AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

A.   BACKGROUND

The Audio Lingual Method (ALM) is a method which was introduced in the United States of America (USA) in 1940s. The emergence of the method was a response to the need for a radical change of foreign language teaching due to the unfriendly relationship between USA and Russia, which launched its first satellite in 1957. The United States prevented from its people from becoming isolated people from scientific advances made in other countries. The method was much influenced by a method called Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). The ASTP was triggered by the condition from which USA entered World War II and tried to send its army to take up positions in other countries. Technically, the method was supported by the appearance on the market of a large variety of mechanical aids, such as tape recorder and language laboratories. Theoretically, the method was based on the findings of the structural linguists, who developed a psychology and philosophy of language learning different from traditional method. The method was accepted by people in other countries and introduced in Indonesia in 1960’s.

The advocates of the ALM believe that learning is essentially the process of change in mental and physical behavior induced in a living organism by experience. This principle was much influenced by a theory of psychology known as behaviorism. Learning is simply habit formation. To learn a new language means to acquire another set of speech habits. Therefore, successful language learners are those who finally become spontaneous in communication and the rules have been forgotten.

The method which was originally introduced to prepare people to master foreign language orally in a short time, emphasize oral forms of language. The phases can be described that learning a foreign language there are the passive or receptive phase and the active or reproductive phase.

B.    PRINCIPLES OF AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD

      The linguistic aims of the ALM are:

1.       Language learners are able to comprehend the foreign language when it is spoken at normal speed and concerned with ordinary matters,

2.       Language learners are able to speak in acceptable pronunciation and grammatical correctness,

3.       Language learners have no difficulties in comprehending printed materials,

4.       Language learners are able to write with acceptable standards of correctness on topics within their experience

The aims mentioned above have basic principles in learning teaching interaction. Since the primary aim is the ability in communication, language learners and their language teacher should use the target language at all times. The language teacher should greet his/her students in the target language from the first day of their language class. Intensive drills should be provided so that language learners can have enough practice of using the grammar of the spoken language. Drilling is a central technique in this method. The final goal of language learning process is that language learners are able to communicate in the target language with native speaker like pronunciation.

Besides the linguistic aims above, the method also has cultural aims, they are:

1.       Language learners understand daily life of the people, including customs, works, sports, play, etc.

2.       Language learners know the main fact concerning the geography, history, social and political life of the people,

3.       Language learners appreciate the art and science of the people,

4.       Language learners understand the value of the language as the main factor in their culture.

These cultural aims will accompany the linguistic aims and these will motivate language learners to learn the target language. By knowing all aspect of the people, language learners will have better understanding of the language used by the people and increase their motivation.

Johnson (1968) states that the principles of the ALM are:

1.       Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbol used for oral communication,

2.       Writing and printing are graphic the presentations of the spoken language,

3.       Language can be broken down into three major component parts : the sound system, the structure, and the vocabulary,

4.       The only authority for correctness is actual use of native speakers,

5.       One can learn to speak and understand a language only being exposed to the spoken language by using the spoken language

6.       Languages can be learned inductively far more easily than deductively

7.       Grammar should never be taught as an end in itself, but only as a means to the end of learning the language

8.       Use of the student’s native language in class should be avoided or kept to a minimum in second language teaching,

9.       The structures to which the students are exposed to should always sound natural to native speakers,

10.   All structural material should be presented and practiced in class before the students attempt to study it at home.

The principles above are only some of the principles that people may believe to belong to the ALM. The principles of the ALM also deal with the theories of languages and language learning.

C.    ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT LANGUAGE

      With regard to the nature of language the ALM has some assumptions. The method sees the language as follows:

1.       Language is the everyday spoken utterance of the average person at normal speed. It seems that language is what people speak not what people write. This assumption may be a response to how people used to study a foreign language from what was written and the materials were grammar oriented. Grammar and vocabulary are not thought of as a logical arrangement of forms, meanings, paradigms, and rules extracted from the written language but a succession of grammatical patterns that occur constantly in the spoken language. The language materials in Audio Lingual method are developed based on situational syllabus.

2.       Listening and speaking come first, reading and writing come later. This assumption seems to be inspired by the process of a child who learns his/her mother tongue. A child always begins with hearing what his/her parents speak and he/she tries to speak afterwards. He/she will learn reading or writing later. This assumption really dominates the procedure of teaching the target language in the ALM. The procedure always begins with listening and speaking and the teaching of reading and writing will be presented after language learners master the spoken language.

3.       Every speaker uses a language in a slightly different manner. Language learners are not forced to speak in the same manner, they are allowed to speak the foreign language in different ways as long as they can communicate in the language.