2.2.3. The Direct Method

Another method that had a decisive influence on the development of methodology was The Direct Method. It was also a socially dependent meth­od. It sprang to life in the period of intensive formation of imperialism. It was the time when leading industrial countries struggled for markets. Experts to promote trade investments in enterprises abroad as well as those to advertise goods, to put the machinery right or to put it into practice appeared to be in great demand. Experts from over-seas countries had to be professionally edu­cated and able to speak the language of the country which exported equip­ment in order to be able to cooperate with foreign experts.

Besides this at those times there appeared more possibilities and needs to promote world tourism which gave a stimulus for studying conversational English, French, German etc.

Thus, influenced by the social and economic conditions of the late 19-th, the kind of foreign language proficiency the society needed changed. And to be exact, it put in a new claim to methodology, i.e. to create a short-term method for training people in foreign language oral speech. It was the goal the Direct Method was elaborated for.

In classroom context the Direct Method stood for the following principles and procedures:

Classes are to be conducted exclusively in the target language.

Only everyday vocabulary is to be taught.

Oral communication skills are to be organized around question-and-answer exchange between teachers and students in groups small in number by means of intensive classes.

Grammar is to be taught inductively without any rules.

Simple grammatical high-frequency items only are to be taught.

Learners' should comprehend new material owing to their intuitive sense and guessing work.

Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, pictures and other non-linguistic means, while abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas.

Both speech and listening comprehension arc taught.

Pronunciation and grammar are to be emphasized in the teachers' speech [80, 10].

Pondering over the principles of the Direct Method one can see they were drastically opposite to those of the Grammar-Translation Method: conscious-raising approach to studying grammar was ousted of the teaching process, grammar was taught lexically, i.e. like combinations of words or collocations, reading as a type of speech activity was not taught, meaningful contents of the vocabulary studied were drastically changed and only conversational skills were developed. These were the methodological principles to implement the Direct Approach.

One of the most brilliant representatives of the Direct Method was Max-imillian Berlitz. Synonyms to the Direct Method are the Berlitz Method and the Intuitive Method. It was widely spread all over Europe and the USA. These were short-term courses: 2 months, not more; the frequency of classes is very high: for 5 or 6 hours a day. Nowadays in some countries of Southern-West Europe the Berlitz Method is renewed in a somewhat modificated form. The dominating scientific grounding of the Direct Method was as follows: to cognize the foreign language learners must experience natural sensations and use intui­tive guess. They should not be directed in their cognition of the language by the teacher. The teacher must only produce foreign language speech in a way which would induce learners to experience natural sensations and develop their intui­tive guessing in the process of comprehending the teacher's speech.

According to this any language form was introduced with the help of visual aids and various non— linguistic means, such as gestures, body movements, facial expression, acting, affective way of speaking, specially emphasized stresses, pauses, intonations and emotions. The teacher should have acted each of the situations as an actor for several times. The situation worked only if it was naturalistic, very clear, humorous and sometimes even comic. Watch­ing the teacher's acting the situation for several times learners answered the leachers' questions and tried to catch the meaning of the words introduced. Watching them for some more times and answering a lot of extensive and detailed questions they could experience positive emotions and satiate the word with sense.

Below a situation is given, when the teacher is simulating in imaginary conditions, manipulating with imaginary objects, speaking about all this in English.

Let's imagine, I've just come home after a long working day. What do you think is the first thing most women have to do when they come home ? Oh. yes, the first thing most women have to do is to cook food. This is my kitchen. I'll show it to you now. I like my kitchen very much. I think it is beautiful. And what do women do in the kitchens? Yes! They cook there.

77»/5 is a wall cupboard (The teacher turns with her face to an imaginary cupboard, pointing at it and accompanying her speech with gestures as if she were touching it with her hands). It is dark brown in colour, made of wood. My wall cupboard is not made of metal or plastic, my wall cupboard is made of wood. So, what my cupboard is made of? Really of wood.

