3 The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching 45 Vocabulary selection One of the first aspects of method design to receive attention was the role of vecabulary. In the 1920 and 19305, several large-scale investigations of foreign language vocabulary were undertaken. The impetus for this research came from two quarters, First, there was a general consensus among language teaching specialists, such as Palmer, that vocabulary was one of the most important aspects of foreign language learning. A second influence was the increased empha: countries. This had been the recommendation of the Coleman Report (Chapter 1) and also the independent conclusion of another British language teaching specialist, Michael West, who had examined the role of English in India in the 19208, Vocabulary was seen as an essential component of reading proficiency. This led to the development of principles for vocabulary selection. which were to have a major practical impact on the teaching of English in subsequent decades. Frequency counts showed that a core of 2,000 or so words occurred frequently in written texts and that a knowledge of these words would greatly assist in reading a foreign language. Palmer, West, and other specialists produced a guide to the English vocabulary needed for teach: g English as a foreign language, The Interim Report on Vocabulary Selection (Faucet et al. 1936), based on frequency as well as other criteria. This was later revised by West and pub- lished as A General Service List of English Words (a9sab). which became a standard reference in developing teaching materials. These efforts to introduce a scientific and rational basis for choosing the vocabulary content of a language course represented the first attempts te establish principles of syllabus design in language teaching, on reading skills as the goal of foreign language study in some Grammar control Parallel to the interest in developing rational principles for vocabulary selection was a focus on the grammatical content of a language course. Palmer had emphasized the problems of grammar for the foreign learner. Much of his work in Japan, where he directed the Institute for Research in English Teaching fram 1922 until World War II, was directed toward devel- oping classroom procedures suited to teaching basic grammatical patterns through an oral approach. His view of grammar was very different from the abstract model of grammar seen in the Grammar-Translation Method, however, which was based on the assumption that one universal logic formed the basis of all languages and that the teacher's respon. sibility was to show how each category of the universal grammar was to be expressed in the foreign language. Palmer viewed grammar as the underlying sentence patterns of the spoken language. Palmer, Hornby, and other British applied linguists analyzed English and classified its major grammatical structures into sentence patterns (later called “substitution tables"), which could be used to help internalize the rules of English sentence structure. The following is an example of a sentence pattern: Pattern: S—Vtr-DO (Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object) ‘The dog catches the ball ‘The baby likes bananas46 Major trends in twentieth-century language teaching Dogs chase cats. ‘That man teaches Engli ‘The scientist performed an experiment. A classification of English sentence patterns was incorporated into the first dictionary for students of English as a second or foreign language. developed by Hornby, Gatenby, and Wakefield and published in 1953 as The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. A number of pedagogically motivated descriptions of English grammar were undertaken, including A Grammar of Spoken English on a Strictly Phonetic Basis (Palmer and Blandford 1939). A Handbook of English Grammar (Zandvoort 1945), and Hornby’s Guide to Patterns and Usage in English (1954a), which became a standard reference source of basic English sentence patterns for textbook writers. With the development of systematic approaches to the lexical and grammatical content of a language course and with the efforts of such spe- cialists as Palmer, West, and Hornby in us al framework for the teaching of English asa second or foreign language, the ish approach in TEFL/TESL ~ the Oral Approach ~ were firmly 1g these resources as part of a Comprehensive methodolo, foundations for the Bri established, The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching Palmer, Hornby, and other Bri approach to methodology that involved systematic principles of selection (the procedures by which lexical and grammatical content was chosen), gradation (principles by which the organization and sequencing of content were determined), and presentation (techniques used for presentation and practice of items in a course). Although Palmer, Hornby, and other English teaching specialists had differing views on the specific procedures to be used in teaching English, their general principles were referred to as the Oral Approach to lan guage teaching. This was not to be confused with the Direct Method (Chapter 1), which, although it used oral procedures, lacked a systematic basis in applied linguistic theory and practice. developed an h applied Hinguists from the 19208 onwar An oral approach should net be confused with the obsolete Direct Method, which meant only that the learner was bewildered by a flow of ungraded speech, suffering all the difficulties he would have encountered in picking up the language in its