Topic: Topic: Theoretical bases for the Theoretical bases for the audio-lingual methodaudio-lingual method

ObjectivesTrainees will be able to give reasons for the

design and procedures of the Audio-lingual Method.

Lesson OneLesson OneGiving Reasons for the Audio-lingGiving Reasons for the Audio-ling

ual Methodual Method Pre-task activities Step One: discussing the language theories underlying t

he method. Step Two: discussing the language learning theories un

derlying the method. While-task activities Step Three: group work to give reasons for the method. Post-task activities Step Seven: group speaker reporting to the class.

The Audiolingual MethodThe Audiolingual Method((American Army Specialized Training Program)American Army Specialized Training Program) Language has the following characteristics: Theory of language. American structuralism .1. Elements in a language are produced in a rule-

governed(structured) way.2. Language samples could be exhaustively described at any

structural level of description.3. Language is structured like a pyramid, that is, linguistic levels

are systems within systems.4. The structural linguists believed that language is speech.5. The structural linguists believed that languages are different.

Theory of language learningTheory of language learning Behaviourist psychology (Behaviorism): People are conditioned to learn many forms of

behaviour, including language, through the process of training or conditioning. The occurrence of these behaviours is dependent upon three crucial elements in learning; a stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour; a response triggered by a stimulus; and reinforcement, which serves to mark the response as being appropriate(or inappropriate) and encourages the repetition (or suppression) of the response in the future.

The basic theoretical principles of the The basic theoretical principles of the Audiolingual Method.(Moulton, 1961)Audiolingual Method.(Moulton, 1961)

1. Language is speech, not writing.

2. A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say.

3. Language are different.

4. A Language is a set of habits.

5. Teach the language, not about the language.

American StructuralismAmerican Structuralism

Origin of American structuralismContribution of Franz Boas(鲍阿斯）Contribution of Edward Sapir（萨丕尔）Contribution of Leonard Bloomfield（布龙菲尔德）

Influence of behaviorismMain features of structuralism

Origin of American Origin of American structuralismstructuralism

American structuralism started at the beginning of the 20th century and was very popular and influential in the 1930s and 1940s throughout the world.

Contribution of Franz BoasContribution of Franz Boas((鲍阿斯）鲍阿斯）Boas, as an anthropologist, w

orked in the field for about 20 years at the turn of the century, recording the native languages and cultures of American Indians which were dying out very quickly.

He found that the traditional grammatical model could not be used to analyse the structures of those languages. He had to describe them as they were used.

Contribution of Edward SapirContribution of Edward Sapir（萨丕尔）（萨丕尔）

He found that although American Indians’ languages had no written forms and were regarded as primitive, they were virtually very systematic and were very efficient in communications with their communities.

Contribution of Leonard BloomContribution of Leonard Bloomfieldfield （布龙菲尔德）（布龙菲尔德）

He is regarded as the father of American structuralism. His book Language (1933) became the bible of linguistics and remained unsurpassed as an introduction to linguistics after more than 3 decades.

Influence of behaviorismInfluence of behaviorism

Bloomfield agreed with the views of the psychologist John B Watson that only things that could be observed publicly and objectively could be studied scientifically. So he held the position that if linguistics was going to be as science, it should only admit data that could be objectively verified.

He characterized language and language acquisition in terms of behaviorist terminology.

Main features of structuralismMain features of structuralism

1. Linguists should describe instead of prescribe what people actually say and should take an inductive approach in analysing data.

2.A language was a habit of verbal behavior which consisted of a series of stimuli and responses

3. Speech was primary and writing was secondary because writing was a later development to represent speech.

4. Each language had a unique system of its own and it was wrong to fit it into the established grammatical patterns of Greek.

BehaviorismBehaviorism

Origin of behaviorismPrinciples of behaviorismContribution of B.F.SkinnerClassical conditioning and operant

conditioning

Origin of behaviorismOrigin of behaviorism

In1913, the American psychologist John B. Watson 华生 (1878-1958) published an article entitled “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” which was regarded as a formal introduction to behaviorism in the psychological world

Principles of behaviorism Principles of behaviorism Any consideration of animal’s mental events such as k

nowledge, perception and decisions only made the explanation of predictable behaviour more complex and confusing, because we had no direct way to observe the animal’s mind . What we could observe publicly was the animal’ behavi

our and the external environmental conditions.

The appropriate goal of psychology set out in his article was to understand the environmental conditions that would cause an animal to behave in a particular way.

Contribution of B.F.SkinnerContribution of B.F.Skinner

B. F. Skinner(1904—1990) was regarded as the leader of behaviorism.

New kind of apparatus for studying learning in animals and a new way of describing the learning process.

Further development and modifications of Watson’s learning theory

Classical conditioning and Classical conditioning and operant conditioningoperant conditioning

One kind of learning processes is now called classical conditioning, by which a stimulus that did not elicit a response comes to elicit a response after it is paired several times with a stimulus that already elicit a response.

The other kind of learning processes is now labelled as operant conditioning by which the occurrence of a response will be determined by the consequences of the response.

The habit-formation theoryThe habit-formation theory

Acquisition of languageFunction of imitation and practicePositive transferNegative transferAttitude towards errorFunction of contrastive analysis

Acquisition of languageAcquisition of language

The process of second language acquisition is regarded as a process of habit formation.

Function of imitation and practiceFunction of imitation and practice

Imitation and practice play an important role in the process of habit- formation, because the behaviorists maintained that imitation will help learners identify the associations between stimuli and responses while practice will reinforce the

associations and help learners to form the new linguistic habits.

Positive transferPositive transfer

If the mother tongue and the target language have the same linguistic habits, then positive transfers will occur and the target language learning process will be facilitated.

Negative transferNegative transfer

When the mother tongue and the target language share a meaning but express it in different ways, the learner will transfer the ways of expression in the mother tongue to the target language . This is called negative transfer and the results of such transfers are realized by errors made by the learner.

Attitude towards errorAttitude towards error

Errors should be avoided and should be corrected if they have been made, because they are indication of non-learning and have the danger of becoming bad linguistic habits.

Function of contrastive Function of contrastive analysisanalysis

If a careful and detailed comparison between the mother tongue and the target language is done, then all the errors in second language learning process can be predicted and avoided