We can see that there are two different sides of silent way. This article will discuss and explore more about those two black and white sides, because it is important for teachers who are interested in using this method to understand those positive and negative sides. Hopefully, this article will, at least, be a little helping hand for them.
Discussion
“Tell me and I forget,
teach me and I remember,
involve me and I learn”.
The words above are from Benjamin Franklin which represent the premise of silent way. Gattegno develops the silent way based on the basic principle of “teaching should be the subordinate of learning” (Gattegno, 1963). In other words, Gattegno believes that teaching should serve the learning process, not dominating it. Gattegno sees the language learning from the perspective of the learners. He studied the way how babies and young children learn. He found out that learning is a process, in which we initiate by ourselves by mobilizing our inner resources (our perception, awareness, cognition, imagination, intuition, creativity, etc) (Larsen-Freeman, 2000).
These are the hypotheses that underlie Caleb Gattegno’s silent way (Richards & Rodgers 2001):
1. Learning is facilitated if the learners discover or create rather than remember or repeat what is to be learned. The learners rather participate actively than just being passive listeners.
2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying or mediating. The use of special physical objects such as colored-wooden rods and fidel chart that can create memorable image for students recalling.
3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving which involves the material to be learned.
And, these are some of the principles (Larsen-Freeman, 2000):
1. Teacher should start with something students already know and build from that to the new things.
2. Teacher only gives help when it is necessary.
3. Language is not learned by repeating a model, but the learners need to develop and build their own criteria for correctness.
4. Learners should rely on each other and themselves.
5. Teacher works with the learners while the learners work on the language.
6. Teacher’s silence is a tool to help to develop learners’ autonomy and initiative. It mainly gestures, facial expression to address the learners.
From the hypothesis and some of the principles above, we can see that silent way belongs to the tradition which views learning as problem solving, creative, discovering activity, in which the learners become the ‘pilots’ and the teacher becomes the ‘co-pilot’. Brunner (1966) discusses four benefits that learners can get from such discovery and creative learning. First, learner’s intellectual potency will increase. Second, learners get more motivation from the shift of extrinsic to intrinsic rewards. Third, the learning process by the learners is heuristic, in which they discover new things by themselves. Fourth, the knowledge learners get from the learning process will last longer in their memories. Gattegno is sure that the learners which are taught by using silent way will have these kinds of benefits. The use of silent way enables the learners to have high degree of interaction to the knowledge they are learning. The learners who are helping each other in solving problem also can get social benefit that can support the learning process. The will get skill do cooperate with others. Those are the reason why Calleb Gattegno is sure that the learners who are taught via silent way will be autonomous, independent, and responsible learners.
On the contrary, the silent way is often criticized as a ‘harsh” method. The minimum help from the teacher may put the learning itself at a stake. Brown (2001) discusses that one of the affective teaching principles is ‘language ego’. The principle states that all second language learners must be treated with affective tender loving care. It is true that in silent way teaching method the teacher’s silence should be the tool to encourage and motivate students. But, some people believe that how silent way works is “extreme”. The very limited amount of teacher’s modeling sometimes intimidates the learners, and makes them feel silly when they can not successfully do problem solving. It could be worse if the teacher’s encouragement and other students’ help do not help them. It may cause them to have a feeling of total defenselessness and helpless. If that happens, the learning process will not be successful and the learner will be unmotivated. Many teachers also believe that the rigidity in this method may be meaningless. Also, this method can only be applied in a small group of learners.
For conclusion, I believe that the backbone of Gattegno’s silent way teaching method “teaching should be the subordinate of learning” is great. It will lead the learners to such “discovery and creative learning process”. That kind of learning process will have a lot of contribution in learners’ development to be autonomous, independent, and responsible learners. But, I can’t avoid the fact that how silent way works, the teacher’s silence, often intimidates the learners and decrease their motivations. The most important thing for teachers to apply this method is that he or she should be aware of their students’ ability. They have to be creative in using their silence too. By doing so, they will have a greater chance to be successful in using silent way language teaching method.
Bibliography
1. Gattegno, C. (1963). Teaching foreign languages in schools: The silent way. New York: Educational Solutions.
2. Richards, J.C. & T.S. Rodgers. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
3. Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4. Larsen-Freeman, Diane. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
5. Young, R. (1995). Caleb gattegno's silent way: Some of the reasons why we do what we do. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from Une Education Pour Demain.
Web site:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/une.education.pour.demain/articlesrrr/sw/rose.htm
6. Brown, H. Douglas. (2001). Teaching by Principles: an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Longman.
