The Direct Method
History
The Direct Method, also called Natural Method, was established in Germany and France
The method
- Translation is completely banished from any classroom activity. Classroom activities are carried out ONLY in the target language.
- Oral teaching comes before any other kind of reading and writing activities.
- Use of chain activities accompanied by verbal comments like: I go to the door. I open the door. I close the door. I return to my place. I sit down. (called the Gouin series)
- Grammar is taught inductively. (i.e. having learners find out rules through the presentation of adequate linguistic forms in the target language.)
- Use of realia to teach concrete vocabulary. Abstract vocabulary is taught through association if ideas.
- Emphasis is put on correct pronunciation and grammar.
- Teaching through modelling and practice.
The teaching techniques rely mostly on
- reading aloud,
- question answer exercise,
- self correction,
- conversation practice,
- fill-in-the-blank exercise,
- dictation
- and paragraph writing.
Advantages
Clearly the Direct Method is a shift away from the Grammar Translation Method. One of its positive points is that it promises to teach the language and Not about the language. More advantages can be listed as follows:
- It is a natural method which teaches language the same way the mother tongue is acquired. Only the target language is used and the learning is contextulaized.
- Its emphasis on speech made it more attractive for those who have needs of real communication in the target language.
- It was one of the first methods to introduce the teaching of vocabulary through realia
Criticism
In spite of its achievements, the direct method fell short from fulfilling the needs of educational systems. One of its major shortcomings is that it was hard for public schools to integrate it. As Brown (1994:56) points out, the Direct Method
” did not take well in public education where the constraints of budget, classroom size, time, and teacher background made such a method difficult to use.”
After a short popularity in the beginning of the 20th century, it soon began to lose its appeal because of these constraints. It then paved the way to the Audiolingual Method.
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