normal environment and losing most of the compensating benefits of better contextualization in these circumstances. (Pattison 1964: 4) Situational Language Teaching ia a type of oral approach, as will be explained. The Oral Approach, described in detail below, was the accepted British approach to English language teaching by the 1950s. It is described in the standard methodology textbooks of the period, such as French (1948-1950), Gurrey (1955), Frisby (1957), and Billows (1961). Its principles are seen in Hornby’s famous Oxford Progressive English Course for Adult Learners (1954-1956)3 The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching 47 and in many other more recent textbooks. One of the most active proponents of the Oral Approach in the 1960s was the Australian George Pittman, Pittman and his colleagues were responsible for developing an influential set of teaching materials based on the Situational Approach, a more modern version of the early Oral Approach, which were widely used in Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific territories. Pittman was also responsible for the situationally based materials developed by the Commonwealth Office of Education in Sydney, used in the English programs for immigrants in Australia. These were published for worldwide use in 1965 as the series Situational English. Materials by Alexander and other leading British textbook writers also reflected the principles of Situational Language Teaching as they had evolved over a 20-year period. The main characteristics of the Oral Approach were as follows: 1. Language teaching begins with the spoken language. Material is taught orally before it is presented in written form ‘The target language is the language of the classroom. 3. New language points are introduced and practiced situational 4. Vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general service vocabulary is covered. 5. Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be taught before complex ones. Reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammatical basis is established. It was the third principle that became a key feature of the approach in the 1960s, and it was then that the term situational was used increasingly in referring to the Oral Approach. Hornby himsclf used the term the Situational Approach in the title of an influ ential series of articles published in English Language Teaching in 1950. Later, the terms Structurai- Situational Approack and Situational Language Teaching came into common usage. To avoid further confusion, we will use the term Situational Language Teaching (SLT) to include the Structural-Situational and Oral approaches that predominated in the 19508 and beyond. How can SLT be characterized at the levels of approach, design. and procedure? Approach Theory of language ‘The theory of language underlying SLT can be characterized as a type of British struc- tural model or “structuralism?” Underlying every language was a system of grammatical patterns and structures that had to be mastered in learning a language. Speech was regarded as the basis of language, and structure was viewed as being at the heart of speaking ability. Palmer, Hornby, and other British applied linguists had prepared peda- gogical descriptions of the basic grammatical structures of English, and these were to be48 Major trends in twentieth-century language teaching cology. “Word order, structural words, the few inflexions of English, and content words, will form the material of our teaching” (Frisby 1957: 134). In terms of language theory, there was little to distinguish such a view from that proposed by American linguists, such as Charles Fries, who viewed grammar, or “structure” and basic sentence patterns as the starting point for language teaching (Chapter 4). Indeed, Pittman drew heavily on Fries’s theories of language in the 1960s, but American theory nguists in the r9sos. The British theoreticians, version of structuralism — the notion of * followed in developing me! was largely unknown to British applied however, had a different focus to the tion” “Our principal classroom activity in the teaching of English structure will be the oral practice of structures. This oral practice of controlled sentence patterns should be given in situations designed to give the greatest amount of practice in English speech to the pupil” (Pittman 1963: 179). The theory that knowledge of structures must be linked to situations in wl could be used gave SLT one of its distinctive features. This may have reflected tional trend in British linguistics since the 19308. Many British linguists had emphasized the close relationship between the structure of language and the context and situations in which language is used. Beginning in the 19305, British linguists, such as J. R. Firth, followed by M. A. K. Halliday, developed powerful views of language in which mean ing, context, and situation were given a prominent place: “The emphasis now is on the description of language activity as part of the whole complex of events which, together with the participants and relevant objects, make up actual situations” (Halliday, McIntosh, and Strevens 1964: 38). Thus, in contrast to American structuralist views on language (see Chapter 4), language was viewed as purposeful activity related to goals and situations in the real world, “The language which a person originates ... is always expressed for a pur- pose” (Frisby 1957: 16). h they Ine func Theory of learning The theory of learning underlying SLT is a type of behaviorist habit