http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1650899

Language Teaching and the Bilingual Method

The initial chapter of this volume is concerned with determining the variables involved in language learning. The procedures and results of experiments conducted in order to formulate learning and teaching principles are described. Experiments include testing different approaches used to help students acquire sentence meaning, discovering the most favorable combinations of stimuli to produce results in imitation exercises, and determining the usefulness and effect of the printed word on oral reading and of written exercises in the language learning process. I.Q. and age were also accounted for. In the second chapter, different methods of foreign language learning and teaching are described, including the direct (oral) method, the indirect (grammar) approach, and various eclectic methods. The bilingual method is then described in the third chapter. The eight major steps in this method are: (1) imitation, (2) interpretation, (3) substitution and extension, (4) independent speaking of sentences, (5) reverse interpretation (optional), (6) consolidation of question patterns, (7) questions and answers, and (8) normal fl conversation. The aims of bilingual education are fluency and accuracy in the spoken and written language. Its implementation and success at all levels in England, from primary schools to adult groups, is mentioned. The text concludes with a discussion of audiovisual aids for foreign language teaching, including the language laboratory. (Clk).

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