The Silent Way Method

The silent way

Introduction

Although people did learn languages through the Audio-lingual method, and indeed it is still being widely practiced today, the idea that learning a language means forming a set of habit was seriously challenged in the early 1960s. Cognitive psychologists and transformational-generative linguists argue that language learning does not take place through mimicry: since people can craete  utterances they have never heard before, they therefore cannot learn a language simply by repeating what they hear spoken around them. These psychologists and linguists argue that speakersfrom rules, which allow them to understand and create novel uttrences. Thus, language must not be considered a product of habit formation, but rather of rule formation. Accordingly, language acquisition, must be a procedure whereby  people use their own thinking processes, or cognition , to discover the rules of the languange they are acquiring.

            The emphasis on human cognition led to the name “cognitive code” being applied to a new general approach to language teaching. Rather than simply being responsive to stimuli in the environment, learners are seen to be much more actively  responsible for their own learning, engaged in in formulating hypothesesinorder to discover the rules of the target language. Their errors are inevatable and are signs to the teacher that the students are actively testing their hypotheses. Student progress is accomplished little by little, with a lot of imperfection expected in the beginning. All four skill (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are worked on from the beginning and meaning is thought to be at least as important as form.

            Although caleb gattegno’s silent way, which we will considerin this capter,did not emerge from the cognitive code approach, it shares certain principles with it. For example, one of the basic principles of the silent way is that “teaching should be subordinated to learning ” this principles is in keeping with the active role ascribed to the learner in the cognitive code approach.

            In order to explore the silent way, we will observe the first day of an english class in brazil. There are twenty-four secondary school students in this class. The class meets for two hours a day, three days a week.

EXPERIENCE

            As we take our seats, the taecher hasjust finished inroducing the silent way in Portuguese. The techer walks to the front of room, takes out a metal pointer and points to a chart hanging above the blackboard. The chart has a black background and is covered with small rectagular blocks arranged in rows. Each block is a different color. This is soundcolor chart. Each rectangle represents one english sound. There is a with horizontal line approximately halfway down the chart separating the upper rectagles, which represent vowel sounds, from those below the line, which represent consonant sounds.

            Without saying anything,the teacher points in succession to each of the five blocksof color above  the line. There is silence. The teacher repeats the pattern, pointing the same five block of color. Again, no one say anything. the third time the teacher does  the pointing, he say /a/ as he touches the first block. The teacher continues and taps the four other blocks of color with the pointer. As he does this, several students say /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ . the teacher repeats the pattern one again and this time the whole the class say unision : /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ . he begins with these vowels since they are the one students will already know. (these five sounds are the simple vowels of Portuguese and every Brazilian schoolchild learns them in this order).

            The teacher points to the square that represent /e/ . he puts his two palms together, then spereads them apark to indicate that he wants the students to lengthen this vowel sound. By moving his pointer, He show that there is smooth gliding of the tongue necessary to change this portuguese /e/ into the english diphthong /ey/. He works with the students until he is satisfied that their pronounciation of /ey/ closely approximates the english vowel. He works in the same way with /iy/, /ow/, and /uw/.

            The teacher hands the pointer to a girl in the front row. She comes to the front of the room and point to the white block in the top row. The class responds with /a/. One-by-one, as she points to the nxt three blocks, the class responds correctly with /ey/, /iy/, /ow/. She has trouble finding the last block of color and points to a blok in the same row. A few students yell, “NO!” she tries another block in the same row ; her classmates yell. “NO!” again. Finally a boy from the front row says, “A esquerda” (Portuguese for “to the left”). As the girls moves the pointer one block to the left , the class shouts /uw/. The teacher signals to another student to the replace the girl and point to the five blocks as the class responds. Then the teacher brings individuals to the front of the room, each one tapping out the sequence of the sounds as he say them. The theacher works with the students through gestures, and sometimes through instructions in Portuguese, to get them to produce the english vowel sounds as accurately as posible. He does not say the sounds himself.

