Methods and Technique project

The Direct Method

Introduction

Teachers are constantly improvising and developing new teaching styles that are most likely to benefit the students and aid them in their learning. Teaching is a universal phenomenon and is attributed by various elements every instructor has a specific style and method of teaching; however there are still various procedures that are universally applied since their advantages have been clearly understood by various instructors. This report will focus on a certain teaching method called the Direct Method and analyzes the fundamental principles behind it.

Background of the Method

Educators realized early on that teaching grammar specifically to ESL students is a complicated task, initially the Grammar translation method was used, but teachers instantly realized that this method failed to impart proficiency is speaking within the 1800's.It was during this time that the direct method of teaching surfaced. Since there was a string need for a system that imparted spoken competency as well. This was the underlining principle behind the creation of the direct method. The direct method is a system that provides a specific system through which language acquisition was closely related to how the person's native language was acquired. The ultimate goal behind this language was to teach the students how to think is the second language and avoid constricting themselves by the grammar first approach. The direct method did not make constant reference to the first language as the grammar translation method.(THC,2010)

It was through this approach that many considerations were placed on second language teaching. With this method there was a marked change in the belief's regarding this language that were predominant within the society, now the focus had shifted towards providing instructions in the target language with minimal or absolutely no translation into the native language. The emphasis was laid on the students created a relation between the words and their meaning. Charles Berlitz was a major supporter of The Direct Method. His schools to this day follow the Direct Method in teaching. The basic principle behind the direct method was to make the learner think within the target language, this was to be achieved without any relation with the learners native language. In various occasions the usage of pictures were used in order to convey the message over but no usage of the native language was tolerated since it is believed that in such a situation where there are no chances of leniency will forcefully push the learner towards focusing on the language being taught. The Direct method paved the way for the Audio-lingual method.(SLA,2003)

About the Author

The efforts for developing a method of teaching languages to children started in the 19th century by Gouin; this opened a door for many others who gave numerous principles towards the accurate teaching method that needs to be implemented in order to impart the English language. It was during this time that many people started believing there should be a natural method for teaching languages; various failed attempts were made in order to make people learn English as ...