Silent Way

The Silent Way is a language teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching technique. It is not usually considered a mainstream method in language education.[1] It as first introduced in Gattegno!s book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way in 1"#$.[$] Gattegno as ske%tical of the mainstream language education of the time& and conceived of the method as a s%ecial case of his general theories of education. The method em%hasises the autonomy of the learner' the teacher!s role is to monitor the students! efforts& and the students are encouraged to have an active role in learning the language. (ronunciation is seen as fundamental' beginning students start their study ith %ronunciation& and much time is s%ent %ractising it each lesson. The )ilent *ay uses a structural syllabus& and structures are constantly revie ed and recycled. The choice of vocabulary is im%ortant& ith functional and versatile ords seen as the best. Translation and rote re%etition are avoided and the language is usually %racticed in meaningful contexts. +valuation is carried out by observation& and the teacher may never set a formal test. The teacher uses silence for multi%le %ur%oses in the )ilent *ay. It is used to focus students! attention& to elicit student res%onses& and to encourage them to correct their o n errors. +ven though teachers are often silent& they are still active' they ill commonly use techniques such as mouthing ords and using hand gestures to hel% the students ith their %ronunciation. Teachers ill also encourage students to hel% their %eers. )ilent *ay teachers use some s%eciali,ed [eaching materials. -ne of the hallmarks of the method is the use of Cuisenaire rods& hich can be used for anything from introducing sim%le commands to re%resenting abstract ob.ects such as clocks and floor %lans. The method also makes use of color association to hel% teach %ronunciation' there is a sound/color chart hich is used to teach the language sounds& colored ord charts hich are used to teach sentences& and colored 0idel charts hich are used to teach s%elling.

Background
Gattegno as a rank outsider to language education hen Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools as first %ublished in 1"#$. The book as cons%icuously lacking the names of most %rominent language educators and linguists of the time& and Gattegno!s orks ere only cited rarely in language education books and .ournals.[1] 2e as %reviously a designer of mathematics and reading %rogrammes& and the use of color charts and colored Cuisenaire rods in the )ilent *ay gre directly out of this ex%erience.[3] Gattegno as o%enly sce%tical of the role linguistic theory of the time had in language teaching. 2e felt that linguistic studies 4may be a s%eciali,ation& [that] carry ith them a narro o%ening of one!s sensitivity and %erha%s serve very little to ards the broad end in mind4.[5] The )ilent *ay as conceived as a s%ecial case of Gattegno!s broader educational %rinci%les& rather than a method s%ecifically aimed at teaching languages. Gattegno develo%ed these ideas to solve general %roblems in learning& and he also a%%lied them to his ork in the teaching of mathematics and the mother tongue. 6roadly& these %rinci%les are7[8] 1. Teachers should concentrate on ho students learn& not on ho to teach

$. Imitation and drill are not the %rimary means by hich students learn
3. 9earning consists of trial and error& deliberate ex%erimentation& sus%ending

.udgement& and revising conclusions 3. In learning& learners dra native language on everything that they already kno & es%ecially their

5. The teacher must not interfere ith the learning %rocess. These %rinci%les situate the )ilent *ay in the tradition of discovery learning& that sees learning as a creative %roblem/solving activity. [3]

[edit] Aims and goals

The general goal of the )ilent *ay is to hel% beginning/level students gain basic fluency in the target language& ith the ultimate aim being near/native language %roficiency and good %ronunciation.[#] :n im%ortant %art of this ability is being able to use the language for self/ ex%ression' students should be able to ex%ress their thoughts& feelings& and needs in the target language. In order to hel% them achieve this& teachers em%hasi,e self/reliance. [;] )tudents are encouraged to actively ex%lore the language&["] and to develo% their o n !inner criteria! as to hat is linguistically acce%table.[#][1<] The role of the teacher is that of technician or engineer. The teacher!s task is to focus the students! attention& and %rovide exercises to hel% them develo% language facility' ho ever& to ensure their self/reliance& the teacher should only hel% the students as much as is strictly necessary.[11] :s Gattegno says& 4The teacher orks ith the student' the student orks on the language.4[1$] 0or exam%le& teachers ill often give students time to correct their o n mistakes before giving them the ans er to a question. [11] Teachers also avoid %raise or criticism& as it can discourage students from develo%ing self/reliance

