The Silent Way

The Silent Way

1. Characteristics

   • Method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno
     • It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible
       • Silent Way materials consist mainly of a set of colored Cuisenaire rods, color coded pronunciation and vocabulary wall charts, a pointer, and reading/writing exercises
         • They serve as associative mediators for student learning and recall
         • They are designed for manipulation by the students to promote language learning by direct association
       • The Silent Way considers learning as a problem-solving and discovering activity in which the learner is the main actor
       • The Silent Way is also related with the problem-solving approaches to learning
         • In the words of Benjamin Franklin
           • Tell me and I forget - Teach me and I remember - Involve me and I learn
       • The Silent Way demands teacher silence even for trained language teachers
         • The teacher silently monitors learners’ interactions with each other and may even leave the room
     • Learning hypotheses of Gattegno’s work
       • 1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers rather than remembers and repeats
       • 2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical objects
       • 3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned

2. Abilities

   • The silent method improves the four English language skills but in different order of emphasis
     • The method focuses mainly on language production
       • 1st Speaking
         • Pronunciation
         • Fluency
         • Phonetics
       • Writing
     • The method promotes the language interpretation skills without emphasizing them
       • Listening
       • Reading

3. Strengths

   • Applying the Silent Way Method students should be able to
     • Correctly and easily answer questions about themselves, their education, their family and other events
     • Speak with a good accent
     • Give either a written or an oral description of a picture
     • Answer general questions about the culture and the literature of the target language
     • Perform adequately in the following areas: spelling, grammar, reading comprehension, and writing
   • Other strengths of the method
     • The Silent Way has the function of encouraging and shaping student oral response without direct oral instruction by the teacher
     • Charts, rods, and other aids may be used to elicit learner responses
     • Teacher modeling is minimal
       • Learners are expected to develop independence, autonomy, and responsibility

4. Weaknesses

   • The method does not give details to the selection and arrangement of grammatical and lexical items to be covered
   • Students will know how to produce language but not how to explain it
     • Learners will be fluent but not accurate
       • Learners will not have enough linguistics knowledge to be good teachers
   • Absence or silence of the teacher
     • Absence of correction and repeated modeling from a teacher
       • Students have to correct themselves
         • Students have to struggle by themselves
     • Absence of explanations
       • Learners make generalizations, conclusions and formulate whatever rules they themselves feel they need.
         • Students have to struggle by themselves