            Apparently satisfied that the students can produce the five sounds accurately, the teacher next points the five blocks in a different order. A few the students hesitate, but most of the students seem able to connect the colored blocks with the correct sounds. The teacher varies the sequence several times and the students respond approriately. The teacher then points to a boy sitting in the second row. The teacher moves to the chart and points to five the colored blocks. Two of the blocks are the above the line are the /ey/ and /uw/ they have already worked on. The three other blocks are below the line and are new to them. Two or three of the students yell, “Pedro” which is the boy’s name. The other students help him as he points to the colored blocks that represent the sounds of his name: /p/, /ey/, /d/, /r/, /uw/. Two or three other students do the same. In this way, the students have a little problem with the pronounciation of the /r/, so the teacher works with them before moving on.

            The teacher next points to a girl and taps out eight colored boxes. In a chorus, the students say her name , “Carolina” and practicethe girl’s name as they did pedro’s. With this the students have learned the colored that represent three other sounds; /k/, /l/,/n/. The follows a simillar procedure with a third student whose name is Gabriela. The students know now the location of /g/, and /b/ as well. The teacher has various students tap uot the sounds for the names of their three classmates.

            After quite a few students have tapped out the three names, the teacher take the pointer and introduces a new activity. He asks eight student to sit with him around a big table in the front of the class gathers behind them. The teacher puts a pile of blue, green, and pink wooden blocks of varying lengths (called rods) in the middle of the table. He points to one of the blocks, then points to three sequares of color on the sound-color chart. Some students attempt to say “rod”. They are able to do this since they have already been introduced to these sounds/color combinations. The teacher points againto the squares of color, and this time all of the students say , “Rod.” The teacher then points to the block of color representing /a/. He points to his mouth and shows the students that he is raising his jaw and closing his mouth, thus showing the students how to produce a new english sound by starting with a sound they already know. The students say something appoximating / , which is a new sound for them. The teacher follows this by pointing first to new block of color, then quickly in sucession to four blocks of color; the student chorus, “A rod” . he turns a different chart on the wall; this one has words on it in different colors. He points to the words “a” and “rod”  and the students see that each letter is in the same color as the sound the letter signifies. For instance, the “o” of the “rod ” is white since it signifies.

            After pointing to “a” and “rod” the teacher sit down with the students at the table, saying nothing . everyone is silent for a minute until one girl points to a rod says, “A rod.” The teacher hands her the pointer and she goes first to the sound-color chart to tap out the sounds, and second to the word chart to point to the words “a” and “rod” Several other students follow this pattern.

            Next, the teacher points to a particular rod and taps out “ a blue rod” then he points to the word chart. A boy points to the rod and says, “ A blue rod.” He goes to the word chart and finds the three words of this phrase there. Other the students do the same. The teacher introduces the word “green” similarly, with students tapping out the pattern after he is through.

            The teacher then points to a pink rod and taps out /pink/ on the chart . the /I/ vowel is a new one for the students. It doesn’t exist in Portuguese. The teacher points to the block of color which represents /iy/ and he indicates through his gesture that the students are to shorten the glide and open their mouths a bit more to say this sound.

            The first student who tries to say “ a pink rod” has trouble with the pronounciation of “pink.” He look to the teacher and the teacher gesture towards the other students. One of them says “pink” and the teacher accepts her pronounciation. The first student tries again and this time the teacher acceptd what he says. Another student seems to have trouble with the phrase , the teacher shows her how the phrase is segmented. Then by tapping his second finger, he indicates that her trouble is with the second word: the teacher then mouths the vowel sound and with gestures shows the student that the vowel is shorter than what she is saying. She tries to shape her mouth as he does and her pronuciation does improve a little, although it still does not appear as close to the target language sounds as some of the other student are able to come. With the other student attending, he work with her a bit longer. The students practice saying and tapping out the three color words and the phrase, with the teacher listening attentively and occasionally intervening to help them to correct their pronunciation.      

            The teacher has another group of the students take the places of the first eight at the table. The teacher turns to one of the students and waits. Another student picks up a green rod and says the same sentence. Through gestures from the teacher, he understands that he should direct the command to another student. The second student performs the action and then says, “ take a blue rod,” to a third student. He takes one. The other studentthen take turns issuing and complying with commands to take a rod of a certain color.

