The Structural Approach mid 20 The Rationalist Approach Early 1960s

11

2. Objectives

o To reach the goal of LT as practical attainability utility

3. Procedures:

o TL was introduced orally as in DM because facility in pronunciation and inner speech = an important aid in reading comprehension o Vocab control = prime importance  vocab exercises o Practice o intensive reading o Practice of extensive rapid reading

4. Theoretical Assumptions

o A pragmatic basis to gear educational activities to specified ultimate practical uses.

5. Assessment Nothing new in terms of linguistic and psychological

theories, but adding new elements: o A possibility of devising techniques of LL geared to specific purposes reading o The application of vocab control better grading the text o The creation of graded readers o The introduction of rapid reading Note: It is important to train students in speed reading

B. The Structural Approach mid 20

th C Principal points: - developed first in USA 12 - Separation of language skills listening, speaking, reading, writing - The use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the TL - Emphasis on certain practice techniques, mimicry, memorization, pattern drills - The use of language laboratory - Establishing a linguistic structural and psychological theory behaviourists as a basis for the teaching method Important principles: - Language is speech, not writing. - A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say. - Languages are different. - A language is a set of habits. - Teach the language, not about the language. Procedures: - A structural analysis of the language , forming the basis for graded material; - Presentation of the analysis by a trained linguist; - Several hours of drill per day with the help of a native speaker and in small classes; - Emphasis on speaking as the first objective

E. The Rationalist Approach Early 1960s

Important points: 13 - Since language is a rule-governed system, learning a language involves the internalization of the abstract rules governing the system. - Learning a language involves learning its meaning. - Drill alone will not help the learner learn the fundamental syntactical relations and processes. - Since the linguistic behaviour is believed to be stimulus- free and innovative, the learner should be provided with rules for creating and understanding sentences - Theoretical bases = Transformational Generative Grammar - Cognitive Psychology Principles: - A living language is characterized by rule-governed creativity. - The rules of grammar is psychologically clear. - Man is uniquely equipped to learn languages. - A living language is a language in which we can think. Procedures: learning a language is a process of acquiring conscious control of the phonological, grammatical, and lexical patterns of the second language largely through study and analysis of these patterns as a body of knowledge Therefore, explanation of the rules will proceed the practice in using the rules.

C. The More Semantic and Social Approach orThe communicatove approach 2