The direct method

The direct method appeared as a reaction against the grammar-translation method.

The prerequisites that brought about the appearance of new method are as follows. The rapid development of vari­ous branches of industry and the tremendous development of international trade and colonial expansion required plenty of officials who had a practical mastery of the language, people who could speak and write a foreign language and be able to communicate with foreigners. Therefore practical mastery of a foreign language becomes the main purpose of teaching this subject at school. The rapid development of pedagogics, psychology, namely, apperceptive psychology, and linguistics promoted the appearance of new methods. ⁴

The characteristic features of the direct method are as follows:

1. the practical direction in the teaching of foreign lan­guages which is understood as teaching language skills and speaking in particular, therefore spoken language becomes the basis of teaching;

2. the ignoring of the existence of the mother tongue as it is assumed that learning the mother tongue and learning a foreign language are similar processes, merely undertaken at different ages;

3. restricted application or very often complete elimina­tion of translation as a means of teaching a language which plays a leading part in the grammar-translation method; instead of translation, visual aids and various oral and writ­ten exercises are recommended on a large scale;

4. the inductive approach to teaching'grammar, i.e., the learner may discover the rules of grammar for himself after he has become acquainted with many examples (in the grammar-translation method the rule is first stated, and then sentences embodying the rule are studied; later the rule is put into practice by writing new sentences, generally by translating sentences from the mother tongue into the foreign language);

5. great care in teaching pronunciation throughout the course, and especially the first weeks and months; correct pronunciation must be constantly practised since comprehen­sion and speaking is possible if the learner has adequate pronunciation in the target language;

6. great attention to the subjects of the texts, especially a topical arrangement of the material with the purpose of ensuring speech development.

The method is called direct because in teaching a foreign language an attempt is made to establish a direct connection between a foreign word and the thing or notion it denotes without the aid of the native language.

At the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century there appeared several varieties of the direct method which differed only in some details. The most orthodox advo­cates of the direct method w^rere F. Gouin, M. Berlitz, M. Wal­ter B. Eggert. ⁵

The teachers who accepted the method, involve the pupil from the first step of learning a new language in conversation and supply meaning by referring directly to objects and pic­ture charts; they act out the meaning of sentences in order to make themselves understood.

The direct method found ready supporters. It stimulated enormously the pupil’s curiosity to learn and make progress. But there were too many difficulties in the use of the method, the main of them being the following:

1. No scientific principles were applied to selection of study material and vocabulary in particular. The only prin­ciple applied was the topical one, i. e., the material was ar­ranged in topics. As a result of such arrangement of vocabu­lary, the pupil had to assimilate a great number of words. For example, in textbooks compiled according to F. Gouin system the vocabulary listed 8 000 words.

2. School conditions did not favour the development of pupils’ speech habits (too few periods a week, overcrowded classes, lack of visual materials, etc.).

3. In the hands of inexperienced and ill-equipped teachers the direct method did not work and the teachers had to return to the old grammar-translation method.

However during the period between the two wars it became possible to revive the main principles of the direct method:

1. by careful experimentation; (b) by taking note of the new developments in the field of linguistics (Ferdinand de Saus- sure)⁶ and psychology (Thorndike)⁷; (c) by insisting that clear statements be made as to the aims and objectives of teaching.

This was done by H. Palmer and M. West, prominent Eng­lish methodologists.

The main points in Palme r’s method are:

1. In learning a foreign language the pupil must tread the path he has followed in acquiring the mother tongue, i. e., starting with oral language.

2. The teaching of a foreign language must be based upon carefully selected material. H. Palmer was one of the first methodologists who tried to work out the principles of vo­cabulary selection on a scientific basis. A special Research Institute was established in Tokyo and H. Palmer headed this Institute. The results of the work was a

3 000 word mi­nimum vocabulary list.

3. Great attention should be given to the rationalization of study material to make the assimilation of a foreign lan­guage easier.