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The Direct Method

The direct method of teaching foreign languages refrains from using the learner's native language and uses only the target language. It was developed in Germany and France around 1900 in response to dissatisfaction with older grammar translation methods. Principles of the direct method include conducting classroom instruction exclusively in the target language, teaching oral communication skills through question-and-answer exchanges, and inductively teaching grammar through demonstration and objects rather than translation. The goal is for students to spend approximately 80% of class time speaking in the target language.

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46 views1 page

The Direct Method

The direct method of teaching foreign languages refrains from using the learner's native language and uses only the target language. It was developed in Germany and France around 1900 in response to dissatisfaction with older grammar translation methods. Principles of the direct method include conducting classroom instruction exclusively in the target language, teaching oral communication skills through question-and-answer exchanges, and inductively teaching grammar through demonstration and objects rather than translation. The goal is for students to spend approximately 80% of class time speaking in the target language.

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THE DIRECT METHOD

What is it?
The direct method of teaching, which is sometimes called the natural method, and is often (but not
exclusively) used in teaching foreign languages, refrains from using the learners' native language and
uses only the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900 and contrasts
with the Grammar translation method and other traditional approaches, as well as with C.J.Dodson's
bilingual method. It was adopted by key international language schools such as Berlitz and Inlingua in
the 1970s and many of the language departments of the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State
Department in 2012.
Historical context
The direct method was an answer to the dissatisfaction with the older grammar translation method,
which teaches students grammar and vocabulary through direct translations and thus focuses on the
written language.
There was an attempt to set up conditions that imitate mother tongue acquisition, which is why the
beginnings of these attempts were called the natural method. At the turn of the 18th and 19th
centuries, Sauveur and Franke proposed that language teaching should be undertaken within the
target-language system, which was the first stimulus for the rise of the direct method.[4]
The audio-lingual method was developed in an attempt to address some of the perceived
weaknesses of the direct method.

Principles of Direct Method


Classroom instructions are conducted exclusively in the target language.
Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught during the initial phase; grammar, reading and
writing are introduced in intermediate phase.
Oral communication skills are built up in a carefully graded progression organized around questionand-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.
Grammar is taught inductively.
New teaching points are introduced orally.
Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary is
taught by association of ideas.
Both speech and listening comprehensions are taught.
Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.
Student should be speaking approximately 80% of the time during the lesson.
Students are taught from inception to ask questions as well as answer them.

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