1. The Situational Language Teaching
Chapter Five
The Situational Language Teaching

2. Contents 1. General Ideas 2. Background 4. Basic principles
3. Theoretical Basis
4. Basic principles
5. Summary and Comments
6. Discussion

3. Questions
1.What is the Direct Method?
2. How did it come into being?
4. What are its main features, objectives, classroom teaching procedures and techniques, and its theoretical basis?
5. What are your comments on this method?

4. The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching is a language teaching method derived from the Direct Method and developed by British applied linguists between 1930s and 1960s. The Method is no longer in fashion, but some techniques from the Method can still be found in language teaching activities and especially in many textbooks. 

5. General Ideas
The Oral Approach / Situational Language Teaching means an approach to language teaching developed by British applied linguists from the 1930s to the 1960s.

6. It is a grammar-based method in which principles of grammatical and lexical gradation（词类分级） are used and new teaching points presented and practiced through meaningful situation-based activities.

7. General Ideas
Although no longer in fashion, techniques derived from this approach have shaped the design of many widely used EFL/ESL textbooks.
It is of significance to understand the practices and principles of this approach.

8. Background 1) This approach originated in Britain in the 1920s.
2) Harold Palmer and A. S. Hornby were the most important and influential figures.

9. Background 3) They were dissatisfied with the Direct Method.
4) Another objective was to develop principles of vocabulary control.
5) Frequency counts （频度统计）showed that a core of 2000 words occurred frequently in daily use and written texts.

10. Background
6) Organization of the grammar content of a language course should be based on the principle of gradation.
7) Their view of grammar was very different from that of the Grammar-Translation Method.
8) Students acquire a little information at a time and learn to make meaningful statements.
9) Sentence patterns are used to have oral practice.

11. Theoretical Basis

12. Theory of language
1) It can be characterized as a type of British “structuralism”.
2) Language as speech. Language was identified with speech, and speech ability was approached through oral practice of structure.

13. 3) Language as rule-governed
3) Language as rule-governed. British linguists believe that elements in a language were rule-governed and lower level systems of word classes (nouns, adjectives, and so on) led to higher level systems of phrases and sentences.

14. Theory of language
4) Emphasis on the close relationship between the structure, context and situation.
5) Primary importance attached to meaning, context and situation.

15. Theory of learning
1) Behaviourist habit formation. Foreign language learning was considered basically a process of habit formation.

16. Theory of learning
2) The habit formation of real life and language learning in the classroom: the acquisition of spoken language and the foreign language speech patterns
3) Naturalistic principles for classroom teaching
4) Direct and spontaneous（自然的） uses of the target language

17. Basic principles

18. Main features 1) Language teaching begins with the spoken language
2) The target language is the language of instruction.
3) New language is introduced and practiced in situations.
4) Speech habit is formed in the initial period of a language course.

19. Main features 5) Accuracy is maintained.
6) Common core words are covered.
7) Simple forms of grammar are taught before complex ones, and inductively.
8) Reading and writing are introduced later.

20. Teachers’ role Deciding on the content of learning Setting the pace
Setting up situations
Model in the presentation stage
Error detector in the practice stage & grammar.

21. Objectives
The objectives of language teaching are to help the students:
to get a practical command of the four basic skills of a language;
to obtain accuracy in pronunciation

22. Techniques 1) New sentence patterns presented in situations
2) Drill-based practice
3) Guided repetition
4) Substitution（替换） activities
5) Dictation
6) Controlled reading and writing tasks

23. Procedures
Procedures usually move from controlled to freer practice of structures and from oral use of sentence patterns to their automatic use in speech, reading and writing.
1) Revision
2) Presentation of new structure or vocabulary
3) Oral practice (Choral imitation, then individual imitation)
4) Reading of material on the new structure, or written exercises.

24. Summary and Comments

25. Advantages Suitable for introduction to the language.
Oral production without risk.
Values practical grammar and vocabulary.
An accessible method for teachers...if they have good curriculum.
Inexpensive to use.

26. Disadvantages Boring Inauthentic Ineffective Teacher-controlled
Conflicts with natural acquisition

27. Discussion 1) What is the goal of teachers who use the Oral Approach?
2) What are some of the characteristics of this approach that make it so distinctive from the Direct Method?