Second language aquisition.

Approaches to teaching language: According to my article, popular language teaching methods today include grammar-translation, audio-lingualism, cognitive-code, the direct method, the natural approach, total physical response, and Suggestopedia.
Requirements for optimal input -- comprehensible -- interesting/relevant -- not grammatically sequenced -- quantity -- low filter level -- provides tools for conversational management
Learning restricted to: -- Rules that are easily learned and applied, and not acquired yet -- Monitor users -- Situations when the learner has adequate time and a focus on form
I was very interested in these methods because I do not know very much about them. I read about them and learned the following:
grammar-translaton: explains grammatical rules, with some example sentences. A bilingual vocabulary list, a reading section exemplifying the grammatical rule and incorporating the vocabulary, and exercises to practice using the grammar and vocabulary. Most of these classes are taught in the student's first language. The grammar-translation method provides little opportunity for acquisition and relies too heavily on learning.
I think this method is good because they build up the student's first language, but it needs to have more opportunity for aquisition along with learning.
audio-lungualism: A lesson involving audio-lingual begins with a dialogue containing the grammar and vocabulary that will be focused on in the lesson. The students repeat and memorize the material. Next, they have pattern drills, in which the grammatical structure introduced in the dialogue is reinforced, with these drills focusing on simple repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation. While the audio-lingual method provides opportunity for some acquisition to occur, it cannot measure up to newer methods which provide much more comprehensible input in a low-filter environment.
I am not very fond of drill and repeat methods. That is a lower order thinking skill and I think students can do much more with the material.
Cognative Code: focuses on developing all four skills of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Because this method focuses on comprehensible input than grammar-translation does, it should produce more acquisition, but other newer methods provide even more and have better results. Learning is overemphasized with this method.
I think it is good that this method includes all four language skills.
The Direct Method: The teacher uses examples of language in order to teach grammar; students are to try to guess the rules of the language by the examples provided. Teachers interact with the students a lot, asking them questions about different topics and trying to use the grammatical structure of the day in the conversation. errors are corrected. This method provides more comprehensible input than the methods discussed so far, but it still focuses too much on grammar.
This method is good because of the direct instruction and the fact that the material learned is learned in sentences.
The Natural Approach: In the Natural Approach the teacher speaks only the target language and class time is committed to providing input for acquisition. Students may use either the language being taught or their first language. Errors in speech are not corrected, however homework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the class emphasize the students being able use the language "to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems." This approach aims to fulfill the requirements for learning and acquisition, and does a great job in doing it. Its main weakness is that all classroom teaching is to some degree limited in its ability to be interesting and relevant to all students
I do not like that the errors in speech are not corrected. I know that the homework is, but that, to me is not as effective as the speech being corrected. There is a very good useage of BICS in this method.
Total Physical Response: Total Physical Response involves the students listening and responding to commands given by the teacher such as "sit down" and "walk," with the complexity of the commands growing over time as the class acquires more language. Student speech is delayed, and once students indicate a willingness to talk they initially give commands to other students. This method is predicted to result in substantial language acquisition. Its content may not be always interesting and relevant for the students, but should produce better results than the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods.
I like how this method ties together the speech with it's action. I think that is very effective because it works all three of the learning styles and it is very important in order to reach the most students.If the material was more realevant to the students, I can see this being a very effective method.
Suggestopedia: Suggestopedia classes are small and intensive, and focus on providing a very low-stress, attractive environment in which acquisition can occur. Some of the students' first language is used at the beginning, but most in the target language. The role of the teacher is very important in creating the right atmosphere and in acting out the dialogues that form the core of the content. Suggestopedia seems to provide close to optimal input while not giving too much emphasis to grammar.
I like this method because it sounds like a very low anxiety environment. This method also includes meditation and soft music so it sounds very comforting for students. This focuses on L2 aquisition and that is very important.


I think what it comes down to is which method would be better for the student in the real world. I think it is between Suggestopedia and Total physical response. I was not very impressed with the other methods. However, I am very happy I got to learn about different methods that I have not heard about yet!
Link to my article: http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm