Behaviorism is described as a developmental theory that measures observable behaviors produced by a learners response to stimuli.

Responses to stimuli can be reinforced with positive or negative feedback to condition desired behaviors. Punishment is sometimes used in eliminating or reducing incorrect actions, followed by clarifying desired actions. Educational effects of behaviorism are key in developing basic skills and foundations of understanding in all subject areas and in classroom management. According to behaviorism, knowing is giving the correct response when exposed to a particular stimulus. The behaviorist is not concerned with how or why knowledge is obtained, but rather if the correct response is given. Yu Ching Chens web site on behaviorism states that, Learning is defined as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior. In terms of the concept of learning, the process tends to be passive with regard to the behaviorist theory. The learner uses low level processing skills to understand material and the material is often isolated from real-world contexts or situations. Little responsibility is placed on the learner concerning his/her own education. Typical classroom instruction consistent with the behaviorist theory includes; classroom management, rote memorization, and drill and practice. Several examples of behaviorism used in classroom management were highlighted in the reading section titled, Behavioral Views of Learning by A. Woolfolk. One example, used by two of our own group members, is using a token system to reinforce positive academic performance and student behavior. A classroom application of using drill and practice includes computer software, such as Math Blasters. These types of software provide positive and negative reinforcements for answering math problems correctly or incorrectly. A final example highlighting the behaviorist theory is rote memorization. Rote memorization may include memorizing addition or multiplication facts or memorizing state capitals. The behaviorist approach to teaching has practical applications in education. In particular, understanding basic skills and core subject knowledge. The approach of using positive and negative reinforcements to elicit desired behaviors of students is also useful in establishing and maintaining classroom management.

According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. This school of thought suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions, emotions and moods are too subjective. There are two major types of conditioning:
1. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally

occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. 2. Operant conditioning Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.
Learning is the main focus in the field of educational psychology.

Direct method The direct method of teaching was developed as a response to the GrammarTranslation method. It sought to immerse the learner in the same way as when a first language is learnt. All teaching is done in the target language, grammar is taught inductively, there is a focus on speaking and listening, and only useful everyday' language is taught. The weakness in the Direct Method is its assumption that a second language can be learnt in exactly the same way as a first, when in fact the conditions under which a second language is learnt are very different. Example The teacher explains new vocabulary using realia, visual aids or demonstrations. In the classroom Aspects of the Direct Method are still evident in many ELT classrooms, such as the emphasis on listening and speaking, the use of the target language for all class instructions, and the use of visuals and realia to illustrate meaning.

DIRECT METHOD
Also known as Reform Method / Natural Method / Phonetical Method / Antigrammatical Method All reformers were vehemently opposed to teaching of formal grammar and aware that language learning was more than the learning of rules and the acquisition of imperfect translation skills.

Vietor ('Die Sprachunterricht muss umkehren' 1882) "This study of grammar is a useless torture. It is certainly not understood; therefore it can have no effect as far as the moulding of the intellect is concerned and no-one could seriously believe that children could learn their living German tongue from it." Instead grammar should be acquired inductively by inducing the rules of how the language behaves from the actual language itself. "Never tell the children anything they can find out for themselves." (Jesperin 1904) Direct Method based on belief that: 1 Knowing a language was being able to speak it! Primacy of spoken word. New method laid great stress on correct pronunciation and target language from outset. Advocated teaching of oral skills at expense of every traditional aim of language teaching. 2 Second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language, and so MT has no place in FL lesson. (Baby never relies on another language to learn its first language). 3 Printed word must be kept away from second language learner for as long as possible (same as first language learner, who doesn't use printed word until he has good grasp of speech). 4 The written word / writing should be delayed until after the printed word has been introduced. 5 The learning of grammar/ translating skills should be avoided because they involve the application of the MT. 6 All above items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral proficiency. Disadvantages of Direct Method 1 Major fallacy of Direct Method was belief that second language should be learned in way in which first language was acquired - by total immersion technique. But obviously far less time and opportunity in schools, compared with small child learning his mother tongue. 2 Is first language learning process really applicable to second foreign language learning at later stage First language learning is essential part of child's total growth of awareness of world around him. He starts off with blank sheet, then starts collecting/selecting