Learning process
In the )ilent *ay students are seen as bringing a vast amount of ex%erience and kno ledge ith them to the classroom' namely& their first language. The teacher ca%itali,es on this kno ledge hen introducing ne material& al ays building from the kno n to the unkno n. [13] The students begin their study of the language by studying its sound system. The sounds are associated to different colors using a sound/color chart that is s%ecific to the language being learned. The teacher first introduces sounds that are already %resent in the students! native language& and then %rogresses to sounds that are ne to them. These sound/color associations are later used to hel% the students ith s%elling& reading& and %ronunciation.[1$] The )ilent *ay uses a structural syllabus. The teacher ill ty%ically introduce one ne language structure at a time& and old structures are continuously revie ed and recycled. [;] These structures are chosen for their %ro%ositional meaning& not for their communicative value.[15] The teacher ill set u% learning situations for the students hich focus their attention on each ne structure.[1$] 0or exam%le& the teacher might ask students to label a floor %lan of a house in order to introduce the conce%ts of inside and outside.[18] -nce the language structures have been %resented in this ay& learners learn the grammar rules through a %rocess of induction.[15]

Gattegno sa the choice of hich vocabulary to teach as vital to the language learning %rocess. 2e advised teachers to concentrate on the most functional and versatile ords& to hel% students build a functional vocabulary.[15] Translation and rote re%etition are avoided& and instead em%hasis is %laced on conveying meaning through students! %erce%tions& and through %racticing the language in meaningful contexts.[1#] In the floor %lan exam%le& the %lan itself negates the need for translation& and the teacher is able to give the students a lot of meaningful %ractice sim%ly by %ointing to different %arts of the house.[18] The four skills of active listening& s%eaking& reading& and riting are orked on from the beginning stages& although students only learn to read something after they have learned to say it.[1;] +valuation in the )ilent *ay is carried out %rimarily by observation. The teacher may never give a formal test& but he is constantly assessing students by observing their actions. This allo s him to res%ond straight a ay to any %roblems the students might have. [1"] The teacher may also gain feedback through students! errors' errors are seen as natural and necessary for learning& and can be a useful guide as to hat structures need more %ractice. [11] 0inally& the teacher may gain feedback by asking the students at the end of the lesson. ["] *hen evaluating the students& teachers ex%ect them to learn at different rates& and students are not %enali,ed for learning more slo ly than their classmates. Teachers look for steady %rogress in the language& not %erfection.[11]

[edit] Teaching techniques

=ust as the name im%lies& silence is a key tool of the teacher in the )ilent *ay. 0rom the beginning levels& students do "< %ercent or more of the talking.[$<] 6eing silent moves the focus of the classroom from the teacher to the students& [$1] and can encourage coo%eration among them.[11] It also frees the teacher to observe the class.["] )ilence can be used to hel% students correct their o n errors. Teachers can remain silent hen a student makes a mistake to give them time to self/correct' [11] they can also hel% students ith their %ronunciation by mouthing ords ithout vocali,ing& and by using certain hand gestures. [$$] *hen teachers do s%eak& they tend to say things only once so that students learn to focus their attention on them.["] : )ilent *ay classroom also makes extensive use of %eer correction. )tudents are encouraged to hel% their classmates hen they have trouble ith any %articular feature of the language. This hel% should be made in a coo%erative fashion& not a com%etitive one. -ne of the teacher!s tasks is to monitor these interactions& so that they are hel%ful and do not interfere ith students! learning

Teaching materials
The )ilent *ay makes use of some s%eciali,ed teaching materials7 colored Cuisenaire rods& the sound/color chart& ord charts& and 0idel charts. The Cuisenaire rods are ooden& and come in ten different lengths& but identical cross/section' each length has its o n assigned color.[$<] The rods are used in a ide variety of situations in the classroom. :t the beginning stages they can be used to %ractice colors and numbers& and later they can be used in more com%lex grammar. 0or exam%le& to teach %re%ositions the teacher could use the statement