            Next the teacher puts several blue and green rods in the center of the table. He points to the blue rod and to one of the students, who responds, “Take a blue rod.” The teacher then say “and” and points to the green rod. The student says , “and take a green rod.” The teacher indicates to the student that she should say the whole sentenceand she says, “take a blue rod and take a green rod.” As the girl says each word, the teacher points to the one of his fingers. When she says the second “take,” he gestures that she should remove the “take” from the sentence. She tries again, “take a blue rod and green rod,”  which the teacher accepts. The students now practice forming and complying with similar compound commands.

            The teacher then points to the word chart to one of the students , who taps out the sentences on the chart as the other students prodece them. Later, students take turns tapping out the sentence of their choice on the word chart. Some students tap out simple commands and some students tap out compoundcommands.

            The students return to their desks. The teacher turns to the class and ask the class in Portuguese for their reactions to the lesson. One student replies that he has learned that language learning is not difficult. Another says that he is finding it difficult; he feels that he needs more practice associating the sound and colors. A third student adds that she felt as if she were playing a game. A fourth student says he is felling confused.

            At this point the lesson ends. During the nexy few classes, the student will :

1.Practice with their new sounds and learn to produce accurate intonation and stress patterns

    with the words and sentence.

2.learn moe english words for colors and where any new sounds are located on the sound-

    color chart.

3.learn to use the following items :

            Give it to me/her/him/them.

            To

            This/that/these/those.

            One/ones.

            The/a/an.

            Put...here/there.

            Is/are

            His/her/my/your/their/our.

4.practice making sentence with many different combinations of these items.

5.practice reading the sentences they have created on the wall charts.

6.work with Fidel Charts, which are charts summarazing the spelings of all the different

    sounds in english.

7.practice writing the sentences they have created.

THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE

Since the silent way may not br familiar to many of you, let us review in detail our observations and examine its priciples.

Obsevations

Principles

1.      The teacher points to five blocks of color without saying anything. The blocks of color represent the sounds of five English vowels close to the five simple vowels of Portuguese. 2.      The teacher points again to the five blocks of color. When the students say nothing, the teacher points to the first block of color and say /a/. Several students say /e/,/i/,/o/,/u/, as the teacher points to the other four blocks. 3.      The teacher does not model the new sounds, but rather uses gestures to show the students how to modify the Portuguese sounds. 4.      Students take turns tapping out the sounds. 5.      One student says “ A esquerda,” to help another . 6.      The teacher works with gestures, and sometimes instructions in the students native language , to help the student to produce the target language sounds as accurately as possible. 7.      The students learnvthe sounds of new blocks of color by tappping out the names of their classmates. 8.      The techer points to a rod and then to three blocks of color on the sound-color chart. The students respond, “Rod”. 9.      The teacher points to the words “a” and “rod” on the word chart. 10.  The teacher sits down at the table and is silent. After a minute, a girl point to a rod and says, “A rod.” 11.  The teacher points to a particular rod and taps out “a blue rod” on the sound-color chart. 12.  One students tries to say “a pink rod” and has trouble. He look the teacher,but the teacher remains silent and looks to the the other students. 13.  The first student tries to say “ a pink rod” again, this time the teacher accepts the student’s correct pronunciation. 14.  Another student has trouble pronoucing part of the phrase “a pink rod” using gesture,the teacher isolates the trouble spot for her. 15.  After locating the error for the student, the teacher does not suply the correct language untill all self-correction options have failed. 16.  The teacher mouths the correct sound, but  does not vocalize it. 17.  The student’s pronunciation os improved but still not as close to the target language sounds as some of the students are able to come. The teacher works with her a bit longer before the lesson proceeds. 18.  The techer listens attentively. 19.  The teacher says ,“take the green rod” only once. 20.  The students take turn issuing and complying with comands to take a rod of a certain color. 21.  The students practice compound commands. 22.  The students take turn tapping out the sentences of their choice on the word charts. 23.  Some students choose to tap out simple commands; other tap out more complex ones. 24.  The teacher asks the students for their reactions to the lesson. 25.  There is no homework assigned. 26.  In subsequent lessons, the students will learn to use number of different linguistic structures. 27.  The students will practice making sentences with different combinations of these structures. 28.  Students will practice writing the sentence the create.