views as authoritative: “As Palmer has pointed out, there are for example, cites Palmer's three processes in learning a language ~ receiving the knowledge or materials, fixing it in the memory by repetition, and using it in actual practice until it becomes a personal skill” (4957: 136). French likewise saw language learning as habit formation: “The fundamental is correct speech habits ... The pupils should be able to put the words, without hesitation and almost without thought, into sentence patterns which are correct. Such speech habits can vated by blind imitative drill” (ase, IIT: 9). Like the Direct Method, SLT adopts an inductive approach to the teaching of gram- mar. The meaning of words or structures is not to be given through explanation in either the native language or the target language but is to be induced from the way the form is used in a situation. “If we give the meaning of a new word, cither by translation into the home language or by an equivalent in the same language, as soom as we introduce it, we weaken the impression which the word makes on the mind” (Billows 1961: 28). Explanation is therefore discouraged, and the learner is expected to deduce the meaning of a particular be ox3 The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching 49 structure or vocabulary item from the situation in which it is presented. Extending struc tures and vocabulary to new situations takes place by generalization. The learner is expected to apply the language learned in a classroom to situations outside the classroom. This is how child language learning is believed to take place, and the same processes are thought to occur in second and foreign language learning, according to practitioners of SLT. Design Objectives ‘The objectives of the SET method are to teach a practical command of the four basic skills of language. goals it shares with most methods of language teaching. But the skills are approached through structure. Accuracy in both pronunciation and grammar is regarded as crucial, and errors are to be avoided at all costs. Automatic control of basic structures and sentence pat- terns is fundamental to reading and writing skills, and this is achieved through speech work. “Before our pupils read new structures and new vocabulary, we shall teach orally both the new ing likewise derives from speech. structures and the new vocabulary” (Pittman 1963: 186). W' Oral composition can be a very Valuable exercise ... Nevertheless, the skill with which this activity is handled depends largely on the control of the language suggested by the teacher and used by the children ... Only when the teacher is reasonably certain that learners can speak fairly correctly within the limits of their knowledge of sentence structure and vocabulary may he [sic] allow them free cheice in sentence patterns and voeabulary. (Pittman 1963: 188) The syllabus Basic to the teaching of English in SLT is a structural syllabus and a word list. A structural syllabus is a list of the basic structures and sentence patterns of English, arranged according to their order of presentation, In SLT, structures are always taught within sentences, and vocabulary is chosen according to how well it enables sentence patterns to be taught. “Our early course will consist of list of sentence patterns [statement patterns, question patterns, and request or command patterns] ... will include as many structural words as possible, and sufficient content words to provide us with material upon which to base our language practice” (Frisby 1957: 134). Frishy (1957 134) gives an example of the typical structural syl- Jabus around which situational teaching was based Penola Wetec 1st lesson This is .. book, pencil, ruler, desk That is 2nd lesson These are . chair, picture, door, window Those are 8rd lesson Is this... 7 Yes it is. watch, box, pen, blackboard Is that ... ? Yes it is,52 Major trends in twentieth-century language teaching sentence patterns to their automatic use in speech, reading, and w ing. Pittman (196: 73) gives an example of a typical lesson plan: The first part of the lesson will be stress and intonation practice ... The main body of the lesson should then follow. This might consist of the teaching of a structure. If 80, the lesson would then consist of four parts: pronunciation revision (to prepare for new work if necessary) presentation of new structure or vocabulary oral practice (drilling) reading of matarial on the new structure, or written exercises ¢ sample lesson plans for use with SLT. The structures being taught and “that’s a... Davieset al. (1975: 56) gi im the following lesson are “this is a ‘Teacher: (holding up a watch) Look. This is a watch. (2 « ) (pointing to a clock on wall or table) That’s a clock. (2 x ) That's a clock. (2 =) ‘This is a watch. (putting down watch and moving across to touch the clock or pick it up) This is a clock. (2 x ) (pointing to watch) That's a watch. (2 x ) (picking up a pen) This isa pen. (2 x ) (draw- ing large pencil on blackboard and moving away) That's a pencil (@ x) Take your pens. All take your pens. (students all pick up their pens) ‘Teacher: Listen. This is a pen.