4The blue rod is bet een the green one and the yello one4. They can also be used more abstractly& %erha%s to re%resent a clock or the floor %lan of a house.[$3] : 0idel chart for +nglish' these charts are used to teach s%elling. The sound/color chart consists of blocks of color& ith one color re%resenting one sound in the language being learned. The teacher uses this chart to hel% teach %ronunciation' as ell as %ointing to colors to hel% students ith the different sounds& she can also ta% %articular colors very hard to hel% students learn ord stress. 9ater in the learning %rocess& students can %oint to the chart themselves. The chart can hel% students %erceive sounds that may not occur in their first language& and it also allo s students to %ractice making these sounds ithout relying on mechanical re%etition. It also %rovides an easily verifiable record of hich sounds the students and hich they have not& hich can hel% their autonomy. [$1] The ord charts contain the functional vocabulary of the target language& and use the same color scheme as the sound/color chart. +ach letter is colored in a ay that indicates its %ronunciation. The teacher can %oint to the chart to highlight the %ronunciation of different ords in sentences that the students are learning. There are t elve ord charts in +nglish& containing a total of around five hundred ords.[$5] The 0idel charts also use the same color/ coding& and list the various ays that sounds can be s%elled. 0or exam%le& in +nglish& the entry for the sound >ey> contains the s%ellings ay& ea& ei& eigh& etc.& all ritten in the same color. These can be used to hel% students associate sounds ith their s%elling.

Teaching approaches: what is the silent way?

Silent Way originated in the early 1"#<s and as the brainchild of the late Caleb Gattegno. The last line of 6en.amin 0ranklin?s famous quote about teaching and learning can be said to lie at the heart of )ilent *ay. The three basic tenets of the a%%roach are that learning is facilitated if the learner discovers rather than remembers or re%eats& that learning is aided by %hysical ob.ects& and that %roblem/solving is central to learning. The use of the ord 4silent4 is also significant& as )ilent *ay is based on the %remise that the teacher should be as silent as %ossible in the classroom in order to encourage the learner to %roduce as much language as %ossible.:s far as the %resentation of language is concerned& )ilent *ay ado%ts a highly structural a%%roach& ith language taught through sentences in a sequence based on grammatical com%lexity& described by some as a 4building/block4 a%%roach. The structural %atterns of the target language are %resented by the teacher and the grammar 4rules4 of the language are learnt inductively by the learners. Cuisenaire rods @small coloured blocks of varying si,es originally intended for the teaching of mathematicsA are often used to illustrate meaning @the %hysical ob.ects mentioned aboveA. Be items are added s%aringly by the teacher and learners take these as far as they can in their communication until the need for the next ne item becomes a%%arent. The teacher then %rovides this ne item by modelling it very clearly .ust once. The learners are then left to use the ne item and to incor%orate it into their existing stock of language& again taking it as far as they can until the next item is needed and so on. This is %erha%s best illustrated by an exam%le. 9et us say that the teacher has introduced the idea of %ronouns as in 4Give me a green rod4. The class ill then use this structure until it is clearly assimilated& using& in addition& all the other colours. -ne member of the class ould

no like to ask another to %ass a rod to a third student but she does not kno the ord 4her4& only that it cannot be 4me4. :t this %oint the teacher ould intervene and su%%ly the ne item7 4Give her the green rod4 and the learners ill continue until the next ne item is needed @%robably 4him4A. This minimalist role of the teacher has led some critics to describe )ilent *ay teachers as 4aloof4 and& indeed& this a%%arently excessive degree of self/restraint can be seen as such.The %rominent riter on language teaching& +arl *. )tevick& has described the role of the teacher in )ilent *ay as 4Teach& test& get out of the ay4. The a%%arent lack of real communication in the a%%roach has also been critici,ed& ith some arguing that it is difficult to take the a%%roach beyond the very basics of the language& ith only highly motivated learners being able to generate real communication from the rigid structures illustrated by the rods. The fact that& for logistical reasons& it is limited to relatively small grou%s of learners is also seen as a eakness. :s ith other methods and a%%roaches& ho ever& as%ects of )ilent *ay can be observed in many lessons in the modern classroom. In the 1";<s and early "<s& for exam%le& it became fashionable in some quarters to argue that excessive 4teacher talking time4 as something to be discouraged. Cuisenaire rods are also %o%ular ith some teachers and can be used extremely creatively for various %ur%oses from teaching %ronunciation to story/telling. The idea of modelling a ne structure or item of vocabulary .ust once may also have some .ustification as it encourages learners both to listen more carefully and then to ex%eriment ith their o n %roduction of the utterance. 9astly& the %roblem/solving feature of )ilent *ay may ell %rove to be its most enduring legacy as it has led indirectly both to the idea of Task/ based 9earning and to the ides%read use of %roblem/solving activities in language classrooms.

Teaching Foreign Languages the Silent Way

Grammar the Silent Way

In the early 1"8<s& Gattegno and his associates ere ex%erimenting ith ays to s%ark a areness through linguistic situations created ith colored rods. 0or exam%le& one student might tell another to take a rod and %ut it under& inside or behind a box. :s the student attem%ts to give these instructions& the teacher?s .ob is to %rovide feedback on his or her %ronunciation and grammar& and also to su%%ly ex%ressions the student doesn?t kno or can?t guess. In these game/like situations& the ords s%oken are not related to textbook exercises or translations& but to situations hich are tactilely and visually verifiable. It is quite easy to teach CdifficultD grammar using the rods and to hel% students achieve remarkable %recision in the use of im%ortant function ords like did, it, of and than.
Examples of Grammar Taught with Cuisenaire rods How many red rods did Carlos take out of the box? Give her a rod which is shorter than a blue one but longer than a light green one.

If I were to put a blue rod on top of the orange ones would all of them fall?

Silent Way Word Charts

Charts ith letters colored coded for %ronunciation contain hundreds of function ords hich can be mastered using colored rods. These charts could be considered the closest thing to a curriculum guide for the )ilent *ay. 0amiliarity ith these function ords hel%s students build a strong base in grammar or %ronunciation in a very short time& after hich they can turn their attention to acquiring vocabulary.
uilding !oca"ulary the Silent Way

Gattegno devised ays to teach vocabulary that allo students to take in and retain a sur%risingly large number of ords in the s%ace of an hour or t o. These ords are linked to a common theme hich may be %ortrayed in a %icture. -%en/ended CrestrictionD ord games allo the students to use the ne vocabulary in imaginative ays.
#ronunciation and Spelling the Silent Way

*hile orking for EB+)C- in +thio%ia& Gattegno devised a ne ay of listing all the sounds of a language F as ell as the various ays these can be s%elled F in color/coded columns. In the hands of an ex%ert& these )ilent *ay charts assist students in quickly achieving good %ronunciation and %rovide them ith a logical ay to master s%elling.
Silence and the Silent Way

Gattegno held that his a%%roach as a common/sense ay of teaching foreign languages in a classroom situation. The a%%roach as tagged CThe )ilent *ayD to disagree ith theories that language learning takes %lace through re%etition. Gattegno %roved that he could successfully teach numerous languages ithout modeling& in fact ithout s%eaking at all. 2o ever& Gattegno insisted that neither silence nor rods ere essential to his a%%roach& but rather a %rinci%le hich he called Cthe subordination of teaching to learning.D This common/sense %rinci%le is& in fact& the very backbone of Caleb Gattegno?s 4)ilent *ay4

Silent Way
The Silent Way is a language teaching methodology hich as devised by Caleb Gattegno in the 1"8<s. Gattegno states that Ca foreign language can only be learnt in schools by artificial methods& em%loying materials constructed for the %ur%oseD @Gattegno 1"#$7 %reambleA.

Theory and characteristics

:s the name already suggests& the method is built u%on the hy%othesis that inside the classroom the teacher should be as silent as %ossible& hereas the students>learners should be encouraged to %roduce as much language as %ossible& %artici%ate actively in class and in this ay become autonomous learners. )ilence is regarded as the best instrument for learning in the classroom& because Cin silence students concentrate on the task to be accom%lished and

the %otential means for its accom%lishmentD @Gichards H Godgers $<<17 ;1A. The techniques of the Silent Way Cmade it %ossible for the teacher to say less and less as the lessons advanced& hile the %u%ils ere saying more and more and using their o n inner criteria develo%ed in this a%%roachD @Gattegno 1"#$7 %reambleA. In general& there are three basic theories on hich Gattegno?s ork is founded7 1. 9earning is regarded as a C%roblem/solving& creative& discovering activityD@Gichards H Godgers $<<17 ;1A& in hich the learner rather acts and %artici%ates actively than .ust being %assive and doing nothing but listening to the teacher. If the learner is involved directly& he automatically benefits from the so called Cdiscovery learningD. $. The use of s%ecial %hysical ob.ects such as coloured ooden rods or colour/coded all charts facilitates learning. These %hysical ob.ects C%rovide %hysical foci for student learning and also create memorable images to facilitate student recallD @Gichards H Godgers $<<17 ;1A. 1. 9earning is facilitated by involving the learners and letting them solve %roblems on their o n ith the hel% of the %rovided materials.

