Bilingual Education Methods: Pros and Cons
Once upon a time, perhaps, the art of teaching was relatively strait-forward. Each teacher used their own style, or that which had been handed down to them by those they learned from. While certainly a certain degree of theory has always been involved in teaching (after all, the so-called Socratic method of teaching was debated centuries before the birth of Christ, and is still cropping up as a controversial pedagogy), it was not until very recently that a great deal of academic attention was turned not just to the subject matter in schools, but to the way in which they were taught. Even so, the methodology of teaching second languages, as a separate study from general pedagogy, is even more recent. "The designer methods emerged in the 1970's, a period of great enlightenment as many would describe." (Brown, 1994) According to Jack Richards (2001), "The method concept in teaching -- the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning -- is a powerful one, and the quest for better methods was a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists throughout the twentieth century." Today, there are five significant bilingual education methods which deserve to be compared and contrasted, so that the benefits of each may be evaluated. These five methods are the audiolingual method, the total physical response method (sometimes referred to in the literature as TPR), the Silent Way Method, the natural approach method, and the Soviet-inspired "Suggestopedia" method. Each of these has been relatively influential in various parts of the world, and many successful bilingual programs today use derivatives of one of these methods, or draw elements from each to compose spin-off styles. As Brown (1994) says, "None of them has every been recognized as being the current state of the art, even during its most popular time. Nonetheless, the originality of some of these methods have brought new ideas that are currently used today in the Communicative Approach."
The AudioLingual Method casts the teacher into the role of a language modeler and a drill leader. (Word History, 2001) It has been referred to as the "Army Method" because is was originally developed "through a U.S. Army program called ASTP, standing for 'Army Specialized Training Program.' [and because it]...emphasized in pattern drills, and conversation practices." (Brown, 1994) In this method, there is a heavy emphasis on mimicry, structure, and memorization. Like many of the other experimental methods, little emphasis is placed on grammar, and additionally there is little focus on vocabulary. A great deal of focus is, however, placed on pronunciation. This method has a number of positive attributes. First, its use of mimicry (both of the teacher and of recorded audio and audiovisual material) and pronunciation tends to produce students with highly comprehensible accents and a good grasp on the sound a flow of the language. It also has a reasonable psychological foundation in its use of positive reinforcement for success, which appeals to the inner behaviorists in many teachers and students. Moreover, the authoritarian relationship established between teachers and students may be positive within certain school or military environments, charging learners to achieve as much as possible. Negative aspects, however, are also present. Many students may not flourish in such an authoritarian environment, and the pressure created by constant drilling and memorization may not create learning which translates into real-world usage. There is some difference between a correct answer on a drill and in a real conversational environment. Lack of grammatical explanation, along with a lack of focus on learning valuable vocabulary or other content may leave students with very good accents and very poor conversational abilities.
The Total Physical Response Method, on the other hand, is all about connecting actual situations with the vocabulary one uses within them. While in the TPR method the teacher is still a "commander" (World History, 2001), he/she also becomes an "Action Monitor" while the student is a "performer." (World History, 2001). This method focuses on a "associating language with physical activity." (Brown, 1994) This method gains much insight...
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(Echevarria, Short & Powers, 2006) References Arriaza, G. (1997). Grace under Pressure: Immigrant Families and the Nation-State. Social Justice, 24(2), 6+. Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 33, 3-15. California Department of Education, Educational Demographics Unit. (2004). Statewide Stanford 9 test results for reading: Number of students tested and percent scoring at or above the 50th percentile ranking (NPR). Retrieved January 5, 2007, at http://www.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ Echevarria, J.,
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