This third post of four based on C.J. Dodson's book Language Teaching and the Bilingual Method (1967) is the one that readers may be the most interested in. The previous two posts are here and here. Having summarised the attacks made by Dodson on those two extremes of the spectrum, as he saw it in 1967, Grammar-Translation (his so-called Indirect-Grammatical Method) and Direct Method, we now turn to his response to these orthodoxies of the time.
Chapter 3 is enticingly called The Bilingual Method. We got there! There is a reminder on the first page that the big step for educators is to accept that first and second language learning are fundamentally different. (Recall that I am summarising his thesis, not defending it! But at the very least I think we might all just about agree that first and second language learning are not exactly the same - that would be a preposterous claim.)
Dodson also reminds us in this preface to the chapter that his ideas are based on experimentation. It's worth reminding ourselves here how unusual this was in 1967. This was pre-Krashen, pre-communicative approach, post-audiolingual method. This was the era when, in UK schools, Grammar-Translation still held considerable sway and the Oral Approach (adapted Direct Method, question-answer) was a minority pursuit. You won't find many academic papers describing experiments on these approaches. This was still pretty much the folklore and hypothesis era. To some extent it still is!
So, to the method. Dodson writes:
"Broadly speaking, the method includes almost all the activities of the direct method, some of the activities of the indirect method, though drastically altered to satisfy totally different aims, together with new activities not to be found in any other method" (p.66).
Sounds eclectic, doesn't it?
This results in "a new synthesis, consisting of various language-learning exercises or steps graded in difficulty. to enable the pupil to reach a level of proficiency which will not only offer him (sic) an opportunity to pass examinations but will also ensure that he can make use of his new language in a foreign environment" (p.66).
The aims, therefore, are:
- To make the pupil fluent and accurate in the spoken word.
- To make the pupil fluent and accurate in the written word.
- To prepare the pupil in such a manner that he can achieve true bilingualism.
Dodson explains that his method has been used from primary school level up to adult learners aged over 60. He focuses his attention on secondary schools, however, i.e. grammar schools - those selective schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which selected by entrance test between around 10% to 35% of pupils. (In reality this means that grammar schools were dealing broadly with pupils in the top half of the ability range as measured by mathematical, reasoning and comprehension tests.)
Dodson tells us to think of a course based on 'situations' or chapters. The aim is for pupils to master each situation orally and on paper. (The idea here is to help students see language learning in manageable steps, rather than as a vague, unattainable long-term aim - the Graded Objectives (Mike Buckby) movement of the 1980s had the same goal.) The general order of listening, understanding, speaking, reading and writing is generally respected and used in each chapter/situation.
The main source material is a short text accompanied by picture sequences to illustrate the story or content. Ideally there should be one picture per sentence and the text should be relatively short, all the more so for beginners. The text may be in the form of a dialogue.
"The secondary child... require(s) a visual stimulus to help him (sic) weld together spoken foreign language senetnces with the world they represent" (p.69). (No talk of dual coding in those days, but we continue to value the use of images to reinforce memory.)
For a text of thirty sentences (that's a lot!), Dodson suggests about 10 pictures are enough. These can be stick-person style pictures simply drawn on the board. (For the benefit of teachers who dislike visual aids (remember, this is 1967 when using pictures was a bit revolutionary for some!) he points out that his method can work without pictures.
So what is done with the text and images? Here we go...
Step 1 Imitation
The teacher first utters the sentences, one by one, immediately translating them into English in the target and pointing at the picture. Pupils are encouraged to watch the teacher's and mouth the sentences without speaking out loud. The teacher should speak at normal speed. At this stage the pupils should glance at the printed word - not try to read. The teacher must decide, depending on the class, how many times to do this mainly receptive task.
Pupils then go from mouthed responses to spoken responses (choral repetition). the teacher moves around the class and asks individuals to say the sentence ('cold calling' style). (In an amusing sign of the times, Dodson points out that pupils need not stand up when responding.) All this needs to be done at pace to maximise the 'listening contacts' and 'speaking contacts' we referred to in the previous post. Repetition is key in this method. Choral responses can be led by the teacher's arm movements, like a conductor with an orchestra.
Where correction is given it should be done gently with "a neutral indication" that an error was made.
(What I like here is his attention to the quality of delivery of his method - the attention to detail. Do it badly and it won't work. This applies to all methods. For example, he insists that all students should mouth responses even when one child is speaking aloud. It's the 'keep everyone busy' idea, as well as maximising 'contacts'. He goes on to list in detail (p.78-80) guidance for student teachers in how to run the class.)
This whole sequence should last no more than 10 minutes as it is demanding and tiring. At the beginning of the exrcise the teacher can point out any interesting grammatical points or similarities between the target language words and English words.
Step 2 Interpretation
Now the teacher gives a first language prompt to elicit responses. This is basically an instant translation into the target language (even if Dodson does not want to call it translation, preferring the word interpreation). The rationale here is that students do not have to create new sentences, focusing on both form and meaning (which is hard). They just reinforce the choral and individual responses, linking them to meaning via oral translation. So, to be clear, the teacher says a sentence in English, and students put it into the target language. Cold-calling is used to ensure everyone participates and the best pupils are not always favoured.
After a few minutes the teacher points at a picture and students now produce a sentence without the prompt in English. Next students are invited to utter senetnces with no prompt at all.
To sum up this step:
1. Picture strip + first language stimulus.
2. First language stimulus only. Pupils look at pictures and respond to stimulus.
3. Picture stimulus only.
4. No verbal or picture stimulus.
By this process the class will have heard, used and seen a set of sentences many times over and grasped their meaning. The ensuing advice for student teachers is quite fun. For example:
"If, despite correct teaching, a child misbehaves, make him respond more often than other children to keep him busy" (p.101).
