Direct Method

As early as 1900, theorists started to question the principles behind the grammar-translation method. Reformers such as Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Vietor, and Paul Passy became interested in the problem of the best way to teach languages. Their ideas of teaching grammar inductively and avoiding translation as much as possible became consolidated in what became known as the Direct Method, the first of the ‘natural methods’. The basic premise of the Direct Method was that second language learning should be more like first language learning. The method would include lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of language, no

translation between first and second languages, and little or no analysis of grammar rules. Here are the principles of the direct method: 1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language. 2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught. 3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully traded progression organised around questions-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small intensive classes. 4. Grammar was taught inductively 5. New teaching points were taught through modelling and practice 6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, pictures; Abstract vocabulary was taught through association of ideas. 7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught 8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasised. In Through this method, language is taught through listening and speaking. There may be little or no explicit explanation dealing with syntax or grammatical rules, nor translation into the mother tongue of the student, i.e. it involves inductive learning rather than deductive.

Discipline (n., v.)

The system of rules used to maintain control of learners in the classroom.