organising the experience of a totally new world, perceived through his senses, by formulating a variety of pre-verbal concepts. Subsequently part of the process of learning how to live is the acquisition of skills to verbalise his desires and aversions and to label his concepts, so as to make living more sufficient and secure. Effectiveness of these verbalising skills depends on maturation level of the child / on type of environment on intelligence. Language is part of an intrinsic process through which child learns to recognise/ deal with new situations. 3 Compare learning of second language

At 11 years of age, child is not interested in recognition of new living situations, child has normally learned the basic concepts and can handle situations for ordinary living purposes. So as far as 'learning to live' is concerned, no similarities between two processes of learning. (not the case for immigrant children - they need to learn English for survival purposes - therefore motivating force is totally different). Older child has already at his disposal a first language, which is securely fixed to the universe of things; (s)he is equipped with this advantage; first language learner does not have this. Older child is more mature and it would seem nonsensical to imitate first language learning processes totally for learning additional language. (think of contact hours needed) this is argument for using MT (anti Direct Method). What does foreign language learner wish to know first? to know the FL equivalent of MT sentences/ words used in hitherto familiar situations. To learn how to handle certain known/ recurring situations through the medium of the FL. He doesn't wish to handle completely new situations in FL terms.

4 The Direct Method rejects use of the printed word - but this objection is illogical since second language learner has already mastered his reading skills.

Does printed word interfere with FL pronunciation? -In fact experiments show that the printed word is of real help to consolidate the FL and actually reinforces retention (ef 'Je ma pel') - leaves mental imprint, image of shape of word. 5 Later disciples of Direct Method took it to extremes and refused to speak a single word of English in lessons. To avoid translating new words, they searched for an association between new words and the idea it stood for: 'Voil un livre, voici une craie'. Extreme Direct Methodists had cupboards full of realia. Explanations became cumbersome and time-consuming. (Definition type explanations UN meunier est UN homme qui travaille dans UN moulin' / 'court est le contraire de long'). Teachers would be jumping over desks flapping fins, rather than say that the English for 'saumon' is 'salmon'. Concepts like cependant'/ 'nanmoins' - obviously need immediate translation! 6 Successful teacher of the Direct Method needed competence in his language / stamina/ energy/ imagination/ ability and time to create own materials and courses beyond capacity of all but gifted few. "The method by its very nature presupposes a teacher of immense vitality, of robust health, one endowed with real fluency in the modern language he teaches. He must be resourceful in the way of gesture and tricks of facial expression, able to sketch rapidly on the board and in the language teaching day, he must be proof against linguistic fatigue". 7 Also Direct Methodists failed to grade and structure their materials adequately - no selection, grading or controlled presentation of vocabulary and structures. Plunged pupils into flood of living language - quite bewildering for pupils. However, many teachers did modify the Direct Method to meet practical requirements of own schools, implemented main principles, i.e teaching through oral practice and banning all translation into target language. Obviously compromise was needed. Direct method did pave the way for more communicative, oral based approach, and as such represented an important step forward in the history of language teaching. Comparison of first and second-language learning processes (Language Teaching and the Bilingual Method, CJ Dodson, Pitman Publishing 1967,ISBN 0 273 31665 6)

If first and second-language learning processes are compared, the following pattern emerges-

First-language learner 1. He has no command of another language before learning the target language 2 He is neurologically immature, thus his mother tongue is not fixed 3. He learns to recognise and cope with reality through the target language 4. He requires a high contactfrequency with the target language to learn that all things have names 5 He requires a high contactfrequency with the target language to recognise the meaning of sounds representing the names of things, because he is neurologically immature because his range of experience with the outside world is limited and as he has no knowledge of the

Second-language learner 1. He has command of another language before learning the target language 2. He is neurologically mature,thus his mother tongue is fixed 3. He learns to recognise and cope with reality through the mother tongue, not the target language 4. He already knows that all things have names 5. He has already experienced the process, involving high contact-frequency and maturation, of recognising the meaning of sounds representing the names of things in his mother tongue. As he is now neurologically mature, he need

equivalent meaning of sounds from another language for the same things 6. He requires a high contactfrequency to establish integration of mother-tongue sounds with things

not be subjected a second time to the same process in the new target language merely to recognise the equivalent meaning of target-language sounds for the same things. (Recognition of the sound representing the thing should not be confused With the integration of the sound with the thing, set 6 He has already established integration of mother-tongue sounds with things, but requires high contact-frequency to establish new integration of target-language sounds with the same things

The Direct Method is the learning of language in a relevant setting. This method has one basic rule and that is that no translation is allowed. The meaning of the name "Direct Method" comes from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly into the second language through demonstration and visual aids. The main principles of the Direct Method are as follows:

German is not used in the classroom. The learner is actively involved in using the language in realistic everyday situations. Students are encouraged to think in the target language. Speaking is taught first before reading or writing. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught. Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures. Abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas. This method states that the printed word should be kept away from the second language learner for as long as possible.

STRATEGIES 1. Q & A: The teacher asks questions of any nature and the students answer. In preparation for this activity the teacher models, extensively, the use of complete answers to questions. Once doing this activity the teacher expects full sentences

as answers to each question. Students can also be given the opportunity to ask the questions.
Objective: Experiment with words and sentence patterns to create interest and variety.

2. Dictation: The teacher chooses a grade appropriate passage from a book and reads the text aloud three times. The first time the passage is read the students only listen. The second time the passage is read it is read phrase by phrase, with the teacher pausing long enough for students to write down what they have heard. The third time the text is read, it is read at normal speed and the students check their work.
Objective: Listen attentively, courteously, and purposefully to a range of texts from a variety of cultural traditions for pleasure and information.

3. Reading Aloud: Students take turns reading sections of a passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student's turn the teacher uses gestures, pictures, examples, or role play to help the students make meaning of the text.
Objective: Orally and silently read a range of contemporary and classical grade appropriate texts for enjoyment and information.

4. Getting Students to Self-Correct: The teacher when provided with the opportunity should have the students self-correct by offering them a choice between what they said and the proper pronunciation. For example if the student says, "I have cree apples," the teacher should say, "Do you have cree apples or three apples?"
Objective: Reflect on speaking behaviors and strategies.

5. Map Drawing: Students are provided with a blank map of Canada. The teacher gives specific instructions to the students. Once they are finished, their map will be completely labeled. The teacher takes the same map on an overhead and the students give the teacher instructions on how to label the map.
Objectives: Listen purposefully to determine the main ideas and important details; use language appropriate to audience, purpose, and situation.

The objective of The Silent Way Method of language teaching is for students to work as independent language learners. The teacher speaks very little when using this method. The role of the teacher is to draw the learners' attention to the way that they are going about the act of learning. The teacher facilitates the students' discoveries and helps the students to gain insight into the functioning of the language. In order to use this method some specific materials are required.

A Sound/Color Wall Chart: made up of different color rectangles in which each color represents a phoneme or sound of the English language. Word Wall Charts: words are written using the same color code as the sound/color wall chart suggests. These charts display the structural vocabulary of the language. Spelling Charts: These charts are referred to as the Fidel. They show the possible spellings for each phoneme and they also use the same color code as the sound/color wall chart.

Rods: these are cards containing sounds which correspond to the sound/color wall chart. These rods allow students to create words using phonemes.

A pointer should be used by the teacher to help guide the class as they vocalize the sounds. A pointer can also help to teach which syllable has the stress on it by tapping that syllable harder than the others. This aids in the development of proper pronunciation of words in the target language. 1. Sound/Color Chart: This is a chart which color codes and groups all the phonemes present in the English language. * In order to print and use this chart you will need a color printer.

2. Spelling Chart: This chart, also called the Fidel, shows the possible spellings for each phoneme. The colors correspond with the sound/color chart . * A color printer will be necessary for the full effect in hard copy.

3. Self Correction Gestures: A teacher using this method of language instruction could devise a group of gestures signaling students to rethink their response. For example a teacher might hold his hands together and then bring them apart to signal that a vowel sound should be longer or that the word itself needs to be lengthened. A second signal might be having each finger on your hand representing a word in a sentence (first, second, third, etc.) to indicate the students need to attend to a trouble spot. This method of Language Learning is also called the Aural-Oral Method. This method is said to result in rapid acquisition of speaking and listening skills. The audiolingual method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. When this method was developed it was thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the second language was through conditioning or helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. The Audiolingual Method is based on the following principles:

Speaking and listening competence preceded reading and writing competence. Use of German is highly discouraged in the classroom. The development of language skills is a matter of habit formulation. Students practice particular patterns of language through structured dialogue and drill until response is automatic. Structured patterns in language are taught using repetitive drills. The emphasis is on having students produce error free utterances. This method of language learning supports kinesthetic learning styles.

Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught. Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures. Abstract vocabulary is taught through association of ideas. The printed word must be kept away from the second language learner as long as possible. 1. Dialog Memorization: Students are given a short dialog to memorize then they must use mimicry and applied role playing to present the dialog. Examples of dialogs that could be used are included in the materials section.
Objective: Experiment with language and non-verbal elements (eg. gesture) to achieve an effect for a particular purpose and audience.

2. Backward Build Up: Provide students with the the sentence fragments found in the materials section. Students repeat each part of the sentence starting at the end of the sentence and expanding backwards through the sentence adding each part in sequence.
Objective: Participate in a variety of shared language experiences.

3. Transformation Drill: The teacher provides a question which must be transformed into a statement. An extension of this activity is to have the students make a question out of a statement.
Objective: Select from a range of word choices and use simple sentence patterns to communicate ideas and information.

4. Complete the Dialog: Have the students fill in the blanks in the dialogs provided. The proper English word must be inserted into the text. This activity is much like a cloze activity.
Objective: Make connections between text, prior knowledge, and personal experiences.

5. Dictation: Using any piece of literature at the students' reading level, read the piece aloud several times. Have the students write down what they hear. The idea is to write what they have heard as literally as possible.
Objective: Listen purposefully to determine main ideas and important details.

6. Flashcards: Using flashcards with words that are relevant to them brainstorm other words about the word on the card. A new word could be chosen each day.

Objective: Make connections between text, prior knowledge, and personal experiences.

7. Chain Drill: A chain of conversation forms around the room as the teacher greets or questions a student and that student responds then turns to the next student and greets or asks a question of the second student and the chain continues.
Objective: Participate in shared language experiences.

8. The Alphabet Game: The teacher picks a category, such as the supermarket. Then the first student says, "I am going to the supermarket. I need a few apples." (The first student names something beginning with A.) The second student says, "I am going to the supermarket. I need a few apples and I need a few bananas." The game continues in this manner with each consecutive student adding an item beginning with the next letter after repeating the items named before their own.
Objectives: Participate in shared listening experiences. Share ideas and experiences in large and small groups.

Community language learning Submitted by TE Editor on 28 June, 2004 - 13:00 Community language learning (CLL) was primarily designed for monolingual conversation classes where the teacher-counsellor would be able to speak the learners' L1. The intention was that it would integrate translation so that the students would disassociate language learning with risk taking. It's a method that is based on English for communication and is extremely learner-focused. Although each course is unique and student-dictated, there are certain criteria that should be applied to all CLL classrooms, namely a focus on fluency in the early stages, an undercurrent of accuracy throughout the course and learner empowerment as the main focus.

How it works in the classroom o Stage 1- Reflection

o o o o o

Stage 2 - Recorded conversation Stage 3 - Discussion Stage 4 - Transcription Stage 5 - Language analysis Length of stages

For and against CLL Working with monolingual or multilingual classes Working with large classes

Conclusion

How it works in the classroom In a typical CLL lesson I have five stages: Stage 1- Reflection I start with students sitting in a circle around a tape recorder to create a community atmosphere.

