A comparative study of “The Audiolingual Method” and “Communicative Language Teaching”in Foreign Language Teaching

武艳龙 王悦琦

【摘要】在外语教学领域中，听说法与交际法都在其各自的历史时期占据着主导地位，是外语课堂教学中经常使用的两种教学方法。它们产生于不同的年代，不同的国家。听说法是注重培养学生听说能力的教学方法，而交际法更注重于培养学生的交际能力。本文对这两种教学法进行了对比分析，以便于能够更好地理解和使用其进行外语教学。

【关键词】听说法;交际法;外语教学

【Abstract】In the field of foreign language teaching， both“Audiolingual Method ” and “Communicative Language Teaching” which are often used in foreign language teaching， play a dominant role in their respective historical periods. They were discovered in different times， in different countries. The Audiolingual Method is a teaching method which focuses on cultivating students’ listening and speaking ability， while communicative language teaching pays more attention to cultivating students’ communicative competence. This paper aims to make a comparative analysis of the two teaching methods in order to have a better understanding and use them in foreign language teaching.

【Key words】The Audiolingual Method; Communicative Language Teaching; Foreign language teaching

【作者簡介】武艳龙，王悦琦，吉林外国语大学。

Audiolingual Method emphasizes the teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing. It uses dialogues as the main form of language presentation and drills as the main training techniques. Mother tongue is discouraged in the classroom.

Communicative Language Teaching（CLT）， or the communicative approach， earlier known as the “functional approach” and “notional-functional approach”， is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study.

The methods mentioned above are often used in foreign language teaching. This paper makes a comparative analysis of the two teaching methods in order to better guide the foreign language teaching.

1. Background

1.1 Background of Audiolingual Method

The Audiolingual Method developed in the U.S. during the Second World War. The government commissioned American universities to develop foreign language program to supply the war. So in 1942 the government set up a special training program， Army Specialized Training Programmer （ASTP）， to improve soldiers’ foreign language skills. Thus the Audiolingual Method came into being.

1.2 Background of Communicative Language Teaching

CLT’s emergence can be traced back to the 1970s and was generated in the countries of the western European Community， mainly Britain. In order to strengthen the communication of EC， foreign language teaching must attach importance to the role of foreign language as a medium， and communicative approach emphasizes the communicative function of language. Communicative approach is influenced by sociolinguistics， psycholinguistics， philosophy of language， anthropology， sociology and other disciplines.

2. Theoretical Basis

Primarily， the two teaching methods are different from each other on the theoretical basis.

The theoretical basis of the Audiolingual Method is the American structuralist linguistics and behavioristic psychology. Structuralist linguists believe that spoken language is the primary part of the language and each language has its own language structure characteristics. J.B.Watson， the founder of behaviorist psychology， proposed a formula for stimulus response. B.F.Skinner thinks that the operational conditioned reflex is the coupling process of R-S and he attributes the teaching process to stimulation-reaction-reinforcement. L.Bloomfield regarded the language as a series of reaction of “stimuli and reactions” Bloomfield regards language as a series of  process of stimuli and reactions. Furthermore， through Jack and Jill’s experiments， he draws a conclusion that the process of language teaching is that the teacher’s voice stimulation of students and the reflection of students’ voice stimuli.

The linguistic basis of communicative approach is sociolinguistics. The social communicative function of language is the most essential function of language.  D.H.Hymes， a sociolinguist， puts forward different views on Chomsky’s linguistic competence， which includes language competence and communicative competence. Communicative approach regards Holmes’ communicative competence as the goal of language teaching. Social psychology and psycholinguistics are the theoretical basis of communicative approach. They believe that the process of verbal communication consists of two aspects： content and language expression. The content is the idea， the form of expression is the way of expression. The starting point of the communicative approach is to express ideas in communicative activities and to master the expression of ideas in language.

3. Concrete comparison between CLT and ALM

ALM and CLT come into being in different backgrounds. It’s the different needs of the society at that time， which makes the two language teaching methods have their own characteristics.

3.1 Teaching Objective

The emphasis of the cultivation of Audiolingual method is whether the students can express correctly， and its teaching aim is to cultivate the students’ language ability. It pays attention to the students’ construction of the knowledge frame of English. The idea of the Audiolingual Method believes that the only way does the student can better use the language is that they lay a solid foundation of language.