(3 x ) This. (3) Students: This. (3 x ) A student: This. (6 x ) Teacher: This is a pen Students: his is a pen. (3 x ) ‘A student: (moving pen) This is a pen. (6 = ) ‘Teacher: (pointing to blackboard) That's a pencil. (3 =) That. (3 < ) Students: That. (3 x ) That. (6 x) ‘That's a pencil. {all pointing at blackboard) That’s a pencil. (3 x) A student: (pointing at blackboard) That's a pencil. (6 x ) ‘Teache ‘Take your books. (taking a book himself ) This is a book. (3 x) Students: ‘This is a book, (3 x ) Teacher (placing notebook in a visible place) Tell me... Student 1: That's a notebook. You can now begin taking objects out of your box, making sure they are as far as possible not new vocabulary items. Lange objects may be placed in wisible places at the front of the classroom. Smaller ones distributed to students.8 The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching sx ‘These procedures illustrate the techniques used in presenting new language items in situations. Drills, as mentioned, are likewise related to “situations.” Pittman illustrates oral drilling on a pattern, using a box full of objects to create the situation. The pattern being practiced is “There’s a NOUN + of + (noun) in the box.” The teacher takes objects out of the box and the class repeats: ‘There's a tin of cigarettes in the box There's a packet of matches in the box. There's @ reel of cotton in the box. There’s a bottle of ink in the box. There’s a packet of pins in the box. ‘There's a pair of shoes in the bex. There's a jar of rice in the box (Pittman 1963: 168) ‘The teacher's kit, a collection of items and realia that can be used in situational language practice, is hence an essential part of the teacher's equipment. Davies et al. likewise give detailed information about teaching procedures to be used with SLT. The sequence of activities they propose consists of the following: +. Listening practice in which the teacher obtains his stuclents! attention and repeats an example of the patterns or a word in isolation clearly, several times, probably saying it slowly at least once (where ... is ... the ... pen?), Separating the words. 2. Choral imitation in which students all together or in large groups repeat what the teacher has said. This works best if the teacher gives a clear instruction “Repeat,” or “Everybady" and hand signals to mark time and stress. Individual imitation in which the teacher asks several incividuai students to repeat the model he has given in order to check their pronunciation 4. Isolation, in which the teacher isolates sounds, words, ar groups of words which cause Individual imitation in which the teacher asks several inci the model he has given In order to check thelr pronunciation 4 Isolation, in which the teacher isclates sounds, words, or groups of words which cause trouble and goes through techniques 1-3 with them before replacing them in context. Building up to a new model, in which the teacher gets students to ask and answer questions using patterns they already know in arder to bring about the information necessary to introduce the new model 6. Elicitation, in which the teacher, using mime, prompt words, gestures, etc., gote stucionts to ask questions, make statements, or give new examples of the pattern. Substitution drilling, in which the teacher uses cue words (words, pictures, numbers, names, etc.) to get individual stuclents to mix the examples of the new patterns. Question-answer drilling, in which the teacher gets one stucient to ask a question and another to answer until most students in the class have practiced asking and answering the new question form. jual students to repeat54 Major trands in twentieth-century language teaching 3. Correction, in which the teacher indicates by shaking his head, repeating the error, etc., that there is a mistake and invites the student or a different student to correct it. Where possible the teacher does not simply correct the mistake himself. He gets students to correct themselves so they will be encouraged to listen to each other carefully. (Davies ot ab 1975: 6-79 Davies et al. then go on to discuss how follow-up reading and writing activities are to be carried out. The PPP lesson format One of the most enduring legacies of SLI at the procedure level is what came to be known as the PPP lesson format — Presentation-Practice- Production — widely popular well into the 19908 and still used today. Its main features can be characterized as follows: © Presentation. A text, audio, or visual is used by the teacher to present the grammar in a controlled situation. + Practice. A controlled practice phase follows where the learner says the structure cor rectly, using such activities as drills and transformations, gap-fill or cloze activities, and multiple-choice questions. © Production. In the production phase, th jearner transfers munication through dialogues and other activities, where there is more than one correct answer, structure to freer com- Critics have argued, however, that not all learners effectively manage this transfer and that controlled practice does not prepare them adequately for freer production. The impli- cations of these criticisms will be explored in Chapter s Conclusion In this chapter, we have reviewed the Oral Approach and its later manifestation, Situational Language Teaching, as it developed in Britain, and have seen how the design and procedure emphasized accuracy and repetition in controlled situations. Procedures associated with SLT in the 1950s and 1960s were an extension and further development of well-established techniques advocated by proponents of the earlier Oral Approach in the British school of language teaching. The essential features of SLT are seen in the PPP lesson model that thou- sands of teachers who studied for the RSA/Cambridge Certificate in TEFLA were required to master in the 1980s and catly 19903, with a lesson having three phases: Presentation (introduction of a new