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    Silent Way

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    aminipg
    The Silent Way is a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno that emphasizes using physical objects and having students problem solve on their own with minimal input from the teacher. Key aspects of the method include using colored rods and charts to teach vocabulary and structures, focusing on pronunciation, and having the teacher remain silent as much as possible to encourage student production and cooperation. The method aims to make students autonomous learners who can recall and transfer what they've learned without repetition from the teacher. Both cooperative learning and respect for individual learning styles are fundamental to the approach.

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    Silent Way

    Uploaded by

    aminipg
    327 views21 pages
    The Silent Way is a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno that emphasizes using physical objects and having students problem solve on their own with minimal input from the teacher. Key aspects of the method include using colored rods and charts to teach vocabulary and structures, focusing on pronunciation, and having the teacher remain silent as much as possible to encourage student production and cooperation. The method aims to make students autonomous learners who can recall and transfer what they've learned without repetition from the teacher. Both cooperative learning and respect for individual learning styles are fundamental to the approach.

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    ELT Methodology

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    The Silent Way is a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno that emphasizes using physical objects and having students problem solve on their own with minimal input from the teacher. Key aspects of the method include using colored rods and charts to teach vocabulary and structures, focusing on pronunciation, and having the teacher remain silent as much as possible to encourage student production and cooperation. The method aims to make students autonomous learners who can recall and transfer what they've learned without repetition from the teacher. Both cooperative learning and respect for individual learning styles are fundamental to the approach.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    327 views21 pages

    Silent Way

    Uploaded by

    aminipg
    The Silent Way is a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno that emphasizes using physical objects and having students problem solve on their own with minimal input from the teacher. Key aspects of the method include using colored rods and charts to teach vocabulary and structures, focusing on pronunciation, and having the teacher remain silent as much as possible to encourage student production and cooperation. The method aims to make students autonomous learners who can recall and transfer what they've learned without repetition from the teacher. Both cooperative learning and respect for individual learning styles are fundamental to the approach.

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    of 21

    MUHAMMAD AMIN BIN KAMARUDDIN MOHD IKMAL HAKIM BIN SAPIE SHAHRULMUBAARAK BIN MOHD SABRI FAHMI IZZUDDIN

    BIN AB RAHMAN

    INTRODUCTION The Silent Way is a method of

    Language teaching devised by Caleb


    Gattegno. This method is well-known for its materials such as Cuisenaire rods and Fidel Charts. Gattegno had taken the idea of Cuisenaire rods which were first developed by Georges Cuisenaire, a European educator who used them for the teaching of math.

    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
    Not only in the past but also today, people have learned languages by means of habit formation, memorization and translation.

    However, cognitive psychologists and transformational generative linguists claimed that languages cannot be learned through mimicry since people can create utterances they have never heard before.

    Therefore people can learn languages by using their own thinking


    processes to discover the rules of the language they are learning.

    Gattegno stated his reasons for the emergence of his method as follows:

    As I developed my techniques while subordinating my teaching to the learning, I found that I could very early transfer the responsibility for the use of the language to my students, so that I become able to teach using fewer and fewer words. It is this aspect of my techniques of teaching that prompted me to call the approach. The Silent Way of Teaching Foreign Languages (Oller and Amato 1983:73)

    He gives too much value to the word silent since he thinks that there are means of letting the learners learn while the teacher stops interfering.

    THE RATIONALE OF THE SILENT WAY


    Theory of Learning Learning is a problem-solving, creative and discovering activity in which the learner is a very important and principle actor rather than a passive listener.

    Learning will be more motivating and permanent if physical objects such as rods and wall-charts are used. These objects gather students attention and create memorable images for student recall.

    At the beginning, the teacher needs to look for progress, not perfection, Learning takes place in time. Students learn at different rates.

    Theory of Language
    A structural syllabus is used to organize the language to be taught. Language is seen as groups of sounds arbitrarily associated with meanings and organized into sentences by grammar rules.

    Language is taught artificially through artificial situations. Language is separated from its social context.

    Phonological and suprasegmental (stress, intonation, pitch, etc.)


    elements are emphasized. Pronunciation is focused.

    Vocabulary has a great importance in this method. There are two types of vocabulary which are:

    Semi-luxury vocabulary: expressions that are common in the daily life in the target language culture. These include food, clothing, travel, family life and so on.