For communicative approach， it emphasizes the content of students， it regards English as a tool. The purpose of using it is to develop students’ communicative competence， that is， the ability to use language effectively and appropriately. Communicative competence includes not only linguistic competence， but also pragmatic， discourse and strategic competence. Therefore， in order to cultivate this communicative competence， the process of the communicative language teaching method must be Socialized.

Through comparison above， we can see that the principle of the Audiolingual Method is that listening and speaking plays a leading role of the language acquisition. The language learning of Audiolingual Method is the process of learning language structure， pronunciation and words. During the process of learning， most of the time will be spend on the practice of listening and speaking of language knowledge， but it will neglect the development of the ability of reading and writing. The language learning process of communicative approach is the process of learning how to communicate. This communicative teaching process enables students to develop their listening， speaking， reading and writing abilities.

3.2 Teaching Centre

In the process of teaching， the Audiolingual method advocates the practice of sentence structure as the center. It is said that sentence structure is a typical sentence pattern and the basic structure of language. Sentence structure has not only structural meaning but also lexical meaning and sociocultural meaning. It is the central part of the whole foreign language teaching.

However， CLT takes discourse as the basic unit of teaching. The main purpose of foreign language teaching is to use language properly in appropriate speech situations and in appropriate communicative situations rather than explain the usage of language rules and the mechanical practice of sentence patterns.

3.3 Teaching Principle

Because the language learning process of CLT is the process of learning how to communicate. Thus， there are three principles to follow in the teaching process： communication principle， task principle and meaningfulness principle. The communicative principle indicates that in the teaching process， teachers need to create a real communicative situations for the learners so that students can communicate with each other more effectively. Real communication requires information gap， which can be expressed as the process of exchanging information between two individual， that is， one person knows the information， the other person does not know the information， through communication， People who do not know the information have access to it. Information gap with the characteristics of real communication It is a great difference between communicative approach and the Audiolingual Method.

3.4 Teaching Subject

In the Audiolingual Method， learners only need to make a correct response to the stimulus and can not choose the content and speed of learning. The teacher is not only the organizer of the teaching process， but also the controller of learning foreign language of the students. In the process of teaching， the teacher takes themselves as the teaching model of the language behavior of the students’ learning， organizing the students to carry on the dialogue and the sentence pattern practice as well as instructing the students to choose and learn the vocabulary and the like.

The communicative approach is student-oriented， and the student is the decisive factor in learning. Communicative approach is based on the real needs of the students to determine the purpose of teaching. In the process of teaching， the students and the learning process are considered as the most significant role in the teaching process. At the same time， communicative approach also emphasizes the mobilization of students’ initiative and enthusiasm. The role of teachers in communicative approach is equivalent to that of an organizer， coordinator and participant. In other words， teachers themselves are not only managers of resources， but also be seemed as resources as well.

3.5 Teaching Sequence

Teaching Sequence is a big distinction between ALM and CLT. In ALM， firstly， the teachers will introduce the new knowledge （mostly sentence patterns） to students， and then practice sentence patterns. After continually practicing the formation of language habits， students choose certain vocabulary and sentence patterns from the knowledge they have learned to express and describe specific scenes， situations or events.

The teaching sequence of communicative approach is completely different. The teaching order of communicative approach is： First， the teacher will use the known language materials to create communicative activities. And then the teacher will introduce the language items which will be needed for more effective communicative activities， if necessary， to practice individual items. In class， teachers organize students to carry out communicative activities through various ways， and the teaching content is based on the actual needs of students.

3.6 Attitude towards Errors

In ALM， for errors of the language output， it must be corrected at once whenever discovered.  ALM requires that from the first day of learning a foreign language， it is necessary for the learners to understand precisely， imitate accurately， express correctly.The teacher must correct the mistakes in time when they are found aiming to enable students to develop the habit of correct use of foreign languages.

Communicative approach allows students to make language mistakes that do not affect their communicative activities. In this process， teachers take a tolerant attitude towards students’ language output errors. Moreover， communicative approach holds that error is the only way to perfect language communication. If teachers constantly correct students’ mistakes in the process of students’ communication， they will interrupt students’ thinking and distract students’ attention. Teachers do not have to worry about students’ output errors in the process of intersection， students will gradually correct them in the future verbal communication activities.