The teacher should star with something the students already know and build from that to the unknow. Language share a number of features, sounds being the most basic. Language learners are intelegent and bring with them the experience of already lerning a language. The teacher should give only what help is necessary. Language is not learned by repeating after a model. Students need to develop their own “innercriteria” for correctness-to trust and to be responsible for their own production in the target language. Students actions can tell the teacher whether or not they have learned. Students should learn to rely on each other and themselves. The teacher works with the students whie the students work on the language. 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. Learning involves transferring what one knows to new contexts. Reading is workes on from the beginning but follows from what students have learned to say. Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonomy, or the exercise of initiative. It also removes the teacher from the center of attention so he can listen to and work with students. Meaning is made clear by focusing students perceptions, not though tranlation. Students canlearn from one another. The teacher’s  silence encourages group cooperation. If the teacher praises (or criticizes) students, they will be less selfreliant. The teacher’s actions can interfere with students develoving their own criteria. Errors are important and necessary to learning. They show the teacher were things are unclear. If student are simply given answer, rather than being allowed to self-correct, they won’t retain them. Students need to learn to listen to themselves. At the beginning, the teacher needs to look progress , not perfection. Learning takes place in time. Students learn at  different rates. A teacher’s silence freescthe teacher to closely observe the students behavior. Students learn they must give the teacher their attention in order no to miss what he says. Student attention is a key to learning. Students should receive a great deal of meaningful practice without repetition. The elements of the language are introduced logically, expanding upon what students already know. Students gain autonomy in the language by exploring it and by making choices. Language is for self-expression. The teacher can given valuable information from student feedback; for example, he can learn what to work on next. Students learn how to accept responsibility for their own learning. Some learning takes piece naturally as we sleep. Students will naturally work on the day’s lesson then. The syllabus is composed of linguistic structures. The structures of the syllabus are not arranged in a linear fashion, but rather are constantly being recycled. The skills of speaking, reading, and writing reinforce one another.

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES

As you can see, the silent way has a greak many principle. Perhaps we can come to a fuller understanding of them if we can consider the answers to our ten questions.

1.      What are the goals of teachers who use the silent way ?

Atudents should be able to use the language for self-expression-to express their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings. In order to do this, they need to develop independence from the teacher, to develop their own inner criteria for correctness.

Students become independent by relying on themselves. The teacher, therefore, should give them only what they absolutely need to promote their learning.

2.      What is the role of the teacher ? what is the role of the students ?

The teacher is a technician or engineer. “only the learner can do the learning, “ but the teacher, relying on what his students already know, can give what help is necessary, focus the students’ pesceptions, “force the awareness,” and “provide exercises to insure their facility” with the language.

            The role of the students is to make use of what they know, to free themselves of any obstacles that would interfere with giving their utmost  attention to the learning task, and to actively engage in exploring the language.

            As Gattegno says, “the teacher works with the student : the students works on the language.”

3.      What are some characteristics of the teaching  learning process ?

Student begin their study of the language through its basic building block, its sounds. These are introduced through a language specific sound-color chart. Relying on what sounds students already know from their knowledge of their native language, teachers lead their students to associate the sounds of the target language with particular color. Later, these same colors are used to help students learn the spellings that correspond to the sounds (through the color-coded Fidel Charts) and how to read and pronounce words properly (through the color-coded word charts).

The teacher set up situations that focus students attention on the structures of the language. The situations provide a vehicle for the students to perceive meaning. The situations sometimes call for the use the rods and sometimes do not; they typically involve only one structure at a time. With minimal spoken cues, the students are guided to produce the structure. The teacher works with them, striving for pronunciation that would be intelligible to a native speaker of the target language is unclear to students and, hence, where to work.

The students receive a great deal of practice with a given target language structure without repetition for its own sake. They gain autonomy in the language by exploring it and making choices. The teacher asks the students to describe their reactions to the lesson or what they have learned. This provides valuable information for the teacher and encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. Some further  learning takes place while they sleep.