    Luxury vocabulary: more specialized vocabulary. For example words


    used in talking about politics and philosophy (Richards and Rodgers 1986).

    TEACHER and LEARNER ROLES


    Teacher Roles

    The teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom to encourage


    the learner to produce as much language as possible.

    The teacher is expected to create an environment that encourages students


    risk taking that facilitates learning.

    The teacher should give only what help is necessary. In other words, the
    teacher makes use of what students already know. The more the teacher does for the students what they can do for themselves, the less they will do for

    themselves (Larsen-Freeman 1986).

    Learner Roles
    The learner is expected to become independent, autonomous, and responsible in language.

    Learners are expected to interact with each other and suggest alternatives to each other. They must learn to work cooperatively rather than competitively. The teachers silence encourages group cooperation.

    Thus, this method fosters interdependence and cooperation among learners


    at the same time it promotes independence from the teacher and reliance on what knows to learn what one does not know.

    THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE METHOD


    A principle of the Silent Way is respect for the students

    capacity to work out language problems and recall information


    on their own with no verbalization and minimal help from the teacher. Errors are indispensable and natural part of the learning process. Self-correction and peer-correction are emphasized. The teacher corrects the language only as a last resort.

    Teachers can help more frequently and more effectively if

    they stop interfering.

    Repetition consumes time and encourages the scattered mind to remain scattered. If the teacher avoids repetition strictly, this will force alertness and concentration on the

    part of the learners. By this way the efficiency in learning


    will be increased and the time will be saved for further learning . (Gattegno 1972 as cited in Oller and Amato: 1983)

    Type of interaction: student-student verbal interaction is desired and encouraged. The teachers silence is one way to achieve this.

    Students native language: native language can be used to give instructions when necessary. Also native language can be used during the feedback sessions (at least for beginner levels). If the native language is not very essential then it is avoided.

    Evaluation: although the teacher does not have to give a formal test, s/he assesses student learning all the time. One criterion of whether or not students have learned is their ability to transfer what they have been studying to new contexts.

    ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES


    Advantages This method fosters cooperative learning between individuals. It embodies a new approach to education in general, a respect for the individual and an awareness of the individuals extraordinary cognitive powers.

    If it is succeeded to teach the language the by using the rods without repeating too much, it will really save time and energy for both teachers and students.

    By this way students will say I learned instead of I was taught well. (Demircan1990)

    Disadvantages

    It would seem necessary for a teacher to gain a good deal of training


    and skill in order to apply the Silent Way to the teaching of a total grammar in all its complexity, if such a broad application is, in fact,

    possible.

    This method can be benefited by the teacher only in small groups of students. The teacher can gain ability in this method by trying. The teacher is expected to enrich the materials on his/her own.

    For some teachers the rigidity of the system (no repetitions by the teacher, no answers by the teacher etc.) may be meaningless.

    Teaching Aided Materials


    1) Coloured-Cuisenaire Rods: They link words and structures to avoid translation into the native language. At the beginning level, the rods can be used to teach colours and numbers. Then more complicated

    structures

    such

    as

    place

    prepositions,

    conditionals,

    comparatives and superlatives will be taught.

    2) Pronunciation Charts (Fidel Charts):

    The chart contains blocks of colour, each one


    representing a sound in the target language.

    Sometimes it is used to compare the sounds in


    students native language and target language.

    Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn.


    Benjamin Franklin

    TEACHER USES RODS TO REPRESENT THE SUBJECT

    APPOINT THE RODS AS SUBJECT, TELL THE STORIES

    example of story :

    This is Mr. Brown. He is opening the door. Hes going into the house. Hes turning on the light and going into the bedroom. Now hes sitting in the armchair and taking off his shoes

    STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RETELL THE STORY OR INVENT THE NEW STORIES

    Use large wall picture that depicts everyday scene (bedroom or supermarket) .

    Teacher indicates the things and indicates the pictures.

    Students write the word on the given worksheets (same wall picture).

    Ask the students to come forward and appoint the things


    (touch the chair, touch the slipper)

    Different students can then continue this activity while the teacher keeps silence

    Reference:
    Emine, Sari. (2005, March). The Silent Way.
    Retrieved from http://www.yde.yildiz.edu.tr /uddo/belgeler/inca-esari-silentway.

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