If this comes across as a bit authoritarian, it shouldn't. Dodson gives advice on how to avoid instilling a sense of fear by, for example, making everyone feel worthwhile by whatever means. (Teachers who worry about cold-calling sometimes object that it puts pupils too much in the spotlight, creating anxiety - and we know anxiety inhibits learning. Successful cold-calling is a lot about doing it sensitively and with skill.)
Step 3 Substitution and Extension
It is assumed that by now pupils can all understand the sentences and pronounce them accurately. Now scaffolding is needed to help students generate language themselves, rather than just repeat, orally translate and retrieve learned sentences from memory.
This step takes the idea of instant oral translation of ready-made sentences and takes it a step further. The teacher prompts the class with combinations of exisiting words or chunks. So if two pre-learned sentences were (translated):
1. The girl enters the room and sees a cat.
2. The girl leaves the room and sees a dog.
The teacher might say: "The girl enters the room and sees a dog." Pupils translate.
Students therefore have to combine elements to produce a new sentence, but without formulating the senetnce from scratch. hence the scaffolded element. (Note we are still using translation, no question-answer or communication.)
The teacher chains new senetnces together, getting the class to respond. With skill, the teacher can chain together a series of sentences which form a related seies of events so that pupils feel they are communicating something real (p.105). The pictures may be used as an added stilumulus, if useful, in this substitution exercise.
Step 4 Independent Speaking of Sentences
Whereas the previous step was semi-creative, according to Dodson, this step is designed to let students be genuinely creative. there is now no spoken stimulus either in the first or target language. This can be done in a range of ways, all of which should be used.
Students, called upon at random, use pictures to generate their own sentences (as in Step 2). Students chain senetnces together with as little pausing as possible. This could include senetnces that bear little relationship to the pictures.
Students have to speak senetnces which had been used in Step 3, moving from unrelated sentences to related ones in terms of meaning. This means they are applying known sentences and chunks to new situations. Stronger pupils will produce original sentences not used before. The idea is therefore that students can combine sentence elements (chunks) in new contexts and link sentences together.
Groups of chiildern can act the situation (assuming it was dialogue-based, I assume) in different parts of the room. (This is the first use of a non teacher-led task). Alternatvely one group can act the situation in front of the class, using props if possible. Dodson considers 'acting the situation' to be vital for properly consolidating and 'imprinting', as he puts it, the language. Acting out by touching, holding and doing are thought to be essential elements to make the language "truly real" (p.115).
Other opportunities for consolidation should be sought outside regular lessons, e.g. 'French tables' at lunchtime, or lunchtime clubs.
Step 5 Reverse Interpretation (Optional)
The teacher gives a target language stimulus and the student replies in English (i.e. instantoral translation into English). This could be particularly relevant where translation into English is part of an exam or specific contexts, e.g. with heritage language speakers in Wales. (This reminds me a bit of translanguaging.)
Step 6 Consolidation of Question Patterns
We are now in the realm of question-asnwer work, but where the question patterns are strictly delineated. By now, some questions should have been used in the earlier steps. the teacher writes on the board the question patterns to be used, possibly within a 'substitution box' (like a sentence builder). The question patterns are learned through imitation and interpretaion (translation) exercises. The meaning of pronouns can be given in English. Faster classes can use more pronouns and more than one question pattern.
Students use the substitution box as the basis for oral translation (one of the techniques used in the EPI approach).
Step 7 Questions and answers
So we have moved gradually from a purely imitative stage through a semi-creative stage and more independent stage, to using question patterns, and now questions with answers.
The teacher asks simple questions which reuse the taught question patterns and elicit answers ued in previous steps. pointing at pictures, the teacher asks questions, calling on students at random to answer. A kind of artificial conversation is developed. Pace should be high, with few pauses. With some classes, te conversation might bring in language from other 'situations' previously taught. Students are allowed to give any plausible, linguistically correct answer even if it is not true. A good text book, says Dodson, would link situations together in such a way that language can be reused from one situation to the next (thus building in what we would now call spaced repetition or retrieval practice).
Step 8 Normal Foreign-language Conversation
Essentially, this is about teacher-led question-asnwer on much less predicable situations but where pupils can reuse language already practised. This is 100% target language use. The teacher needs to have ready a wide range of questions, using some written material or picture(s) as the initial stimulus. Dodson claims that a 'good grammar school class' should be ready for this after three or four lessons on the situation. (Sounds optimistic to me, but he must be basing his claim on personal experience or observation.)
So, those are the eight steps. Phew!
Dodson goes on to write about grammar, the foreign culture, how to organise thr steps, the written word and homework. I'll be briefer on these, but on grammar he believes this need not be dwelt on, especially with primary-age children. His belief is that explaining structures can help, but is not intrinsic to the method. Culture is a small part of the method, to judge by the small amount of space he allots to it. It can be built into situations, but should not distract from the key goal of language learning.
With regard to written work, neglected up to now, the fundamental point is that it should be based on oral work. For each oral step he proposes written exercises to support them. These include simple dictation, writing based on picture strips, translation, dialogues, 'bilingual dictations' (I assume this is a sort of dictaion-translation exercise). Dictation and focus on acuracy are clearly priorities, but there is room for independent writing, presumably with higher-achieving students.
As far as homework is concerned he sees this primarily as translation, questions and answers, and other exercises which immediately reinforce classroom learning. He is wary of vocabulary learning, unless it is about setting to memory words already encountered and pronounced accurately. He dislikes the idea of setting new vocabulary for fear that it will be poorly pronounced.
I'm going to reserve reflections on all of this for my last post, since Dodson's Chapter 4 is relatively brief. What do you make of this so far?
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