(Reading sections of passages, plays or dialogs out loud) (2) Question and Answer Exercise (Asking questions in the target language and having students answer in full sentences) (3) Student Self-Correction (Teacher facilitates opportunities for students to self correct using follow-up questions, tone, etc) (4) Conversation Practice (Teacher asks students and students ask students questions using the target language) (5) Fill-in-the-blank Exercise (Items use target language only and inductive rather than explicit grammar rules) (6) Dictation (Teacher passage aloud various amount of times at various tempos, students writing down what they hear) (7) Paragraph Writing (Students write paragraphs in their own words using the target language and various models) Comments The Direct Method is undoubtedly a highly effective method in terms of creating language learners who are very competent in terms of using the target language However, as pointed out above, it requires small class sizes, motivated communicatively. learners and talented teachers in order to succeed really well. It is also an unfortunate fact of life that students of foreign languages these days need more than just the ability to communicate confidently - they need to be able to demonstrate grammatical accuracy and good reading skills in order to succeed in both national and international language testing systems. It becomes something of an issue in countries where English language learning is primarily EFL-based (that is, English as a Foreign Language) and there is a distinct shortage of both (1) the opportunity to apply the language communicatively in real-life situations outside the actual classroom, and (2) teachers who have the required level of native or native-like ability in the target language and the creativity to provide realistic examples to illustrate what elements of the language actually mean. Some of the teachers who go on to practice this kind of methodology tend to be native speakers who travel to foreign countries where they have no ability in the local language. In many cases they are not even aware they are following what is known as the "Direct Method" - they are trying to make the best out of a difficult classroom situation where creativity and constant (careful) use of the target language are required to make up for teachers' shortcomings elsewhere, whether that be a lack of ability in the students' mother language or a lack of knowledge about various pedagogic approaches to language teaching.
(Reading sections of passages, plays or dialogs out loud) (2) Question and Answer Exercise (Asking questions in the target language and having students answer in full sentences) (3) Student Self-Correction (Teacher facilitates opportunities for students to self correct using follow-up questions, tone, etc) (4) Conversation Practice (Teacher asks students and students ask students questions using the target language) (5) Fill-in-the-blank Exercise (Items use target language only and inductive rather than explicit grammar rules) (6) Dictation (Teacher passage aloud various amount of times at various tempos, students writing down what they hear) (7) Paragraph Writing (Students write paragraphs in their own words using the target language and various models) Comments The Direct Method is undoubtedly a highly effective method in terms of creating language learners who are very competent in terms of using the target language communicatively. However, as pointed out above, it requires small class sizes, motivated learners and talented teachers in order to succeed really well. It is also an unfortunate fact of life that students of foreign languages these days need more than just the ability to communicate confidently - they need to be able to demonstrate grammatical accuracy and good reading skills in order to succeed in both national and international language testing systems. It becomes something of an issue in countries where English language learning is primarily EFL-based (that is, English as a Foreign Language) and there is a distinct shortage of both (1) the opportunity to apply the language communicatively in real-life situations outside the actual classroom, and (2) teachers who have the required level of native or native-like ability in the target language and the creativity to provide realistic examples to illustrate what elements of the language actually mean. Some of the teachers who go on to practice this kind of methodology tend to be native speakers who travel to foreign countries where they have no ability in the local language. In many cases they are not even aware they are following what is known as the "Direct Method" - they are trying to make the best out of a difficult classroom situation where creativity and constant (careful) use of the target language are required to make up for teachers' shortcomings elsewhere, whether that be a lack of ability in the students' mother language or a lack of knowledge about various pedagogic approaches to language teaching.
Overview_of_Language_Teaching_Methodology21.docx