Chapter 5: The Silent Way
Textbook:
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in
Language Teaching. (2th ed.). Oxford University Press.
INTRODUCTION
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The universal opinion of learning languages
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People learn languages by means of the Audio-Lingual Method.
Learning a language means forming a set of habits.
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The different opinion of linguist Noam Chomsky
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Speakers have a knowledge of underlying abstract rules, which allow them to
understand and create novel utterances.
Language is a product of rule formation.
Language acquisition is a procedure whereby people use their own thinking
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processes, or cognition, to discover the language they are acquiring.
INTRODUCTION
•
The Cognitive Approach
Language learners were seen to be much more actively
responsible for their own learning, and engaged in
formulating hypotheses to discover the rules of the target
language.
• Caleb Gattegno’s Silent Way
 Teaching should be subordinated to learning.
 Learning is a process which we initiate by
ourselves by mobilizing our inner resources
(perception, awareness, cognition, imagination,
intuition, creativity) to meet challenge at hand.
Teaching Methods & Principles -1
1. The teacher remains silent and points to five
blocks of color, which represent the sounds of
five English vowels (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) close
to the five simple vowels of Portuguese.
• Principle1: Students are intelligent and learn the new
language with their experience. The teacher should give
help when necessary.
Teaching Methods & Principles -2
2. The teacher does not model the new sounds,
but uses gestures to show the students how to
modify the sounds. e.g. /e//ey/
Principle 2: Language is not learned by repeating a model.
Students have to develop their inner criteria for correctness.
Teaching Methods & Principles -3
3.When some students cannot tap out and
pronounce sounds correctly, the teacher just
remains silent. The students have to help one
another by themselves.
Principle 3: Students can learn from one another. The teacher’s
silence encourages group cooperation.
Teaching Methods & Principles -4
4. In the English class, the students have to learn
actively. The teachers only remains silent and
listens attentively.
Principle 4: Teachers’ silence free them to closely observe the
students’ behavior. And silence also helps foster autonomy.
Teaching Methods & Principles -5
5.When the students have trouble pronouncing
new sounds and phrases, the teacher only uses
gestures to point out students’ errors.
Principle 5: If teachers praise or criticize students, they will be
less self-reliant. Using gestures, teachers help point out the
error for students.
Teaching Methods & Principles -6
6. After learning new sounds and phrases, some
students choose to tap out simple commands;
others tap out more complex ones.
Principle 6: Language is for self-expression.
Teaching Methods & Principles -7
7. In the end of the class, the teacher asks the
students for their reactions and comments to
the lesson.
Principle 7: The teacher can gain valuable information from the
students’ feedback.
Teaching Methods & Principles -8
• 8. There is no homework assigned.
Principle 8: Some learning takes place naturally as we sleep.
Students will naturally work on the day’s lesson.
~Review and Questions~
1.What are the goals of teachers who use the Silent
Way?
- self expression
- developing the inner criteria for correctess
2. What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of
the students?
- The teacher play as a technician or engineer.
- Students’ role is active learners.
3. What are some characteristics of the teaching/
learning process?
- Building up a whole set of sounds by sound-color chart
-Teacher will give situation from which students can have
a structure of language.
- Practice of using a new language
4. What is the nature of student-teacher interaction?
What is the nature of student-student interaction?
The teacher has to remain silent. And students’ cooperation
is important.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with?
- Teachers are responsible to help students overcome the
obstacles.
- There will be a feedback session in the end of the class.
6. How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?
-Each language has its unique feature.
-Culture is always inseparable from language.
7. What areas of language are emphasized? What
language skills are emphasized?
- Sound: students have to acquire the melody of a
language
- Focus on the structures of a language
-Vocabulary acquisition may be restricted
-There is no fixed syllabus
8. What is the role of the students’ native language?
The students’ native language can used to give
instructions and help them with their pronunciation
and perception.
9. How is evaluation accomplished?
-Teachers rarely give test, so their observation on
students’ learning process is important.
-Teachers should not praise or criticize students.
10. How does the teacher respond to student errors?
-Teachers work with students in getting them to selfcorrect.
-If students cannot do it for themselves, teachers will
aid them by supplying the correct answers.
Techniques and Materials~
-Sound-color chart:
• The color chart can draw students’ attention.
• Color chart can remind students what they learned
and what they yet need to learn.
-Teacher’s silence:
• The teacher gives help, and then is silent when the
teacher is setting up a situation for language structure.
• For example: Tale a ___ rod.
Techniques and Materials~
-Peer correction:
• Students are encouraged to help another. Their
relationship is based on cooperation, not
competition.
-Rods:
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Rods can be used to provide visible actions or
situations for any language structure, to introduce it,
or to enable students to practice using it.
Rods are used to teach colors, numbers, and
statements with prepositions and conditionals.
Rods can be used abstractly as well.
The teacher can use rods to represent each word in a
sentence or to elicit the sentence from the students.
-Self-correction gestures
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The teacher put his palms together and then moved
them outwards to signal to the students the need to
lengthen the particular vowel.
The teacher indicated that each of his fingers
represented a word in a sentence and used this to
locate the trouble spot for the student.
-Word chart
• 1. There are twelve English charts containing
about 500 words. The charts contain the
functional vocabulary of English.
• 2. The teacher points to words in word chart
in a sequence to let students to read aloud the
sentences. The way the letters are colored
helps students with their pronunciation.
-Fidel charts
1. There are eight Fidel charts for learning English.
2. The teacher, and later the students, point to the
color-coded Fidel charts in order that students
associate the sounds of the language with their
spelling.
e.g. /ey/ ay, ea, ei, eigh (‘say,’ ‘steak,’ ‘veil,’ ‘weigh’)
-Structured feedback
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Students make observations about what they
have learned and express their opinion and
comments to the teacher.
The teacher has to accept the students’
comments in a non-defensive manner,
hearing things that will help give him
direction for where he should work when the
class meets again.
CONCLUSION
• The Silent Way can be used with elementary,
intermediate, and advanced students.
• Its principles are far-reaching. It not only affects
education, but the way one perceives the living of life.
There are clearly implications for language teaching.