Introduction:
Language has a variety of definitions, but more or less they all revolve around the same core. The language that an individual has grown up speaking since childhood is called “mother tongue language”, this language is more or less acquired automatically by any child during growing up rather than being taught. A language learned by an individual in addition to his or her native language, is called “second language.” On the contrary, the second language can’t be acquired automatically, but in fact it needs to be taught. There are several methods used to teach a language, each has its advantages, techniques and uses, …show more content…
The main disadvantages of “The Direct Method” of teaching:
• This method does not work well with higher level classes, where the translation method is more effective. It is also inconvenient in large classes as it doesn’t satisfy the needs of individual students;
• There is a lack of teachers properly trained to teach using this method;
• Only the clever students are to benefit from this teaching method, as it aims at active command of language, while slow learns will struggle;
• In the English language not all words can be directly linked with their meanings, and a lot of time and effort are wasted making attempts for this purpose;
• The systematic reading and writing aspects of language learning are ignored by this method;
• A lot of time is wasted trying to create real life …show more content…
The main disadvantages of “The Total Physical Response Method” of teaching:
• Some students might find it embarrassing to do such actions, especially the older age groups, which makes it more suitable for the beginner levels;
• It doesn’t give a lot of space for creativity, and students are not given a chance to express themselves;
• It is very limited and must be combined with other methods, as not everything can be explained using this method; and
• If used a lot it can easily be repetitive.
(www.slideshare.net, n.d.) (www.teachingenglish.org.uk, n.d.) (Asher, 1996)
Conclusion:
The Direct method is designed to help students learn the target language in the most natural manner, by exposing them to the target language in the same manner as they were exposed to their native language. The main advantages of this method is that it helps students express themselves and develop an overall sense of the language. On the down part, it ignores the systematic part of teaching language and focuses mainly on the auditory input, ignoring a big sector of students that learn more effectively using visual aids. As for the TPR method, it is considered a quick way to teach meaning of vocabulary, while inductively teaching grammar and language structure. Main advantage is that it is suitable for classes with a large number of students with mixed abilities. But, its major disadvantage