audiolinguaalset

Audiolingualism is a language teaching method that emphasizes spoken language and considers pronunciation and grammar to be the most important elements of language acquisition. It emerged in the mid-20th century, heavily influenced by behaviorist psychology, particularly the work of B.F. Skinner. The core principle is that language learning is a process of habit formation, where correct linguistic responses are reinforced and incorrect ones are discouraged through repetition and drills.

The method typically involves a teacher presenting dialogues and then having students repeat them, often in unison. This is followed by a series of drills designed to practice specific grammatical structures and vocabulary. Common drill types include substitution drills, where students replace words in a sentence, and transformation drills, where they change the form of a sentence. There is a strong focus on imitation and memorization, with minimal emphasis on translation or explicit grammar explanations. The goal is for students to internalize grammatical patterns and be able to produce them automatically without conscious thought. Audiolingualism was widely adopted in many educational systems during the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the United States, but its dominance waned with the rise of more communicative approaches.