teaching item in context), Practice (controlled practice of the item), and Production (a freer practice phase) (Willis and Willis 1996). SLT provided the meth- odology of major teacher-training texts throughout the 1980s and beyond (e.g., Hubbard et al. 1983), and, as we note |, texthooks written accarding to the principles of SLT were3 The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching 55 widely used in many parts of the world. In the mid-1960s, however, applied linguists began call into question the view of language, language learning, and language teaching under- 1g SET. We discuss this reaction and how it led to Communicative Language Teaching in Chapter 5. But because the principles of SLT, with its strong emphasis on oral practice, grammar, and sentence patterns, conform to the intuitions of many language teachers and offer a practical methodology suited to countries where national EFL/ESL. syllabuses con- tinue to be grammatically based, it continues to be used in some parts of the world today, even though it may not be widely acknowledged Discussion questions 1. Does the PPP lesson cycle play any role in your current teacl 1g? 2. Have you experienced or observed any limitations of the PPP cycle? 3. Like the Direct Methad, the Oral Approach was inductive and, in its pure form, did not explain grammar. What do you think might be some pros and cons to this approach to grammar? 4. “In the mid-1960s, however, applied linguists began to call into question the view of language. language learning, and language teaching underlying SLT” (p. 55). Can you think of reasons why (aspects of) SLT may still be useful and relevant in certain teaching contexts today? 5. On page 47 is a list with the main characteristics of the Oral Approach, Point (2) is “The target language is the language of the classroom.” Can you think of reasons why in some situations this might be difficult to implement? 6. Point (5) is “Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be taught before complex ones” Can you think of situations where it would be sensible to break this general 7 Point (6) is “Reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammati- cal basis is established.” Can you think of situations where would be sensible to focus ‘on reading and/or writing sooner? 8. Look at the list below that summarizes the teacher's responsibilities in the Oral Approach. How does this compare with your own list of teaching responsibilities? 1, timing oral practice, to support the textbook structures 3. revision [i.e., review] 4. adjustment te spe 5. testing 6. developing language acti | needs of individuals ties other than those arising fram the texthook (Pittman 196%: 17736 Major trends in twentieth-century language teaching 9. Looking at the structure ‘there’s a + noun” and the way that it is presented in a situ: ational course, how would you teach it? There's a tin of cigarettes in the box. There's a packet of matches in the box, There's @ reel of cotton in the box. There's a bottle of ink in the box. ‘There's a packet of pins in the box. ‘There's @ pair of shoes in the box. There's a jar of rice in the box. (Pittman: 1965: 168) “The Oral Approach ... was the accepted British approach to English language teaching by the 1950s, Its principles are seen ... in many other more recent textbooks” (pp. 46-7) Select a textbook published after 2000 and look at the table in the appendix at the end of the book, summarizing the key characteristics of the Oral Approach, Do you find any aspects of the Oral Approach in the textbook? References and further rea io Alexander, L. G. 1967. New Concept English, 4 vols. London: Longman. Billows, EL. 1961. The Techniques of Language Teaching. London: Longman. Byrne, D. 1976. Teaching Oral English. London: Longman. Coles, M., and B. Lord. 1975. Access to English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ‘Commonwealth Office of Education. 1965. Sitttatioval English, London: Longman. (Cook, V, don. Teaching’ Eoplich a¢ 0 foreign language in Burope. Tn E. Finkel (62), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Vol. II. New York: Routledge. 140-54 Davies, P, J. Roberts, and R. Rosner. 1975. Situational Lesson Plans. Mexico City: Macmillan, Faucett, L. M. West. H. BE. Palmer, and B. L. Thorndike. 1936. The Interim Report an Vocabulary Selection for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. London: P. 8. King. French, F. G. 1948-1950, Tire Teaching of English Abroad, vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Frisby, A. W. 1957. Teaching English: Notes and Comments on Teaching English Overseas. London: Longman. Gatentys BX 194 Bglth asa Foreign’ tanguage ‘Landon: Longman Gauntlett, J. O. 1957. Teaching English as a Foreign Langssage. London: Macmillan. Gurrey, P.1955. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. London: Longman. Halliday, M. A. K., A. Metntosh, and P.Strevens. 1964. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching London: Lengman. Hartley, B., and P: Viney. [1978] 1999. Streamline English, Oxford: Oxford University Press ‘Hodgson, EM. 1955. Leariring Moder Languages. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Hornby, A. S. 1950. The situational approach in language teaching: a series of three articles in English. Language Teaching 42 98-104, 121-8, 150-6. Hornby, A. 5.1954. A Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, London: Oxford University Press. Hornby, A. $. 1954-1956. Oxford Progressive English Course for Adult Learners, 3 vols. London: Oxford University Press.