The students think in silence about what they'd like to talk about, while I remain outside the circle. To avoid a lack of ideas students can brainstorm their ideas on the board before recording.

Stage 2 - Recorded conversation Once they have chosen a subject the students tell me in their L1 what they'd like to say and I discreetly come up behind them and translate the language chunks into English.

With higher levels if the students feel comfortable enough they can say some of it directly in English and I give the full English sentence. When they feel ready to speak the students take the microphone and record their sentence. It's best if you can use a microphone as the sound quality is better and it's easier to pick up and put down. Here they're working on pace and fluency. They immediately stop recording and then wait until another student wants to respond. This continues until a whole conversation has been recorded.

Stage 3 - Discussion Next the students discuss how they think the conversation went. They can discuss how they felt about talking to a microphone and whether they felt more comfortable speaking aloud than they might do normally.

This part is not recorded.

Stage 4 - Transcription Next they listen to the tape and transcribe their conversation. I only intervene when they ask for help.

The first few times you try this with a class they might try and rely on you a lot but aim to distance yourself from the whole process in terms of leading and push them to do it themselves.

Stage 5 - Language analysis I sometimes get students to analyse the language the same lesson or sometimes in the next lesson. This involves looking at the form of tenses and vocabulary used and why certain ones were chosen, but it will depend on the language produced by the students.

In this way they are totally involved in the analysis process. The language is completely personalised and with higher levels they can themselves decide what parts of their conversation they would like to analyse, whether it be tenses, lexis or discourse. With lower levels you can guide the analysis by choosing the most common problems you noted in the recording stages or by using the final transcription.

Length of stages The timing will depend entirely on the class, how quickly they respond to CLL, how long you or they decide to spend on the language analysis stage and how long their recorded conversation is. Be careful however that the conversation isn't too long as this will in turn make the transcription very long For and against CLL Pros

Learners appreciate the autonomy CLL offers them and thrive on analysing their own conversations. CLL works especially well with lower levels who are struggling to produce spoken English. The class often becomes a real community, not just when using CLL but all of the time. Students become much more aware of their peers, their strengths and weaknesses and want to work as a team.

Cons

In the beginning some learners find it difficult to speak on tape while others might find that the conversation lacks spontaneity. We as teachers can find it strange to give our students so much freedom and tend to intervene too much. In your efforts to let your students become independent learners you can neglect their need for guidance.

Working with monolingual or multilingual classes I have used CLL with both monolingual and multilingual classes and found that it works well with both. With the multilingual low-level classes I, as the teacher-counsellor, reformulated their English in the same way you might do with higher levels. However, the first few attempts at CLL work better with a monolingual class as the instructions can be given in L1. It's important that the learners understand their and your new roles in the language learning process. Working with large classes For the first lesson it's important to record the conversation as a whole class even though this can limit student-speaking time. It's more practical in terms of giving instructions before you start and for moving from one student to another when they need you to translate or reformulate what they want to say. The next time you use CLL however, you could split the class into two groups. This gives them more speaking time.

Make sure the groups are far enough away from each other for the recording stage but not so far that you can't move freely from one group to another. A further alternative is that they swap tapes for the transcription stage. The language is obviously less personalised but their listening skills are being challenged in a different way and they still feel part of a whole class community.

Conclusion Although CLL is primarily meant as a 'whole' approach to teaching I have found it equally useful for an occasional lesson, especially with teenagers. It enables me to refocus on the learner while my students immediately react positively to working in a community. They take exceptionally well to peer-correction and by working together they overcome their fear of speaking. I have also found quieter students able to offer corrections to their peers and gladly contribute to the recording stage of the lesson. It's a teaching method which encompasses all four skills while simultaneously revealing learners' styles which are more or less analytical in their approach to language learning. All of which raises our awareness as a teacher and that of our students.