an example of dialogue and ask them try to
make a dialogue.

 4) After the students try to make a dialogue and ask them come in front
of the classroom and show the dialogue to their friends.

5) After the students show the dialogue, the teacher ask another students
about the dialogue that their friend had showed
Conclusion
The acceptability of this theory mainly lies in its solid theoretical base. This is also the first language
learning method to consider the learner’s communicative competence to certain extent. Despite these
positive traits the theory declined in practice for its dearth of scientific credibility. However, the theory
exerted a major influence on the upcoming teaching methods and still continues to be used today in
language teaching methodology, although in limited scope.