EFL Methodology: The Silent Way
Like Suggestopedia,the Silent Way rested on more cognitive than affective arguments for its theoretical sustenance.While Caleb Gattegno,its founder,was said to be interested in a “humanistic” approach ( Chamot & McKeon 1984 : 2 ) to education,much of the Silent Way was characterized by a problem-solving approach to learning.Richards and Rodgers ( 1986:99) summarized the theory of learning behind the Silent Way :
#Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remember and repeats what is to be learned.
# Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.
# Learning is facilitated by problem solving the material to be learned.
The Silent Way capitalized on discovery-learning procedures.Gattegno ( 1972) believed that learners should develop independence,autonomy,and responsibility.At the same time, learners in a classroom must cooperate with each other in the process of solving language problems.The teacher-a stimulator but not a hand-holder- is silent much of the time,thus the name of the method.Teachers must resist to come to the aid of studets at the slightest downfall and must ” get out of the way” while students work out solutions.
In a language classroom the Silent Way typically utilized as materials a set of Cuisinere rods-small colored rods of varying lengths-and a series of colorful wall charts.The rods were used to introduce vocabulary [colors,numbers,adjectives ‘long,short, and so on’, verbs ‘ give,take,pick up,drop’ , and syntax ‘ tense,comparatives,pluralization,word order, and the like’ . The teacher provided single-word stimuli, or short phrases and sentences once or twice, and then the students refined their understanding and pronunciation among themselves, with minimal corrective feedback from the teacher.The charts introduced pronounciation models and grammatical paradigms.
Like Suggestopedia,the Silent Way had its share of criticism.In one sense,the Silent Way was too harsh a method,and the teacher too distant, to encourage a communicative atmosphere.A number of aspects of language can indeed be “told” to students to their benefit;they need not,as in CLL as well, struggle for hours or days with a concept that could be easily clarified by the teacher’s direct guidance.The rods and charts wore thin after a few lessons,and other materials had to be introduced,at which point the Silent Way resembled any other language classroom.
There are, of course,insights to be derived.All too often we are tempted as teachers to provide everything for our students,served up on a silver platter.We could benefit from injecting healthy doses of discovery learning into our classroom activities and from providing less teacher talk so that the students can work things out on their own.These are some of the contributions of innovation.They expose us to new thoughts that we can-through our developing theoretical rationale for language teaching-sift through,weigh,and adapt to multiple contexts.
However, the underlying principles of the Silent Way were valid. All too often we’re tempted as teachers to provide everything for our students, all neatly served up on a silver platter . we could benefit from injecting healthy doses of discovery learning into our classroom activities and from providing less teacher talk than we usually do to let the students word things out on their own.
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