by SHANE MAC DONNCHAIDH Comments are closed
7 Advantages of the Bilingual Method of Teaching English
Is a student’s mother tongue a help or hindrance in learning a new language?
Pop your head into English language classes around the world and it would appear it’s more often considered a hindrance.
But is that what it really is?
Proponents of the bilingual method argue that the mother tongue is an essential tool for achieving fluency in a second language.
What’s the Bilingual Method?
There are three widely-recognized methods of teaching a language:
1. The Grammar-Translation Method
2. The Direct Method
3. The Bilingual Method
Often referred to as the traditional method, the grammar-translation method is derived from the classical approach to teaching Latin and ancient Greek. This method places a strong emphasis on the grammatical structure of language and is heavy on rote memorization for learning. Lessons are undertaken in the students’ native language (L1) and involve extensive translation to and from the students’ target language (L2).
The direct method has been strongly favored among language teachers for many years now. The direct method utilizes L2, employing visual aids and role-playing extensively, and encourages students to use an inductive approach to discover the rules of the target language. It attempts to simulate the conditions through which we acquire our native language and, therefore, heavily discourages the use of the mother tongue.
Our focus here is on the third method: the bilingual method. This method was developed by C.J. Dodson in the 1960s and 1970s. Dodson set out to make improvements to the audio-visual method (which has much in common with the direct method outlined above). The bilingual method makes use of the traditional three P’s: presentation, practice, production. The three P’s are the three main stages of any language lesson. First, you present material. Then you all practice together and students are expected to produce something with their new knowledge.