Oral Aproach & Situational Language Teaching

Background

        Palmer, Hornby, and other British applied linguist from the 1920s onward developed an approach to methodology that involved systematic principles of selection (the procedures by which lexical and grammatical content was chosen), gradation (principles by which the organization and sequencing of content were determined), andpresentation (techniques used for presentation and practice of items in a course).

The Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching is  an approach developed by British applied linguist in the 1930s to the 1960s. While it is unknown for many teachers, it had a big influence on language courses till  the 1980s. Textbooks such as  Streamline English (Hartley and Viney 1979) was designed following the SLT approach principles.

The Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching is based on a structural view of language. Speech, structure and a focus on a set of basic vocabulary are seen as the basis of language teaching. This was a view similar to American structuralists, such as Fries.  However, what distinguishes The  Situational Language Teaching approach is its emphasis on the presentation of  structures in situations.

The main characteristics of the approach were as follow:

Ø  Language teaching begins with the spoken language. Material is taught orally before it is presented in written form.

Ø  The target language is the language of the classroom.

Ø  New language points are introduced and practiced situationally.

Ø  Vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general service vocabulary is covered.

Ø  Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be taught before complex ones.

Ø  Reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammatical basis is established.

Approach

Ø  Theory of language

            The theory of language underlying Situational Language Teaching can be characterized as a type of British “structuralism.” Speech was regarded as the basis of language, and structure was viewed as being at the heart of speaking ability.

Ø  Theory of learning

            The theory of learning underlying Situational Language Teaching is a type of behaviorist habit-learning theory. It addresses primarily the processes rather than the conditions of learning. Frisby, for example, cites Palmer’s views as authoritative:

As Palmer has pointed out there are three processes in learning a language-receiving the knowledge or materials, fixing it in the memory by repetition, and using it in actual practice until it becomes a personal skill.

            Like the Direct Method, Situational Language Teaching adopts an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. The meaning of words and structures is not to be given through explanation in either the native language or the target language.

Vocabulary and grammar control

Situational Language Teaching is characterized by two major features:

1.       Focus on vocabulary and reading is one of the most salient traits of SLT.  In fact, mastery of a set of high frequency vocabulary items is believed to lead to good reading skills.

2.      An analysis of English and a classification of its prominent grammatical structures into sentence patterns, also called  situational tables, is believed to help learners internalize grammatical rules.

Design

Ø  Objectives

            The objectives of Situational Language Teaching method are to teach a practical command of the four basic skills of language.

            Errors are to be avoided at all costs.

Ø  The syllabus

            In Situational Language Teaching, structures are always taught within sentences, and vocabulary is chosen according to how well it enables sentence patterns to be taught.

            Rather, situation refers to manner of presenting and practicing sentence patterns.

Sentence pattern Vo cabulary

	Sentence Pattern	Vocabulary
1st Lesson	This is . . . That is . . .	Book, pencil, ruler, desk
2nd Lesson	These are . . . Those are . . .	Chair, picture, door, window
3rd Lesson	Is this? . . . yes it is . . . Is that? . . . yes it is . . .	Watch, box, pen, blackboard

Ø  Types of learning and teaching activities

            By situation Pittman means the use of concrete objects, pictures, and realia, which together with actions ad gestures ca be used to demonstrate the meaning of language items.

            The practice techniques employed generally consist of guided repetition and substitution activities, including chorus repetition, dictation, drills, and controlled oral-based reading and writing tasks. Other oral-practice techniques are sometimes used including pair practice and group work.

Learner roles

            Listen and repeat / more active participation

Teacher roles

1.       Serves as a model

2.      Conductor of an orchestra

The role of instructional materials

            Situational Language Teaching is dependent on both a textbook and visual aids. Visual aids consist of wall charts, flashcards, pictures, stick figures, and so on.

Learner Roles

1.       The learner is required simply to li sten and repeat what the teacher says and to respond to questions and commands.

2.      The learner has no control over the content of learning and is often regarded as likely to succumb to undesirable behaviors unless skillfully manipulated by the teacher.

Advantages

Situational Language Teaching  is still attractive to many teachers who still believe in structural practice of language. Its practicality in the teaching of grammar patterns has contributed to the survival of the approach until recently. Besides, its emphasis on oral practice still attracts support among language teachers.

Disadvantages

Many premises underlying the approach have been criticized. For example  Chomsky (1957) showed that the structural and the behavioristic approaches to language are simply incorrect as they do not explain the fundamental feature of language learning: the ability to create novel and unique sentences. Children do not acquire their mother tongue through repetition and habit formation. There must be, however, an innate predisposition that lead them to a certain kind of  linguistic competence.