There are a lot of drawers in it. Look, the drawers slide easily. (And the teacher imitates pulling them out). And what is there in the drawer? Let's see! (A pause is made to give the learners some time to think what really could be found in the drawer). Yes, you are right. There are forks and spoons in it. There is a spoon. We use a spoon when we eat soup. (The teacher demonstrates a person eating soup). And this is a fork. We use forks like this. (And she demonstrates the way forks are usually used in). Can I eat soup with a fork? No, I really can't.

The cupboard has two compartments. Look! This is a compartment, I'm opening it. I keep bread in it. (And she takes out a roll of bread out of the com­partment.) It is a bread compartment.

The other compartment is for crockery. I keep crockery there. Let's open the crockery compartment. What stands in there? Look! It is a plate. (The teacher acts as if showing a plate). We can eat soup out of a plate. (The teacher imitates eating soup). What do we use to eat soup with ? Really, plates! Plates also stand in the crockery compartment. And this is a cup. We use a cup to drink water. (A demonstration of the action follows). So cups also stand in the crockery com­partment. So do many other dishes. So, what things can one find in a crockery compartment? Let's name the things and count them together. Yes, you are righ! Plates stand in the crockery compartment. (The teacher takes out a plate and shows it to the students. In the same way she/he works with other things.)

• Oh! What's the time? The clock is there, hanging on the wall, (the teacher turns to the imaginary clock and points at it). Oh, it is 16.15. My husband is coming in 45 minutes! Dinner! What to cook ? (The teacher pretends as if she were pondering over it in a rather serious way). I'd like to cook soup. But I need to find out whether there are all the vegetables necessary for soup.

• This is my fridge. You don 7 know what a fridge is ?! Look here, look at me. The fridge is rectangular in shape. (And the teacher tries to show a rectangle of the size the refrigerator usually has). The fridge is white, made of plastic. Its surface is glistening. The fridge is our great helper. It helps us to keep food-stuffs cool or frozen. So, where do we usually put food to keep it cool or frozen ? Right! In a fridge.

• My refrigerator has three compartments. The upper compartment is a freezer. Let's take something out of the freezer. Look! It is meat, but it is frozen. It's simply a piece of ice! I'll put it on the table. Oh how cold it was to keep it in hand! (And

the teacher tries to warm her fingers breathing out at them). Does my freezer work well? Really it is.

• At the bottom of the fridge there are two containers: one is for vegetables. You see I'm taking it out of the fridge. There it is on the table now. The other container is for fruit. Let's see whether I have the vegetables to cook soup to-day. What is it in here ?Oh!A head of cabbage! Have a look at it. (And the teacher shows an imaginary cabbage to the learners). The cabbage is round, its colour is light-green. Now I'm going to cut a piece of cabbage for soup. Where is the knife? Do you know where I can take a knife from ? Do you really know? Oh, yes. You are right: it is a drawer. I'm taking a knife from a drawer. I'm cutting cabbage. (The teacher gets a knife out of a drawer and starts cutting the head of cabbage). Do you hear how the cabbage is crunching when I am cutting it? (And she imitates a sound of crunching).

• What else do I need for soup ? Yes, potatoe/. Well, one potato, two potatoes, I think four potatoes will be enough for my soup. Oh! I forgot about carrots. This is a carrot. You see it is orange in colour. And these are onions. They are round bulbs having many coats.

• I'd like to wash my hands now. This is a sink. It is below the water taps. When I turn the water tap on water flows into the sink. I'm turning the tap on to wash the hands. Oh! How cold the water is! (The teacher draws her hand back quickly from the tap). But I don't worry. I have a geyser. It hangs on the wall to the left of the sink. I strike a match, bring it to the geyser's burner. (The teacher imitates the sound of the burning of gas. She turns the water tap on). Oh, the water is warm now! How pleasant it is. This is my geyser. I like it very much. Have you understood what the geyser is ? Yes, you are right. _

In actual fact, the Direct Method was an attempt to use the Classical Greek Method — in the early 19-th century they called it the Method of the Governess— in class with a group of students instead of an individual learner as it was in Ancient Greece or much later in Europe [51].

