also audiolingualism, aural–oral method, mim–mem method
a method of foreign or second language teaching which (a) emphasizes
the teaching of speaking and listening before reading and writing (b) uses
Dialogues and Drills (c) discourages use of the mother tongue in the
classroom (d) often makes use of contrastive analysis. The audiolingual
method was prominent in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the United
States, and has been widely used in many other parts of the world.
The theory behind the audiolingual method is the aural–oral approach to
language teaching, which contains the following beliefs about language and
language learning: (a) speaking and listening are the most basic language
skills (b) each language has its own unique structure and rule system (c) a
language is learned through forming habits. These ideas were based partly
on the theory of structural linguistics and partly on behaviourism.
Criticism of the audiolingual method is based on criticism of its theory and its
techniques (see cognitive code approach, communicative approach).
see also approach, mim–mem met