[edit] Learner and teacher roles

The teacher in the Silent Way class mainly uses gestures and facial ex%ressions to address the learners. 2e should be familiar ith the material %rovided and be able to use it in a creative ay. :n a%%ro%riate learning environment al ays should be %rovided& and the teacher should get used to his ne role in the Silent Way. The teacher?s main tasks is the teaching of the language by letting the students test out grammatical forms& etc. and getting out of their ay& so that they can discover these things on their o n. It is necessary for the teacher to acce%t that the Silent Way is not a teacher/centred a%%roach. The learners are ex%ected to %artici%ate in class actively. They should be illing to make mistakes& to test out the basic language elements via the usage of the %rovided materials and generally be highly motivated. :s a learner& it is im%ortant not to get frustrated in case the Silent Way lesson sometimes may be a little tricky and the meaning of the materials is not al ays clear at first sight. Therefore& it is im%ortant to be able and illing to think in a rather abstract ay so that the meaning of the %rovided material can be detected.

[edit] Materials and how they can be used

The Silent Way uses a hole set of materials& hich can be used in class. It includes7

coloured ooden rods @Cuisenaire rodsA a set of all charts& containing ords of a !functionalI vocabulary and some additional ones a rectangle chart a 0idel a %ointer for use ith the charts

ta%es or discs dra ings or %ictures

Cuisenaire Rods The coloured ooden rods can be used to re%resent hole situations in an abstract ay. The teacher for exam%le could use the green rods to re%resent a certain number of %eo%le& the red ones to re%resent cars and a single hite rod re%resenting a s%ecial character& for instance the teacher himself. The teacher then ould %robably first %oint at the hite rod and thereafter at himself to sho the students the meaning of the rods. The next ste% ould be the %resentation of the meanings of the other rods @the green and red onesA& and after the students get their meaning& the teacher might %resent a certain everyday situation ith the rods. Juring this %resentation& the teacher may feature certain grammatical as%ects of the language and let the students find out about these. :nother ay to use the rods could sim%ly be the usage of them as re%resenting certain %arts of the ord order of the language. The students might then test out in hich order the rods have to be %ut& so that the correct form is created. The rectangle chart! the Fidel and the word charts The different charts can be used to teach different as%ects of the language. The rectangle chart for instance can be used to sho the %ronunciation of the %honemes of a language. It contains several different coloured rectangles hich re%resent the various sounds of a language. The same colour code hich is used in the rectangle chart is also used in the 0idel and the ord charts. The Fidel contains several different charts. They %resent all %ossible s%ellings of every single sound of the language. The ord charts %resent the functional ords of the language.

[edit] Ad"antage and disad"antage

Ad"antage The use of the Silent Way enables a very high degree of interaction as ell bet een the teacher and the students as bet een the students themselves and additionally raises the %artici%ation of the students in class. The students>learners coo%erate and hel% each other in class and in this ay the social as%ect of learning is su%%orted. 0or the students it is beneficial that they are ex%ected to develo% a certain degree of self/a areness and that they can discover the language on their o n via testing things and making use of the materials %rovided by the teacher. #isad"antage )ince the Silent Way is a very abstract ay of learning a language& the learners have to engage themselves ith the artificiality of the a%%roach& hich is extremely different from more commonly used methods of language learning. The hole conce%t of the method and atmos%here in class may seem too abstract and eird& so that learners may have difficulties in deriving any benefit from it. 0urthermore& the Silent Way is quite restricted according by the number of learners in a grou%. It is unlikely that a larger number of learners ill be able to %artici%ate in class unless the teacher has %rovided them a really large number of materials and a suitable location to learn.