4.      What is the nature of the student-teacher interaction ? what isthe nature of student-student interaction ?

For much of the student-teacher interaction, the teacher is silent. He is still very active, however-setting up situations to “force awareness,” listening attentively to students’ speech, and silently working with them on their production. When the teacher does speak , it is give clues, not to model the language.

Student-student verbal interaction is desirable  (students can learn from one another) and is therefore encouraged. The teacher’s silence is one way to do this.

5.      Hoe are feelings of the students dealt with ?

The teacher constantly observe the students. When their feelings interfere, the teacher tries to find ways for the students to overcome them. Also,through feedback sessions at hte end of lessons, student have an opportunity to express how they feel. The teacher takes what they say into consideration and works with the students to help them overcome negative feelings which might otherwise interfere with their learning. Finally, because the students are encouraged throughout each lesson to cooperate with one another, it is hoped that a relaxed, enjoyable learning environment will be created.  

6.      How is language viewed ? how is culture viewed ?

Languages of the world share a number of features. However. Each language also has its own unique reality, or spirit, since it is the expression of a particular group of people. Their culture, as reflected in their own unique world view, is inseparable from their language.

7.      What areas of language are emphasized ? what language skills are emphasized ?

Since the sounds are basic toany language, pronunciation is worked on from the beginning. It is important the students acquire the melody of the language. There is also a focus on the structures of the language,  although explicit grammar rules may never be supplied. Vocabulary is somewhat restricted at first.

There is no fixed, linear, structural syllabus. Instead, the teacher starts with what the student know and builds from one structure to the next. As the learners’ repertoire is expanded, previously introduced structures are continually being recycled. The syllabus   develops according to learning needs.

All four skills are worked on from the beginning of the course, although there is a sequence in that students learn to read and write what they have already produced orally. The skills reinforce what students are learning.

8.      What is the role of the students’ native language ?

Meaning is made  clear by focusing the students’ perceptions, not by tranlation. The students’s native language can , however, be used to give instructions when necessary, to help a student improve his or her pronunciation, for instance. The native language is also used (at least at beginning levels of proficiency) during the feedback sessions.

More important, knowledge students already possess of their native language can be exploited by the teacher of the target language. For example, the teacher knows that many of the sounds in the students’ native language will be similar, if not identical, to sounds in the target language; he assumes, then , that he can build upon this existing knowlege to introduce the new sounds in the target language.

9.      How is evaluation accomplished ?

Although the teacher may never give a formal test, he assesses student learning all the time. Since “teaching is subordinated to learning,”the teacher must be responsive to immediate learning needs. The teacher’s silence frees him to attend to his students and to be aware of these needs. The needs will be apparent to a teacher who is observant of his students’ behavior. One criterion of whether or not students have learned is their ability to transfer what they have been studying to new contexts.

The teacher does not praise or criticize student behavior since this would interfere with the students’ developing their own inner criteria. He expects students to learn at different rates. The teacher looks for steady progress, not perfection.

10.  How does the teacher respond to student errors ?

Student errors are seen as a natural, indispensable part of the learning process. Errors are inevitable since the students are encouraged to explore the language. The teacher uses student errors as a basic for the deciding where further work is necessary.

The teacher works with the students in getting them to self-correct. Students are not thought to learn much if the teacher merely supplies the correct language. Students need to learn to listen to themselves and to compare their own production with their developing inner criteria. If the students are unable to self-correct and peers cannot help, then the teacher would supply the correct language, but only as a last resort.

REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES AND THE MATERIALS

Many of ideas in this chapter may be new to you. Some of these idea may be immediately attractive to you, whereas others may not. Give yourself time to think about all of them before you decide their value to you.

            In the review that follows, the materials surveyed in this chapter (the charts and rods)

Have been included. While you may not have access to the actual materials discussed here, the materials may reflect ideas you can use.