The Direct Method enjoyed very high popularity in private schools, where paying clients had very high motivation of studying. The Direct Method has had a very decisive influence on further developing of methodology and its elements are rather frequently used nowadays.

Nevertheless the Direct Method had some drawbacks due to which it couldn't be implemented in either public secondary or higher school edu­cation. They are given below. It was impossible with the help of the Direct Method to carry out the following:

• to introduce basic and complicated grammatical phenomena, such as Word-Order, the Article, peculiarities of the Passive Voice, the Sequence

of Tenses and Reported Speech, Modality, Complex Forms of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb and their Complexes, the Subjunctive Mood etc. and make them comprehensible for learners;

• to teach reading as a type of speech activity, this giving some reasonable expectations that students would come away after teaching having no ability to read texts in the target languages while the great works of literature and philosophy, science and technology had been produced in these languages;

• to introduce words expressing abstract notions;

• to be used in view of the restricted time available for foreign language teaching in schools;

• to use it in groups with non-native teachers, because the highest effectiveness of the Direct Method could be achieved only with native speakers as teachers.

Due to the above mentioned drawbacks and notwithstanding its real suc­cess the Direct Method was difficult for being implemented in public second­ary school education, and by the 1920s in Europe and some years later in the USA, the use of the Direct Method in noncommercial public schools had consequently declined. "A reading knowledge of a foreign language, achieved through the gradual introduction of words and grammatical structures in reading texts was advocated as the goal for foreign language courses in Europe and in the USA." [80, 10]. This might have been considered the reason due to which it was the Gram mar-Translation Method which was renewed in public education and existed up to the fifties of the 20-th century.

In spite of the fact that the Direct Method existed in its original form for a very short time — not more than 25 years — it has influenced and changed the development of Methodology to a very great extent. It is the Direct Method the creators of which were the first to introduce the following positive factors into teaching foreign languages, namely:

• teaching spoken language;

• training in pronunciation;

• training in listening comprehension;

• teaching lexis from conversational texts and dialogues;

• increasing students natural emotions and intuitive guess— work;

• raising students' natural motivation;

• applying oral speech and visual situations to introduce new forms.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF PART 2

Ground your choices on the paragraphs of the part.

1. The technique of live listening consists in:

a/ learners' inventing and retelling a story one after another while all the others listen to it; b/the teacher's retelling a story; c/the teacher's alternating his/ her own story-telling (or reading) with questions; d/learners' asking questions while the teacher is retelling.

2. If the technique of comprehensible input is used by a teacher, then the learners:

a/ translate what the teacher says to them; b/ are able to understand speech containing unknown words; c/ comprehend only a part of what the teacher tells them; d/repeat what the teacher tells them.

3. Choose the correct:

a/ the method and approach are antonyms; b/ the approach is subordinated to a method; c/ the method and approach are synonyms; d/ the method is subordinated to an approach.

4. Choose the correct:

a/the skill and habit are synonyms; b/the skill is a component of a higher level of speech than the habit is; c/ the skill and habit are antonyms; d/ the habit is a component of a higher level of speech than the skill is.

From the multiple choice below choose five correct answers.

5. The Grammar-Translation Method:

a/was a leading and progressive method of teaching for more than 18 centuries; b/ was used for two centuries; c/ has never been an effective method of teaching;

d/ didn 't answer the social and economic conditions of the 20-th century; e/ was called to life by some social and economic conditions of the life of the society;

f/ was always used to teach only grammar; g/ at the earlier historical stages of the existence of the Grammar- Translation Method classes started with learners' making up oral speech grammatical patterns of their own; h/ at the earlier historical stages of the existence of the Grammar- Translation Method it presupposed students' ability to write compositions and take part in disputes and discussions on their profession.