‘Natural’ language learning The ear

‘Natural’ language learning
The early direct method had been a revolution, but not a complete one. Many of the characteristics of grammar—translation had survived. There was still explanation and grading of grammar rules, and the language was divided into discrete areas such as vocabulary or pronunciation practice. Teachers, then, had to do much as they had done before, but without recourse to either first-language explanation or translation. This meant that, in practice,grammar rules had to be worked out by students from examples, because an explanation would demand language beyond the level of the rule being explained, while the meaning of new vocabulary had to be either guessable from the context, or perhaps illustrated or mimed. This last resort is possible, if often ridiculous, for a word denoting something specific and physical,like ‘butterfly’— but imagine the plight of teachers trying to mime more general words such as‘creature’ or abstract ones such as ‘specification’!