Sounds –Color Chart

The chart contains blocks of color,each one representing a sound in the target language.the teacher , and later the students, points to blocks of color on the chart to form syllables, words, and even sentence. Although we didn’t see it in this lesson, sometimes the teacher will tap a particular block of color very hard when forming a word. In this way the teacher can introduce the stress pattern for the word. The chart allows students to produce sound combinations in the target language without doing so through repetition. The chart draws the students attention and allows them to concentrate on the language, not on the teacher. When a particular sound of the two they are producing, the sound color chart can be used to give them feedback on which sound they are making.

            Finally, since the sound-color chart presents all of the sounds of the target language at once, students know what they have learned and what they yet need to learn. This relates to the issue of learner autonomy.

Teacher’s Silence

The teacher gives just as much help as in necessary and then is silent. Or the teacher sets up a situation, puts a language structure into circulation (for example, “Take a ----rod”)and then is silent. Even in error correction, the teacher will only supply a verbal answer as a last resort.

Peer Correction

Students are encouraged to help another student when he or she is experiencing difficulty. It is important that anynhelp be offered in a cooperative manner, not a competitive manner, not a competitive one. The teacher monitors the aid so that it is helpful, not interfering.

Rods

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. The rods trigger meaning; situations with the rods can be created in such a way that the meaning is made clear; then the language is conected to the meaning. At the beginning level, the rods can be used to teach colors and numbers. Later on they can be used for more complicated structures; for example, statements with perpositions (“the blue rod is between the green one and the yellow one”) and conditionals (“if you give me a blue rod , the I’ll give you two green ones”). They can be use abstractly as well; for instance, for the students to make a clock when learning to tell time in the target language, or to make a floor plan of their house, which they later describe to their classmates.

            The rods are therefore very versatile. They can be used as rods or more abstractly to represent other realities. They allow students to be creative and immaginative , and they allow for action to accompany language.

Self-correction Gesture

We already examined some self-correction techniques in the chapter on the Direct Method. Some of the particular gestures of the silentway could be added to this list. For example, in the class observed, the teacher put his palms together and then moved them outwards to signal to students the need to lengthen the particular vowel they were working on. In another instance, the teacher indicated that each of his fingers represented a word in a sentence and used used this to located the trouble spot for the student.

Word Chart 

The teacher, and later the students, points to words on the wall charts in a sequence so that they can read aloud the sentences they have spoken.

The way the letters are colored (the colors from the sound-color chart are used) helps the students with their pronunciation. There are twelve english charts containing about 500 words. The charts contain the functional vocabulary of english. Although we didn’t see them in this lesson, students also work with silent way wall pictures and books to further expand their vocabularies and facility with the language.

Fidel charts

The teacher, and later the students, points to the color-coded Fidel charts in other that students associate the sounds of the language with their spelling . for example, listed together and colored the same as the color block for  for the sound are “ey,” “ca, “eigh.” Showingthat these are all ways of spelling the /ey/ sound in english. Because of the larger number  of ways sounds in english can be spelled, these are eight Fidel Charts in all.

Structure feedback

Students are invited  to make observations the day’s lesson and what they have learned. The teacher accepts the students” comments in a nondefensive manner, hearing things that will help give him direction for where he should work when the class meets again.

The students learn to take responsibility for their own learning by becoming aware of and controlling how they use certain learning strategies in class. The length and frequency of feedback sessions vary dependingmon the teacher and the class.

conclusion

in this chapter we saw beginning lesson, the silent way is used with advanced student, too. For these students the same principles apply , and the same charts are used. In addition, these are pictures for topical vocabularies, books for american cultural setting , and an introduction to literature.

We have avoided referring to the silent way as a methodd since caleb gattegno says it is not one. Proponents of the silent way claim its principles are far-reaching, affecting not only education, bur the way one perceives the living of life itself. Nevertheless, there claerly are implications for language teaching and you should ask youself ahether there are implications for you.

            Do you believe teaching should be subordinate to learning ?does it make sense to you that learners should be encouraged to be indipendent of the teacher and autonomous in making their own choices ? do you think students can learn from one another ? should a teacher look for progress, not perception ? are there any other principles of the silent way you believe in ? which ones ?

            Are there silent way materials which would be of use to you ? should a teacher remain silent as much as possible? Is structured feedback a useful thing for teacher to elicit from their students ? which techniques can you adapt to your own approach to language teaching ?