4. Conclusion

The application of the Audiolingual Method can help students to master the grammar and sentence pattern rules of the language， helping them to understand the basic knowledge systematically and lay a solid foundation for communication. Students can make significant progress in a short period of time through teachers’ supervision， which is usually reflected in foreign language achievement.

Communicative approach pays more attention to the enhancement of competence， the language characteristics and communication environment of foreign language. The two methods emphasizes different aspects of language teaching and have their own advantages and disadvantages in English teaching. The application of these two methods also brings a lot of enlightenment to the language teaching.

4.1 The Combination of Teaching Methods

The use of teaching methods is complementary. At present， in the process of English teaching， a single teaching method is not omnipotent. In view of the students’ basic level of English， grade， syllabus， specialty and other factors， the teachers’ teaching should be tailored to local conditions. In the process of teaching， we should grasp the different stages in the application of ALM and CLT.

In the initial stage of student learning， students’ English foundation and oral expression skills are relatively weak. Teachers can use the method of ALM to guide teaching. If students want to improve their English level of application， they should lay a good foundation in the primary stage of their study and acquire sufficient knowledge of grammar. Otherwise， the improvement of foreign language communicative competence will become a non-essential one. In addition， ALM can create a more general environment with a foreign language learning atmosphere. By allowing students to listen to a large number of foreign language records and practice sentence patterns constantly， they can improve their listening base and vocabulary so as to strengthening the students’ sense of language.

Under the guidance of ALM， teachers help students correct their mistakes and supervise students’ practice. Students not only lay a foundation of English， but also develop the ability of English listening and speaking， meanwhile forming good English habits， which has laid a good foundation for practical communication. And then， teachers can use the CTL to guide learning. Students become the main part of the classroom， thus they can use English to achieve their own purpose of communication. In this stage， teachers improve students’ interest in English learning and their sense of achievement through abundant classroom activities and realistic setting.

ALM and CLT have their own unique advantages in foreign language teaching. Listening and speaking methods help students lay the language foundation， and communicative methods further promote students’ foreign language competence. Only when the two can be used in a more harmonious way， can students really improve their foreign language proficiency.

4.2 Improve Foreign Language Quality

Whether using the ALM or CLT， the teachers should not only know their own classroom status， but also constantly improve their foreign language quality.

ALM is a kind of teaching method which takes the teacher as the dominant role of the language teaching. The use of this method pays attention to the requirements of teachers’ professional quality. When applying this method to their own classroom， teachers should make good curriculum arrangements. For grammar knowledge， words， sentence patterns and other basic foreign language knowledge to carry out reasonable curriculum arrangements to ensure that students can really master these knowledge in the corresponding period， which requires teachers to master the students’ learning ability. At the same time， according to the current foreign language development as a foothold， constantly update foreign language knowledge.

In CLT， the teacher is a participant in the classroom， a researcher and a learner， and a negotiator who promotes and facilitates the smooth communication between learners and teaching activities and teaching materials.Therefore， in the communicative teaching method， the requirement of the teacher’s is higher. First of all， teachers should observe the interests and needs of different learners and analyze them. Secondly， teachers should change teaching activities flexibly according to learners’ styles and habits， which requires teachers to master sufficient knowledge of teaching activities. In addition， communicative approach is student-centered. Thus， it’s also a test for teachers that how to organize all kinds of appropriate English activities. Finally， for different communicative activities， teachers， as participants in the classroom， should be able to answer all kinds of questions and questions of students. This requires teachers to have a solid basic knowledge of English and comprehensive preparation.

Therefore， no matter which teaching method， teachers’ foreign language quality should be improved constantly， only in this way can better guide teaching and improve students’ English water and peace ability.

References：

[1]李天浩.外语教学中“听说法”与“交际法”的比较与启示[J].郑州铁路职业技术学院学报，2005（02）：67-68.

[2]姬建国.外语教学法的内部结构[M].西安：陕西师范大学出版社， 1991.

[3]付克.论外语教学[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1989 .

[4]Timothy Light.现代外语教学法[M].北京：北京语言学院出版社， 1987.

[5]Breen. M&C. N.. Candlin.The essentials of a communicative curriculum in language teacheing[J]. Applied Linguistics，1980，1（2）： 89-112.

[6]韓琳.交际教学法中教师的角色[J].沈阳教育学院学报，2006：70-72.

[7]胡文仲.交际教学法初探[J].外国语，1982：15-22.

[8]王蔷.英语教学法教程[M].高等教育出版社，2016.