The role of the students in the silent way teaching method.
The
role of the students in the silent way teaching method.
Gattegno sees language learning as a process of personal growth resulting
from growing Student awareness and self-challenge. The learner first
experiences a "random or almost random feeling of the area of activity in
question until one finds one or more cornerstones to build on. Then starts a
systematic analysis, first by trial and error, later by directed experiment
with practice of the acquired sub areas until mastery follows" (Gattegno
1972: 79). Learners are expected to develop independence, autonomy, and
responsibility. Independent learners are those who are aware that they must
depend on their own resources and realize that they can use "the knowledge
of their own language to open up some things in a new language" or that
they can "take their knowledge of the first few words in the new language
and figure out additional words by using that knowledge" (Stevick 1980:
42). The autonomous learner chooses proper expressions in a given set of
circumstances and situations. "The teacher cultivates the student's
'autonomy' by deliberately building choices into situations" (Stevick
1980: 42). Responsible learners know that they have free will to choose among
any set of linguistic choices. The ability to choose intelligently and
carefully is said to be evidence of responsibility. The absence of correction
and repeated modeling from the teacher requires the students to develop
"inner criteria" and to correct themselves. The absence of
explanations requires learners to make generalizations, come to their own
conclusions, and formulate whatever rules they themselves feel they need.
Learners exert a strong influence over each other's
learning and, to a lesser degree, over the linguistic content taught. They are
expected to interact with each other and suggest alternatives to each other.
Learners have only themselves as individuals and the group to rely on, and so
must learn to work cooperatively rather than competitively. They need to feel
comfortable both correcting each other and being corrected by each other.
In order to be productive members of the learning
group, learners-thus have to play varying roles. At times one is an independent
individual, at other times a group member. A learner also must be a teacher, a
student, part of a support system, a problem solver, and a self-evaluator. And
it is the student who is usually expected to decide on what role is most
appropriate to a given situation.
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